Editorial Guidelines
Last reviewed July 19, 2026.
I started Noirci Studio to sell my own paintings. It is bigger than that now, and other Black artists sell their work here too. The writing on this site carries all of our names, so it answers to the same standard the art does. What follows are the rules I hold every article to. If we ever fall short of them, I want you to be able to point at this page and hold me to it.
Where our facts come from
When we state a fact, it comes from a source that can be checked. We trust sources in this order, and we reach for the highest one available:
- Museums and galleries
- National archives and libraries
- Universities and university presses
- Peer-reviewed journals
- Government and public records
- The serious art press, such as Hyperallergic, Artnet, Artsy, and Culture Type
We do not cite encyclopedias, wikis, content farms, or other galleries. If a page cannot clear that bar, it does not earn a footnote here.
Every source is read before it is cited, not just linked to. When a claim cannot be checked against a real record, it comes out, even when it is the more interesting sentence. A vague true statement beats a specific false one every time.
Where the record itself is unsettled, we say so instead of picking the tidy version. In our piece on Romare Bearden, for example, the Smithsonian's own materials give two different years for his birth, and the article tells you that rather than quietly choosing one.
Each article ends with its sources. Every source in that list is one we actually leaned on in the piece. The list is not decoration.
Who writes this, and why it holds up
I am Robert Lawrence. I grew up in Atlanta, trained at Clark Atlanta University, and have been painting Black life from memory since 2006. There is more on how the studio started, and where it is going, on our about page.
I direct every article on this site. I choose the subjects, set the standard, and review the work before it goes live. The research and the drafting use the same modern tools any working studio reaches for now, but the judgment about what is true, what is fair, and what belongs under my name stays with me.
One line I will never blur. The art is not the writing. Every canvas we sell begins as an original painting by a Black artist, mine among them, and the artist earns a royalty on every sale. We do not accept AI-generated images, and we never will. That standard is the reason this place exists.
Editorial independence
We take no payment to feature or link to anything. There are no sponsored posts here and no affiliate deals dressed up as recommendations. Every link we make to another site is tagged so it passes no search authority, which is our way of promising you are never reading a placement someone bought.
We sell art, so we will tell you plainly when a piece in the shop fits what you are reading. We will not pretend a history lesson is neutral when it happens to end at our own shelf. You will always be able to see where the history stops and the sales pitch starts.
Corrections, takedowns, and reaching a person
Found a mistake in something we published? Tell me. Email editorial@noirci.studio and point me to the line. If you are right, I fix it, and I note that the page changed rather than pretend it always read that way.
That same address reaches an actual person about the images on this site. Most of them are made in house, or drawn from public domain and openly licensed collections and credited where they run. If you are an artist, an estate, or an institution, and you believe an image should not be here, write to me. I will take it down while I look into it, not after. Good faith earns good faith.
That is the whole standard. It is short on purpose.
Robert Lawrence, founder, Noirci Studio