Celebrating Black History Month:
ARTContent Editions Limited Relaunches Portraits in Excellence by Artist Frederick J. Brown
“I want to be a force for real good. In other words. I know that there are bad forces, forces that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.” - John Coltrane
PORTRAITS IN EXCELLENCE
This six-print portrait portfolio captures the tenacity of some of the most influential figures from African-American cultural history: Louis Armstrong, Johnny Hodges, Dexter Gordon, Sarah Vaughan, Oscar Peterson and John Coltrane.
A self-asserted visual anthropologist, Brown observed, “These people made America’s only real art form. They didn’t have subsidies or grants. They didn’t have respect as people and as artists. I want to put the romance back into how they are seen. These complex people created complex art. They’re not just beaten and hounded, like they’re usually shown.”
ARTContent Editions Limited had the privileged of working with Frederick Brown in 2005 to help produce this body of work. Please take a moment to enjoy Brown’s remarkable contribution to the history of Black identity and culture; may these works echo as loud as the artist’s legacy.
EXHIBITIONS
Frederick J. Brown: Dreams and the Possibility of… Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling
On View through September 27, 2020
Celebrating African-American history through inspired programming and engaging arts education, the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling has become a cornerstone of Harlem, New York. Home to the Harlem Renaissance of the early 20th Century — a period that manifested some of the greatest literature, music, stage performance and art known in America to date — visit Sugar Hill to check out Frederick Brown’s exploration of themes of ancestry, belief, and culture. The exhibition — co-curated by the artist’s son, Bentley Brown — runs now through September 2020.
THE NEW VANGUARD
On November 14th, 2019, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum announced the appointment of Ashley James as Associate Curator, Contemporary Art. James’ work merges curatorial practice with an academic background rooted in African American studies, English literature, and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. James will occupy her position as the first full-time black curator in the museum’s 60 year history, showing their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Women of Colour represent 36.3 percent of the female population and approximately 18 percent of the entire U.S. population. We’d like to bring attention to the individuals who are augmenting this integral point of view through their contribution to Contemporary Art Curation. Barely scratching the surface of en ever-expanding list of visionary Women of Colour, here are some of our Notable Mentions:
Legacy Russell Studio Museum Harlem Naomi Beckwith Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Erin Christovale Hammer Museum at the University of California Lauren Haynes Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, Arkansas Ashley James Guggenheim Museum New York Rujeko Hockney Whitney Museum of American Art Adrienne Edwards Whitney Museum of American Art Kelli Morgan Indianapolis Museum of Art Vera Grant University of Michigan Museum of Art Jade Powers Kemper Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
MAKING STRIDES
The last year ushered in many landmarks for living black artists and as we enter a new decade, we look forward to honouring more moments like these...
Acclaimed artist Kara Walker presents one of the most ambitious Hyundai Commissions to date, Fons Americanus is a 13-metre tall working fountain inspired by the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, London. Exploring the abounding complexities that exist between artist, spectacle and viewer, the accompanying wall text ends with the words: “Created by that Celebrated Negress of the New World / Madame Kara E. Walker, NTY.” (NTY stand for “not titled yet.”) Walker continues to position herself as one of the most audacious living artists today.
“Breaker of glass ceilings” and independent curator Chaédria LaBouvier becomes the first black woman/person to curate an exhibition at the Guggenheim with Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Defacement”: The Untold Story. The Death of Michael Stewart, informally known as Defacement, created in 1983, commemorates the fate of the young, black artist Michael Stewart at the hands of New York City Transit Police after allegedly tagging a wall in an East Village subway station.
Kerry James Marshall Painting Sells For Nearly $18.5 Million at Sotheby’s, Second-Highest Price at Auction for a Work by a Living African American Artist.
Kerry James Marshall B.1955 VIGNETTE 19 signed with the artist's initials and dated 2014 acrylic on PVC 71 3/4 by 60 in. 182.2 by 152.4 cm.
“What's the world for you if you can't make it up the way you want it?”
- Toni Morssion, Jazz
In loving memory.