Harold Smith

November 3, 2020

Kemper Museum Presents Dawoud Bey Photographs from the Bill and Christy Gautreaux Collection

It is supremely fitting that the last few lines of celebrated Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes’ poem “Dreams” provides the inspiration for the title of “Night Coming Tenderly, Black,” a body of work of profound significance by renowned Chicago-based photographer Dawoud Bey.

October 27, 2020

“Real Black: A spectrum of the Black present,” UMKC Gallery of Art

I’m not real, I’m just like you. You don’t exist in this society. If you did your people wouldn’t be seeking equal rights. You’re not..

September 21, 2020

“Kwanza Humphrey: The Human Experience,” Bunker Center for the Arts

In the last few years in museums and galleries across the nation, figurative portraiture by Black American artists has been enjoying a renaissance and long overdue attention from curators, academicians, and collectors. Kansas City is not absent in this renaissance, and one of the artists we can thank for that is gifted painter Kwanza Humphrey.

July 14, 2020

The Challenges of Black Gallery Ownership in Kansas City

Only three of the galleries in Kansas City are owned and operated by African Americans; joining Ron Chaney’s EthnicArt Gallery, two are owned by Black women, who face the double-edged sword of structural racism and structural sexism.

May 18, 2020

Honors: Emiel Cleaver

Emiel Cleaver has used his video production skills to educate and enlighten by casting a light on Kansas City’s rich, yet complex, Black history.

May 13, 2020

Building a More Open, Inclusive and Diverse Arts Scene

Since he began collecting art in the early 1990s, Dwight Smith has established himself as one of the leading collectors in Kansas City, specializing in works by women artists and artists of color. Smith is a fixture at art openings and events.

April 2, 2020

‘Whiteout’: An Artist’s Frank Memoir About His Family’s Racist Past

“My family arose from a line that defines white privilege and power, in a place of authority that has twisted the lives of many. Over generations, my family helped shape the Jim Crow laws in Alabama, convict the innocent and protect the guilty.”

March 2, 2020

American Jazz Museum’s New Executive Director Will Lead Push to Prominence

"Certainly, the American Jazz Museum has a lens on what Kansas City has contributed to the industry and to the music..."

January 6, 2020

Arts News: Rare Daguerreotype Gives Insight into Issues of Race

In November, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art announced the acquisition of a rare daguerreotype. The Hall Family Foundation purchased the work for the museum, and..

Author: Harold Smith