Black Abstractionism is a term that refers to a modern arts movement that celebrates Black artists of African ancestry, whether as direct descendants of Africa or of a combined mixed race heritage, who create work that is not representational, presenting the viewer with abstract expression, imagery, and ideas. Black Abstractionism can be found in painting, sculpture, collage, drawing, graphics, ceramics, installation, mixed media, craft and decorative arts.
Abstract art and Black artists
editMany artists have claimed responsibility for creating the first piece of abstract art, given the “non-representational” and “non-objective” subject matter of the work.[1] In the early 1900s, Francis Picabia painted Caoutchouc (Picabia) in 1909.[2] A year later, Wassily Kandinsky signed “1910” to one of his abstract watercolors, “Composition VII,” although many researchers believe that the work was actually created in 1913; Kandinsky may have backdated his work to claim credit for being the first abstract artist in modern art history unaware of Picabia's work the previous year.[3][4][1]
The first black artist to be recognized for creating an abstract work is just as interesting; the challenge with the abstract work associated with black artists is that it did not announce itself as BLACK, it did not conform to the image of Blackness that non-Black viewers expected to see.[5] The expectation was that Black artists would create exclusively representational art that included black faces and reflected the stereotypical images of the Black experience.[6][7] The irony is than many Black artists in the 1700s and 1800s created work that did not reflect “the Black experience" in their subject matter; they painted portraits of white families, sweeping landscapes of white owned lands, nativity scenes with all white characters, etc., as a way to make money as an artist. Some have argued that this was a “black experience.”[8]
The glaring omission of Black artists is evident throughout American art history.[9] What an artist creates has much to do with the artist's life experiences and history.[10] Many black artists felt marginalized in the white-dominated art world.[7][6] Museum leaders and gallery owners were rarely interested in the work of Black artists.[5][8] In recent years, several Black abstract painters have witnessed an increase in demand for their work, partly because of greater museum recognition and more gallery representations.[11] Historically, the Black Arts Movement focused on a racial equality narrative and viewed abstraction as a reflection of inequality, a privilege of the rich, and frowned on abstract work that was viewed as not contributing to racial justice.[12] Howardena Pindell and her abstractions were rejected by the Studio Museum in Harlem, encouraging her to “go downtown and show with the white boys,” and scolded for making work that was “not sufficiently black.”[6][13]
Black Abstractionism and the art that it represents was motivated by an attraction to blackness, embracing the discovery of “strategic abstraction” for all of its blackest possibilities.[14] Abstract artists and those associated with Black Abstractionism pushed art in a new direction, shifting the trendy and avant-garde dialogues away from Western Europe to the North America.[15] One of the major movements in African American art history since 1950, has been the understanding and presenting of abstract work by Black artists.[16] Black abstract artists face all of the same aesthetic, intellectual, and value questions that other abstract artists face and also have to confront individual and institutional biases regarding content as it relates to black abstract signals and symbols.[17]
History
editHarlem Renaissance to World War II
editThe Harlem Renaissance, or New Negro Movement of the 1920s, announced a new era for black artists and attempted to redefine the meaning of blackness, the Black experience, and Black art.[18] The Harlem Renaissance established black abstract, objective, and representational art as central to modern art history.[19] Many museum-goers have very little knowledge of black artists during the 1930s.[20] In the early 1930s, Aaron Douglas created paintings that were “geometric symbolism,” abstract, flat, and not adhering to standard conventions.[18] His murals at Fisk University provided HBCU students with daily exposure to art and the work of a black artist.[21] During the Great Depression, Americans viewed art more conservatively and grew suspicious of abstract images and art, some thinking that abstract images were propaganda of foreign countries.[18] Some may view abstract art as difficult to understand, yet black abstract artists have a history of using abstraction to speak to real situations.[3]
