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American artist Allan Rohan Crite described himself as an “artist-reporter,” and this painting shows that ethic clearly. Made in 1936, the year he finished his studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and while he was working within the WPA era, the picture records children leaving the annex of Everett Elementary School in Boston’s South End, where boys and girls were taught separately. A wide city street opens in bright afternoon light as a crowd of schoolchildren pours out from a brick school building and fenced yard. Most of the figures are girls, joined here and there by adult women who seem to be mothers, older sisters, or caretakers. Crite arranges them in small clusters so the painting feels lively but never chaotic. Some children stroll shoulder to shoulder, some hurry ahead, some pause to talk, and one pair appears caught in a brief disagreement. Dresses, bows, hats, socks, and polished shoes vary from child to child, giving each girl her own presence rather than reducing the group to a pattern. The sidewalks are clean, the school and neighboring apartments are carefully kept, and the whole scene feels structured, observant, and full of motion. Although dozens of figures appear, the mood is intimate. This is not a spectacle but a neighborhood moment, seen with care from within community life. The painting reaches beyond one place. Rather than portraying Black urban life through stereotype or hardship alone, Crite insists on dignity, order, individuality, and shared belonging. Even during the Depression, he paints a stable neighborhood whose strength comes from family, schooling, and mutual care. The women and girls are central to that meaning. They carry the rhythm of the scene and embody continuity between home, street, and school. The result is both documentary and quietly radical for a vision of Black everyday life as dignified, self-possessed, and worthy of lasting record.

American artist Allan Rohan Crite described himself as an “artist-reporter,” and this painting shows that ethic clearly. Made in 1936, the year he finished his studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and while he was working within the WPA era, the picture records children leaving the annex of Everett Elementary School in Boston’s South End, where boys and girls were taught separately. A wide city street opens in bright afternoon light as a crowd of schoolchildren pours out from a brick school building and fenced yard. Most of the figures are girls, joined here and there by adult women who seem to be mothers, older sisters, or caretakers. Crite arranges them in small clusters so the painting feels lively but never chaotic. Some children stroll shoulder to shoulder, some hurry ahead, some pause to talk, and one pair appears caught in a brief disagreement. Dresses, bows, hats, socks, and polished shoes vary from child to child, giving each girl her own presence rather than reducing the group to a pattern. The sidewalks are clean, the school and neighboring apartments are carefully kept, and the whole scene feels structured, observant, and full of motion. Although dozens of figures appear, the mood is intimate. This is not a spectacle but a neighborhood moment, seen with care from within community life. The painting reaches beyond one place. Rather than portraying Black urban life through stereotype or hardship alone, Crite insists on dignity, order, individuality, and shared belonging. Even during the Depression, he paints a stable neighborhood whose strength comes from family, schooling, and mutual care. The women and girls are central to that meaning. They carry the rhythm of the scene and embody continuity between home, street, and school. The result is both documentary and quietly radical for a vision of Black everyday life as dignified, self-possessed, and worthy of lasting record.

“School’s Out” by Allan Rohan Crite (American) - Oil on canvas / 1936 - Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, District of Columbia) #WomenInArt #art #artText #AllanRohanCrite #Crite #SmithsonianAmericanArtMuseum #SAAMuseum #AmericanArt #BlackArtist #AfricanAmericanArt #BlackArt #1930sArt

3 weeks ago 50 8 0 1
A large story quilt opens onto a glowing field of sunflowers beneath a pale blue sky and buildings of Arles, France. Across the center, eight Black women stand shoulder to shoulder behind a quilt patterned with “Van Gogh” sunflowers: Madam C. J. Walker, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Ella Baker. Their names are written on the edge before them, turning the picture into both portrait and record. At lower left is Willia Marie Simone, American artist Faith Ringgold’s fictional Black woman artist-traveler from her “The French Collection” series, looking upward into the scene. At far right, iconic artist Vincent van Gogh stands apart holding cut sunflowers, more observer than hero. Handwritten text runs along the border, so the quilt is image, story, and testimony at once. Ringgold transforms Arles from a site of European artistic myth into a gathering place for Black women’s intellect, labor, survival, and political imagination. Quilting is the key. It is communal rather than solitary, historically linked to women’s work, Black memory, and intergenerational making. These sitters are not random icons but builders of freedom like abolition, anti-lynching journalism, civil rights, education, economic self-determination, and grassroots organizing stitched into one shared surface. The sunflower carries layered meaning. It nods to van Gogh, but Ringgold reclaims that visual legacy, placing Black women at the center while the famous male painter stands respectfully at the edge. In Ringgold’s broader thinking, quilting can stand for piecing a broken world back together. This work imagines art as collective world-making. Born in Harlem, Ringgold had learned sewing and fabric traditions through her mother, Willi Posey, and by 1991 she was fully using the story quilt to collapse the old hierarchy between “fine art” and so-called craft. Here, the women author history, beauty, and change together.

A large story quilt opens onto a glowing field of sunflowers beneath a pale blue sky and buildings of Arles, France. Across the center, eight Black women stand shoulder to shoulder behind a quilt patterned with “Van Gogh” sunflowers: Madam C. J. Walker, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Ella Baker. Their names are written on the edge before them, turning the picture into both portrait and record. At lower left is Willia Marie Simone, American artist Faith Ringgold’s fictional Black woman artist-traveler from her “The French Collection” series, looking upward into the scene. At far right, iconic artist Vincent van Gogh stands apart holding cut sunflowers, more observer than hero. Handwritten text runs along the border, so the quilt is image, story, and testimony at once. Ringgold transforms Arles from a site of European artistic myth into a gathering place for Black women’s intellect, labor, survival, and political imagination. Quilting is the key. It is communal rather than solitary, historically linked to women’s work, Black memory, and intergenerational making. These sitters are not random icons but builders of freedom like abolition, anti-lynching journalism, civil rights, education, economic self-determination, and grassroots organizing stitched into one shared surface. The sunflower carries layered meaning. It nods to van Gogh, but Ringgold reclaims that visual legacy, placing Black women at the center while the famous male painter stands respectfully at the edge. In Ringgold’s broader thinking, quilting can stand for piecing a broken world back together. This work imagines art as collective world-making. Born in Harlem, Ringgold had learned sewing and fabric traditions through her mother, Willi Posey, and by 1991 she was fully using the story quilt to collapse the old hierarchy between “fine art” and so-called craft. Here, the women author history, beauty, and change together.

“The French Collection Part I, #4: The Sunflowers Quilting Bee at Arles” by Faith Ringgold (American) - Acrylic on canvas with pieced fabric border / 1991 - Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (Illinois) #WomenInArt #WomensArt #WomenArtists #FaithRinggold #Ringgold #art #artText #BlackArt #MCAChicago

4 weeks ago 54 9 2 0
American artist John Biggers’s mature work often joined African and African American histories through pattern, symbol, ritual, and the monumental presence of women. Here, cloth suggests labor, inheritance, and cultural transmission, while birds, stars, spheres, and watery ground lift the scene into a cosmological register. The women are shown less as individual portraits than as bearers of knowledge, ancestry, and communal survival. Nine Black female figures gather in a shallow, luminous landscape that feels part earth, part water, part sky. They wear long patterned robes in warm browns, golds, reds, and greens, with several white headwraps rising like halos or crowns. Some hold or present woven cloth while others bend, turn, or lift their arms in gestures that feel ceremonial and communal rather than simply narrative. Birds glide overhead, stars and geometric orbs float around them, and the surface is threaded with circular, diamond, and textile-like motifs. Their bodies are elongated and graceful, their faces calm and masklike, and the entire composition moves in a wide arc, as though the women are weaving not only fabric but rhythm, memory, and shared presence. No men appear. The painting centers women as a collective force: dignified, watchful, spiritually grounded, and deeply connected to one another. Biggers’s travels in West Africa reshaped his visual language, and this painting reflects that turn toward African design systems and sacred structure. The title adds another layer: “Band of Angels” suggests protection, song, or spiritual company, while “the Seventh Word” likely evokes a final sacred utterance, though its exact meaning remains unclear to me. That uncertainty gives the work part of its power. It feels like a vision of women weaving together the earthly and the divine, making culture into a living, sheltering act.

