Charles White News

This summer, the 21st Annual JAW: A Playwrights Festival brings three new plays to The Armory for two weeks of script workshopping that will culminate in the JAW Big Weekend, where public staged readings of the scripts will be presented along with performances from local artists and classes. This year's plays are What Are You Worth? by Kara Lee Korthron, an adaptation of Howards End by Caroline Hewitt, and Otto Frank by Roger Guenveur Smith.

Dorothi Fox and Arthur French will star in the premiere of 'Imminently Yours' by Karimah, to be presented by The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) from June 17 to 30 at Theatre 80, 80 St. Marks Place. The play deals with the socio/philosophical issues of expropriation of their land and history by eminent domain in today's politics.  A secret mountain enclave has been inhabited for centuries by descendants of slaves. When its tradition of secrecy is breached by a millenial resident, the remote hamlet is discovered by the state's governor, who aims to evict its elderly residents by eminent domain for nonpayment of taxes, but underestimates the savvy community there. The play depicts an antagonistic society pitted against elders who are peacefully reliving their history. Generations ban together as they learn the past, teach the present and fight for their legacy. Count Stovall directs.

UTA Artist Space and Kasseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean are pleased to announce the launch of a one-on-one interview series that puts distinguished creatives across contemporary art, music, and film in conversation and in front of the camera. The series launches today, March 22, 2019, and features Swizz Beatz, Carrie Mae Weems, Troy Carter, Terence Nance, Arthur Jafa, and more.

UTA Artist Space and Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Deanare proud to present DREAMWEAVERS, a group exhibition curated by Nicola Vassell that contemplates the surreal in society against a vigorously shifting 21st century. The exhibition opens February 13, 2019, 6-8 PM, at UTA Artist Space.

November 13th marks the third anniversary of the radio show now podcast, State of the Arts NYC. Hosted by Savona Bailey-McClain, public art curator and local historian, the show offers a behind-the-scene look for listeners. According to McClain, 'I am very proud that the show has covered the creative arts in all five boroughs. I am also proud that we have diverse guests that speak to our current times and how we can be more caring to one another'.

Charles White, born and educated in Chicago, was one of the preeminent artists to emerge during the city's Black Renaissance of the 1930s and 1940s. A passionate mural and easel painter and superbly gifted draftsman, White powerfully interpreted African American history, culture, and lives in striking works that nevertheless have a more universal resonance. Presented by the Art Institute of Chicago and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Charles White: A Retrospective runs June 8-September 3 at the Art Institute before traveling to MoMA, where it will be on view from October 7, 2018 through January 13, 2019, followed by Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in Spring 2019. Co-curated by Sarah Kelly Oehler, Field McCormick Chair and Curator of American Art, and Esther Adler, Associate Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, MoMA, the exhibition examines how White explored social and political themes ranging from the ongoing fight for freedom and equality to the dignity and struggles of labor. Throughout his career, he pushed against the boundaries of his media and the figurative tradition in American art.

ACA Galleries is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition that celebrates the range of styles and content in paintings, drawings and sculptures by African American artists from the 19th century to the present.

Tonight, April 2, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey will hold its annual spring benefit 'A Night Under the Stars' at the Art Center in Summit, featuring a seated VIP dinner with Live Auction followed by an After Party with cocktails, dessert and Silent Auction.

On Saturday, April 2, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey will hold its annual spring benefit "A Night Under the Stars" at the Art Center in Summit, featuring a seated VIP dinner with Live Auction followed by an After Party with cocktails, dessert and Silent Auction. 

CHICAGO – Eldzier Cortor, the painter and printmaker whose iconic images of African American life have made him one of the country's most revered artists, will be honored by the Art Institute of Chicago in February when he receives the museum's Legends and Legacy Award and his work is showcased in the special exhibition Eldzier Cortor Coming Home: Recent Gifts to the Art Institute.

CHICAGO – Eldzier Cortor, the painter and printmaker whose iconic images of African American life have made him one of the country's most revered artists, will be honored by the Art Institute of Chicago in February when he receives the museum's Legends and Legacy Award and his work is showcased in the special exhibition Eldzier Cortor Coming Home: Recent Gifts to the Art Institute.

Works by African-American Master Artists and their Contemporaries will grace The Faison Firehouse Theater in Harlem. Free and open to the public beginning Friday, October 4th & 5th, (Sunday October 6th by appointment)

Activism and artistic practice intersect in Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties, a presentation of 103 works by 66 artists that is among the few exhibitions to explore how painting, sculpture, graphics, and photography not only responded to the political and social turmoil of the era but also helped to influence its direction. Debuting at the Brooklyn Museum, where it will be on view from March 7 through July 6, 2014, the touring exhibition marks the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the events leading to this historic moment, and the aftermath of the legislation.

Under the taut and subtle direction of Shirley Serotsky and graced with a tremendously talented class, Theater J's The Hampton Years is nothing short of a triumph. Local playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton has given us a vital part of our history back-the humble but compelling beginnings of two towering figures in African-American art, John Biggers and Samella Lewis, who studied under Austrian refugee Viktor Lowenfeld at Virginia's Hampton Institute.

Golden Globe winner Charlie Sheen stars alongside Jason Schwartzman and Academy Award nominee Bill Murray in the fascinating comedy A GLIMPSE INTO THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III arriving on Blu-ray Disc and DVD today, May 14 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

Golden Globe winner Charlie Sheen stars alongside Jason Schwartzman and Academy Award nominee Bill Murray in the fascinating comedy A GLIMPSE INTO THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III arriving on Blu-ray Disc and DVD May 14 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

African-American Fine Art takes center stage at Swann Auction Galleries in NYC, tomorrow. The sale features an extraordinary selection of museum-quality paintings, sculptures and works on paper by important 19th and 20th century artists.

In this week's Meet the Press "PRESS Pass" conversation, David Gregory sat down with actor Denzel Washington, Olympian Michael Phelps, and Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) President Jim Clark to discuss the challenges facing America's children.

This exhibition showcases some 80 prints and artists' books the Museum has acquired over the past two years, and reveals how an art collection is always a work in progress. On view for the first time at MoMA, these seminal works in the history of printmaking span more than a century, from 1888 to 2011, with some contextualized by related works already in the collection.

Japan Society previously announced the New York debut of breakthrough singer JERO tonight June 9, where he will discuss his unlikely path to stardom and perform his celebrated take on the traditional Japanese balladry that is enka.