black artists

Janelle Monáe partnered with Martell to honor the art of Loïs Mailou Jones with a reimagined Little Paris Group at The Bishop Gallery in BK.

Celebrating Black History Month, we hit up Harlem for a new art exhibit from the eyes of 17 Black artists with vivid American stories to tell.

A white protester on Hollywood Blvd recently made it his priority to call out the artwork for Meek Mill's new album, 'Expensive Pain,' somehow tying it to the disrespect of Black women, Masonic symbolism, vaccine mandates and why you should take off your mask in general.

Norman Lewis was an influential Harlem painter whose work helped innovate the abstract expressionist style he was best known for. Lewis didn’t achieve mainstream fame for a variety of reasons but never geared his work to secure commercial success or critical adoration. Born Norman Wilfred Lewis in Harlem, New York to Bermudan parents, the future […]

Alma Woodsey Thomas passed over four decades ago but her work has enjoyed renewed popularity partly due to First Lady Michelle Obama. She was born September 22, 1891 in Columbus, Ga. before moving to Washington, D.C. as a teenager. Thomas had hopes of becoming an architect, but those dreams were dashed due to sexism and […]

Romare Bearden became one of the most important and respected of the 20th Century though, amazingly, he was largely self-taught. Bearden was born September 2, 1911 in Charlotte, N.C. and raised primarily between New York City and Pittsburgh, Pa. After leaving high school in Pittsburgh, Bearden returned to New York, bouncing around colleges before landing […]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A mural by the artist who painted the official portrait of Michelle Obama was dedicated on Thursday, portraying not a famous face, but a Philadelphia teen who’s overcome personal challenges. Amy Sherald might be best known for the painting of the former first lady , but her overall body of work represents […]

Henry O. Tanner was the first Black artist to gain international acclaim, and is also notable for being the first Black artist to have their work purchased by the White House as part of its permanent collection. Tanner was born June 21, 1859 in Pittsburgh to an A.M.E. minister father and a mother who escaped […]

Ed Wilson was a sculptor who discovered art as a child and pushed forward in his career of choice realizing that all paths to earn a living would be marred by racism. The Baltimore native was born on March 28, 1925, and his work was featured in the landmark 1976 traveling exhibition, “Two Centuries of […]

Allan Rohan Crite was a notable artist who sought to depict Black people as ordinary American citizens instead of sharecroppers or entertainers. Today is Crite’s birthday. Crite was born in 1910 in Plainfield, N.J. and raised in Boston’s South End. He developed an interest in art early on by way of his mother, and his […]

The art world was ablaze after Chicago-based artist Kerry James Marshall’s “Past Times” piece sold for a whopping $21 million in an auction last week. The buyer, who was not known immediately, was confirmed to be Sean “Diddy” Combs and is considered the most paid for an art piece by an African-American artist. Diddy joins […]

Clementine Hunter, a self-taught artist who hailed from the Cane River region of Louisiana, gained fame for her artwork that depicted life in and around the Melrose Plantation. As one of the most notable folk artists of her time, she is the first Black artist to have a solo exhibition at the New Orleans Museum […]