American artist John Biggers’s mature work often joined African and African American histories through pattern, symbol, ritual, and the monumental presence of women. Here, cloth suggests labor, inheritance, and cultural transmission, while birds, stars, spheres, and watery ground lift the scene into a cosmological register. The women are shown less as individual portraits than as bearers of knowledge, ancestry, and communal survival. Nine Black female figures gather in a shallow, luminous landscape that feels part earth, part water, part sky. They wear long patterned robes in warm browns, golds, reds, and greens, with several white headwraps rising like halos or crowns. Some hold or present woven cloth while others bend, turn, or lift their arms in gestures that feel ceremonial and communal rather than simply narrative. Birds glide overhead, stars and geometric orbs float around them, and the surface is threaded with circular, diamond, and textile-like motifs. Their bodies are elongated and graceful, their faces calm and masklike, and the entire composition moves in a wide arc, as though the women are weaving not only fabric but rhythm, memory, and shared presence. No men appear. The painting centers women as a collective force: dignified, watchful, spiritually grounded, and deeply connected to one another. Biggers’s travels in West Africa reshaped his visual language, and this painting reflects that turn toward African design systems and sacred structure. The title adds another layer: “Band of Angels” suggests protection, song, or spiritual company, while “the Seventh Word” likely evokes a final sacred utterance, though its exact meaning remains unclear to me. That uncertainty gives the work part of its power. It feels like a vision of women weaving together the earthly and the divine, making culture into a living, sheltering act.

“Band of Angels: Weaving the Seventh Word” by John Biggers (American) - Oil & acrylic on canvas / 1992–1993 - Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (Hartford, Connecticut) #WomenInArt #JohnBiggers #Biggers #art #ArtText #WadsworthAtheneum #TheWadsworth #AfricanAmericanArt #BlackArt #AfricanAmericanArtist

4 weeks ago 52 11 1 1
Painted during the Works Progress Administration (WPA) era of the 1930s, this scene reflects a broader American Regionalist interest in everyday life and community during the Great Depression. The Federal Art Project supported thousands of artists and encouraged depictions of local environments and ordinary people, sustaining artists while documenting American social landscapes. Born in Louisville and raised in Nashville, American artist Meyer R. Wolfe often depicted working-class and African American life in the city and the experiences he observed around him. In “The Conversation,” the simple act of two women talking beside a clothesline becomes quietly symbolic of domestic labor, neighborhood connection, and shared resilience he witnessed during the difficult Jim Crow era. Two Black women stand together in a yard beside a clothesline heavy with freshly washed garments. Their bodies lean slightly toward each other as if absorbed in quiet conversation. They are placed near the center of the composition, their dark silhouettes contrasted against the lighter cloth that hangs in soft shapes behind them. A wooden fence and modest buildings frame the space, while a church steeple rises in the background against a dim, evening sky. The setting suggests an ordinary residential neighborhood (likely Nashville, where the artist grew up). The women’s posture and proximity emphasize intimacy and trust rather than spectacle. We observe the moment almost as a passerby might, catching a private exchange at the end of the day. This painting was included in the Frist Art Museum’s survey exhibition “The Art of Tennessee,” where it illustrated Jewish American Wolfe’s role in portraying regional life in the American South.

Painted during the Works Progress Administration (WPA) era of the 1930s, this scene reflects a broader American Regionalist interest in everyday life and community during the Great Depression. The Federal Art Project supported thousands of artists and encouraged depictions of local environments and ordinary people, sustaining artists while documenting American social landscapes. Born in Louisville and raised in Nashville, American artist Meyer R. Wolfe often depicted working-class and African American life in the city and the experiences he observed around him. In “The Conversation,” the simple act of two women talking beside a clothesline becomes quietly symbolic of domestic labor, neighborhood connection, and shared resilience he witnessed during the difficult Jim Crow era. Two Black women stand together in a yard beside a clothesline heavy with freshly washed garments. Their bodies lean slightly toward each other as if absorbed in quiet conversation. They are placed near the center of the composition, their dark silhouettes contrasted against the lighter cloth that hangs in soft shapes behind them. A wooden fence and modest buildings frame the space, while a church steeple rises in the background against a dim, evening sky. The setting suggests an ordinary residential neighborhood (likely Nashville, where the artist grew up). The women’s posture and proximity emphasize intimacy and trust rather than spectacle. We observe the moment almost as a passerby might, catching a private exchange at the end of the day. This painting was included in the Frist Art Museum’s survey exhibition “The Art of Tennessee,” where it illustrated Jewish American Wolfe’s role in portraying regional life in the American South.

“The Conversation” by Meyer R. Wolfe (American) - Oil on panel / c. 1930s - Frist Art Museum (Nashville, Tennessee) #WomenInArt #MeyerRWolfe #Wolfe #FristArtMuseum #AmericanArt #WPAArt #MeyerWolfe #artText #art #AmericanRegionalism #BlueskyArt #1930sArt #PortraitOfWomen #TheFrist #AmericanArtist

1 month ago 56 10 1 0
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Janet Asante Sullivan (@janetasantesullivan) Latest oil on linen canvas.

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Painted around 1770 by a yet identified artist, this image is often linked to kathak, a North Indian dance tradition associated with courtly settings, where storytelling, music, and expressive gesture are woven into intricate turns and footwork. The painting compresses that complexity into one unforgettable instant: two bodies counterbalancing each other, trust made visible through clasped hands and mirrored posture. A near-empty background intensifies the choreography so nothing competes with their partnership while a circular cartouche seems like a stage spotlighting feminine virtuosity. Two young women dance as a matched pair inside an oval frame, suspended in mid-step above a small patch of green ground. Their hands meet twice: linked overhead and again at chest level to create a continuous loop of touch that anchors the motion. Both figures tilt forward at the waist, foreheads nearly aligned, eyes narrowed in concentration as if listening for the same rhythm. Their skin is a warm brown and features are finely drawn with dark, almond-shaped eyes and arched brows. Each dancer wears a translucent veil and flowing textiles that flare outward like wings including long scarves that stream behind them, edged with pale dots, while layered garments ripple at the hips and ankles. One wears mustard-yellow leggings while the other wears deep red. Bangles, earrings, and anklets adds bright points along wrists and feet. Below, a narrow band suggests a lotus pond, and small blossoms decorate the corners, keeping the focus on synchronized movement and shared presence. Whether read as performance or private joy, the work celebrates how dance can be both art and relationship involving timing, attention, and delight held together by touch, gaze, and breath.

Painted around 1770 by a yet identified artist, this image is often linked to kathak, a North Indian dance tradition associated with courtly settings, where storytelling, music, and expressive gesture are woven into intricate turns and footwork. The painting compresses that complexity into one unforgettable instant: two bodies counterbalancing each other, trust made visible through clasped hands and mirrored posture. A near-empty background intensifies the choreography so nothing competes with their partnership while a circular cartouche seems like a stage spotlighting feminine virtuosity. Two young women dance as a matched pair inside an oval frame, suspended in mid-step above a small patch of green ground. Their hands meet twice: linked overhead and again at chest level to create a continuous loop of touch that anchors the motion. Both figures tilt forward at the waist, foreheads nearly aligned, eyes narrowed in concentration as if listening for the same rhythm. Their skin is a warm brown and features are finely drawn with dark, almond-shaped eyes and arched brows. Each dancer wears a translucent veil and flowing textiles that flare outward like wings including long scarves that stream behind them, edged with pale dots, while layered garments ripple at the hips and ankles. One wears mustard-yellow leggings while the other wears deep red. Bangles, earrings, and anklets adds bright points along wrists and feet. Below, a narrow band suggests a lotus pond, and small blossoms decorate the corners, keeping the focus on synchronized movement and shared presence. Whether read as performance or private joy, the work celebrates how dance can be both art and relationship involving timing, attention, and delight held together by touch, gaze, and breath.

