Black Art: A Cultural History

World of Art

by Richard J. Powell

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. 218 illustrations

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History, History, African American, Art Design, Race

360 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

Reviews

[silly_ebadu · Rating 3 out of 5]

i might bump this to 4 stars but i can’t decide because i found it way too US-focused (about 140 of the artists mentioned were American). this was extremely dense but enjoyed the overall discussion of the shift in how black art is shaped.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I appreciated the cultural/social perspective that placed Black artists and art within the context of their times, the author tried to cover too much ground—too many artists given too little space. And instead of focusing entirely on the traditional visual arts (painting and sculpture) that I wanted to read about, the narrative wandered into performance art and film which don’t interest me as much. I pretty much skimmed the last 50 pages.

[jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

really interesting - i think it does a good job of showing how art affects culture and how culture in turn can affect art, put simply, and how both art and culture go hand in hand. gets pretty infodump-y at times, but i think that's just par for the course in terms of the purpose of the book itself.

[Cheryl]

Way too academic for me. March 2025.

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not bad for what it is, but there are major problems with doing an art survey, particularly when you're dealing with a type of art meant to combat stereotypes by re-presenting a people's role in the world. Also, the tone was extremely curatorial, which made some portions drag.

[Mills College Library]

709.73 P885 2003

[Liam Porter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trite, passionless rubbish. Lots of pictures, but few in colour - and the ones that do appear in colour are usually the ones that benefit least from it.