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Black Is Beautiful: the Photography of Kwame Brathwaite

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Black Is Beautiful: the Photography of Kwame Brathwaite FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) presents Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite December 4, 2019 –March 1, 2020 (San Francisco, CA)— The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) presents Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite, the first exhibition to focus on this key—and until now under-recognized—figure of the second Harlem Renaissance. Organized by Aperture Foundation, the exhibition of more than forty iconic images illuminates how, in the late 1950s and 1960s, Brathwaite (b. 1938) harnessed the power of art, music, and fashion to effect social change and used his photography to popularize “Black Is Beautiful,” now considered one of the most influential cultural movements of that era. Inspired by the writings of activist and black nationalist Marcus Garvey, Brathwaite, along with his older brother, Elombe Brath (1936–2014), founded two organizations central to their vision: the African Jazz-Art Society & Studios (AJASS) and Grandassa Models. AJASS was a collective of artists and creatives founded in 1956 that organized jazz concerts in clubs around Harlem and the Bronx. In addition to promoting musical events, the group advanced a message of economic empowerment and political consciousness in the Harlem community, emphasizing the power of self-presentation and style. “Think Black, Buy Black” became a rallying cry. Brathwaite’s stunning portraits of jazz luminaries, including Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and Miles Davis, and behind-the-scenes photographs of the black arts community are a highlight of the exhibition. In the 1960s, Brathwaite and his collective also sought to address how white conceptions of beauty and body image affected black women. To do so they popularized the transformative idea “Black Is Beautiful” and founded the Grandassa Models, a modeling troupe of local black women and the subject of much of the exhibition’s contents. Starting in 1962, the models appeared in wildly popular annual fashion shows at popular Harlem venues including the Apollo Theater, dubbed “Naturally: The Original African Coiffure and Fashion Extravaganza Designed to Restore Our Racial Pride and Standards” (often shortened to “Naturally”). The shows promoted African-inspired fashion and embodied black nationalist beauty principles. In addition to Brathwaite’s photographs of the models, the exhibition will display several garments worn during the fashion shows, as well as a selection of ephemeral materials. Brathwaite’s son, Kwame S. Brathwaite, who curated the exhibition, remarked, “My father preserved the legacy of the ‘Black Is Beautiful’ movement, which is not merely a slogan, but a template for the way that art and activism can propel us toward equity and inclusion.” Related Publication The exhibition is accompanied by a publication of the first-ever monograph dedicated to Kwame Brathwaite. Featuring in-depth essays by Tanisha C. Ford and Deborah Willis and more than eighty images, Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful (Aperture, May 2019) will offer a long overdue exploration of Brathwaite’s life and work. About the Artist Born in Brooklyn in 1938 and raised in the Bronx, New York, Brathwaite spent most of his adult life in and around New York City. In the late 1950s, Brathwaite and his brother Elombe Brath became active in the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement led by Carlos Cooks. At the same time, the brothers regularly produced and promoted concerts and art shows at venues such as Club 845 in the Bronx and Small’s Paradise in Harlem, while Brathwaite photographed the events. Throughout the 1960s, Brathwaite contributed photography to leading black publications such as the Amsterdam News, City Sun, and Daily Challenge. By the 1970s, Brathwaite was a leading concert photographer, helping to shape the images of major celebrities, including Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, James Brown, and Muhammad Ali. Brathwaite wrote about and photographed such landmark events as the Motown Revue at the Apollo in 1963, WattStax 1972, the Jackson 5’s first trip to Africa in 1974, and the Festival in Zaire in 1974. Today Brathwaite resides in New York City and is represented by Philip Martin Gallery in Culver City, California. He is married to Sikolo Brathwaite, a former Grandassa model whom he met through their work together. She continues to advocate for the empowerment of black women today. Their son, Kwame S. Brathwaite, is currently the director of the Kwame Brathwaite Archive in Pasadena, California. Organization and Funding Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite is organized by Aperture Foundation, New York. The exhibition and the accompanying Aperture publication are made possible in part with generous support to the Aperture Foundation from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Photographic Arts Council Los Angeles. Generous support for programs and exhibitions at MoAD is provided by The City and County of San Francisco and the Grants for the Arts program of the City of San Francisco, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), along with Dignity Health, Kaiser Permanente, Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, Target, and the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District. Additional program support is provided by the following major individual supporters of the Afropolitan Ball including Jill Cowan Davis & Stephen Davis, Concepción & Irwin Federman, Lisa & Kenneth Jackson, Karen Jenkins-Johnson & Kevin Johnson, Beryl & James Potter, and Robin and Carl Washington, and Diane B. Wilsey; and the following companies: Apple, The Allen Group LLC, Blackrock, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Box, Cisco, Ernst & Young, FivePoint, Dan Johnson Law Group, Gilead, Google, Salesforce, Union Bank, Verizon, and Wells Fargo. ABOUT MoAD Opened in 2005 in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena arts district, MoAD, a contemporary art museum, celebrates Black cultures, ignites challenging conversations, and inspires learning through the global lens of the African Diaspora. For more information about MoAD, visit The Museum’s website at moadsf.org. For media information or visuals visit our online press gallery or contact: Nina Sazevich Public Relations 415.752.2483 [email protected] Mark Sabb Director of Marketing and Communications 415.318.7148 [email protected] Online moadsf.org/press-center/ General Information The Museum is open Wednesday-Saturday 11am–6pm and Sunday, 12–5pm. Museum admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens with a valid ID. Youth 12 and under always get in free. For general information, the public may visit The Museum’s website at moadsf.org or call 415.358.7200. MoAD is located at 685 Mission Street (at Third), San Francisco, CA. # # # .
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