“Two women dancing” by Unknown artist (Indian) - Opaque watercolors on paper / c. 1770 - Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, California) #WomenInArt #AsianArtMuseum #IndianArt #SouthAsianArt #artText #art #BlueskyArt #watercolor #1770s #AsianArt #dancing #RajasthaniArt #BundiPainting #Kathak #DanceArt

1 month ago 42 8 1 0
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Danielle Blount Bridewell (@theanchorandarchive) We don't talk enough about the autonomy of “unladylike” joy. Artist: Emily Manwaring, Can’t Let Summer Past

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Jessica (@jessicawxart) Wowww thank you 500 lovely people for wanting to follow along on my art journey and for all your kind messages and support ✹ Feeling like this today 😌 Hopscotch Paper, acrylic, beads, lace, string,...

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Tom Cox (@tomcox) Note from my notebook (2016). Nothing has changed

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Southern Gothic vs. Black Southern Gothic: The Similarities, the Differences, and Important Themes and Tropes This post is a continuation of my #JustTheTipTuesday series that focuses on craft and storytelling elements related to writing romance and other related genres and subgenres.

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1 month ago 0 0 0 0
Abstract painting with bright swirls of orange and red. With some ochre/brown. In white background. Creating ribbons of light and depth.

Abstract painting with bright swirls of orange and red. With some ochre/brown. In white background. Creating ribbons of light and depth.

one of those when you don’t think, you just move/are moved
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.

#ArtistsOnBlueSky #BlueSkyArtShow #AbstractArt #AbstractExpressionism #Painter #Art #Artist #WomensArtBlueSky #AbstractArtist #BlueSkyArt  #OregonArtist #Oregon

2 months ago 1317 120 65 14
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‘She dared to be difficult’: How Toni Morrison shaped the way we think The Beloved author’s refusal to conform made her a hero to many – and the only black female writer to have won a Nobel prize in literature

"I find myself being more and more difficult," Toni Morrison once said. "It's something I really relish." The difficulty was the point

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2 months ago 5 4 0 0
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Autoimmune neuroinflammation leads to neuronal death via MIF nuclease-mediated parthanatos Nature Neuroscience - Neuroinflammation triggers DNA damage and subsequent parthanatos-mediated neuron death. Inhibiting parthanatos in a mouse model of autoimmune inflammation is neuroprotective...

How does inflammation kill neurons, and what can we do about it? Check out our latest paper where we consider this question: rdcu.be/e4nfP.

2 months ago 15 10 2 1

“If you are free, then you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”

— Toni Morrison

2 months ago 201 59 1 0

Yesss. All clips of Toni Morrison and Nina Simone from interviews.

#BHM

2 months ago 31 10 0 0
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A close, three-quarter portrait shows an unidentified Black woman seated against a soft, olive-brown background. Her skin is painted in warm, deep tones with gentle highlights along the cheeks and nose. She turns slightly toward us while looking outward with a steady, thoughtful gaze and eyes wide, lids relaxed, mouth closed, plus a calm, but guarded expression. Her hair is arranged in short, natural puffs and curls, and a white headscarf with red striping drapes from the crown behind. She wears a green dress with a crisp white collar and a small pink bow. The curved back of a red chair frames her shoulder. Brushwork is soft and blended in the face though looser in the clothing and background to keep our attention on her presence. Painted sometime between 1900 and 1914, this work stands out within English-born American artist Thomas C. Campbell’s practice, which is better known for pastoral and Smoky Mountains landscapes. The sitter’s name is not recorded, but the portrait’s quiet directness reads as an insistence on personhood for an individual rendered with care. Exhibited as part of the Tennessee State Museum’s conversation about the region’s early-1900s “progress” (economic growth, industrial development, civic pride, and cultural expansion) narratives, her composed stillness becomes a counter-image to the era’s louder public story including Knoxville’s boosterism alongside the realities of Jim Crow, the Great Migration, and the racial violence that erupted locally in 1919. Campbell was active in East Tennessee and helped elevate the Knoxville art scene. He later led the art program at Maryville College. Here, he brings an academic, portrait-minded attention. The restrained palette, close cropping, and unwavering eye contact make the painting feel less like a document of fashion or place and more like an encounter with a dignified, unsentimental record of someone who lived, and was seen, within that racially-charged historical Tennessee landscape.

A close, three-quarter portrait shows an unidentified Black woman seated against a soft, olive-brown background. Her skin is painted in warm, deep tones with gentle highlights along the cheeks and nose. She turns slightly toward us while looking outward with a steady, thoughtful gaze and eyes wide, lids relaxed, mouth closed, plus a calm, but guarded expression. Her hair is arranged in short, natural puffs and curls, and a white headscarf with red striping drapes from the crown behind. She wears a green dress with a crisp white collar and a small pink bow. The curved back of a red chair frames her shoulder. Brushwork is soft and blended in the face though looser in the clothing and background to keep our attention on her presence. Painted sometime between 1900 and 1914, this work stands out within English-born American artist Thomas C. Campbell’s practice, which is better known for pastoral and Smoky Mountains landscapes. The sitter’s name is not recorded, but the portrait’s quiet directness reads as an insistence on personhood for an individual rendered with care. Exhibited as part of the Tennessee State Museum’s conversation about the region’s early-1900s “progress” (economic growth, industrial development, civic pride, and cultural expansion) narratives, her composed stillness becomes a counter-image to the era’s louder public story including Knoxville’s boosterism alongside the realities of Jim Crow, the Great Migration, and the racial violence that erupted locally in 1919. Campbell was active in East Tennessee and helped elevate the Knoxville art scene. He later led the art program at Maryville College. Here, he brings an academic, portrait-minded attention. The restrained palette, close cropping, and unwavering eye contact make the painting feel less like a document of fashion or place and more like an encounter with a dignified, unsentimental record of someone who lived, and was seen, within that racially-charged historical Tennessee landscape.

“Untitled: Portrait of a Black Woman” by Thomas C. Campbell (English-American) - Oil on canvas / c. 1900–1914 - Tennessee State Museum (Nashville, Tennessee) #WomenInArt #ThomasCCampbell #ThomasCampbell #TennesseeStateMuseum #artText #art #BlueskyArt #portraitofawoman #BlackWomenInArt #AmericanArt

2 months ago 54 12 0 0
Painted by D. Norman Tillman (Daniel Norman Tillman), an African American portraitist active in Ohio who exhibited locally and studied at major art schools, this work is both likeness and tribute. The sitter, Grace Hill Walker, was later a founder of the Youngstown (Ohio) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated (an African American women’s volunteer service organization) serving as its first president when the chapter was organized and chartered in 1955. Her leadership centered on civic, educational, and cultural service. In that light, her direct gaze and calm hands can be seen as visual rhetoric including steadiness, capability, and social presence, rendered without spectacle. She is depicted as a young Black woman sitting in profile to our right, but turned slightly to look directly toward us with a steady, thoughtful gaze. Her skin is a warm medium-brown tone, softly modeled with thin, luminous paint. She wears her dark hair in a short, waved bob that frames her face and ears. A long-sleeved dress in muted plum-brown wraps her torso and arms. A loose white tie falls down the center of her chest, and a long, delicate necklace loops down and back up, catching small points of light. Her hands rest together in her lap with fingers overlapping to suggest composure and self-possession rather than stiffness. The background is spare and atmospheric with a hazy field of browns, olives, and smoky violets, with brushy arcs that feel like remembered movement. Tillman’s handling stays intimate as edges dissolve into the backdrop, while the face, eyes, and hands remain the clearest anchors, inviting a quiet, person-to-person encounter. Shown in the Butler’s exhibition highlighting African American artists, the portrait functions as community memory that keeps local leadership visible, dignified, and enduring. The restrained palette and softened setting give her room to “hold” the picture with her expression alone, suggesting a life defined not by props, but by purpose.

