Let’s Learn More About Black Artists!

Posted on by The Wandering Art Historian

Today’s post is dedicated to learning more about black artists. If you have taken my class, From Muse to Master: Celebrating Women Artists, you will remember me sharing this quote from the Guerrilla Girls…

So, how do we, as art historians and art enthusiasts, be more inclusive? I have compiled this very introductory list of resources to help us get started.

If you live here in Central Florida, you can see work by black artists in local art institutions. The Orlando Museum of Art has a Soundsuit by contemporary artist Nick Cave in its permanent collection. They have also extended their current exhibition, “Living Color: The Art of the Highwaymen” through August 16th. In fact, the artwork attached to this post is “Untitled (Backcountry pine viewed through a hammock clearing)” by Highwayman, Harold Newton.

For more info on the OMA, please visit… https://omart.org/

Rollins College has been developing its “Art Since 1950” collection over the past few years and exhibits hundreds of pieces from this collection at The Alfond Inn in Winter Park, Florida. Artists in this collection include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Faith Ringgold, Jacob Lawrence and more.

For more information on the artists included in the “Art Since 1950” collection at Rollins College, please visit…

https://www.rollins.edu/cornell-fine-arts-museum/collection/art-since-1950/

For more information on The Alfond Inn, please visit…

https://thealfondinn.com/art-collection/

The book Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art & Made History (In That Order) by Bridget Quinn includes fascinating information on Edmonia Lewis and Kara Walker.

For more information on this book, please visit…

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/30364138-broad-strokes

For an introduction to a few of the many black artists from throughout art history, please visit this link curated by Biography.com…

https://www.biography.com/people/groups/black-artists

To learn more about the work being created by black artists right now in the United States, please visit the website BlackArtInAmerica.com. This website also includes a list titled “15 Enlightening Books About Black Art” for further research.

Here’s the link to that resource…

https://www.blackartinamerica.com/index.php/2020/06/02/15-enlightening-books-about-black-art/

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I am writer and artist with a degree in art history who loves to talk to people about art. I have spent the last seven years building up The Wandering Art Historian “brand” as a way to connect with people who want to learn more about art. I give lectures and presentations and teach classes and host book club discussions with a creative or artistic connection. I also write about local artists, events, museums, and exhibitions to promote the arts in Central Florida. In 2021, I had a creative crisis. I struggled with authenticity in the art making process. I decided to make myself vulnerable and find out what a real, genuine Adrienne H. Lee artwork would look like. The process was challenging and emotional and revelatory. I learned that if necessity is the mother of invention, then authenticity is the mother of reinvention. I reinvented myself and learned an entirely new medium. The resulting artwork surprised me, and it will surprise you, too. Some people wish for a fairytale ending. For me, the fairy tale is only the beginning.