Sargent Claude Johnson was creating abstract work that married geometric shapes and forms rooted in African aesthetics as early as 1934.[22] A pioneer in the New Negro movement, Johnson's copper and enamel Mask (1934) was exhibited at The Met’s Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism exhibition in 2024.[19] In 1945, he created two abstract pieces, “Breakfast,” an oil painting, and “Lovers,” a terracotta sculpture, that are housed in the Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art.[23] Harlem Renaissance painter Beauford Delaney’s early abstract works, which predate the Abstract Expressionist movement, would make him the first Black American artist to create and exhibit an abstract work.[24][25] His 1941 abstract oil, “The Burning Bush,” was created before World War II and on paperboard and expresses a burning ball of color rising into a cloudy sky.[26] His 1946 abstract painting, “Greene Street,” was inspired by his Greenwich Village neighborhood, and in 1953, at the suggestion of his friend James Baldwin, Delaney moved to Paris, France, where he created more abstract work, including his 1957 “Untitled” oil on canvas.[24] In 1935, the Museum of Modern Art hosted, “African Negro Art,” a show that featured a variety of African sculptures and masks, as well Belgian Congolese abstract tufted cloth patterns, on loan from the Collection Henri-Matisse in Nice, France.[27]
Post–World War II
editIn 1948, Robert Blackburn, a Black graphic artist, opened the Printmaking Workshop, a 8,000 square foot studio in Chelsea.[28] A product of Harlem, Edwards designed and printed some of the most influential abstract and pop art prints of the 20th century.[29] Norman Lewis, who began his career as a social realist painter,[30] participated in the Artists’ Sessions lecture series at Studio 35 in New York, that became “Subjects of the Artist School,” signaling that abstract art was a serious field of study.[31][30] Lewis was one of the first Black abstract artists to exhibit at Museum of Modern Art.[32] His 1940s jazz-inspired abstract paintings would lay the foundation for Black Abstractionism.[6] Many abstract artists embraced the blues, jazz, and bebop as their guide for improvisation, lyricism and spontaneity,[15] and the recognition of Black artists who worked in abstraction runs parallel to the northward migration of the blues, jazz, and bebop.[12][16] Lewis’ abstract jazz images place him and work in the center of the Abstract Expressionism movement.[6][3] During the 1950s, Ed Clark began creating work with nontraditional painting items. He is best known using a push broom to complete canvases, as opposed to a standard paint brush. His “push broom technique” allowed him to expand how and where he could apply paint to a surface, and fueled an energy into his work that paralleled the sentiment of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Clark is credited with being the first artist to exhibit a shaped canvas at Brata Gallery, New York, in 1957.[33][34]
Civil rights movement and the 1960s
editIn 1968, the Studio Museum in Harlem organized, “Invisible Americans, Black Artists of the ’30s,” in response to a 1968 show at the Whitney Museum titled, The 1930s : Painting and Sculpture in America,” that did not include one Black artist.[35] The Studio Museum show included works by more than twenty artists, School of Paris-inspired abstract works by printmaker Ronald Joseph and painter Archibald Motley, two artist who were normally associated with representational work.[20]
In 1968, William T. Williams along with Melvin Edwards, Guy Ciarcia, and Billy Rose, founded Smokehouse Associates. For more than two years, Smokehouse filled vacant lots, barren walls, pocket parks, and neighborhood grocery store signs with abstract murals and sculptures as a way to engage the residents of and visitors to Harlem. The group presented abstract geometrical forms and uneven forms to promote community engagement with ultimate goal of inspiring Harlem residents to create art that would enhance their neighborhood.[36]
In the years surrounding the Smokehouse murals in Harlem, several artists, including Frank Bowling, Sam Gilliam, Alma Thomas, and Jack Whitten, were expanding the boundaries of Black Abstractionism and pushing the medium into new directions.[36] Painters were moving away from scenes of real events or the “outer world,” and delving into explanations of their souls or “inner world.”[15] In response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Sam Gilliam stained a large canvas with hot pinks and reds, draped it, and titled the work, “Red April,” a reference to the blood of a dead black man.[6] Gilliam is recognized as the first modern artist to create canvas work that is not supported by a frame.[37] Alma Thomas, a Columbus, Georgia native and the first graduate of the Howard University College of Fine Arts, became the first African-American woman to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum.[6][25][38] Following the opening of “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” at the Tate Modern, an artist remarked about the William T. Williams abstract painting “Trane” (1969) that was in the exhibition, “That painting has nothing to do with being Black.”[17]
Latter part of the twentieth century (1970–1999)