Painted by D. Norman Tillman (Daniel Norman Tillman), an African American portraitist active in Ohio who exhibited locally and studied at major art schools, this work is both likeness and tribute. The sitter, Grace Hill Walker, was later a founder of the Youngstown (Ohio) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated (an African American women’s volunteer service organization) serving as its first president when the chapter was organized and chartered in 1955. Her leadership centered on civic, educational, and cultural service. In that light, her direct gaze and calm hands can be seen as visual rhetoric including steadiness, capability, and social presence, rendered without spectacle. She is depicted as a young Black woman sitting in profile to our right, but turned slightly to look directly toward us with a steady, thoughtful gaze. Her skin is a warm medium-brown tone, softly modeled with thin, luminous paint. She wears her dark hair in a short, waved bob that frames her face and ears. A long-sleeved dress in muted plum-brown wraps her torso and arms. A loose white tie falls down the center of her chest, and a long, delicate necklace loops down and back up, catching small points of light. Her hands rest together in her lap with fingers overlapping to suggest composure and self-possession rather than stiffness. The background is spare and atmospheric with a hazy field of browns, olives, and smoky violets, with brushy arcs that feel like remembered movement. Tillman’s handling stays intimate as edges dissolve into the backdrop, while the face, eyes, and hands remain the clearest anchors, inviting a quiet, person-to-person encounter. Shown in the Butler’s exhibition highlighting African American artists, the portrait functions as community memory that keeps local leadership visible, dignified, and enduring. The restrained palette and softened setting give her room to “hold” the picture with her expression alone, suggesting a life defined not by props, but by purpose.

“Portrait of Grace Hill Walker” by D. (Daniel) Norman Tillman (American) - Oil on canvas / c. 1925–1935 - The Butler Institute of American Art (Youngstown, Ohio) #WomenInArt #DanielNormanTillman #NormanTillman #Tillman #ButlerInstituteOfAmericanArt #BlackArt #artText #BlackArtist #PortraitofaWoman

2 months ago 61 18 1 0

This is who Michelle Obama is to me - a woman who instinctively knows when a hug & encouragement is needed. I refuse to repost the midnight madman’s racist rant. I choose to do what she did for me on this day - to center her, her compassion and love for others, her beauty and grace.

2 months ago 1391 256 32 7
A close-up, sunlit portrait shows a Black woman from the chest up beneath a canopy of green leaves set against a vivid, open blue sky. She has deep brown skin and long, center-parted black braids that cascade in thick ropes and softer curls over her shoulders and chest. Her eyes lower gently, focused downward while her expression feels quiet, reflective, and private. Warm orange-gold light floods her forehead, cheekbones, and nose, as if late-afternoon sun is pouring through leaves, creating a radiant glow on her face and a vertical flare of light at the center of her chest. She wears a rich green top, and a pale, textured wrap drapes loosely off her shoulders. Glitter specks are catch light like heat shimmer, pollen, or fine spray in summer air. The mixed materials make the scene feel tactile so light doesn’t just illuminate, but lands, clings, and sparkles. Chase Williamson is a Knoxville-based painter and MFA candidate at the University of Tennessee, whose work centers Black womanhood and marginalized identity through paint and fabric, shaped by her Middle Tennessee upbringing. Around the time this work entered the 28th Biennial Carroll Harris Simms National Black Art Exhibition, she was building national visibility through juried museum and regional exhibitions while also deepening her professional footprint through curatorial and residency experiences. “Bathed Again by Southern Suns” reads as both portrait and offering with “southern suns” naming a specific regional light (and a history) while “bathed again” suggests renewal, return, and self-reclamation. The glitter and fabric don’t merely decorate. They materialize atmosphere and memory, turning radiance into substance. Her downward gaze becomes a boundary as much as a mood and a choice to be seen on her own terms. Within Black expression and identity, the painting’s impact is its insistence on softness as strength and Black womanhood rendered luminous, grounded in place, and held with care.

A close-up, sunlit portrait shows a Black woman from the chest up beneath a canopy of green leaves set against a vivid, open blue sky. She has deep brown skin and long, center-parted black braids that cascade in thick ropes and softer curls over her shoulders and chest. Her eyes lower gently, focused downward while her expression feels quiet, reflective, and private. Warm orange-gold light floods her forehead, cheekbones, and nose, as if late-afternoon sun is pouring through leaves, creating a radiant glow on her face and a vertical flare of light at the center of her chest. She wears a rich green top, and a pale, textured wrap drapes loosely off her shoulders. Glitter specks are catch light like heat shimmer, pollen, or fine spray in summer air. The mixed materials make the scene feel tactile so light doesn’t just illuminate, but lands, clings, and sparkles. Chase Williamson is a Knoxville-based painter and MFA candidate at the University of Tennessee, whose work centers Black womanhood and marginalized identity through paint and fabric, shaped by her Middle Tennessee upbringing. Around the time this work entered the 28th Biennial Carroll Harris Simms National Black Art Exhibition, she was building national visibility through juried museum and regional exhibitions while also deepening her professional footprint through curatorial and residency experiences. “Bathed Again by Southern Suns” reads as both portrait and offering with “southern suns” naming a specific regional light (and a history) while “bathed again” suggests renewal, return, and self-reclamation. The glitter and fabric don’t merely decorate. They materialize atmosphere and memory, turning radiance into substance. Her downward gaze becomes a boundary as much as a mood and a choice to be seen on her own terms. Within Black expression and identity, the painting’s impact is its insistence on softness as strength and Black womanhood rendered luminous, grounded in place, and held with care.

“Bathed Again by Southern Suns” by Chase Williamson (American) - Oil, glitter, and fabric on canvas / c. 2023-2025 - African American Museum of Dallas (Texas) #WomenInArt #WomenArtists #WomensArt #WomanArtist #ChaseWilliamson #artText #art #arte #BlackArt #AAMDallas #AfricanAmericanMuseumofDallas

2 months ago 63 13 0 0
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Patterns of oligoclonal IgG bands in the cerebrospinal fluid and serum. Type II (OCBs in the CSF but not serum) and type III (OCBs in the CSF and serum, but some OCBs in the CSF not present in the serum) are associated with multiple sclerosis pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

2 months ago 1 3 0 0
The museum (MusĂ©e d’Orsay) also records the work under the alternate title “Mademoiselle S
,” hinting at a private identity held just out of reach so this portrait is both revelation and discretion. Painted around 1913 and acquired from the artist that same year, the image balances a polished, Salon-ready finish with an intimate tenderness via a careful costume and composed stance that suggests social training, while a half-smile and forward-falling braids keep her unmistakably childlike. A girl with fair skin stands in a quiet interior, turned three-quarters toward us with an easy, self-possessed posture. Her long brown hair is parted and braided into two thick plaits that fall past her waist, emphasizing both youth and careful grooming. She wears a vivid red dress with black trim around short sleeves, the dress yoke, and a wide hem. Its fabric is softly pleated and painted with delicate vertical strokes that suggest weight and movement. A large, cream-colored hat with a floral crown and deep navy decorations frames her face. Its brim casts a gentle shadow over her forehead while leaving her bright eyes and small, knowing smile clearly visible. Her right hand rests lightly on the top rail of a dark wooden chair with turned spindles and a worn, olive-toned seat. Her touch is casual, as if she has just paused mid-step. Black socks and polished black shoes anchor her on a pale floor with hints of color. Behind her, greenish wallpaper and parts of two framed paintings create a muted, domestic backdrop, letting the warm red dress and her calm gaze hold the center. French artist Henry d’Estienne was academically trained in Paris and known as a portraitist often linked to Orientalist circles. He brings a classical steadiness to the girl’s presence, yet the emotional temperature stays warm, familial, and immediate. Seen on the eve of World War I, her bright red dress feels like a moment of girlhood held still before history accelerates.

