Kwame Brathwaite 1938 in New York, NY-2023 in New York, NY

MoMA ANNOUNCES A MAJOR EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTING THE ROLE OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT IN CIRCULATING IDEAS OF PAN-AFRICAN SUBJECTIVITY AND IMAGINATION.

Stromberg, Matt. “10 Shows to See in Los Angeles This May: Kwame Brathwaite’s singular photography, Jackie Amézquita’s “soil paintings,” Sanaa Gateja’s paper beadwork, ancient pottery,...

Kwame Brathwaite: Things Well Worth Waiting For, on view at ArtCenter College of Design's Williamson Gallery Exhibition Dates Wednesday, April 17 through Saturday, August 17,...

Remembering Kwame Brathwaite (1938–2023) We pay tribute to a visionary photographer whose lens illuminated the beauty of a generation. Oluremi C. Onabanjo, The Peter Schub...

You can support the mission of The Kwame Brathwaite Archive. As Brathwaite’s son, Kwame S. Brathwaite, writes, “Kwame Brathwaite was about empowering people to see...

Kwame Brathwaite’s photography produced an Afro-diasporic shift in thinking about the physical characteristics of Blackness. His 2023 exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, “Kwame...

Kwame Brathwaite, the photographer and activist whose ardent shots propelled civil rights conversations and helped birth the “Black is beautiful” movement of the 1960s, took...

At 2023 Art Basel Miami Beach Gallery Sector, Philip Martin Gallery presents paintings and photographs by Kwame Brathwaite, Holly Coulis, Tomory Dodge, Sky Glabush, Sophie...

Portraits are often taken at face value—as accurate representations of a person’s appearance, sometimes removed by decades or centuries. But portraits are often the products...

Willis, Deborah. “Kwame Brathwaite (1938-2023),” Artforum, April 20, 2023. KWAME BRATHWAITE WAS FAMILY! He taught me about the possibilities of photography and what it means...

Part of the “Black is beautiful” movement during the civil rights era, he trained his camera on athletes, musicians and models as well as everyday...

For more than six decades, New York photographer Kwame Brathwaite was a joyous chronicler of Black life and culture, taking candid, richly textured pictures of...

Kwame Brathwaite, the photographer and activist whose work gave a visual identity to the “Black is Beautiful” movement, died on April 1. He was 85....

Citing the luminaries captured through the lens of Kwame Brathwaite’s cameras, are, so to speak, mere snapshots of his remarkably productive career chronicling Americana, particularly...

Photographer Kwame Brathwaite, who helped popularize the “Black is Beautiful” movement of the 1960s, has died. From Nelson Mandela to Muhammad Ali and the so-called...

Photographer Kwame Brathwaite, who through his warm and elegant photos documenting life and culture adjacent to the civil rights and Black Power movements popularized the...

Kwame Brathwaite, a photographer and activist whose stylish images forced many to see Black beauty anew, inspiring generations of artists who came after him, died...

Throughout his six-decade career, Brathwaite harnessed the power of photography to recalibrate the public understanding of Blackness. Photographer Kwame Brathwaite died on Saturday, April 1...

Kwame Brathwaite, the pioneering activist and photographer whose work helped define the aesthetics of the “Black is Beautiful” movement of the 1960s and beyond, died...

During a career that spans seven decades, Kwame Brathwaite (born 1938) has become known for his photographs of Black fashion, music, and events. Brathwaite came...

Opening reception: Saturday, January 14, 4 – 6 PM Several years ago my father said “The world needs to acknowledge the tremendous, artistic legacy of...

Art Basel Miami Beach | Galleries Section December 1 – 3, 2022 At Art Basel Miami Beach, Philip Martin Gallery presents an exhibition of six...

Coming this Fall A Picture Gallery of the Soul September 13 - December 10, 2022 Related Events A companion exhibition of photographs made by Gordon...

I once asked my father what inspired him as a young photographer in the 1950s and 60s, and he told me a story about our...

A DECADE OF BLACKNESS, A PAN-AFRICAN REVUE! JANUARY 28th, 1962, already considered a historic date in the annals of orthodox African Nationalism, should also be...

