Author: Camara Dia Holloway

I am the Project Manager for the Romare Bearden Digital Catalogue Raisonné at the Wildenstein Plattner Institute. I earned my PhD at Yale University in the History of Art Department and specialize in twentieth century American art with a particular focus on the history of photography, race and representation, and transatlantic modernist networks. I also serve as a Founding Co-Director of the Association for Critical Race Art History (ACRAH).

Natural Histories: Cecil Baugh, Egyptian Blue (1992)

nationalgalleryofjamaica's avatarNational Gallery of Jamaica

The work of Cecil Baugh, Jamaica’s master potter, holds an important place in the history of Jamaican art. Though there is a long tradition of pottery in Jamaica dating back to the Taino, Baugh was the first to systematically explore pottery as fine art; researching and utilising local clays and forms extensively and developing a number of glazes such as Egyptian Blue shown here. As a young man, Baugh’s work consisted largely of traditional Jamaican pottery- yabbas and monkey jars- used for domestic purposes. He soon began to experiment with developing his own style. In his  book, Baugh: Jamaica’s Master Potter (1986)co-written with Laura Tanna, he writes:

I thought of glazes but the transparent lead glaze was the only one available. So I started off to experiment. None of the other traditional potters were making coloured glazes but I could see the imported pots were coloured and I thought…

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Residency Program, St. Louis, for early 2014. Deadline: June 30, 2013

WEB: Fotota Blog Launch

“Fotota” (http://fotota.hypotheses.org/) is a new blog devoted to photography in Africa, its current challenges, readings and discourses. It is jointly run by Érika Nimis and Marian Nur Goni.

See The Beauty In Haiti With Photographer Maggie Steber’s New Show In Coral Gables

Why we need to dust off the drawing board: the tale of The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

An endorsement of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art:

colleeninthemuseum's avatarTHE VERMILION GOLDFISH

It’s time for a little history. Museums have been around for almost as long as recorded history, used as historical resources for the educated elite, like the Musaeum of Alexandria (which included the famous Library) dating from around the 3rd century BCE. Art museums, however, have a significantly shorter history, art having been almost exclusively kept in private collections and archaeological museums until the 15th century. The Pope, of all people, ushered in the era of “public” art collection – primarily sculpture – during the Renaissance and was followed by an influx of public University art collections. The 18th century brought about the golden age of the familiar art museum in the form of a free-standing building with its own collection, Board, and funding. This era brought us the British Museum, the Uffizi Gallery, The Hermitage Museum, The Louvre, and even the Charleston Museum two years before…

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Tribute to Gerard Sekoto at WAM

palesaehle's avatarPalesa Radebe

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TO celebrate a hundred years of Gerard Sekoto’s life, the Wits Art Museum (WAM) is staging a retrospective of his artwork in an exhibition titled Song for Sekoto 1930-2013.

In collaboration with the Gerard Sekoto Foundation, WAM brings an intimate and exclusive display of Sekoto’s celebrated pieces. Some which have been brought overseas, loaned from the Johannesburg Art Gallery and private collectors.

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An immigrant turns memories into art – and a fundraiser for the American Latino Museum