Skip to main content

Richard J. Powell

John Spencer Bassett Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History
Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Box 90766, Durham, NC 27708
114 Buchanan Blvd, Smith Warehouse, Bay 9, A287C, Durham, NC 27708

Scholarly Works - Book sections


The NCA :) Code

Book section · October 8, 2025 The highly anticipated debut monograph from trailblazing artist Nina Chanel Abney Combining representation and abstraction, Nina Chanel Abney's paintings capture the frenetic pace of contemporary culture. ... Cite

The Art of Raymond Saunders: Colored

Book section · September 2, 2025 Discover Raymond Saunders's dynamic paintings and his extraordinary legacy as an artist and thinker in this first ever monograph. ... Cite

Black Broad Shoulders

Book section · September 2025 A comprehensive overview of the work and creative practice of American artist Theaster Gates. A self-designated "keeper of objects," Theaster Gates investigates the value of things and their potential to hold layered meanings in his work. ... Cite

Three Jacksonian-era Portraits of Black Men

Book section · May 5, 2025 ... tailoring was key to their ability to communicate respectability. This sportsmen spotlighted in “Champion ... Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as seen in the 1899–1900 photo- their education at Historically Black Colleges ... ... Cite

Hughie Lee-Smith: Breaking the Fourth Wall

Book section · March 25, 2025 Linked with printmaking's ethos of accessibility and democracy, a group including Elmer W. Brown, Hughie Lee-Smith, Charles L. Sallée Jr., and William E. Smith--some of the most prominent Black printmakers of the WPA era--founded Karamu ... ... Cite

The Boys in the Back Room: Gambling Imagery during the Harlem Renaissance

Book section · February 25, 2024 This volume reexamines the Harlem Renaissance as part of a global flowering of Black creativity, with roots in the New Negro theories and aesthetics of Alain Locke, its founding philosopher, as well as the writings of W. E. B. Du Bois, ... ... Cite

Audacity and Awesomeness

Book section · 2024 Cite

A Chocolate City Reconsidered

Book section · January 10, 2023 This book highlights these influential artists, including David C. Driskell, Sam Gilliam, Lois Mailou Jones, and Alma Thomas, in the context of what Jeffrey C. Stewart describes as the Washington Black Renaissance. ... Cite

Hurston's Law, or a Philosophy of Display

Book section · 2023 " In addition to eight scholarly essays, the book features 140 color images of work by artists including McArthur Binion, Mark Bradford, Zoë Charlton, Tomashi Jackson, Arthur Jafa, Rashid Johnson, Yashua Klos, Kerry James Marshall, ... ... Cite

Pigments and Personas

Book section · February 12, 2022 Director's foreword -- Acknowledgements -- A conversation with Beverly McIver / Kim Boganey -- Beverly McIver : self-portraits in multiple perspectives / Michele Faith Wallace -- Pigments and personas / Richard J. Powell -- Plates -- ... ... Cite

David C. Driskell: Artist, Advocate, and Witness

Book section · February 9, 2021 This is the first publication to survey the entirety of this hugely influential scholar and artist's groundbreaking 60-year career. ... Cite

Raymond Saunders

Book section · August 20, 2019 As a collection book, the volume provides scholars and curators with information about the Museum's holdings, at times disclosing works that have been little documented or exhibited. ... Cite

Herve Telemaque

Book section · 2019 Cite

Black Parnassus: Chicago in the Interwar Years

Book section · October 2018 The book brings together photographs and publications made during the fi rst and most formative decade of his 65-year career. ... Cite

"Porch and Drawl"

Book section · 2016 Cite

"I Talismani di Betye Saar"

Book section · 2016 Cite

TWO PAINTINGS BY WILLIAM H. JOHNSON

Book section · January 1, 2016 Full text Cite

"Tanner and Transcendence"

Book section · 2012 Cite

"Tanner and Transcendence"

Book section · 2012 Cite

"The Woodshed"

Book section · 2011 Cite

"The Woodshed"

Book section · 2011 Cite

"Barkley L. Hendricks, Anew"

Book section · 2008 Cite

"Barkley L. Hendricks, Anew"

Book section · 2008 Cite

"The Aaron Douglas Effect"

Book section · 2007 Cite

"The Aaron Douglas Effect"

Book section · 2007 Cite

"Changing, Conjuring Reality"

Book section · 2006 Cite

"Changing, Conjuring Reality"

Book section · 2006 Cite

To Be Real

Book section · 2001 Cite

Sartor Africanus

Book section · 2001 Cite

To Be Real

Book section · 2001 Featured Publication Cite

Sartor Africanus

Book section · 2001 Featured Publication Cite

Harmonizer of Chaos

Book section · 2000 Cite

Lamentations from the ‘Hood

Book section · 2000 Cite

Harmonizer of Chaos

Book section · 2000 Cite

Lamentations from the ‘Hood

Book section · 2000 Cite