editAs abstract art gained acceptance and more black artists experimented with abstractions, black abstract artists became new discoverers of paintings techniques.[11][37] Jack Whitten is best known for his 1970s squeegee paintings, a style that he developed at least a decade before Gerhard Richter.[39][11]
In 1971, Hubert Taylor (1937–1991) painted an abstract mural at SEPTA 13th St. trolley station in Philadelphia.[40] In 1983, Taylor, an artist and architect, would become a founding member of Recherche, a Philadelphia-based coalition of black artists.[37]
In 1975, Alvin Smith had a one-man show, “Amherst Series,” at Amherst College’s Mead Art Gallery. His earlier work was representational, and this exhibit announced his transition to an “organic reductivism,” where he explored color pairings and relationships.[10]
In 1976, the LACMA unveiled “Two Centuries of Black American Art,” a major exhibit of African American art.[41] The survey show covered the work of black artists during the period of 1750 to 1950,[41] and excluded work by artists born after the 1920s.[9] The exhibit travelled to Atlanta, Brooklyn, and Dallas, and, at the time, was the largest museum exhibition of black artists and their work.[8]
In 1991, Kenkeleba Gallery in New York hosted “The Search for Freedom: African American Abstract Painting 1945-1975,” an Exhibition that featured 35 Black artists who considered to be at the “forefront of experiments and commitment to abstraction” during the middle part of the 20th century.[42]
Twenty-first century (2000–)
edit"Something To Look Forward To: An Exhibition Featuring Abstract Art By 22 Distinguished Americans Of African Descent," was presented at Franklin And Marshall College in 2004, and at the Morris Museum of Art in 2008.[43] The show featured several black abstract artists who began their careers in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which may explain why the National Endowment for the Arts rejected the curatorial team's grant proposal to fund the exhibition.[43]
In 2006, the Studio Museum in Harlem presented a blockbuster exhibition, "Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction 1964-1980," featuring the work 15 significant black abstract artists.[44][45] As part of the exhibit, Studio Museum hosted a round-table discussion and related events where artists, gallerists, and museum leaders delved into topics that shaped black abstraction, including the Black Arts Movement, jazz, and racial politics.[46]
In 2014, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery in New York hosted a painting and sculpture show that featured the work of Black abstract artists and their work in the years just before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement.[12]
In 2016, the Newark Museum opened a seven-month long exhibition, “Modern Heroics: 75 Years of African-American Expressionism at Newark Museum.”[47] The exhibit featured works by self-taught artists, works from the museum's permanent collection that were displayed for the first time, and a wide range of abstract art, including folk and outsider art.[48] That same year, Pace Gallery hosted “Blackness in Abstraction,” featuring the work of 29 Black and white abstract artists from different generations.[49]
In 2019, the Baltimore Museum of Art launched a major effort, “Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art.” The exhibit offered a broad perspective of the contributions black artists have made to the visual art world and the field of Black Modern Abstractionism, and featured several works from the Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida Collection.[50][3]
In 2022, the Green Family Foundation in Dallas, Texas, presented “Black Abstractionists: From Then 'til Now,” a show of 38 established and emerging Black abstract artists.[51] Two weeks later, Hampton University Museum presented the “Whoosah” exhibit to showcase the contributions of six black artists creating works in different forms of Black Abstractionism. The featured artists included Lillian T. Burwell, Sam Gilliam, Howardena Pindell, Junius Redwood, Frank Smith, and Hubert C. Taylor. The exhibited works were from the museum's permanent collection.[37]
In 2024, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans hosted, “Southern Abstraction: Works from the Permanent Collection,” including pieces by artists of all colors, including Black artists Beauford Delaney, Clementine Hunter, John T. Scott, Merton Simpson, and others.[15]
Related collectives, movements, schools, and trends
edit- AfriCOBRA (African Coalition of Black Revolutionary Artists)
- Black Artists Group
- Black Arts Movement
- Black intelligentsia[18]
- Black primitivism [18]
- Harlem Artists Guild
- Irascibles
- Organization of Black American Culture
- Spiral Group[38][52]
- Washington Color School
Artists
editThe following is a representative list of significant black artists who produced abstract work at some point in their careers. Many artists reject being labeled or categorized and express their creative development by moving to and from different mediums.[10] These artists and many of their works would be considered contributions to the Black Abstractionism canon.
