July 18, 2018 Look The Handwriting of Famous People By The Paris Review The Romans were among the first to develop a written script, and their penmanship was round and even. In the Middle Ages, the price of parchment soared, and handwriting, accordingly, became small and condensed. Years later, in the eighteenth century, elegant handwriting became a sign of refinement. Later still, in the twentieth century, American schools taught a standardized cursive by encouraging students to draw loopy letters through horizontal lines. Now hardly anyone writes anything at all. Through September 16, the Morgan Library and Museum is showcasing the handwriting of more than a hundred major artists, authors, composers, and historical figures drawn from the Pedro Corrêa do Lago Collection. A selection is presented below. Stephen Hawking Stephen Hawking (1942–2018). Signed title page from A Brief History of Time (1993), with thumbprint signature witnessed by Hawking’s personal assistant, Judith Croasdell, inscribed by Croasdell to Philip Dynes, October 9, 2006. Read More
July 2, 2018 Look City Dreams By Bodys Isek Kingelez Bodys Isek Kingelex with Étoile Rouge Congolaise in Nantes, 1993. Photo: André Magnin. In the thirty-minute documentary that accompanies the first U.S. retrospective of his work, Bodys Isek Kingelez notes that “a building without color is like a person without clothes.” Kingelez, who began his artistic career restoring tribal masks at the National Museum in Kinshasa, designed buildings of a multitude of colors. When then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) won independence from Belgium in 1960, Kingelez began imagining the rehabilitative possibilities of architecture. With colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps, he built models of individual buildings and then, eventually, entire African megacities. From now through January 1, the Museum of Modern Art is showing work spanning his full career, from early single-building sculptures to his futuristic late works, which incorporate increasingly unorthodox materials. “Thanks to my deep hope for a happy tomorrow,” Kingelez said, “I strive to better my quality, and the better becomes the wonderful.” Read More
June 14, 2018 Look Illustrated Maps of New York Through the Ages By The Paris Review Since their inception, maps have been embellished with illustrations. Through July 16, a selection of illustrated maps of New York spanning six centuries is on view at the New York Public Library. A preview of the exhibition—along with captions written by its curator Katharine Harmon—is presented below. James Wolcott Adams, Redraft of the Castello Plan, 1916. The famed Castello Plan offers a rare view of New Amsterdam—located at the southern tip of what is now known as Manhattan—during the forty year period of Dutch rule. Surveyor General Jacques Cortelyou made a map of the Dutch settlement in 1660, which was subsequently lost, but an unknown artist happily made another copy. This is the earliest map of the city existing today. It was sold to Cosimo de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, around 1667, and “rediscovered” 233 years later at the Villa di Castello near Florence. The American illustrator James Wolcott Adams redrafted the map in 1916; this hand-drawn copy of the original Castello Plan is housed in the library’s print collection. Read More
June 11, 2018 Look Notations By Mequitta Ahuja Mequitta Ahuja’s medium is automythography. In her multilayered paintings and drawings, she creates images of herself at work, challenging the representational space that self-portraiture typically occupies in the art market. “My central intent,” she writes, “is to turn the artist’s self-portrait, especially the woman-of-colour’s self-portrait, long circumscribed by identity, into a discourse on picture-making, past and present. This includes depicting my intimate relationship to painting—the verb and the noun, the act and the object.” A solo exhibition of her work was presented at Tiwani Contemporary this spring. The show closed this past weekend, but for those who weren’t able to make it in person, a selection of images is presented below. Mequitta Ahuja, Sales Slip, 2017. Read More
June 7, 2018 Look Your Problems Have One Answer By Lorna Simpson These collages draw on found images of black women and men from vintage Ebony and Jet magazines. A selection is presented below, along with Simpson’s selection of advertising phrases. Lorna Simpson, A Friend, 2012. A SELECTION OF PHRASES CULLED FROM THE ADVERTISING THAT ORIGINALLY ACCOMPANIED MANY OF THE IMAGES THAT APPEAR WITHIN THE COLLAGES Put on your Afro Pony-Tail and swish those superflies away! Be the Huntress Not for everywoman Cool One Freedom Afro Puffs Pepper and Salt Face Framing Style Every woman should have the touch of the soft life at her finger tips From a plain before to a beautiful after Pussy cat look Light as a feather A girl should have nine lives too The Afro: keep it full, keep it classic Braids of Heaven Boss Lady Private Secretary Show Stopper Upkeep Double Take Super Dutch Boy Naturally difficult hair Don’t kid yourself Be Beautiful everyday The Duke Director The Duke Swahilian The Duke Playboy The Duke Professional The Duke Maestro The Duke Sportsman The Duke Junior Afro The Duke Globetrotter The Duke Reporter A beautiful head of hair is never an accident day after day after wonderful day Anyway you desire Strong feelings about naturalness Butter yourself up Show It Like It Is When we say long we mean long King Size It’s an Art! It’s a Mood! It’s a Feeling! One Puff Two Puffs You’re the Judge As old as 900b.c. – 200 a.d. and as Brand New as Today! Off Black Jet Black Mixed Grey Dark Brown Semi Afro Supreme Freedom Supreme beauty where your hair begins The only thing inflated will be your ego Change your mood Have no fear Anyway you choose Around-the-clock Loveliness But don’t tell You can Totally different Add a new twist to your charm and personality It took a Black company to come up with Georgia Brown Love Knot Society Queen Darling New You Afro American Heavenly Beauty Boy-Cut Curly Girly Dome of Curls Kiss Me Now Instant beauty Daisy Jones Star Glow Linda Linda Linda Afrialon Kool-N-Light Lioness Corn-row Cutie Corn-row Darling Free and Easy Liberté Flirt You’re today’s modern black woman- on the go Love Nest The Sophisticate The Matinee Bell Boogie The Swish Rhythm Tempo Top Yourself Off Feel Lovely Right On Harlem Classic Nubian Queen Mellowone Black Huntress Be the Huntress From nine to five they will know you are alive For your evening appointments too Take charge Steal the scene Simplicity is the keynote For the woman on the go What are you doing tonight Keep em watching Watch yourself Jumbo Afro Colonial Cascade China Doll Boy’s Cut Flowing Beauty Brown Skin Beauty Afro It’s about time isn’t it It’s been a long time in coming, but it’s finally here your problems have one answer I’m glad you asked that question From Campus Queen to Hollywood Star Black Pearl Before and After we specialize in rich darker shades you can have it anyway you want it So easy now Great beginning for something beautiful A little goes a long way Why shouldn’t you Anytime is the right time Flawless Exact Match Reveal the beauty that you conceal Read More
May 23, 2018 Look Fragile but Fixable: The Collages of Deborah Roberts By Deborah Roberts “Fragile but Fixable,” Deborah Roberts’s Los Angeles solo debut, is on view at Luis De Jesus through June 16. In her collages, Roberts takes found images of black women and girls and alters them with pigment and paint, manipulating the optics of advertisement to create new fictions of beauty. “My art practice,” she writes, in her artist statement, “takes on social commentary, critiquing perceptions of ideal beauty. Stereotypes and myths are challenged in my work; I create a dialogue between the ideas of inclusion, dignity, consumption, and subjectivity by addressing beauty in the form of the ideal woman.” Deborah Roberts, Filling in the gaps, 2018, collage on paper. All images courtesy the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles. Read More