Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem
Regular price £32.50'Comprised of over one hundred works by nearly eighty artists across all media dating from the 1920s to the present, Black Refractions surveys close to a century of creative achievements by artists of African descent and is the first traveling exhibition in twenty-five years to reveal the breadth and expansive growth of the Studio Museum's permanent collection' - Artfixdaily.com
An authoritative guide to one of the world's most important collections of African-American art, with works by artists from Romare Bearden to Kehinde Wiley
This catalogue accompanies a touring exhibition of a portion of the Studio Museum's 2,500-piece collection of works by over seven hundred artists while the museum gets an eagerly anticipated new building designed by Sir David Adjaye at its West 125th Street space.
Through exhibitions, public programs, artist-in-residencies, and bold acquisitions, this pioneering institution has served as a nexus for artists of African descent locally, nationally, and internationally since its founding in 1968.
Black Refractions provides a sketch of the institution’s history as well as a snapshot of the concerns of Black artists from the museum’s founding in 1968 to the present day. Given recent discussions of how museums should meet the challenges of systemic racism and the intellectual, political, and economic roots of collecting institutions in the history of white supremacy, the Studio Museum in Harlem provides one model of a successful, community-centered, artist-oriented organization that was born out of a similar moment of social crisis and cultural change.
Among gems by twentieth-century modernists such as Charles Alston, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Norman Lewis, and James VanDerZee, the book features the early work of some of the most noted artists working today including Mark Bradford, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, and Kehinde Wiley.
The works are explored in the catalogue with brief authored artwork entries and with thorough essays by Choi and Golden on the history of the collection and the museum. A dialogue between Thelma Golden, Connie Choi, and Kellie Jones draws out themes and challenges in collecting and exhibiting modern and contemporary art by artists of African descent.
Details
- Author: Connie Choi, Associate Curator of the Permanent Collection at The Studio Museum in Harlem
- Hardcover: 232 pages | 125 colour illustrations
- Date published: February 2019
- Language: English
- Delivery: Allow 1-2 weeks
- ISBN: 978-0847866380
- Product Dimensions: 29.4 x 24.1 cm
Reviews
'The touring exhibition Black Refractions is a comprehensive introduction into the broad repertoire of the collection at the Studio Museum of Harlem. From Malick Sidibe to Kerry James Marshall to the exquisite Barkley Hendrick’s Lawdy Mama featured on the book cover, the scale of the show is vast, yet not unwieldy. The accompanying book published by Rizzoli offers a notable dive into the museum’s history and status as one of the most exciting museums in today’s American artistic landscape' —TEETH MAGAZINE
'Comprised of over one hundred works by nearly eighty artists across all media dating from the 1920s to the present, Black Refractions surveys close to a century of creative achievements by artists of African descent and is the first traveling exhibition in twenty-five years to reveal the breadth and expansive growth of the Studio Museum's permanent collection' - Artfixdaily.com
