Richard J. Powell

Examines key musical, painted, and photographic works of art by top twentieth-century black artists, noting their reflection of black culture as both subject and context, and covering in a revised edition new artists and video art. Original.

A Cultural History

Black Art

Includes African American artist profiles, offers an examination of the social and cultural context of every type of art form from painting to performance art, and looks at the role of the Black artist

Black Art and Culture in the 20th Century

Henry Louis Gates

Jacqueline Francis

David Bindman

Karen C. C. Dalton

The Twentieth Century - The Rise of Black Artists

Image of the Black in Western Art Vol. V

Hayward Gallery

David A. Bailey

Corcoran Gallery of Art

Institute of International Visual Arts

Explores the paintings, photographs, and performances significant to the Harlem Renaissance

Art of the Harlem Renaissance

Rhapsodies in Black

A kaleidoscopic survey of black satire in 20th- and 21st-century American art In this groundbreaking study, Richard J. Powell investigates the visual forms of satire produced by black artists in 20th- and 21st-century America. Underscoring the historical use of visual satire as antiracist dissent and introspective critique, Powell argues that it has a distinctly African American lineage. Taking on some of the most controversial works of the past century—in all their complexity, humor, and provocation—Powell raises important questions about the social power of art. Expansive in both historical reach and breadth of media presented, Going There interweaves discussions of such works as the midcentury cartoons of Ollie Harrington, the installations of Kara Walker, the paintings of Robert Colescott, and the movies of Spike Lee. Other artists featured in the book include David Hammons, Arthur Jafa, Beverly McIver, Howardena Pindell, Betye Saar, and Carrie Mae Weems. Thoroughly researched and rich in context, Going There is essential reading in the history of satire, racial politics, and contemporary art.

Black Visual Satire

Going There

This groundbreaking study explores the visual representations of Black culture across the globe throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. The African diaspora—a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade and Western colonialism—has generated a wide array of artistic achievements, from blues and reggae to the paintings of the pioneering American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner and the music videos of Solange. This study concentrates on how these works, often created during times of major social upheaval and transformation, use Black culture both as a subject and as context. From musings on “the souls of black folk” in late-nineteenth-century art to questions of racial and cultural identities in performance, media, and computer-assisted arts in the twenty-first century, this book examines the philosophical and social forces that have shaped Black presence in modern and contemporary visual culture. Renowned art historian Richard J. Powell presents Black art drawn from across the African diaspora, with examples from the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe. Black Art features artworks executed in a broad range of media, including film, photography, performance art, conceptual art, advertising, and sculpture. Now updated and expanded, this new edition helps to better understand how the first two decades of the twenty-first century have been a transformative moment in which previous assumptions about race and identity have been irrevocably altered, with art providing a useful lens through which to think about these compelling issues.

Black Art: A Cultural History (Third) (World of Art)

Drama and Thrills – liberally spiced with Romance and HumorMarcia Thompson is a celebrated dancer in 1920's Melbourne Australia. When her best friend is kidnapped at Flemington racecourse, Marcia receives a ransom demand – the first of several – as other people she loves also fall prey to a very clever extortionist who will stop at nothing to ruin Marcia – financially, physically and emotionally. Marcia is driven to her wits end as the extortionist leads her on a not-so-merry dance around the state of Victoria. For a long time, she has no idea who this person is or why he is persecuting her. Her fiancé is Inspector Jack O'Brien who is singled out for special treatment by the extortionist, but through some dogged detective work he manages to break into the extortionist's group of accomplices. He does his best to protect Marcia but when the kidnapper strikes again, Marcia decides enough is enough and circumstances force her to hatch a daring plan that will end in either her death – or freedom.

The Extortionist

Examining portraits of black people over the past two centuries, Cutting a Figure argues that these images should be viewed as a distinct category of portraiture that differs significantly from depictions of people with other racial and ethnic backgrounds. The difference, Richard Powell contends, lies in the social capital that stems directly from the black subject’s power to subvert dominant racist representations by evincing such traits as self-composure, self-adornment, and self-imagining. Powell forcefully supports this argument with evidence drawn from a survey of nineteenth-century portraits, in-depth case studies of the postwar fashion model Donyale Luna and the contemporary portraitist Barkley L. Hendricks, and insightful analyses of images created since the late 1970s. Along the way, he discusses major artists—such as Frédéric Bazille, John Singer Sargent, James Van Der Zee, and David Hammons—alongside such overlooked producers of black visual culture as the Tonka and Nike corporations. Combining previously unpublished images with scrupulous archival research, Cutting a Figure illuminates the ideological nature of the genre and the centrality of race and cultural identity in understanding modern and contemporary portraiture.

Fashioning Black Portraiture

Cutting a Figure

Amnon Cavari

Kenneth R. Mayer

This edited collection evaluates the election and its outcome by analyzing the campaign, voting preferences and forecasts, and some predictions and assessments of President Trump’s administration.

Richard J. Powell

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