The museum (MusĂ©e d’Orsay) also records the work under the alternate title “Mademoiselle S
,” hinting at a private identity held just out of reach so this portrait is both revelation and discretion. Painted around 1913 and acquired from the artist that same year, the image balances a polished, Salon-ready finish with an intimate tenderness via a careful costume and composed stance that suggests social training, while a half-smile and forward-falling braids keep her unmistakably childlike. A girl with fair skin stands in a quiet interior, turned three-quarters toward us with an easy, self-possessed posture. Her long brown hair is parted and braided into two thick plaits that fall past her waist, emphasizing both youth and careful grooming. She wears a vivid red dress with black trim around short sleeves, the dress yoke, and a wide hem. Its fabric is softly pleated and painted with delicate vertical strokes that suggest weight and movement. A large, cream-colored hat with a floral crown and deep navy decorations frames her face. Its brim casts a gentle shadow over her forehead while leaving her bright eyes and small, knowing smile clearly visible. Her right hand rests lightly on the top rail of a dark wooden chair with turned spindles and a worn, olive-toned seat. Her touch is casual, as if she has just paused mid-step. Black socks and polished black shoes anchor her on a pale floor with hints of color. Behind her, greenish wallpaper and parts of two framed paintings create a muted, domestic backdrop, letting the warm red dress and her calm gaze hold the center. French artist Henry d’Estienne was academically trained in Paris and known as a portraitist often linked to Orientalist circles. He brings a classical steadiness to the girl’s presence, yet the emotional temperature stays warm, familial, and immediate. Seen on the eve of World War I, her bright red dress feels like a moment of girlhood held still before history accelerates.

“Portrait de fillette” (Portrait of a Little Girl) by Henry d’Estienne (French) - Oil on canvas / c 1913 - MusĂ©e d’Orsay (Paris, France) #WomenInArt #MuseeOrsay #HenrydEstienne #dEstienne #art #artText #PortraitofaGitl #FrenchArt #FrenchArtist #arte #artfrançais #artistefrançais #MusĂ©ed’Orsay #1910s

2 months ago 65 9 0 0
The title “Mary Jane” carries a double meaning like a person’s name, but also the classic strap shoes that signal childhood and “proper” presentation. American artist Noah Davis gives that presentation dignity without sentimentality depicting a young Black girl standing with clasped hands and steady look directly at us. Behind her, a dense, mottled backdrop of pale greens and blacks like camouflage could mean both protection and threat at once: a world that can swallow you up, and a pattern you learn to navigate. She has deep brown skin and a calm, direct gaze. A white headscarf frames her face. She wears a white collared blouse under a light-blue vest, and a striped tan-and-white pinafore or apron over a pale-blue skirt. Her hands are clasped neatly at her waist. White knee socks with a couple faint stripes rise above black Mary Jane shoes. A dark horizontal band of floor at the bottom, grounds her small figure in a quiet, contained space. In 2008, Davis was deepening a practice that treated everyday Black life as worthy of the grand scale of painting and linking the intimate to the historical. His belief that art should be for everyone later shaped the Underground Museum (cofounded with Karon Davis). For the Philadelphia presentation of his retrospective, curator Eleanor Nairne said, “On every encounter, I am struck again by the potency of Noah Davis’s work.” The potency here is almost quiet, as we take in a child seen clearly, held at the center, and refusing to be blurred into the background.

The title “Mary Jane” carries a double meaning like a person’s name, but also the classic strap shoes that signal childhood and “proper” presentation. American artist Noah Davis gives that presentation dignity without sentimentality depicting a young Black girl standing with clasped hands and steady look directly at us. Behind her, a dense, mottled backdrop of pale greens and blacks like camouflage could mean both protection and threat at once: a world that can swallow you up, and a pattern you learn to navigate. She has deep brown skin and a calm, direct gaze. A white headscarf frames her face. She wears a white collared blouse under a light-blue vest, and a striped tan-and-white pinafore or apron over a pale-blue skirt. Her hands are clasped neatly at her waist. White knee socks with a couple faint stripes rise above black Mary Jane shoes. A dark horizontal band of floor at the bottom, grounds her small figure in a quiet, contained space. In 2008, Davis was deepening a practice that treated everyday Black life as worthy of the grand scale of painting and linking the intimate to the historical. His belief that art should be for everyone later shaped the Underground Museum (cofounded with Karon Davis). For the Philadelphia presentation of his retrospective, curator Eleanor Nairne said, “On every encounter, I am struck again by the potency of Noah Davis’s work.” The potency here is almost quiet, as we take in a child seen clearly, held at the center, and refusing to be blurred into the background.

“Mary Jane” by Noah Davis (American) - Oil and acrylic on canvas / 2008 - Philadelphia Museum of Art (Pennsylvania) #WomenInArt #PhiladelphiaMuseumOfArt #NoahDavis
#FigurativePainting #AmericanArt #art #artText #BlueskyArt #PortraitofaGirl #AmericanArt #MaryJane #AfricanAmericanArtist #BlackArt

2 months ago 55 15 0 0
This full-length portrait by American artist Ayana Ross depicts a young Black girl standing against an off white background that becomes a multi-shade green checkerboard band, like a tiled floor. She has deep brown skin and a soft, rounded face, her natural hair forming a short, airy halo. She wears a crisp white, short-sleeved dress that flares gently at the hem, with white socks and black shoes. Her posture is steady and self-possessed with shoulders relaxed and steady gaze direct but calm. At her side she holds a bright red book with saturated color. Ross renders skin, fabric, and light with careful realism, letting the pared-down setting keep attention on the girl’s presence, dignity, and quiet authority. The palette stays restrained with creamy whites, muted greens, and a gentle shadow so that every decision reads intentional including the clean edge of the dress and the careful modeling of her legs. The simplicity also amplifies the ethical stakes of portraiture so we are asked to slow down, notice the child’s agency, and question any urge to project a story onto her. Based in Atlanta and recipient of the 2021 Bennett Prize, Ross uses realism as a platform for examining race, gender, identity, economics, and the value systems that decide who is believed. The title, “She Who Knows,” likely turns the portrait into a statement about authority because knowledge here is carried, guarded, and chosen. The red book, as the sharpest, most insistent color in the painting, probably signals learning as something precious and hard-won, not passively received. It invokes histories of restricted access to education, but the book also insists on the sitter’s agency. Her calm, unwavering gaze completes the message: she isn’t staged as “innocent” for our comfort. She stands as someone already aware, already informed, and already centered.

This full-length portrait by American artist Ayana Ross depicts a young Black girl standing against an off white background that becomes a multi-shade green checkerboard band, like a tiled floor. She has deep brown skin and a soft, rounded face, her natural hair forming a short, airy halo. She wears a crisp white, short-sleeved dress that flares gently at the hem, with white socks and black shoes. Her posture is steady and self-possessed with shoulders relaxed and steady gaze direct but calm. At her side she holds a bright red book with saturated color. Ross renders skin, fabric, and light with careful realism, letting the pared-down setting keep attention on the girl’s presence, dignity, and quiet authority. The palette stays restrained with creamy whites, muted greens, and a gentle shadow so that every decision reads intentional including the clean edge of the dress and the careful modeling of her legs. The simplicity also amplifies the ethical stakes of portraiture so we are asked to slow down, notice the child’s agency, and question any urge to project a story onto her. Based in Atlanta and recipient of the 2021 Bennett Prize, Ross uses realism as a platform for examining race, gender, identity, economics, and the value systems that decide who is believed. The title, “She Who Knows,” likely turns the portrait into a statement about authority because knowledge here is carried, guarded, and chosen. The red book, as the sharpest, most insistent color in the painting, probably signals learning as something precious and hard-won, not passively received. It invokes histories of restricted access to education, but the book also insists on the sitter’s agency. Her calm, unwavering gaze completes the message: she isn’t staged as “innocent” for our comfort. She stands as someone already aware, already informed, and already centered.

