Kwame Brathwaite
Born
Gilbert Ronald Brathwaite

(1938-01-01)January 1, 1938
New York City, U.S.
DiedApril 1, 2023(2023-04-01) (aged 85)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Photojournalist, activist
Years active1950s–2023
Known forDocumentary photojournalism
RelativesElombe Brath (brother)
Websitekwamebrathwaite.com

Kwame Brathwaite (January 1, 1938 – April 1, 2023) was an American photojournalist and activist known for popularizing the phrase "Black is Beautiful" and documenting life and culture in Harlem and Africa.[1]

Life and work

Born Gilbert Ronald Brathwaite in Brooklyn on January 1, 1938[2] and brought up in the South Bronx, to immigrant parents from Barbados,[3] who chronicled the cultural, political, and social developments of Harlem, Africa, and the African diaspora.[4] As a boy in the early 1950s, he was enrolled at School of Industrial Art (now the High School of Art and Design). He adopted the name Kwame in the early 1960s, a tribute to Kwame Nkrumah, the first leader of post-colonial Ghana.[3][5]

With his older brother Elombe Brath, Brathwaite founded the African Jazz Art Society and Studios in 1956[6] and Grandassa Models in 1962.[7][8]

In 2021, the Pérez Art Museum Miami acquired "Untitled (AJASS Model on Black Background)" (1970s/2019)," portraying a female model figure dressed in patterns resembling quilts created in African American communities, such as those made at Gee's Bend, in Alabama. The artist is a major figure in the Black is Beautiful movement.[9][10]

Brathwaite died in Manhattan on April 1, 2023, at the age of 85.[11][12]

Naturally pageants

On January 28, 1962, with his brother Elombe Brath, Brathwaite staged the Naturally '62 pageant, the first of a series of pageants to feature only black models.[7] The 1962 pageant was titled The Original African Coiffure and Fashion Extravaganza Designed to Restore Our Racial Pride & Standards.[13][14] Held at the Harlem Purple Manor, a nightclub on East 125th Street, it helped to popularize the phrase "Black Is Beautiful" that was printed on the pageant's poster.[15][16][17] The Naturally pageants ran for five years, with the last one held in 1966.[14]

In the 1960s, his work also appeared in New York Amsterdam News, The City Sun, and The Daily Challenge. He photographed concerts of Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, James Brown,[18] and Muhammad Ali.[19]

In 2017, Brathwaite was honored at the 75th Aperture Gala.[20]

Exhibitions

References

  1. ↑ Williams, Lloyd A.; Voza Rivers (2006). Forever Harlem: celebrating America's most diverse community. Champaign, Ill.: Sports Pub. ISBN 978-1-59670-206-6. OCLC 74964311.
  2. ↑ Oransky, Howard (September 13, 2022). A Picture Gallery of the Soul. Univ of California Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-520-38806-2. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Bradley, Adam (June 17, 2021). "The Photographer Who Captured the Beauty in Blackness". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ Boyd, Herb (May 1, 2003). "New York Amsterdam News".
  5. ↑ Williams, Alex (April 12, 2023). "Kwame Brathwaite, 85, Photographer With a Lens on Black Pride, Is Dead". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  6. ↑ Bohnacker, Siobhán (March 30, 2018). "An Artist's Ornate Natural Hair Styles, Through the Eyes of a Legendary Photographer of Black Beauty". The New Yorker.
  7. 1 2 Nnadi, Chioma (February 3, 2018). "How One Photographer Captured the Soul of the 'Black Is Beautiful' Movement". Vogue. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Founding members of AJASS (African Jazz-Art Society & Studios), and the Grandassa Models, posing in front of a collection of posters from some of their organized events. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library". Schomburg Center.
  9. ↑ "Kwame Brathwaite • Pérez Art Museum Miami". Pérez Art Museum Miami. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  10. ↑ Packard, Cassie (February 11, 2021). "Pérez Art Museum Announces Acquisitions by Newly Renamed Fund for Black Art". Hyperallergic. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  11. ↑ Williams, Alex (April 12, 2023). "Kwame Brathwaite, 85, Photographer With a Lens on Black Pride, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  12. ↑ Greenberger, Alex (April 3, 2023). "Kwame Brathwaite, Influential Photographer Who Proclaimed 'Black Is Beautiful,' Dies at 85". ARTnews. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  13. ↑ "The Grandassa Models, Naturally". PDN Photo of the Day. May 20, 2016. Archived from the original on October 5, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  14. 1 2 Wills, David (October 3, 2017). Switched On: Women Who Revolutionized Style in the 60's. Simon and Schuster. pp. 36–. ISBN 978-1-68188-261-1.
  15. ↑ Laneri, Raquel (February 6, 2018). "How a Harlem fashion show started the 'Black is Beautiful' movement". New York Post.
  16. ↑ Famighetti, Michael (August 30, 2017). Elements of Style. Aperture. ISBN 978-1-59711-420-2.
  17. ↑ Steele, Valerie (2005). Encyclopedia of clothing and fashion. Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 978-0-684-31395-5.
  18. ↑ "Artist talk celebrates musical superstars". New York Amsterdam News. April 12, 2011. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  19. ↑ Oates, Joyce Carol (November 28, 2017). "Muhammad Ali, Beginning to End for the First Time in a Book". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Elements Of Style, Aperture Gala 2017". Aperture Foundation NY. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite". Aperture Foundation NY. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  22. ↑ "Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography". The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  23. ↑ "Tools of Revolution: Fashion Photography and Activism – Houston Center for Photography". Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  24. ↑ "Kwame Brathwaite: The Struggle Continues, Victory is Certain". Philip Martin Gallery.
  25. ↑ "Facing Forward: Photographic Portraits from the Collection". Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
  26. ↑ "Changing Times". Philip Martin Gallery.
  27. ↑ "My Village/New York". Philip Martin Gallery.
  28. ↑ "Kwame Brathwaite: Things Well Worth Waiting For". The Art Institute of Chicago. 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
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