It’s hard to overstate the in fl uence that the Black Panthers have had on America since the group came together in Oakland in 1966....

November 7, 2021 - April 17, 2022 Los Angeles County Museum of Art 5905 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036 Press Release: 'To complement the...

For more than a decade, Razor House, the stunning cliffside mansion by architectural designer Wallace E. Cunningham in La Jolla, California, has alternately been described...

“Black is Beautiful” has always been more than a cultural catchphrase. Before it was a common adage used as a compliment within the Black community,...

October 8, 2021 - January 16, 2022 Detroit Insitute of Arts Museum 5200 Woodward Avenue Detroit, MI Press Release: ' In this exhibition are over...

The Detroit Institute of Arts mounts an exhibition of more than 40 large-scale photos by Kwame Brathwaite, whose work helped advance one of the “Black...

About two and a half years ago, the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Nancy Barr was reviewing traveling photography exhibition proposals when one in particular caught...

September 29 - November 2, 2021 TOA Presents 655 19th Avenue NE Minneapolis, MN 55418 Works by Kwame Brathwaite, Holly Coulis, Katy Cowan, Tomory Dodge,...

September 22 - December 5, 2021 Block Museum of Art Northwestern University 40 Arts Cirle Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 Press Release: ' In 2020-2021 Northwestern...

Kwame Brathwaite's work will be featured in 'Facing Forward: Photographic Portraits from the Collection' at Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara, CA). The exhibition...

Every photographer wants to get the moment: that split second when every aspect of a great image – composition, light, focus, feeling, expressiveness – coalesces...

“‘Black Is Beautiful’ was my directive,” writes photographer Kwame Brathwaite, in the monograph that accompanies his upcoming exhibition at the Blanton Museum of Art. “I...

On Jan. 28, 1962, at a packed Purple Manor club in Harlem, activist and photographer Kwame Brathwaite sought to prove to the world that Black...

In 2004, while sifting through a box of files with his son, the pioneering photographer Kwame Brathwaite, who chronicled Black life across seven decades, beginning...

May 26 - August 15, 2021 Centraal Museum Agnietenstraat 1, 3512 XA Utrecht, Netherlands Press Release: 'A major new fashion exhibition entitled Voices of Fashion....

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has announced its latest acquisitions of a wide range of artworks that significantly enhance its renowned American art...

The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) has acquired artworks by Kwame Brathwaite, Gordon Parks and Tunji Adeniyi-Jones through the Fund for Black Art, an endowment...

Why is it that photography, more than any other medium, attracts some of the worst writing about art? There are shelves of books on painting,...

Sunday, December 13, 2020 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Virtual Event via Zoom Kwame S. Brathwaite Archive Director, The Kwame Brathwaite Archive 'Kwame S. Brathwaite...

Join Kwame S. Brathwaite and Sedrick Huckaby in conversation with Blanton Museum of Art Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Prints and Drawings,...

Congratulations to Kwame Brathwaite for the acquisition of his work by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art! Newly acquired works include 'Untitled (Cannonball Adderley, Great...

Kwame Brathwaite's major touring exhibition, 'Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful' will be traveling to the Blanton Museum of Art (Austin, TX). The exhibition will be...

A love of Black people and Black culture rings throughout the practice of Kwame Braithwaite, a self-described artist-activist who has said “Black is Beautiful was...

“The phrase ‘black is beautiful’ referred to a broad embrace of black culture and identity. It called for an appreciation of the black past as...

Kwame Brathwaite. Untitled (Nomsa with Africa). 1964–68 This picture by Kwame Brathwaite belongs to a history honoring the natural African American style identity that, in...

Behind the late 19th-century façade of John Demsey’s six-storey house on Manhattan’s Upper East Side lies a riot of colour and pattern, where Pop Art...

Kwame S. Brathwaite, son of Kwame Brathwaite, previews new works, and discusses what the Brathwaite archive is working on and planning to release next. Listen...

June 27 – September 6, 2020 The Columbia Museum of Art 1515 Main Street, Columbia, SC 29201 'In the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s,...

The term “erasure” and movements to defy it are among the hottest narratives today in the Black Vanguard. Bold voices and creative innovations are offering...