- Charles Alston
- Patrick Alston[5][53]
- Emma Amos (painter)
- Jean-Michel Basquiat
- Romare Bearden
- Kevin Beasley
- John T. Biggers
- McArthur Binion
- Robert Blackburn
- Betty Blayton-Taylor
- Chakaia Booker
- Frank Bowling
- Mark Bradford
- Peter Bradley
- Vivian E. Browne
- Lilian T. Burwell
- Yvonne Pickering Carter
- Barbara Chase-Riboud
- Ed Clark
- Bethany Collins
- Larry Compton Callow[43][54]
- Eldzier Cortor
- Harold Cousins[12][55]
- Adger Cowans[42][56][57]
- Emilio Cruz (artist)
- Mary Reed Daniel[58][59]
- Thornton Dial
- Leonardo Drew
- David Driskell
- Torkwase Dyson
- Minnie Evans
- Fred Eversley
- Jadé Fadojutimi
- Charles Gaines
- Theaster Gates
- Herbert Gentry
- Ficre Ghebreyesus
- Ray Grist[42][60]
- David Hammons
- Felrath Hines
- Richard Hunt
- Bill Hutson
- Zell Ingram[42][61]
- Harlan Jackson[42][62]
- Gerald Jackson[63][64]
- Tomashi Jackson
- Virginia Jaramillo[51]
- Daniel LaRue Johnson[42]
- Rashid Johnson
- Sargent Claude Johnson
- Jennie C. Jones
- Rachel Jones[51]
- Samuel Levi Jones
- Ronald Joseph[42]
- Titus Kaphar
- Wifredo Lam
- Claude Lawrence[48]
- Norman Lewis
- Spencer Russell Lewis[5][51]
- Glenn Ligon
- James Little[17]
- Tom Lloyd
- Al Loving
- Rick Lowe[51]
- Richard Mayhew
- Donovan Mclean[65]
- Julie Mehretu
- Sam Middleton
- Algernon Miller[42]
- Gabriel Mills[51]
- Oscar Murillo[51]
- Serge Alain Nitegeka[66][67]
- Odili Donald Odita[17]
- Lorraine O’Grady
- Mary Lovelace O'Neal
- Joe Overstreet[42]
- Adam Pendleton
- James Phillips[68]
- Naudline Pierre[69]
- Howardena Pindell
- Adrian Piper
- Rose Piper[42]
- William Pope.L
- Martin Puryear
- Helen Evans Ramsaran
- Junius Redwood[37]
- John Rhoden
- Haywood Bill Rivers[42]
- Nellie Mae Rowe
- Raymond Saunders
- John T. Scott
- Tariku Shiferaw[5]
- Thomas Sills[42]
- Gary Simmons
- Lorna Simpson
- Merton Simpson
- Alvin Smith[70][71]
- Frank Smith[37]
- Shinique Smith
- Sylvia Snowden
- Vaughn Spann[51]
- Tavares Strachan
- Thelma Johnson Streat
- Reginald Sylvester II[51]
- Hubert C. Taylor[37]
- Alma Thomas
- Mickalene Thomas
- Bob Thompson[48]
- Mildred Thompson[42]
- Leo Twiggs
- Kara Walker
- Carrie Mae Weems
- Shoshanna Weinberger[48]
- Charles White
- Stanley Whitney[11][5]
- Jack Whitten
- William T. Williams
- Fred Wilson
- Frank Wimberley
- Hale Woodruff
- Dmitri Wright[47]
- Michaela Yearwood-Dan[51]
- Kenneth Victor Young
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Cramer, Charles, and Kim Grant. Who created the first abstract artwork? Historicism. The Center for Public Art History. https://smarthistory.org/who-created-the-first-abstract-artwork/
- ^ Caoutchouc. 1909. Picabia Francis (1879-1953), painter. Centre Pompidou - Musée national d'art moderne - Centre de création industrielle. Paris, France. https://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/06-509253-2C6NU0BSU01T.html
- ^ a b c d Robinson, Shantay. Black Abstraction: Symbolizing Reality for Meaning. Black Art in America. August 20, 2022. https://www.blackartinamerica.com/blogs/news/black-abstraction-symbolizing-reality-for-meaning
- ^ Kandinsky's First Abstract Work? Centre Pompidou. https://artsandculture.google.com/story/kandinsky-39-s-first-abstract-work-the-centre-pompidou/vAWxMm9crPIJpA?hl=en
- ^ a b c d e f Walker, Kendra. Five Contemporary Black Abstract Artists You Should Know. Cultured Magazine. March 16, 2021. https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2021/03/16/five-black-abstract-artists-you-should-know
- ^ a b c d e f g O’Grady, Megan. Once Overlooked, Black Abstract Painters Are Finally Given Their Due. New York Times Magazine. Feb. 12, 2021. Updated Oct. 13, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/t-magazine/black-abstract-painters.html
- ^ a b Cooks, Bridget R. How the Black Abstract Exhibition Moves America Away from Anemic Art History. BMA/Stories. October 3, 2019. https://stories.artbma.org/how-the-black-abstract-exhibition-moves-america-away-from-anemic-art-history/
- ^ a b c Stead, Rexford. Two Centuries of Black American Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Museum Associates of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1976.
