First published 2023
Leading Black scholars from various disciplines examine four pivotal artworks in the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection to challenge traditional art historical methods. Key Jo Lee introduces "perceptual drift," a framework for understanding Blackness as material presence in art and academic study. Christina Sharpe analyzes Jack Whitten's Rho I from 1977. Lee explores Lorna Simpson's Cure/Heal from 1992. Robin Coste Lewis examines Ellen Gallagher's Bouffant Pride from 2003. Erica Moiah James studies Simone Leigh's Las Meninas from 2019. These scholars employ materialist methods to expose the social and racial inequities embedded in canonical art history. The book transforms how art history gets written and creates new pathways into Black artistic expression while revealing hidden meanings and untold narratives.
Genres: biography, art, african-american, criticism, 21st-century, art-history, academic, cultural-studies
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: academic, challenging-canon, exposing-inequities
Setting: Cleveland Museum of Art
Period: 1977, 1992, 2003, 2019
80 pages · Hardcover · The Cleveland Museum of Art