Sunday afternoon, Feb. 23, at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco was an opportunity to see what Black Joy looks like. While...

Philip Martin Gallery is delighted to annouce a special conversation with Kwame Brathwaite Jr. and Arcmanoro Niles, moderated by Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator...

As snow fell upon Main Street in Park City, Utah, mega-watt Hollywood talent—along with musicians, politicians, and activists—walked among the ticket-holding attendees of weekend one...

The event last Tuesday at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco was billed as the Winter 2020 Opening Reception. But it...

The Met may have set the agenda for blockbuster fashion exhibitions, but it’s no longer alone. From Prada’s first solo museum show to a retrospective...

At its peak, Black Tumblr was unbeatable. It served a continual dose of contemporary and archival images of black celebrities and strangers alike, an antidote...

An interview series spotlighting some of the great work coming out of Los Angeles. Hear directly from artists, curators, and art workers about their current...

This year we’ve grown our Los Angeles list to 20 picks — there’s just so much to highlight! As always, it’s hard to distill our...

December 4, 2019 - March 1, 2020 Museum of the African Diaspora 685 Mission St (at 3rd), San Francisco, CA 94105 'In the late 1950s...

Coffee table books hit that gift-giving sweet spot: they're easy to find, actually useful, and somehow they always feel super personal, even if you don't...

Rihanna is ready. First she moved our interview from Thursday to Wednesday. Then from evening to afternoon. When I get word of this latest change,...

Antwaun Sargent adapted this essay from his new book, “The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion,” to be published next month by Aperture....

The year 1969 heralded immense social change and political upheaval. The counterculture movement blossomed in the West, African countries continued to decolonize, Americans lost their...

Images of black Americans’ deaths and suffering have been a permanent fixture in our cultural history, while those celebrating black personhood and pleasure have been...

Issues: A History of Photography in Fashion Magazines , by Vince Aletti, Phaidon, RRP£75 Aletti, a collector of magazines since 1965, has turned his...

No one doubts the power of fashion as a cultural force today, and in the age of Instagram, our sense of it is formed by...

“Kwame Brathwaite. archive.” In just three words, Rihanna shared with her Instagram and Twitter followers the inspiration behind her debut fashion line, Fenty. Accompanying the...

Black is Beautiful, Kwame Brathwaite Aperture Foundation, 2019 1. Can’t speak for you, but for me a book—by that I’m referring to the...

According to Kwame Brathwaite, people refer to him as “keeper of the images.” Someone less modest than him might call themselves a cultural lynchpin. From...

There was a definite glint in the famous green eyes when Rihanna said, “Every collection will change – you’ll see that to come,” at the...

Rihanna has revealed that Kwame Brathwaite, the Brooklyn-born photographer who helped pioneer the 'black is beautiful' movement in the 1950s and 1960s, was a major...

Praise Riri! Today, Rihanna’s luxury clothing line Fenty is now shoppable online, so say goodbye to all your coins. Joining Rihanna’s burgeoning business empire that...

Congratulations to Kwame Brathwaite for the acquisition of his work by the National Portrait Gallery at Smithsonian Institution! The work contained in the collection is...

June 23 - September 22, 2019 'Explore the rich and varied history of fashion photography through Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography. More...

Tuesday, May 14 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture 515 Malcolm X Boulevard New York, NY Please join us...

Rubbish, Dipping Sauce, Grass, Peonie, Bum by Maisie Cousins, published by Trolley Books Maisie Cousins ’ first photo book arrives this month, and brings together...

It was the summer of 1963 when photographer Kwame Brathwaite captured a protest over Wigs Parisian, a white-owned wig shop that opened on Harlem’s 125th...

It’s hard to imagine a time before Afros were a symbol of Black pride and power, before James Brown chopped his straight hair to declare...

Some artists are lauded for the quality of work, while others are praised for its impact. Photographer Kwame Brathwaite is celebrated for both. In the...

The shared Black experience begets such words as captivity, despair, disenfranchise, oppression, struggle and violence, especially when Black people are not in control of the...