- ^ a b McGee, Julie L. McGee. “The Evolution of a Black Aesthetic, 1920–1950”: David C. Driskell and Race, Ethics, and Aesthetics. Callaloo. Johns Hopkins University Press. Volume 31, Number 4, Fall 2008. pp. 1175-1185. 10.1353/cal.0.0241
- ^ a b c Ghent, Henri. Alvin Smith. Artforum. March 1975. https://www.artforum.com/features/alvin-smith-209704/
- ^ a b c d Harper, Darla Simone. Black Abstract Artists Are Finally Being Recognized by the Art Market. Artsy.net. February 15, 2021. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-black-abstract-artists-finally-recognized-art-market
- ^ a b c d Beyond the Spectrum: Abstraction in African American Art, 1950-1975. Press Release. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York. 2014. https://www.michaelrosenfeldart.com/exhibitions/beyond-the-spectrum-abstraction-in-african-american-art-1950-1975/installation-views/13
- ^ McMillan, Uri. Embodied Avatars: Genealogies of Black Feminist Art and Performance. Chapter 4: Is This Performance about You? The Art, Activism, and Black Feminist Critique of Howardena Pindell. NYU Press. 2012. https://academic.oup.com/nyu-press-scholarship-online/book/23728/chapter-abstract/184955510?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false
- ^ Crawford, Margo Natalie. Black Post-Blackness: The Black Arts Movement and Twenty-First-Century Aesthetics. University of Illinois Press. 2017. https://doi.org/10.5406/illinois/9780252041006.003.0003
- ^ a b c d Southern Abstraction: Works from the Permanent Collection. Ogden Museum of Art, New Orleans. March 4 - October 13, 2024. https://ogdenmuseum.org/exhibition/southern-abstraction/
- ^ a b Jennings, Corrine. The Search For Freedom: African American Abstract Painting 1945-1975. Catalogue Introduction from Director. Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, USA. 1991. https://diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=746&table=artefacts
- ^ a b c d Barcio, Phillip. The Most Influential Living African American Abstract Artists. IDEELART. Jun 24, 2020.https://www.ideelart.com/magazine/african-american-abstract-artists
- ^ a b c d e Driskell, David L. The Evolution of a Black Aesthetic, 1920-1950. Introductory Essay. Two Centuries of Black American Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Museum Associates of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1976.
- ^ a b The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism. Exhibition Catalogue. The Met. February 25–July 28, 2024.https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/the-harlem-renaissance-and-transatlantic-modernism
- ^ a b Pincus-Warren, Robert. “Black Artists of the 1930s, Whitney Museum of American Art.” Artforum. VOL. 7, NO. 6. February 1969. https://www.artforum.com/events/black-artists-of-the-1930s-234751/
- ^ Gasman, Marybeth. Why Historically Black Fisk University Needs An Art Museum Now. Forbes. March 14, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/marybethgasman/2023/03/14/why-historically-black-fisk-university-needs-an-art-museum-now/?sh=70dfe86d1adf
- ^ The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism. Exhibition Catalogue. The Met. February 25–July 28, 2024. https://cdn.sanity.io/files/cctd4ker/production/11732a99e27813e22c19c79e2c53753972c1ada5.pdf
- ^ Sargent Claude Johnson (1888-1967). The Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art. San Francisco, CA. https://www.holmesartgallery.com/sargentjohnson
- ^ a b Knick, Dawson. Beauford Delaney: Harlem Renaissance & Abstract Painter. Off the Grid. Village Preservation Blog. February 18, 2020. https://www.villagepreservation.org/2020/02/18/beauford-delaney-harlem-renaissance-abstract-painter/
- ^ a b Porter, Melissa. Abstract Expressionism (1943–1955). African American Museum of Iowa. August 30, 2023. https://blackiowa.org/cool_timeline/abstract-expressionism-1943-1955/
- ^ Beauford Delaney, The Burning Bush, 1941. https://www.artsy.net/artwork/beauford-delaney-the-burning-bush
