African American Artists

African American art became an important focus of the High’s collection in the 1990s with the acquisition of works by Terry Adkins, Radcliffe Bailey, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Colescott, Sam Gilliam, Faith Ringgold, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker, and others. From artists of the Harlem Renaissance to the Black Arts movement to those working today within the global milieu of the African diaspora, artists of African descent have fundamentally altered the ways we perceive race, identity, and cultural hybridity. Artists represented in the collection include Radcliffe Bailey, Amoako Boafo, Chakaia Booker, Beverly Buchanan, Derek Fordjour, Sam Gilliam, Chase Hall, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Julie Mehretu, Tyler Mitchell, John L. Moore, Fahamu Pecou, Nadine Robinson, Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Stanley Whitney, and many more.