LOS ANGELES, CA.- The board of trustees of the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art has approved the acquisition of 60 works to its permanent collection, as part of an ongoing effort to bolster Black representation in the museum’s holdings. New additions include works by Kwame Brathwaite, Jordan Casteel, Renee Cox, rafa esparza, Lauren Halsey, Isaac Julien, Clifford Prince King, Lezley Saar, Mickalene Thomas, Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas, Tourmaline, Richard Wyatt Jr., and many more. Additional acquisition highlights include: Amy Sherald’s recent work, An Ocean Away (2020), a promised gift LACMA trustee Willow Bay and Robert Iger; Kehinde Wiley’s Yachinboaz Ben Yisrael II (2021), a promised gift of Rich Paul; and Ada Pinkston’s The Open Hand is Blessed (2021), the first augmented reality work to enter LACMA’s collection, a gift from Snap Inc. as part of its ongoing partnership with LACMA. Ranging from historical to contemporary works and representing a variety of mediums, many of these new acquisitions are currently on view in Black American Portraits. This exhibition spans over two centuries of Black portraits to chronicle the ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves in their own eyes. Featuring 140 artworks by over 100 artists, Black American Portraits celebrates Black American subjects, sitters, and spaces, with a majority of the works made by Black artists. Also on view is the West Coast presentation of The Obama Portraits Tour, featuring the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery’s official portraits of President Barack Obama by Kehinde Wiley and Mrs. Michelle Obama by Amy Sherald, further enhancing conversations surrounding the power of portraiture.
“In the past year, LACMA’s community of donors and trustees have generously stepped up to help us continue to build a collection that more and more reflects the diversity of Los Angeles County. This is just the beginning of heightened focus on that goal,” said Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director. “It’s exciting that the results of this effort are on view for the public almost immediately and that the Obama portraits will be framed by an expansive view of over 200 years of Black American subjects, sitters, and spaces, centering Black love, abundance, family, community, and exuberance.”
60 Works for Acquisition
● Cedric Adams, Just How I Feel, 1972
● Chelle Barbour, Portrait of Madame CJ Walker, 2018–19
● Alvin Baltrop, The Piers (three men on dock), c. 1975–86
● Kwame Brathwaite, Untitled (Clara Lewis Buggs with Yellow Flower), 1962/2020
● Kwame Brathwaite, Untitled (Carolee Prince Wearing Her Own Designs), 1964/2018
● Greg Breda, Embrace, 2007
● Bisa Butler, Forever, 2020
● Jordan Casteel, Jordan, 2020
● William Cordova, P'alante, Siempre P'alante (P' A B. Hutton), 2006–07
● Renee Cox, The Signing, 2017
● Kim Dacres, No, my first name ain't baby, 2020
● rafa esparza, big chillin with Patrisse, 2021
● Shepard Fairey, John Lewis: Good Trouble, 2020
● Genevieve Gaignard, Trailblazer (A Dream Deferred), 2017
● Charles Gaines, Numbers and Faces: Multi-Racial/Ethnic Combinations Series 1: Face #7, Eduardo Soriano-Hewitt (Black/Filipino), 2020
● Rico Gatson, Bird, 2015
● Jerrell Gibbs, Top Shelf, 2020
● Todd Gray, Mirror Mirror, 2014
● Chase Hall, Big David (Walk Around Heaven All Day), 2020
● Lauren Halsey, The Crenshaw Hieroglyphic Project: Exterior Wall (Featuring Frankie Beverly), c. 2018
● Reggie Burrows Hodges, Swimming in Compton: Auntie B, 2019
● Kahlil Joseph, Registered license of BLKNWS® Original Variations (Unique Variant #3), 2019
● Isaac Julien, Serenade (Lessons of the Hour), 2019
● Isaac Julien, The Last Angel of History (Looking for Langston Vintage Series), 1989/2016
● Glenn Kaino, Salute (Second Salute), 2019
● Glenn Kaino, Invisible Man (Salute), 2018
● Clifford Prince King, Safe Space, 2020
● Deana Lawson, Barrington and Father, 2021
● Kerry James Marshall, Black Beauty (Tyla), 2012
● Wangari Mathenge, Oh To Wander (Wonder What She’ll See When She Sees), 2020
● Alice Neel, Horace Cayton, 1949
● Lorraine O’Grady, Art Is…(Man with Rings and Child), 1983/2009
● Lorraine O’Grady, Art Is…(Nubians), 1983/2009
● Lorraine O’Grady, Art Is…(Man with Baby), 1983/2009
● Lorraine O’Grady, Art Is…(Unisex Barber Shop), 1983/2009
● Two works by Kambui Olujimi, Untitled from the series Walk with Me, 2015-2017
● Catherine Opie, Kamala Harris, 2015
● Woody De Othello, Blank Faced, 2020
● Ada Pinkston, The Open Hand is Blessed, 2021
● Robert Pruitt, Tau Ceti, 2020
● Otis Kwame Kye Quaiecoe, Lady on Blue Couch, 2019
● Umar Rashid, Yolanda, Lady of Yerba Buena, 2015
● Lezley Saar Of a bed of night iris shredding petals one by one, like the hours of darkness, 2020
● William Scott, Untitled, c. 2008
● Amy Sherald, An Ocean Away, 2020
● Xaviera Simmons, Sundown (Number twenty), 2018
● Lorna Simpson, Backdrops circa 1940s, 1998
● Ming Smith, Grace Jones, Studio 54 II, 1979
● Shinique Smith, Untitled (Rodeo Beach Bundle), 2007
● Mickalene Thomas, The Inversion of Racquel, 2021
● Tourmaline, Swallowtail, 2020
● Unknown photographer, Daguerreotype, late 19th century
● Kara Walker, Porgy and Bess, embracing, 2013
● Fulton Leroy Washington (AKA Mr. Wash), Shattered Dreams, 2020
● Kehinde Wiley, Yachinboaz Ben Yisrael II, 2021
● D'Angelo Lovell Williams, Daddy Issues, 2019
● Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas, Sometimes I See Myself in You, 2008
● Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas, Thomas and Thomas, 2008
● Richard Wyatt Jr., Glimpse At Yourself, 2006
