︎

Kwame Brathwaite
Images / Biography / Exhibitions / News & Press 

Untitled (Ethel Parks inspired by the Grandassa photo shoot at AJASS)
c. 1965, printed 2018
Archival pigment print, framed
AJASS_Loc57_003-2

Size one:
15 x 15 in, 38.1 x 38.1 cm (image);
16 x 16 in., 40.5 x 40.5 cm framed
Size two:
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm (image);
31 x 31 in, 78.75 x 78.75 cm framed

Untitled (Brenda Deaver)
c. 1965, printed 2017
archival pigment print, unframed
AJASS_41_008


Size one:
15 x 15 in, 38.1 x 38.1 cm (image);
16 x 16 in., 40.5 x 40.5 cm framed
Size two:
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm (image);
31 x 31 in, 78.75 x 78.75 cm framed

Untitled (Grandassa Models, Merton Simpson Gallery)
c. 1967, printed 2017
Archival pigment print
AJASS_19_008


Size one:
15 x 15 in, 38.1 x 38.1 cm (image);
16 x 16 in., 40.5 x 40.5 cm framed
Size two:
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm (image);
31 x 31 in, 78.75 x 78.75 cm framed


Untitled (Nomsa with Earrings)
1964, printed 2017
Archival pigment print, framed
AJASS_Loc_36_003


Size one:
15 x 15 in, 38.1 x 38.1 cm (image);
16 x 16 in., 40.5 x 40.5 cm framed
Size two:
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm (image);
31 x 31 in, 78.75 x 78.75 cm framed


Untitled (Sikolo with Carolee Prince Designs)
1968, printed 2017
Archival pigment print, framed
AJASS_Loc_99_002

Size one:
15 x 15 in, 38.1 x 38.1 cm (image);
16 x 16 in., 40.5 x 40.5 cm framed
Size two:
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm (image);
31 x 31 in, 78.75 x 78.75 cm framed


Untitled (Self Portrait)
1964, printed 2018
Archival pigment print, mounted and framed
AJASS_Loc_36_003

Size one:
15 x 15 in, 38.1 x 38.1 cm (image);
16 x 16 in., 40.5 x 40.5 cm framed
Size two:
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm (image);
31 x 31 in, 78.75 x 78.75 cm framed

Untitled (Photo shoot at a school for one of the many modeling groups who had begun to embrace natural hairstyles in the 1960s)
1966, printed 2017
Archival pigment print
AJASS_Loc46_004

Size one:
15 x 15 in, 38.1 x 38.1 cm (image);
16 x 16 in., 40.5 x 40.5 cm framed
Size two:
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm (image);
31 x 31 in, 78.75 x 78.75 cm framed

Untitled (Untitled, Group of men who supported AJASS and Grandassas)
1966, printed 2018
Archival pigment print, framed
AJASS_Loc46_003-2

Size one:
15 x 15 in, 38.1 x 38.1 cm (image);
16 x 16 in., 40.5 x 40.5 cm framed
Size two:
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm (image);
31 x 31 in, 78.75 x 78.75 cm framed

Biography


Born 1938  in New York, NY
Lives and works in New York, NY


SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2018
Kwame Brathwaite: Celebrity and the Everyday, curated by Jesse Williams and Kwame S. Brathwaite, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2016
Black is Beautiful: Empowerment Through the Lens of Kwame Brathwaite, 1962 - 1975, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2018
Cry of Victory and Short Walks to Freedom, curated by Modou Dieng in association with For Freedoms, Project + Gallery, St. Louis, MO
Do Something To It. Do Something Else To It., Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles CA
This Synthetic Moment, curated by David Hartt, includes Liz Johnson Artur, James Barnor, Kwame Brathwaite, David Hartt, Zoe Leonard, Christopher Williams, David Nolan Gallery, New York, NY

Mod New York: Fashion Takes a Trip, Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY


BIBLIOGRAPHY


Smith, Melissa. “The Photos That Lifted Up the Black Is Beautiful Movement,” New York Times LENS Blog, November 27, 2018.
Mizota, Sharon. “Review: Exhibitions by Kwame Brathwaite, Deana Lawson and Meleko Mokgosi challenge how blackness is represented,” Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2018.
Riefe, Jordan. “Jesse Williams Co-Curates Photo Show on Black Icons and Ordinary People,” The Hollywood Reporter, November 5, 2018.

Bohnacker, Siobhán. “Photo Booth: An Artist’s Ornate Natural Hair Styles, Through the Eyes of a Legendary Photographer of Black Beauty,” The New Yorker, March 30, 2018.
“The Fantastic Designs of ‘Hair Wars: A Crew of Stylists Flaunt Their Creations at MoMA PS1,” The New Yorker, March 19, 2018.
Sykes, Morgan. “A Photographic Meditation on Time,” The Cut, March 4, 2018
Laneri, Raquel. “How a Harlem fashion show started the ‘Black is Beautiful’ Movement,” New York Post, February 5, 2018. 
NNadi, Chioma. “How One Photographer Captured the Soul of the ‘Black Is Beautiful’ Movement,” Vogue, February 2, 2018.
Ford, Tanisha C. “Kwame Brathwaite Black is Beautiful,” Aperture, October, 2017, pp. 46-53.
Albrecht, Donald; Magidson, Phyllis. Mod New York: Fashion Takes a Trip. New York: Museum of the City of New York, The Monacelli Press, 2017.
Cotter, Holland. "In ‘Black Power!,’ Art’s Political Punch and Populist Reach," New York Times, April 6, 2017.
Hyland, Véronique. "8 Runway Shows That Pushed Fashion Forward," New York Magazine, May 2016.
Ford, Tanisha C. “Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul". University of North Carolina Press,  Chapel Hill, NC, pp. 41-66.
Hass, Nancy. “A Modern Masterpiece, Restored – and Lived In,” The New York Times Style Magazine, September 19, 2016.
Rosen, Miss. “Black is Beautiful: The Photographs That Started a Movement” CRAVE Online, June 1 2016. 
Thompson, Cordell M. “Words of the Week”, New York Beat, September 14, 1978.