“She Who Knows” by Ayana Ross (American) - Oil on canvas / 2022 - Muskegon Museum of Art (Muskegon, Michigan) #WomenInArt #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #AyanaRoss #MuskegonMuseumofArt #BlackArt #art #artText #BlackArtist #AfricanAmericanArtist #AfricanAmericanArt #BlueskyArt #PortraitofaGirl

2 months ago 61 17 1 2
Made by American artist Charles Bohannah around 1940, “Seated Woman” sits near a pivotal threshold in Bohannah’s life as a Brooklyn-born artist trained through institutions like Cooper Union and the Art Students League. Around the beginning of World War II, he pursued technical training to support the war effort, then turned increasingly to photography during the war years, before returning to oil painting afterward. That layered skillset helps explain this portrait’s balance between softness and structure so it feels more observed than staged. It’s an intimate vertical portrait of a woman with deep brown skin and a full natural afro. She sits cross-legged on a wooden chair, one arm draped over the back, wearing a white button-down blouse and dark skirt with black heels. It’s a quiet, self-possessed pose that reads as both restful and watchful. Her calm gaze meets us against a warm reddish-brown background as soft light models her face and legs. The composition is close, direct, and less about surroundings than about presence so our attention stays with her posture, the angle of her head, and the calm, steady way she occupies the narrow canvas. Bohannah’s paint handling emphasizes form over spectacle with broad, confident passages to establish the figure, while smaller, more deliberate transitions describe facial structure and the contours of the hands and clothing. The sitter is presented as a complete person rather than a type. It is noted that the back of the painting bears the artist’s business card with a Brooklyn address. The card adds a grounding detail that this portrait is not only an image of a beautiful woman, but also evidence of an artist building a working life, advertising his practice, and insisting on professional visibility. In that light, the woman’s composed stillness becomes the painting’s argument that presence is power, and being seen on one’s own terms is a form of authorship.

Made by American artist Charles Bohannah around 1940, “Seated Woman” sits near a pivotal threshold in Bohannah’s life as a Brooklyn-born artist trained through institutions like Cooper Union and the Art Students League. Around the beginning of World War II, he pursued technical training to support the war effort, then turned increasingly to photography during the war years, before returning to oil painting afterward. That layered skillset helps explain this portrait’s balance between softness and structure so it feels more observed than staged. It’s an intimate vertical portrait of a woman with deep brown skin and a full natural afro. She sits cross-legged on a wooden chair, one arm draped over the back, wearing a white button-down blouse and dark skirt with black heels. It’s a quiet, self-possessed pose that reads as both restful and watchful. Her calm gaze meets us against a warm reddish-brown background as soft light models her face and legs. The composition is close, direct, and less about surroundings than about presence so our attention stays with her posture, the angle of her head, and the calm, steady way she occupies the narrow canvas. Bohannah’s paint handling emphasizes form over spectacle with broad, confident passages to establish the figure, while smaller, more deliberate transitions describe facial structure and the contours of the hands and clothing. The sitter is presented as a complete person rather than a type. It is noted that the back of the painting bears the artist’s business card with a Brooklyn address. The card adds a grounding detail that this portrait is not only an image of a beautiful woman, but also evidence of an artist building a working life, advertising his practice, and insisting on professional visibility. In that light, the woman’s composed stillness becomes the painting’s argument that presence is power, and being seen on one’s own terms is a form of authorship.

“Seated Woman” by Charles Bohannah (American) - Oil on canvas / c. 1940 - Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art (San Francisco, California) #WomenInArt #HolmesArtGallery #MelvinHolmesCollection #CharlesBohannah #Bohannah #AfricanAmericanArt #BlueskyArt #artText #BlackArt #art #AmericanArt

2 months ago 57 6 0 1
Titled “RAE,” the portrait references Black actress and creator Jo-Issa Rae Diop (Issa Rae), whose work foregrounds women’s equality and Black women’s interior lives. Ghanaian–Nigerian artist Lamptey-Botchway writes, “Some images always invite the observer for a conversation,” and that invitation lives in Rae’s direct gaze and unforced ease. She sits facing us with a comfortable, self-possessed calm. Her deep brown skin is modeled with soft highlights along the forehead, cheeks, and nose. Rae wears large silver hoop earrings and a hint of glossy coral-red lipstick. Her eyes meet ours directly, steady and alert. Her hair is pulled back into a textured puff, revealing her ears and the long line of her neck. She lounges in a dark chair, one arm draped over the backrest and the other hand resting across her lap with fingers relaxed. Her outfit is a vivid cobalt-blue suit with pale gray panels, stitched in thick, looping lines like corded embroidery. Beneath it, a cream top is built from dense, tactile ridges. The raised mopping-wool fibers create a topography across sleeves, lapels, and cuffs. Behind her, a hot pink field is patterned with faint grids and geometric motifs reminiscent of stamped textiles. The repetition almost frames her like a halo of design. At the right edge, a small round table with pink top and pale green base adds a domestic note, while the palette keeps the sitter luminous against the patterned pink backdrop. Oil and acrylic establish the glow of skin and the heat of pink, while mopping wool fiber turns the suit into raised, touchable relief. The artist, a 2015 graduate of the Yaba College of Technology’s School of Art, Design, and Textiles, often draws on cloth-stamping and batik traditions. By weaving a material associated with cleaning into a portrait of celebrity, she makes care-labor visible, insisting that glamour and work belong to the same story. Geometry and repetition hold her presence steady, like a rhythm you can feel with your eyes.

Titled “RAE,” the portrait references Black actress and creator Jo-Issa Rae Diop (Issa Rae), whose work foregrounds women’s equality and Black women’s interior lives. Ghanaian–Nigerian artist Lamptey-Botchway writes, “Some images always invite the observer for a conversation,” and that invitation lives in Rae’s direct gaze and unforced ease. She sits facing us with a comfortable, self-possessed calm. Her deep brown skin is modeled with soft highlights along the forehead, cheeks, and nose. Rae wears large silver hoop earrings and a hint of glossy coral-red lipstick. Her eyes meet ours directly, steady and alert. Her hair is pulled back into a textured puff, revealing her ears and the long line of her neck. She lounges in a dark chair, one arm draped over the backrest and the other hand resting across her lap with fingers relaxed. Her outfit is a vivid cobalt-blue suit with pale gray panels, stitched in thick, looping lines like corded embroidery. Beneath it, a cream top is built from dense, tactile ridges. The raised mopping-wool fibers create a topography across sleeves, lapels, and cuffs. Behind her, a hot pink field is patterned with faint grids and geometric motifs reminiscent of stamped textiles. The repetition almost frames her like a halo of design. At the right edge, a small round table with pink top and pale green base adds a domestic note, while the palette keeps the sitter luminous against the patterned pink backdrop. Oil and acrylic establish the glow of skin and the heat of pink, while mopping wool fiber turns the suit into raised, touchable relief. The artist, a 2015 graduate of the Yaba College of Technology’s School of Art, Design, and Textiles, often draws on cloth-stamping and batik traditions. By weaving a material associated with cleaning into a portrait of celebrity, she makes care-labor visible, insisting that glamour and work belong to the same story. Geometry and repetition hold her presence steady, like a rhythm you can feel with your eyes.

