Richard J. Powell

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Early life and education

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Career

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Richard Powell attended Howard University studying for his MFA in printmaking. While he was at Howard he applied and was admitted for a fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1977. It was here in New York that he started getting into art criticism. Powell attributes this as a pivotal turning point toward his career in art criticism.[1] From here Richard J Powell went on to become an acclaimed author writing dozens of books, a few being mentioned below.

Books

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Richard J Powell's first book is The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism published in 1989. The book highlights the uniqueness of African American art and it cultural roots.

Richard J Powell's latest book Going There: Black Visual Satire published in November 2020. The book includes the caricatures of African American culture made with both racist intention and for activism. An example of activism mentioned in the book, is Kara Walker's installation titled; A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby, an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant.

Richard Powell has written a number of books on African American art and its history. listed below are a few of his most notable works.

Powell is currently a professor of Art & Art History at Duke University. he has been a professor there since 1989.

Awards

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While attending Yale University Powell was awarded a scholarship from Fulbright scholarship. with this grant he was able to travel and research at Copenhagen's National Museum of Denmark and in the Scandinavian region.

In 2013 Powell received the Lawrence A. Fleischman Award [2]for Scholarly Excellence in the Field of American Art History from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. In 2016 at the College Art Association’s Annual Conference [3]he was named the year’s most Distinguished Scholar.

Work

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References

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Richard J. Powell.com

  1. ^ Ologundudu, Folasade (2021-02-18). "Richard J. Powell Was Once Among Only a Handful of Scholars Dedicated to Black Art History. Here's How He Has Seen the Field Change". Artnet News. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  2. ^ "Lawrence A. Fleischman Award for Scholarly Excellence Archives". Morehouse College Alumni Association. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  3. ^ "Annual Conference | Programs | CAA". www.collegeart.org. Retrieved 2021-12-13.