The Studio Journal
Artists
The painters, sculptors, and photographers behind the work. Who they were, what they made, and why it still matters on a wall today.
Contemporary Black Artists Shaping Modern Art Today
Discover how contemporary black artists are reshaping modern art today. Explore their diverse mediums and unique voices that matter in today's art world.
Read the Guide
Afrofuturism Artists: Who Shapes Black Speculative Art
Discover influential afrofuturism artists shaping Black speculative art. Explore their creativity and impact on culture and identity.
Harlem Renaissance Artists: 10 Pioneers Who Changed Art
Discover the groundbreaking Harlem Renaissance artists who transformed Black culture through art. Explore the pioneers who changed the creative lan...
Art of the Harlem Renaissance: A Painter's Guide
Robert Lawrence walks through the painters, the music, and the visual language of the Harlem Renaissance, and how it shows up in his own jazz-era c...
Melanin Painting: Techniques, Artists, and Cultural Power
Explore melanin painting techniques that celebrate Black skin. Discover artists redefining Afrocentric art with depth and cultural power.
Mary Jackson Learned Basket Sewing at Four. The MacArthur Foundation Noticed.
Mary Jackson learned sweetgrass basket sewing at four in Mount Pleasant, SC. In 2008 the MacArthur Foundation named her a Fellow.
The Kitchen Table Series, Explained: One Woman, One Table, Everything
What Carrie Mae Weems's Kitchen Table Series actually shows, where it lives in museums today, and why one table still says so much.
The Sugar Shack: The Most Famous Black Painting You Grew Up With
The story behind Ernie Barnes' Sugar Shack, from a segregated Durham dance hall to Marvin Gaye's album cover to a $15.3M sale.
Charles White's Love Letters: Tenderness as Dignity
Charles White titled two solemn portraits "Love Letter." Neither shows romance. Here is why that title still fits, and what it teaches about the ar...
Binky and Tony Forever: The Photograph That Became an Anthem
How Deana Lawson's 2009 photograph "Binky and Tony Forever" reached a million hands as the cover of Blood Orange's Freetown Sound.
Derrick Adams Painted Black People Resting. That Was the Point.
Derrick Adams's Floaters series turned Black rest into a subject worth painting. Here is why that image was missing, and what its return records.
Three Afrofuturist Artists to Know (And How We Verified Them)
Three Afrofuturist artists worth knowing, each fact-checked against museum and artist sources: Lina Iris Viktor, Cyrus Kabiru, Nettrice Gaskins.
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One email a month: new essays, new work on the easel, and first look at new pieces. No noise.
The artist's side of the canvas.
Every piece in the flagship exhibition is painted, then printed to order on museum-grade canvas. 53 works are hanging now.
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