Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of the most recognisable artists of the present, started out as a graffiti artist before turning to painting. Through gritty, expressive lines and societal observations, his work verbalized the dramas of Blackness, race and the brutality of the city. Basquiat’s work was both intimate and universal, severing the boundaries between the realm of art and the world of street.
Jacob Lawrence was another great Harlem Renaissance leader who also produced some of the most vibrant, influential accounts of Black life in America. His “The Migration of the Negro” series (1941) was and still is one of the most compelling images of the black experience, describing the migration of Black Americans from the rural South to the urban North in the early 20th century.
Faith Ringgold is best known for her provocative and engaging visual art – storytelling, social change, and explosive visual imagery. Her most renowned work are “story quilts” which use painting and quilting to create narratives about African American history, culture, and civil rights movements. Ringgold’s paintings routinely tackle questions of race, gender and inequality, and she’s long pushed for representation of Black women in the arts. As well as her quilts, Ringgold’s other mediums include painting, sculpture and children’s books – and each work is personal and politically charged. Her expressive aesthetics and commitment to social justice have made her a giant of modern art.
Kerry James Marshall is famous for his paintings that reflect the history of Black Americans. His portraits, which often focus on African Americans, disprove stereotypes while instilling pride and dignity in his subjects. One of his best-known pieces, “Past Times” (1997), is a commentary on the blackness of traditional Western art, and reimagines the force of representation.
Elizabeth Catlett authored works that glorified Black women, in many cases through depictions of the mother and the strength. Her sculptures were delicate and empowering, combining naturalism with symbolism to convey African American power and camaraderie.
Melvin Edwards is known for his steel sculptures that typically portray themes of struggle and self-realization. His “Lynch Fragments” series is an emotional, visceral critique of US race violence, rendered in welded steel to produce raw, abstract forms.
Amy Sherald is famous for her modern, unique portraits of Black people that question art’s notions of race and identity. She made a big splash with her portrait of the former First Lady Michelle Obama, released in 2018 at the National Portrait Gallery. Sherald’s trademark portraits are of pastel-colored, pastel-skinned figures against graphic, contrasting backgrounds, and are simultaneously abstract and realist. Her portraits generally talk about strength, beauty and Blackness in some way, their subjects contemplating or silently assertive. By excising any background or context in her paintings, Sherald invites the eye directly into the subject, which makes it more human and individual. She has been critically celebrated for the new, stylized way in which she depicts portraiture, and is lauded for changing the narrative of Blackness in art today.
Black History Month can be a way to honor Black artists, remember what they’ve done, and move forward on the conversation around race, identity and representation in art. Whether it is in the richness of Basquiat’s paintings, or in Bearden’s haunting collages, or in the expressions of the present generation, Black artists have always defined visual culture. It’s impossible to overstate the contribution of Black artists to modern and contemporary art. Their work continues to reach audiences around the world with their message to explore our past, face unpopular truths, and conceive of a world in which all voices matter.
A whole world on the tip of a pencil. The story of an artist who proved that true art has no limits and that it is never too late to start all over again.
International fashion icon and symbol of Parisian style, Ines de la Fressange is one of the most famous women in France.
Anastasia Pilepchuk is a Berlin-based artist with Buryat roots. She creates masks and face jewellery inspired by the nature and the culture of her beautiful region.
A whole world on the tip of a pencil. The story of an artist who proved that true art has no limits and that it is never too late to start all over again.
