Kwame Brathwaite

Kwame Brathwaite (January 1, 1938 – April 1, 2023) was an American photojournalist and activist known for popularizing the phrase "Black is Beautiful" and documenting life and culture in Harlem and Africa.[1]

Kwame Brathwaite
Born
Gilbert Ronald Brathwaite

(1938-01-01)January 1, 1938
New York City, U.S.
DiedApril 1, 2023(2023-04-01) (aged 85)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Photojournalist, activist
Years active1950s–2023
Known forDocumentary photojournalism
RelativesElombe Brath (brother)
Websitekwamebrathwaite.com

Life and work

Born Gilbert Ronald Brathwaite in Brooklyn on January 1, 1938[2] and brought up in the South Bronx, to immigrant parents from Barbados,[3] who chronicled the cultural, political, and social developments of Harlem, Africa, and the African diaspora.[4] As a boy in the early 1950s, he was enrolled at School of Industrial Art (now the High School of Art and Design). He adopted the name Kwame in the early 1960s, a tribute to Kwame Nkrumah, the first leader of post-colonial Ghana.[3][5]

With his older brother Elombe Brath, Brathwaite founded the African Jazz Art Society and Studios in 1956[6] and Grandassa Models in 1962.[7][8]

In 2021, the Pérez Art Museum Miami acquired "Untitled (AJASS Model on Black Background)" (1970s/2019)," portraying a female model figure dressed in patterns resembling quilts created in African American communities, such as those made at Gee's Bend, in Alabama. The artist is a major figure in the Black is Beautiful movement.[9][10]

Brathwaite died in Manhattan on April 1, 2023, at the age of 85.[11][12]

Naturally pageants

On January 28, 1962, with his brother Elombe Brath, Brathwaite staged the Naturally '62 pageant, the first of a series of pageants to feature only black models.[7] The 1962 pageant was titled The Original African Coiffure and Fashion Extravaganza Designed to Restore Our Racial Pride & Standards.[13][14] Held at the Harlem Purple Manor, a nightclub on East 125th Street, it helped to popularize the phrase "Black Is Beautiful" that was printed on the pageant's poster.[15][16][17] The Naturally pageants ran for five years, with the last one held in 1966.[14]

In the 1960s, his work also appeared in New York Amsterdam News, The City Sun, and The Daily Challenge. He photographed concerts of Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, James Brown,[18] and Muhammad Ali.[19]

In 2017, Brathwaite was honored at the 75th Aperture Gala.[20]

Exhibitions

References
  1. Williams, Lloyd A.; Voza Rivers (2006). Forever Harlem: celebrating America's most diverse community. Champaign, Ill.: Sports Pub. ISBN 978-1-59670-206-6. OCLC 74964311.
  2. Oransky, Howard (September 13, 2022). A Picture Gallery of the Soul. Univ of California Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-520-38806-2. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  3. Bradley, Adam (June 17, 2021). "The Photographer Who Captured the Beauty in Blackness". The New York Times.
  4. Boyd, Herb (May 1, 2003). "New York Amsterdam News".
  5. Williams, Alex (April 12, 2023). "Kwame Brathwaite, 85, Photographer With a Lens on Black Pride, Is Dead". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  6. Bohnacker, Siobhán (March 30, 2018). "An Artist's Ornate Natural Hair Styles, Through the Eyes of a Legendary Photographer of Black Beauty". The New Yorker.
  7. Nnadi, Chioma (February 3, 2018). "How One Photographer Captured the Soul of the 'Black Is Beautiful' Movement". Vogue. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  8. "Founding members of AJASS (African Jazz-Art Society & Studios), and the Grandassa Models, posing in front of a collection of posters from some of their organized events. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library". Schomburg Center.
  9. "Kwame Brathwaite • Pérez Art Museum Miami". Pérez Art Museum Miami. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  10. Packard, Cassie (February 11, 2021). "Pérez Art Museum Announces Acquisitions by Newly Renamed Fund for Black Art". Hyperallergic. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  11. Williams, Alex (April 12, 2023). "Kwame Brathwaite, 85, Photographer With a Lens on Black Pride, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  12. Greenberger, Alex (April 3, 2023). "Kwame Brathwaite, Influential Photographer Who Proclaimed 'Black Is Beautiful,' Dies at 85". ARTnews. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  13. "The Grandassa Models, Naturally". PDN Photo of the Day. May 20, 2016. Archived from the original on October 5, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  14. Wills, David (October 3, 2017). Switched On: Women Who Revolutionized Style in the 60's. Simon and Schuster. pp. 36–. ISBN 978-1-68188-261-1.
  15. Laneri, Raquel (February 6, 2018). "How a Harlem fashion show started the 'Black is Beautiful' movement". New York Post.
  16. Famighetti, Michael (August 30, 2017). Elements of Style. Aperture. ISBN 978-1-59711-420-2.
  17. Steele, Valerie (2005). Encyclopedia of clothing and fashion. Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 978-0-684-31395-5.
  18. "Artist talk celebrates musical superstars". New York Amsterdam News. April 12, 2011. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  19. Oates, Joyce Carol (November 28, 2017). "Muhammad Ali, Beginning to End for the First Time in a Book". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  20. "Elements Of Style, Aperture Gala 2017". Aperture Foundation NY. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  21. "Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite". Aperture Foundation NY. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  22. "Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography". The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  23. "Tools of Revolution: Fashion Photography and Activism – Houston Center for Photography". Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  24. "Kwame Brathwaite: The Struggle Continues, Victory is Certain". Philip Martin Gallery.
  25. "Facing Forward: Photographic Portraits from the Collection". Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
  26. "Changing Times". Philip Martin Gallery.
  27. "My Village/New York". Philip Martin Gallery.
  28. "Kwame Brathwaite: Things Well Worth Waiting For". The Art Institute of Chicago. 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
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