Thompson, Cordell M. “New York Beat”, New York Beat, May 12, 1977.

Thompson, Cordell M. “New York Beat”, New York Beat, April 1, 1976.

Thompson, Cordell M. “New York Beat”, New York Beat, November 27, 1975.

Thompson, Cordell M. “New York Beat”, New York Beat, July 24, 1975.

Brathwaite, Kwame. “The Jackson 5 in Africa”, Blues and Soul Magazine, December 25, 1974. 


SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
JPMorgan Chase Art Collection
MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA
Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Sidley Austin LLP, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY




Exhibitions

Kwame Brathwaite: Celebrity and the Everyday
Co-curated by Jesse Williams and Kwame S. Brathwaite
November 3, 2018 - January 12, 2019

Do Something To It. Do Something Else To It.
April 28 - May 26, 2018
Ericka Beckman, Kwame Brathwaite, Brian Bress, Carl Cheng, Holly Coulis, Katy Cowan, Tomory Dodge, Noël Dolla, Nathan Mabry, T. Kelly Mason, Pat O’Neill, Robert Overby, Bernard Piffaretti, Michael Rey, Adam Silverman, Lew Thomas and Claude Viallat

The Armory Show
The Armory, New York, NY
March 8 - 11, 2018
Kwame Brathwaite, Brian Bress, Katy Cowan, Tomory Dodge, Nathan Mabry, Pat O’Neill and Adam Silverman

News & Press

“Must-See Shows”, Artforum, November 2018. 


Smith, Melissa. “The Photos That Lifted Up the Black Is Beautiful Movement,” New York Times,” November 27, 2018. 


Mizota, Sharon. “Review: Exhibitions by Kwame Brathwaite, Deana Lawson and Meleko Mokgosi challenge how blackness is represented,” Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2018.


Mizota, Sharon. “Review: Exhibitions by Kwame Brathwaite, Deana Lawson and Meleko Mokgosi challenge how blackness is represented,” Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2018.

Riefe, Jordan. “Jesse Williams Co-Curates Photo Show on Black Icons and Ordinary People,” The Hollywood Reporter, November 5, 2018.


Kwame Brathwaite: Celebrity and the Everyday, Co-curated by Jesse Williams and Kwame S. Brathwaite, Philip Martin Gallery, November 3 - December 22, 2018

Cry of Victory and Short Walks to Freedom, curated by Modou Dieng in association with For Freedoms, Project + Gallery, St. Louis, MO, October 18 - November 24, 2018

Bohnacker, Siobhán. “Photo Booth: An Artist’s Ornate Natural Hair Styles, Through the Eyes of a Legendary Photographer of Black Beauty,” The New Yorker, March 30, 2018.

“The Fantastic Designs of ‘Hair Wars: A Crew of Stylists Flaunt Their Creations at MoMA PS1,” The New Yorker, March 19, 2018

Sykes, Morgan. “A Photographic Meditation on Time,” The Cut, March 4, 2018

Laneri, Raquel. “How a Harlem fashion show started the ‘Black is Beautiful’ Movement,” New York Post, February 5, 2018.

NNadi, Chioma. “How One Photographer Captured the Soul of the ‘Black Is Beautiful’ Movement,” Vogue, February 2, 2018.

“This Synthetic Moment,” curated by David Hartt, includes Liz Johnson Artur, James Barnor, Kwame Brathwaite, David Hartt, Zoe Leonard, Christopher Williams, David Nolan Gallery, New York, NY, through March 10, 2018.

“Black Is Beautiful": Fashion and Consciousness, Panelists: Kwame S. Brathwaite (son of the artist and Director of the Archive); Tanisha Ford (historian); and Mimi Plange (designer), February 6, 6;30pm, Museum of the City of New York, NY.

“Black Is Beautiful": Fashion and Consciousness, Kwame S. Brathwaite (son of the artist and Director of the Archive); Tanisha Ford (historian); and Mimi Plange (designer), March 16, 2017, Museum of the City of New York, NY.

Kwame Brathwaite to be honored at "Elements of Style: the 2017 Aperture Gala," October 30, 2017.

Mod New York: Fashion Takes a Trip, Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY, through April 1, 2018. Catalog details here.

Cotter, Holland. "In ‘Black Power!,’ Art’s Political Punch and Populist Reach," New York Times, April 6, 2017.

"Black Power!" Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY, through December 30, 2017

Hyland, Véronique. "8 Runway Shows That Pushed Fashion Forward," New York Magazine, May 2016.

Rosen, Miss. “Black is Beautiful: The Photographs That Started a Movement” CRAVE Online, June 1 2016.

Ford, Tanisha C. Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul. University of North Carolina Press,  Chapel Hill, NC, pp. 41-66.

Hass, Nancy. “A Modern Masterpiece, Restored – and Lived In,” The New York Times Style Magazine, September 19, 2016.


Brathwaite, Kwame. “The Jackson 5 in Africa”, Blues and Soul Magazine, December 25, 1974.