Contemporary Black Artists: The Post-Black Generation

Contemporary Black Artists: The Post-Black Generation

HSAR S4372 (CRN: 30092) | Syllabus

Instructors: Nana Adusei-Poku
Dates: Session A, May 25 - June 26, 2026
Course Mode: In-Person
Meeting Times: MW 1.00-4.15
Distributional Requirements: Humanities
Eligibility: Open to pre-college and college students

In-person Course. In 2001, “Freestyle”, a survey exhibition curated by Thelma Golden at the Studio Museum in Harlem, introduced a young generation of artists of African descent and the ambitious yet knowingly opaque term post-black to a pre-9-11 pre-Obama world. Post-black stirred much controversy 24 years ago, because it was used for a generation of artists that seemed to distance themselves from previous generations, who utilized the term Black to define their practices as a form of political resistance. This seminar utilizes the term post-black as a starting point to investigate the different ways Black Artists identified themselves through the lens of their historical contexts, writings, and politics while engaging with key debates around Black Aesthetics in exhibitions and theory. Consequently, we will discuss changes in artistic styles and Black identity discourses from the beginning of the 20th century into the present.  However, the claims that the post-black generation made, and the influence of their work, are part of an ongoing debate in African Diasporic Art, which has refreshed and posed new questions for art-historical research as well as curation. 1 Credit. Session A: May 25 – June 26. Tuition: $5480.

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