- ^ Sweeney, James Johnson (ed). African Negro art. Museum of Modern Art: New York. 1935. Exhibition URL: www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2937; https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_2937_300086871.pdf
- ^ Creative Space: Fifty Years of Robert Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop Founding the Printmaking Workshop. The Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/blackburn/blackburn-founding.html
- ^ The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art: Works on Paper. “The Importance of Black Printmakers: Innovation and Influence.” Exhibition Guide. Bullock Museum. 05/20/2023 - 10/01/2023. https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/upload/files/exhibits/kelley-art-collection/KAC_exhibit_guide_English.pdf
- ^ a b Bynoe, Yvonne. Why Abstract Art Matters to Black Americans. Black Art in America. July 18, 2022. https://www.blackartinamerica.com/blogs/news/why-abstract-art-matters-to-black-americans
- ^ Rubin, Lena. The April 1950 Artists’ Sessions at Studio 35. Off The Grid. Village Preservation Blog. April 21, 2021. https://www.villagepreservation.org/2021/04/21/the-april-1950-artists-sessions-at-studio-35/
- ^ Amsterdam News Staff. Historic African American ephemera on permanent display at the NYPL. Amsterdam News. September 23, 2021. https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2021/09/23/historic-african-american-ephemera-permanent-displ/
- ^ Ed Clark (1926–2019). Studio Museum in Harlem Collection. https://www.studiomuseum.org/artists/ed-clark
- ^ “Remembering Ed Clark,” Hauser & Wirth, accessed October 10, 2022, hauserwirth.com/events/35059-remembering-ed-clark/
- ^ Haas, Eleanor. Blacks Talk Back to the Whitney. Press release. November 14, 1968. https://www.abebooks.com/Invisible-Americans-Black-Artists-30s-Related/31300937176/bd#&gid=1&pid=1
- ^ a b ABSTRACTION. Collection in Context. Studio Museum in Harlem. https://www.studiomuseum.org/collection/themes/abstraction
- ^ a b c d e f g The Hampton University Museum Presents: Whoosah Exhibit. October 21, 2022 – Ongoing. https://home.hamptonu.edu/blog/2022/11/08/the-hampton-university-museum-presents-whoosah-exhibit/
- ^ a b Black Abstract Artists: Exploring Innovative Techniques. Abstract Artists From Alma Thomas to Jack Whitten. Swann Galleries. https://www.swanngalleries.com/news/african-american-art/2022/05/black-abstract-artists-exploring-innovative-techniques/#:~:text=These%20artists%20include%20Alma%20Thomas,Victor%20Young%20and%20Jack%20Whitten.
- ^ Valdés, Constanza Ontiveros. Pamela J. Joyner: an activist collector reframing art history. Art Collection. May 17, 2022. https://artcollection.io/blog/pamela-j-joyner-an-activist-collector-reframing-art-history
- ^ Saxon, Robert S., Sr. Hubert Taylor (1937-1991). https://saxoncapers.wordpress.com/2017/03/01/__trashed-5/
- ^ a b Two Centuries of Black American Art. LACMA. Sep 30–Nov 21, 1976. https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/two-centuries-black-american-art
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m The Search For Freedom: African American Abstract Painting 1945-1975. Exhibition catalogue. Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, USA. 1991. https://diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=746&table=artefacts
- ^ a b c Uhles, Steven. Exhibition focuses on works of black artists. Augusta Chronicle. March 20, 2008. https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/entertainment/arts/2008/03/20/art-191610-shtml/64546196007/
- ^ Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964-1980, April 2-July 2, 2006. Studio Museum in Harlem exhibition publication. The Studio Museum in Harlem, 2006. https://store.studiomuseum.org/products/energy-experimentation-black-artists-and-abstraction-1964-1980
- ^ Cotter, Holland. Energy and Abstraction at the Studio Museum in Harlem. New York Times. April 7, 2006. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/arts/design/energy-and-abstraction-at-the-studio-museum-in-harlem.html
