Promise me you'll be memorable

#CaptionedBlackArt | Thursdaysº

Jul 10, 2025

Captioned Black Art

Your Curated Art Museum

Get cultured in five minutes or less . . .

“They felt that it was much easier and safer to rob their own people, for they knew that white policemen never really searched diligently for Negroes who committed crimes against other Negroes.”
— Richard Wright, Native Son

A Snippet:

Did you know that given an unfortunate blend of race and membership within the communist party (between 1932-1942), the FBI monitored and investigated Richard Wright, keeping over 169 pages of surveillance files on the famous author (and other notable Black artists) in a serious attempt to divide-and-conquer?

Learn more . . .

Richard Wright - Native Son

Jafari Joseph

Jan 23

Read full story

58. “In the Crosshairs of the States” (2016)

“I want to be, what is called, ‘memorable.’ When you go into certain galleries, there are a lot of other artists there—but I damn sure what you to remember mine.”

— Barkley L. Hendricks

captionedblackart

A post shared by @captionedblackart

Did you know?

Did you know that Barkley L. Hendricks (1945 - 2017) was an American painter and photographer who revolutionized portraiture with his realist and post-modern oil paintings of Black Americans in the 1960s and 1970s?

Hendricks was a photographer before taking up painting, and many of his first paintings were of people who posed for him. Beyond portraiture, Barkley Hendricks also made distinct works on paper and painted landscapes and still lifes, including an early series of Basketball paintings.

Throughout his career, Hendricks refused to be boxed into a medium, and though his creations are distinctly of their time, they are also considered timeless.

59. “Social Glow”

“Some of our best art comes when our mind (or life) is in the worst of places.”

— JD Baez

captionedblackart

A post shared by @captionedblackart

Did you know?

Did you know that JD Baez is a Caribbean-born and Brooklyn-bred multidisciplinary, artist who strives to capture the beauty and regality of dark-skinned women by using strong, vibrant colors?

A self-starter who taught himself the delicacy of oil painting, Baez uses skills he built in the digital art world—from photography to graphic design—to craft his work.

60. “We Walk The Difficult Road”

“We’ve made a lot of progress because ordinary people did extraordinary things. But the struggle is not over. The problems we fought for in the past are still occurring today. We can’t thoroughly chart our future without an understanding of our past.”

— Brian Washington

captionedblackart

A post shared by @captionedblackart

Did you know?

Did you know that ‘The Continual Struggle’ is artist Brian Washington’s ongoing body of artwork documenting the Civil Rights Movement and America’s historical struggle against segregation and other forms of disenfranchisement?

Each piece is the result of Washington’s extensive research and reflection on this interesting era of American history.

A former attorney, perhaps it is a lack of formal training that led Brian Washington into developing his distinctive artistic style. Washington left his legal job to become a full-time artist with one goal in mind, “To document the historical Civil Rights movement in the U.S. as a form of freedom, justice and equality through the visual medium.”

We only have one life to live

(Breathe In . . . Breathe Out)