Description

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After decades of art collecting, prominent Washington D.C.–based activist, philanthropist, and founder of the august Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Peggy Cooper Cafritz had amassed one of the most important collections of work by artists of color in the country. But in 2009, the more than three hundred works that comprised this extraordinary collection were destroyed in the largest residential fire in Washington, D.C. history. The pioneering collection included art by Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas, Yinka Shonibare, Nick Cave, Kehinde Wiley, Barkley L. Hendricks, Lorna Simpson, and Carrie Mae Weems, among many others.

This beautifully illustrated volume features 200 of the works that were lost, along with works that she has collected since the fire, as well as important contributions by preeminent curators and artists.

About the Author

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Peggy Cooper Cafritz is a Washington D.C.–based activist, philanthropist, art collector, and cofounder of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Njideka Akunyili Crosby is a Nigerian-born, Los Angeles–based visual artist, and a recipient of the 2017 MacArthur Fellowship. LaToya Ruby Frazier is a photographer, video artist, and educator, and is a 2015 MacArthur Fellow. Thelma Golden is director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem. Titus Kaphar is a visual artist, and cofounder of Elm City Postmasters project in New Haven, Connecticut. Simone Leigh is a New York–based artist and curator exploring issues surrounding Black female subjectivity. Kerry James Marshall is a Chicago–based artist, educator and author who focuses on the history of Black identity and the historical exclusion of Black subjects from the artistic canon. Uri McMillan is a cultural historian and Associate Professor of Performance Studies in the Departments of English and African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Tschabalala Self is a New York–based painter examining the nuances of Black femme identity. Jack Shainman is one of New York City’s leading art gallerists. Hank Willis Thomas is a New York–based artist and curator exploring identity, history, and popular culture. William Villalongo is a painter, writer and curator, and an Assistant Professor at the Cooper Union School of Art.

Praise For…

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"THIS VOLUME IS A REAL TREASURE. Hundreds of contemporary artworks by artists of African descent are illustrated. Peggy Cooper Cafritz (1947-2018), the passionate and inveterate collector, purchased the works over two periods of time. (She lost her first art collection to a house fire in 2009, and soon began assembling another.) The book showcases her art collections and documents her life. She pens an engrossing biographical essay that spans growing up in Mobile, Ala., to her ascension as an influential Washington, D.C., lawyer, arts patron/advocate, and founder the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. In addition, her relationships with key figures are revealed and explored through contributions from artists, gallery owner Jack Shainman, and Studio Museum in Harlem Director Thelma Golden, who conducts an interview with Cafritz for the book. Emerging artists are overwhelmingly represented in Cafritz’s more recent collection, artists such as Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Nina Chanel Abney, Derek Fordjour, Tschabalala Self, Titus Kaphar, and Simone Leigh, who she supported early and are coming into their own today. Cafritz, who died at age 70, two days before the official publication of this book, bequeathed the majority of her vast collection to the Studio Museum (400+ works) and Duke Ellington (250+ works). The gesture will benefit generations to come, as will this volume, which Cafritz titled with her mantra: “Fired Up! Ready to Go!” She’s left an insightful gift of great value to both new collectors and art world insiders, as well as those interested in transformational cultural leaders."
—Culture Type