- ^ Meyer, Richard. “Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964-1980.” Artforum. January 1, 2006. https://www.artforum.com/events/energy-experimentation-black-artists-and-abstraction-1964-1980-181708/
- ^ a b Modern Heroics: 75 Years of African American Expressionism, Newark Museum of Art. June 18, 2016-January 8, 2017. https://newarkmuseumart.org/exhibition/modern-heroics/
- ^ a b c d Modern Heroics. 18 Jun 2016 — 8 Jan 2017 at the Newark Museum in Newark, United States. Meer. December 12, 2016. https://www.meer.com/en/21949-modern-heroics
- ^ Blackness in Abstraction, Jun 24 – Aug 19, 2016. Pace Gallery. New York. https://www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/blackness-in-abstraction/
- ^ Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art. Baltimore Museum of Art. September 28, 2019 — January 18, 2020. https://artbma.org/exhibition/generations-a-history-of-black-abstract-art/
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Black Abstractionists: From Then 'til Now, October 8, 2022 - January 29, 2023. Exhibition press release. Green Family Foundation, Dallas, Texas. https://www.greenfamilyartfoundation.org/exhibitions/10-black-abstractionists-from-then-til-now-curated-by-dexter-wimberly/
- ^ The Life and Legacy of the Spiral Group. Artland Magazine. https://magazine.artland.com/the-life-and-legacy-of-the-spiral-group/
- ^ Patrick Alston. https://www.patrickalston.com/copy-of-home
- ^ https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/WILLIAM-LAWRENCE-COMPTON-KOLAWOLE-(1931--)-Two-untitled-et?saleno=2359&lotNo=21&refNo=691736
- ^ Buhe, Elizabeth. Harold Cousins: Forms of Empty Space. The Brooklyn Rail. March 2023. https://brooklynrail.org/2023/03/artseen/Harold-Cousins-Forms-of-Empty-Space
- ^ Adger Cowans. https://www.adgercowans.com/about
- ^ Adger Cowans: Sense and Sensibility. Fairfield University. January 28 - June 18, 2022. https://www.fairfield.edu/museum/adgercowans/
- ^ https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/upload/files/exhibits/kelley-art-collection/KAC_exhibit_guide_English.pdf
- ^ African-American Fine Art. Mary Reed Daniel (1946 - ). Untitled (Magenta Abstraction). 1988. https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/MARY-REED-DANIEL-(1946----)-Untitled-(Magenta-Abstraction)?saleno=2535&lotNo=144&refNo=767471
- ^ Ray Grist. Abstract Paintings. https://raygrist.com/paintings
- ^ ‘The Harlem Artists Guild’ by Gwendolyn Bennett from Art Front. Vol. 3 No. 4. May, 1937. https://revolutionsnewsstand.com/2024/02/19/the-harlem-artists-guild-by-gwendolyn-bennett-from-art-front-vol-3-no-4-may-1937/
- ^ 1948/1949 Harlan Jackson, Stanley Hayter, Haiti, 'The Lead Shoes.' SF Artists Alumni. https://www.sfartistsalumni.org/post/1948-1949-harlan-jackson-stanley-hayter-haiti-the-lead-shoes
- ^ Whitney, Stanley, and Gerald Jackson. An Oral History with Gerald Jackson by Stanley Whitney. BOMB Magazine. January 19, 2016. https://bombmagazine.org/articles/2016/01/19/gerald-jackson/
- ^ Soboleva, Ksenia. Gerald Jackson. The Brooklyn Rail. Dec 21-Jan 22. https://brooklynrail.org/2021/12/artseen/Gerald-Jackson
- ^ Live Painting by Donovan Mclean!, October 22, 2020, and Saturday, October 24, 2020. https://www.lincolnwoodtowncenter.com/events-calendar/event-two-nz5c3-jh37x-xfml9-c5a98-9a6fc-ebnrn
- ^ Serge Alain Nitegeka. Buffalo AKG Art Museum. https://buffaloakg.org/artworks/201429a-c-black-subjects-still-ii
- ^ Serge Alain Nitegeka. Marianne Boesky Gallery. https://marianneboeskygallery.com/artists/42-serge-alain-nitegeka/biography/
- ^ African American: Two Hundred Years of African American Fine Art. https://home.hamptonu.edu/msm/african-american/
- ^ https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-black-collectors-shaping-future-art
- ^ Alvin Smith (1933-). SAAM. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/alvin-smith-5884
- ^ Alvin Smith lectures at the University of Connecticut. Archives and Special Collections, University of Connecticut Library. November 14, 1978. https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/digital_objects/2971