"RAE" by Cecilia Lamptey-Botchway (Ghanaian–Nigerian) - Oil, acrylic, & mopping wool fiber on canvas / c. 2021 - Nubuke Foundation (Accra, Ghana) #WomenInArt #CeciliaLampteyBotchway #LampteyBotchway #WomenArtists #BlackArt #NubukeFoundation #PortraitofaWoman #artText #IssaRae #WomensArt #WomanArtist

3 months ago 54 13 2 0
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Artist Osmond Watson titles the work in Jamaican Creole, turning “Psalm 23” from the Christian bible into everyday speech and locating faith in the lived world of a market. He monumentalizes a working Black Jamaican woman whose spiritual practice sits alongside economic self-reliance with produce for sale below, and holy scripture at the center. The woman sits looking slightly to our right with calm steadiness. She wears a pale blue headwrap that catches the light, a short-sleeved checkerboard blouse in warm reds and golds, and a blue skirt that folds in soft, heavy arcs across her bare knees. Her hands clasp an opened brown “HOLY BIBLE” book in her lap. She sits inside a market stall improvised from boards, nails, and sheet metal as angled wood planks hold up a tarp above her, a wooden barrel curves at left, and a patterned blue metal panel frames the right edge like a patched wall. At her feet, ripe round, orange-red and golden fruit spills forward, while a basket of red beans and a metal cup sits at the lower right. The space feels intimate and guarded as dark corners press in, yet the woman’s presence holds the scene, as if prayer and work share the same seat. Her skin is rendered in deep, glossy browns with cool green shadows, outlined with decisive dark contours that sharpen cheekbones, eyelids, and her nose. Two silver bangles circle one wrist and a ring glints on a finger. Her mouth is closed, neither smiling nor stern, more like someone looking up while reading. The geometry of the stall and the careful stillness of her pose make the Bible feel like the painting’s quiet compass. Painted in early post-independence 1969, it affirms Black Jamaican dignity being direct, unsentimental, and public. The cubism-touched geometry, saturated color, and heavy outlines lend a stained-glass intensity, elevating everyday items and daily labor into icon. As critic David Boxer put it, Watson wanted art that could be “understood and appreciated by all levels of society.”

Artist Osmond Watson titles the work in Jamaican Creole, turning “Psalm 23” from the Christian bible into everyday speech and locating faith in the lived world of a market. He monumentalizes a working Black Jamaican woman whose spiritual practice sits alongside economic self-reliance with produce for sale below, and holy scripture at the center. The woman sits looking slightly to our right with calm steadiness. She wears a pale blue headwrap that catches the light, a short-sleeved checkerboard blouse in warm reds and golds, and a blue skirt that folds in soft, heavy arcs across her bare knees. Her hands clasp an opened brown “HOLY BIBLE” book in her lap. She sits inside a market stall improvised from boards, nails, and sheet metal as angled wood planks hold up a tarp above her, a wooden barrel curves at left, and a patterned blue metal panel frames the right edge like a patched wall. At her feet, ripe round, orange-red and golden fruit spills forward, while a basket of red beans and a metal cup sits at the lower right. The space feels intimate and guarded as dark corners press in, yet the woman’s presence holds the scene, as if prayer and work share the same seat. Her skin is rendered in deep, glossy browns with cool green shadows, outlined with decisive dark contours that sharpen cheekbones, eyelids, and her nose. Two silver bangles circle one wrist and a ring glints on a finger. Her mouth is closed, neither smiling nor stern, more like someone looking up while reading. The geometry of the stall and the careful stillness of her pose make the Bible feel like the painting’s quiet compass. Painted in early post-independence 1969, it affirms Black Jamaican dignity being direct, unsentimental, and public. The cubism-touched geometry, saturated color, and heavy outlines lend a stained-glass intensity, elevating everyday items and daily labor into icon. As critic David Boxer put it, Watson wanted art that could be “understood and appreciated by all levels of society.”

“The Lawd Is My Shepard” by Osmond Watson (Jamaican) - Oil on canvas / 1969 - National Gallery of Jamaica (Kingston) #WomenInArt #OsmondWatson #NationalGalleryofJamaica #JamaicanArt #CaribbeanArt #PortraitPainting #BlackArt #art #artText #BlueskyArt #PortraitofaWoman #JamaicanArtist #CaribbeanArtist

3 months ago 53 8 0 1
Painted in 1983, this portrait shows Nicaraguan artist June Beer’s hallmark directness with a frontal pose that refuses to make the unidentified sitter decorative. A Black girl is shown from the chest up, centered and facing us directly. Her skin is painted in deep brown and warm olive tones, with soft shading along the cheeks, nose, and neck. She has large, brown almond eyes with dark lids and fine lashes. Her gaze is steady and quiet, neither smiling nor frowning. Her brows are lightly arched, and her mouth is closed in a calm, neutral line. Her hair is gathered into a smooth, rounded updo that fills much of the upper canvas and is parted by a thin line just off-center. On either side of her head, two oversized bows sit behind her ears: pale pink with brighter magenta folds and textured like wool or felt. She wears a light yellow dress with a wide, scalloped collar that curves over her shoulders and chest. Down the center runs a dotted turquoise pattern, and the bodice is sprinkled with tiny turquoise marks, like embroidery or beading. The background is a clean gradient of teal to cobalt blue, making her silhouette and the bows glow. The figure is outlined with dark contours, giving the portrait a poster-like clarity, and the paint surface shows gentle speckling and grain that suggests age. The girl’s composure is quiet, but unyielding self-possession. The pink bows and cool sea-blues recall the Caribbean coast world Beer knew in the port city of Bluefields, Nicaragua, while the turquoise “stitch” down the dress hints at care, craft, and the dignity of everyday making. In the early revolutionary era, Beer, a self-taught painter and poet, used portraiture to center Black Caribbean communities and women. Shown posthumously in Homenaje a June Beer at the X Bienal de Nicaragua (Palacio Nacional de Cultura, Managua), this work is now in the Miguel D’Escoto collection.

Painted in 1983, this portrait shows Nicaraguan artist June Beer’s hallmark directness with a frontal pose that refuses to make the unidentified sitter decorative. A Black girl is shown from the chest up, centered and facing us directly. Her skin is painted in deep brown and warm olive tones, with soft shading along the cheeks, nose, and neck. She has large, brown almond eyes with dark lids and fine lashes. Her gaze is steady and quiet, neither smiling nor frowning. Her brows are lightly arched, and her mouth is closed in a calm, neutral line. Her hair is gathered into a smooth, rounded updo that fills much of the upper canvas and is parted by a thin line just off-center. On either side of her head, two oversized bows sit behind her ears: pale pink with brighter magenta folds and textured like wool or felt. She wears a light yellow dress with a wide, scalloped collar that curves over her shoulders and chest. Down the center runs a dotted turquoise pattern, and the bodice is sprinkled with tiny turquoise marks, like embroidery or beading. The background is a clean gradient of teal to cobalt blue, making her silhouette and the bows glow. The figure is outlined with dark contours, giving the portrait a poster-like clarity, and the paint surface shows gentle speckling and grain that suggests age. The girl’s composure is quiet, but unyielding self-possession. The pink bows and cool sea-blues recall the Caribbean coast world Beer knew in the port city of Bluefields, Nicaragua, while the turquoise “stitch” down the dress hints at care, craft, and the dignity of everyday making. In the early revolutionary era, Beer, a self-taught painter and poet, used portraiture to center Black Caribbean communities and women. Shown posthumously in Homenaje a June Beer at the X Bienal de Nicaragua (Palacio Nacional de Cultura, Managua), this work is now in the Miguel D’Escoto collection.