LOS ANGELES - Black is beautiful. It's a catalyzing phrase that radically instilled pride among African Americans and redefined beauty standards around the world. The...

On an evening in the early 1950s on the corner of 125th and 7th Avenue in Harlem, two teenage brothers named Elombe Brath and Kwame...

In this diffuse era of the internet, as we learn to look beyond mainstream narratives funneled through institutional power, the contributions of under-recognized cultural caretakers...

To some, Kwame Brathwaite was the 'Keeper of the Images,' capturing black creativity and expression in its purest and most candid of forms. Between the...

On Thursday night, the Skirball Cultural Center unveiled its latest exhibit Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite which will run through Sept. 1....

April 11 - September 1, 2019 See the iconic images that amplified one of the most influential cultural movements of the 1960s: “Black Is Beautiful.”...

Photographer and activist Kwame Brathwaite got his start documenting jazz music uptown in the 1950s. 'Jazz set the rhythm of his work;' his photos captured...

In 1950s Harlem, the neighborhood’s black population reached its peak. White locals departed for suburban sprawl, better schools, and more safety; a decade later, the...

On the evening of January 28 1962, a huge crowd gathered outside a nightclub in Harlem, jostling for entrance to a fashion show whose resonant...

In 1962, a group of African American women gathered in Harlem. Wearing African-inspired designs along with their natural unstraightened hair, they stepped on stage at...

In the nineteen-sixties, the age of Ann-Margret and Jean Shrimpton, the photographer and activist Kwame Brathwaite co-founded a group called the Grandassa Models. (“Grandassa” is...

February 21, 2018 - March 15, 2020 Taking inspiration from Mia’s recent acquisition of Frank Bowling’s map painting False Start (1970), “Mapping Black Identities” challenges...

January 27 - May 5, 2019 Representing a broad range of artists, years, techniques, and themes, this exhibition of approximately 30 works offers viewers a...

The absorbing gaze of a woman's dark eyes draws the viewer in at photographer Kwame Brathwaite's exhibition at Philip Martin Gallery. Untitled (Ethel Parks at...

Congratulations to Kwame Brathwaite for the acquisition of his work by the Museum of Modern Art! Acquired works include 'Untitled (Photo shoot at a school...

Congratulations to Kwame Brathwaite for the acquisition of his work by the Whitney Museum of American Art! Acquired works include 'Untitled (Self Portrait)' (1964), 'Untitled...

For over 50 years, the photographer Kwame Brathwaite captured African-American beauty and fashion, giving visual power to black power. The intersection of West 125th Street...

In a fortunate coincidence, three shows currently on view in L.A. engage in a rich conversation on how black people are represented in the West....

At the opening of photographer Kwame Brathwaite's new show 'Celebrity and the Everyday,' the 'Grey's Anatomy' star talks about black representation in media as well...

Congratulations to Kwame Brathwaite for the acquisition of his work by the MIT List Visual Arts Center!

Kwame Brathwaite Black is Beautiful Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles May 23 – September 1, 2019 Columbia Museum of Art Columbia, South Carolina June 26,...

A few weeks ago, the eighty-year-old Harlem photographer Kwame Brathwaite arrived at MOMA PS1, in Queens, wearing a modish three-piece suit and gleaming brogues. “This...

Three decades ago, a crew of hair stylists, led by David Humphries, began flaunting their most fantastic designs at night clubs around Detroit. “Hair Wars”—equal...

On the night of January 28, 1962, in a small Harlem nightclub called the Purple Manor, a show took place that would end up igniting...

There were a number of great presentations, but absent from this “revisiting” of the “Black Arts Movement” was the first nine years of activity that...

'Tools of Revolution: Fashion Photography and Activism' includes photographs by Arielle Bob-Willis, Kwame Brathwaite, Micaiah Carter, and Dana Scruggs. March 6 - May 10, 2020...

Jack Shainman Gallery is pleased to present This Tender, Fragile Thing, a group exhibition on view through April 30, 2022. The show shines a contemporary...

Throughout the 1960s, Kwame Brathwaite used his photography to popularize the transformative idea that “Black is Beautiful.” This exhibition—the first dedicated to Brathwaite’s remarkable career—tells...