The Gift of Humanity in Bessie Harvey's Art

February 11, 2022 • View in browser

Good morning. 🌤️ Today, a security guard is accused of doodling eyes on a modern painting, understanding Édouard Glissant’s work that challenges the ideology of colonialism, and reviews of Francis Bacon, Elmer Bischoff, Tom Burckhardt, and more.

We have also published Frederica Simmons’ second article on artist Bessie Harvey. For this post, she interviews the artist’s daughter to gain insight into the artist’s work. Simmons is the third fellow in the Emily H. Tremaine Journalism Fellowship for Curators program and her email exhibition will be sent to all Hyperallergic subscribers this Sunday, February 13.

— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief

The Gift of Humanity in Bessie Harvey's Art, An Interview with Faye Harvey Dean

The collective wisdom that she acquired through the diasporic Black American experience of womanhood allowed her to recall her value and humanity, which she poured into her art. | Frederica Simmons

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WHAT'S HAPPENING

The vandal used a “Yeltsin Centre-branded pen” to draw eyes on two faceless figures in Anna Leporskaya’s masterpiece “Three Figures” (1932-34)

A bored security guard uses a ballpoint pen to draw eyes on an abstract painting at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center.

Adidas’s sports bra campaign featuring rows of bare breasts is causing a stir on Twitter.

The Met's research library develops the Index of African American Artists, facilitating access to information about Black artists in the collection.

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The Morgan Library & Museum Presents Gwendolyn Brooks: A Poet’s Work In Community

Now on view in New York City, this exhibition celebrates the life and work of American poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black author to win a Pulitzer Prize. Learn more.

LATEST IN ART

The Beastliness of Bacon

Bacon was obsessed by animals lifelong. Rawness. Beastliness. Fearsomeness. The way they lived. The way they died. The way they preyed upon each other. | Michael Glover

“Creative Seeing” in the Paintings of Elmer Bischoff and Tom Burckhardt

Bischoff and Burckhardt questioned assumptions and conventions regarding abstraction and how we apprehend it. In fact, their questioning is what makes this a fruitful pairing. | John Yau

MORE FROM HYPERALLERGIC

Édouard Glissant Sought to Undermine the European Ideological Underpinnings of Colonization

In conversations with Hans Ulrich Obrist Glissant proposed an Art Museum of the Americas. | David Brazil

Required Reading

This week, the racist depictions in the US Capitol, fictional truths and conspiracy theories, the evolving relationship of celebrities and NFTs, "black passing," and much more. | Hrag Vartanian

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IN MEMORIAM

James Bidgood (1933-2022)
Photographer and filmmaker | New York Times

Brigitte Kowanz (1957-2022)
Light artist | Der Standard

Julie Saul (1954–2022)
New York art dealer and curator | ARTnews

John Wesley (1928-2022)
Pop painter | New York Times

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