"Niña con Lazo de Lana rosado (Girl with Pink Wool Bow)" by June Beer (Nicaraguan) - Oil on canvas / 1983 - X Bienal de Nicaragua, Palacio Nacional de Cultura (Managua) #WomenInArt #JuneBeer #Beer #PalacioNacionalDeCultura #arte #artText #PortraitofaGirl #WomensArt #WomenArtists #WomenPaintingWomen

3 months ago 71 13 1 1
Made for the 1940 “American Negro Exposition,” this image honors Etta Moten Barnett, a pioneering performer who “broke barriers” in American big-budget movies such as “Flying Down to Rio” and “Gold Diggers” as well as on the concert and theater stage. She became widely celebrated for her work in George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” and later for civic leadership and philanthropy. At the time, mainstream films refused to present Black women with glamour or complexity, but American artist Jay Jackson turns a spotlight into a declaration that Moten is a centered, stylish, and unmissable star. Cameras in the corners asks us to consider how Black brilliance was documented, consumed, and often edited into someone else’s story. It’s a stage scene in watercolor and ink showing the glamorous Black woman dancer with warm brown skin mid-dance under a bright oval spotlight. She leans forward with one arm extended, her torso twisting and her knees flexed in a poised, athletic stance. Her hair is styled in a short, dark bob with a deep teal headpiece. Her lips are painted a vivid red. A pale green, high-waisted skirt swirls around her hips, paired with a matching bra-top and green heels. Behind her, a dark, smoky background is washed in bluish grays and mossy greens, making the spotlight feel theatrical. At the lower left, a sketched cameraman appears as a loose charcoal outline aimed toward her, while at the upper right is a second camera that frames her as both performer and filmed icon. Jackson’s lines alternate between crisp contour and airy washes, letting movement read as vibration rather than blur. Jackson, whose drawings circulated in the Chicago Defender and who later created his own feature syndicate for the “Home Folks” cartoon, uses the visual language of modern media to insist on dignity. In the sweep of green fabric and the dancer’s forward reach, the work presents choreography of agency for a body in motion claiming space, light, and narrative on her own terms.

Made for the 1940 “American Negro Exposition,” this image honors Etta Moten Barnett, a pioneering performer who “broke barriers” in American big-budget movies such as “Flying Down to Rio” and “Gold Diggers” as well as on the concert and theater stage. She became widely celebrated for her work in George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” and later for civic leadership and philanthropy. At the time, mainstream films refused to present Black women with glamour or complexity, but American artist Jay Jackson turns a spotlight into a declaration that Moten is a centered, stylish, and unmissable star. Cameras in the corners asks us to consider how Black brilliance was documented, consumed, and often edited into someone else’s story. It’s a stage scene in watercolor and ink showing the glamorous Black woman dancer with warm brown skin mid-dance under a bright oval spotlight. She leans forward with one arm extended, her torso twisting and her knees flexed in a poised, athletic stance. Her hair is styled in a short, dark bob with a deep teal headpiece. Her lips are painted a vivid red. A pale green, high-waisted skirt swirls around her hips, paired with a matching bra-top and green heels. Behind her, a dark, smoky background is washed in bluish grays and mossy greens, making the spotlight feel theatrical. At the lower left, a sketched cameraman appears as a loose charcoal outline aimed toward her, while at the upper right is a second camera that frames her as both performer and filmed icon. Jackson’s lines alternate between crisp contour and airy washes, letting movement read as vibration rather than blur. Jackson, whose drawings circulated in the Chicago Defender and who later created his own feature syndicate for the “Home Folks” cartoon, uses the visual language of modern media to insist on dignity. In the sweep of green fabric and the dancer’s forward reach, the work presents choreography of agency for a body in motion claiming space, light, and narrative on her own terms.

“Etta Moten Barnett Dancing” by Jay Jackson (American) - Watercolor, ink, and charcoal on paper / c. 1940 - Delaware Art Museum (Wilmington) #WomenInArt #JayPaulJackson #DelawareArtMuseum #EttaMoten #EttaMotenBarnett #DanceArt #BlackHistory #art #artText #BlueskyArt #AmericanArtist #AmericanArt

3 months ago 73 20 2 0
The title "April" depicts a person described by the American artist Elise Kendrick as a content creator, former podcaster, and bassist to place a specific person inside a painting that, at first glance, seems like only a universal icon of beauty and rest. Created during the pandemic as Kendrick began her “The Aunties” series, the portrait carries the feeling of finding community through screens with a face held close and a private breath made public. The close-up portrait shows a Black woman with medium-brown skin and a full, natural dark afro that fans outward like a halo. Her brows are thick and arched. Her eyes are closed, chin lifted, and deep plum lips part slightly to reveal white teeth, suggesting a moment of release. Kendrick renders her face and neck in radiant bands of orange, gold, green, and violet, with crisp highlights along the cheekbones and nose and cool shadows along the neck. She wears a plain white t-shirt. Behind her, a patterned field repeats jars labeled “Black Magic” in layered blues and purples, like wallpaper, with scratchy, hand-drawn lines. The repeated “Black Magic” jars fold the Black salon into the picture plane. They nod to the alchemy of modern haircare including oils, gels, edge control, and curl creams and likely to a reclaimed language of power, where “magic” names skill, inheritance, and self-definition rather than stereotype. April’s lifted head and closed eyes become an insistence on softness without apology to take up space, be seen, and choose ease. Shown in the Frist Art Museum’s micro-exhibition "Elise Kendrick: Salon Noir," Kendrick’s bright palette and graphic patterning extend her Nashville-based practice of honoring women of color and the cultural meanings carried in hairstyle, texture, and routine. The highlights and the repeating, label-like jars feel like they might be visual shorthand for the salon as both workplace and sanctuary, and for Black hair as culture, craft, and pride.

The title "April" depicts a person described by the American artist Elise Kendrick as a content creator, former podcaster, and bassist to place a specific person inside a painting that, at first glance, seems like only a universal icon of beauty and rest. Created during the pandemic as Kendrick began her “The Aunties” series, the portrait carries the feeling of finding community through screens with a face held close and a private breath made public. The close-up portrait shows a Black woman with medium-brown skin and a full, natural dark afro that fans outward like a halo. Her brows are thick and arched. Her eyes are closed, chin lifted, and deep plum lips part slightly to reveal white teeth, suggesting a moment of release. Kendrick renders her face and neck in radiant bands of orange, gold, green, and violet, with crisp highlights along the cheekbones and nose and cool shadows along the neck. She wears a plain white t-shirt. Behind her, a patterned field repeats jars labeled “Black Magic” in layered blues and purples, like wallpaper, with scratchy, hand-drawn lines. The repeated “Black Magic” jars fold the Black salon into the picture plane. They nod to the alchemy of modern haircare including oils, gels, edge control, and curl creams and likely to a reclaimed language of power, where “magic” names skill, inheritance, and self-definition rather than stereotype. April’s lifted head and closed eyes become an insistence on softness without apology to take up space, be seen, and choose ease. Shown in the Frist Art Museum’s micro-exhibition "Elise Kendrick: Salon Noir," Kendrick’s bright palette and graphic patterning extend her Nashville-based practice of honoring women of color and the cultural meanings carried in hairstyle, texture, and routine. The highlights and the repeating, label-like jars feel like they might be visual shorthand for the salon as both workplace and sanctuary, and for Black hair as culture, craft, and pride.

“April” by Elise Kendrick (American) - Mixed media / 2021 - Frist Art Museum (Nashville, Tennessee) #WomenInArt #EliseKendrick #Kendrick #MixedMedia #artText #BlueskyArt #AfricanAmericanArt #BlackWomen #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #BlackArtist #BlackArt #FristArtMuseum #WomenPaintingWomen

3 months ago 55 12 1 1