A 52-minute masterclass in why art history forgot to include Black America—and who's correcting the record.
Black Is the Color highlights key moments in the history of Black visual art, from Edmonds Lewis’s 1867 sculpture Forever Free, to the work of contemporary artists such as Whitfield Lovell, Kerry James Marshall, Ellen Gallagher, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Art historians and gallery owners place the works in context, setting them against the larger social contexts of Jim Crow, WWI, the civil rights movement and the racism of the Reagan era, while contemporary artists discuss individual works by their forerunners and their ongoing influence.
Editing
Seamless jumps between 1867 and 2016
Direction
Lets artists speak, not just experts
Production
Rare footage of lost works and exhibitions
Director
Jacques Goldstein
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Jacques Goldstein spent four years securing rights to photograph certain works, as many remain in private collections rarely shown publicly.
The film's 2016 release coincided with renewed museum diversity debates, yet most institutions featured still had no Black curators in their American art departments.
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