Black Women’s Artwork That Everyone Should Have Eyes On

(Photo: Matheus Viana/Pexels)

Black women artists have persistently transformed modern art through their presence in
museums and galleries as well as public art spaces. Their artistic production gives widespread
recognition to both restore forgotten histories and celebrate Black existence while transforming
institutional approaches to Black representation.

These artists create their most culturally significant modern artworks through portraiture,
sculpture, photography, collage, and large-scale installations. The following selection features
Black American women artists whose work has received both critical acclaim and institutional
acknowledgment, and you should keep your eyes on them.

Amy Sherald: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (2018)

In 2018, artist Amy Sherald created a powerful portrait of former first lady Michelle LaVaughn
Robinson Obama. The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery commissioned the oil painting,
which became the official Obama portrait for its presidential collection. Sherald’s distinctive
artistic approach breaks conventional portrait rules through her depiction of Obama, who sits
before a light blue backdrop in a Milly-designed geometric dress. The painting’s effect is
enhanced through Obama’s distinctive grayscale skin tones. The portrait’s debut attracted
unprecedented crowds, which established it as the museum’s most popular exhibition piece.

Simone Leigh: Brick House (2019)

The bronze sculpture “Brick House,”

by Chicago-born artist Simone Leigh, debuted in 2019 as
the first public art installation for the High Line Plinth program in New York City. The sculpture
reaches about 16 feet above 10th Avenue in Manhattan, while merging a Black woman’s bust with
architectural elements that reference African and African American building heritage. This
artwork represents a continuing investigation by Leigh into Black womanhood alongside labor
and public art representation of Black women.

Phyllis Stephens: The Movement of Material (2023)

In 2023, Atlanta-based quilt artist Phyllis Stephens showcased The Movement of Material textile
series, which features large-scale quilted artworks that honor dance rhythms and storytelling abilities.

Stephens displayed her hand-painted fabric quilted artworks at Almine Rech Gallery in
a solo exhibition, which showed Black figures dancing through joyful, intimate, everyday
moments. The ten-piece series unites African American quilting heritage with dance movement
to study how rhythm and memory, and community influence Black cultural identity. Stephens
found her inspiration in the shared characteristics of quilting and dance because both disciplines
need rhythm and structure and emotional expression to create visual motion through color and
fabric in each composition. The exhibition solidified Stephens’ status as a fifth-generation quilt
maker who creates vibrant textile narratives that unite fine art with Black storytelling traditions.

LaToya Ruby Frazier: Flint Is Family (2016)

In 2016, documentary photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier started the photographic project “Flint
Is Family” while she covered the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Frazier received a commission from Elle
magazine to document the crisis. Yet, she spent several months living among the community
members while she focused her lens on poet and activist Shea Cobb and her family. Frazier
portrays the human side of the environmental disaster that impacted Flint residents.

The photographic collection depicts the family in everyday routines as well as in activist activities. The
images demonstrate the impact of water contamination on ordinary life in the predominantly
Black urban area. The initial photo essay developed into a multi-year project called “Flint Is
Family in Three Acts.”

Mickalene Thomas: Resist (2016)

The 2016 mixed-media painting “Resist” by Mickalene Thomas depicts a Black woman who
reclines amid colorful, patterned fabrics and rhinestone decorations. These elements are
hallmarks of Thomas’s artistic style. This artwork demonstrates Thomas’s continuous effort to
redefine traditional art history while promoting Black feminine representation in modern visual
arts.

Deborah Roberts: Let Them Be Children (2018)

In 2018, “Let Them Be Children” was created by Austin-based mixed-media artist Deborah
Roberts. The collage shows groups of Black children through its combination of photographic
fragments and painted elements. The artwork joined institutional collections after its creation
and established Roberts as a leading contemporary artist who examines race identity and
childhood in America through collage.

Jordan Casteel: The Baayfalls (2017)

In 2017, painter Jordan Casteel created “The Baayfalls,” a large-scale portrait that shows two
Senegalese street vendors working in Harlem, New York. The painting became a mural
installation, which was displayed along NYC’s High Line during 2019-2020. Casteel wanted to
bring attention to the ordinary people who form the backbone of Harlem’s community with her
artwork. Through bold color and intimate composition, she presents her subjects with dignity
and individuality. Through her work, Casteel has helped to broaden contemporary portraiture by
capturing Black urban life in America.

Bisa Butler: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (2019)

In 2019, textile artist Bisa Butler made a quilted portrait called “I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings.” Butler used layered African wax fabrics and patterned textiles to create the portrait,
which was inspired by Maya Angelou’s autobiography of the same name. Through this work,
Butler demonstrates her commitment to advancing quilting as a contemporary fine art form while
honoring its Black American cultural heritage.

The Art Institute of Chicago and the Smithsonian American Art Museum have displayed Butler’s quilts.

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