What started out as an essay by curator-writer-critic Antwaun Sargent, and later grew into an exhibition featuring the work of more than 30 artists, has now become a highly anticipated book highlighting the achievements of a new generation of Black visionaries. Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists: The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art officially drops later this month, and is now available for pre-order. In a recent interview with Vulture magazine, Sargent said the book examines how the current generation of young, Black artists (and the older artists who inspired them) are “impacting the way we think about identity, politics, and art history itself.”
The 200-page book features essays from a slew of bright minds working in the contemporary art field, including collector Bernard Lumpkin (after whose collection the book is named), Lauren Haynes (curator at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art), and MoMA curator Thomas Lax.
Artists whose work is featured in the Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection (and this book) include Mickalene Thomas, Mark Bradford, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Sadie Barnette, Jordan Casteel, and dozens more.
