Kwame Brathwaite Explained

Kwame Brathwaite
Birth Name:Gilbert Ronald Brathwaite
Birth Date:January 1, 1938
Birth Place:New York City, U.S.
Death Place:New York City, U.S.
Occupation:Photojournalist, activist
Years Active:1950s–2023
Known For:Documentary photojournalism
Relatives:Elombe Brath (brother)

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]

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] His parents were Cecil and Margaret (Maloney) Brathwaite.[5] 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.[6]

With his older brother Elombe Brath, Brathwaite founded the African Jazz Art Society and Studios in 1956[7] and Grandassa Models in 1962.[8] [9]

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.[10] [11]

Brathwaite died in Manhattan on April 1, 2023, at the age of 85.[12] [13] He was survived by his wife Sikolo (whom he married c. 1966), his son Kwame Samori Brathwaite (known as Kwame Jr., born c. 1974), and his daughter Ndola Carlest.

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.[8] The 1962 pageant was titled The Original African Coiffure and Fashion Extravaganza Designed to Restore Our Racial Pride & Standards.[14] [15] 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.[16] [17] [18] The Naturally pageants ran for five years, with the last one held in 1966.[15]

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,[19] and Muhammad Ali.[20]

In 2017, Brathwaite was honored at the 75th Aperture Gala.[21]

Exhibitions

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Forever Harlem: celebrating America's most diverse community. 2006. Sports Pub . Williams, Lloyd A. . Voza Rivers. 978-1-59670-206-6. Champaign, Ill.. 74964311.
  2. Book: Oransky . Howard . A Picture Gallery of the Soul . September 13, 2022 . Univ of California Press . 76 . 978-0-520-38806-2 . April 3, 2023.
  3. News: The Photographer Who Captured the Beauty in Blackness. The New York Times. June 17, 2021. Bradley. Adam.
  4. News: New York Amsterdam News. Boyd. Herb. May 1, 2003.
  5. News: Williams . Alex . April 12, 2023 . "Kwame Brathwaite, 85, Photographer With a Lens on Black Pride, Is Dead" . The New York Times.
  6. News: Williams . Alex . 2023-04-12 . Kwame Brathwaite, 85, Photographer With a Lens on Black Pride, Is Dead . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-05-12 . 0362-4331.
  7. An Artist's Ornate Natural Hair Styles, Through the Eyes of a Legendary Photographer of Black Beauty. Siobhán. Bohnacker. March 30, 2018. The New Yorker.
  8. News: How One Photographer Captured the Soul of the 'Black Is Beautiful' Movement. Chioma. Nnadi. Vogue. February 3, 2018. February 3, 2018. en.
  9. Web site: 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.
  10. Web site: Kwame Brathwaite • Pérez Art Museum Miami . 2023-08-15 . Pérez Art Museum Miami . en-US.
  11. Web site: Packard . Cassie . 2021-02-11 . Pérez Art Museum Announces Acquisitions by Newly Renamed Fund for Black Art . 2023-08-15 . Hyperallergic . en-US.
  12. Web site: Kwame Brathwaite, 85, Photographer With a Lens on Black Pride, Is Dead. April 12, 2023. Williams. Alex. The New York Times. April 12, 2023.
  13. Web site: Greenberger . Alex . Kwame Brathwaite, Influential Photographer Who Proclaimed 'Black Is Beautiful,' Dies at 85 . ARTnews . April 3, 2023 . April 3, 2023.
  14. Web site: The Grandassa Models, Naturally. PDN Photo of the Day. May 20, 2016. April 1, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181005030745/https://potd.pdnonline.com/2016/05/38829/. October 5, 2018.
  15. Book: Wills, David. Switched On: Women Who Revolutionized Style in the 60's. October 3, 2017. Simon and Schuster. 978-1-68188-261-1. 36–.
  16. Web site: How a Harlem fashion show started the 'Black is Beautiful' movement. Raquel. Laneri. February 6, 2018. New York Post.
  17. Book: Famighetti, Michael . Elements of Style. August 30, 2017. Aperture. 978-1-59711-420-2.
  18. Book: Steele, Valerie . Encyclopedia of clothing and fashion. 2005. Charles Scribner's Sons. 978-0-684-31395-5.
  19. News: Artist talk celebrates musical superstars. April 12, 2011. New York Amsterdam News. February 3, 2018.
  20. News: Muhammad Ali, Beginning to End for the First Time in a Book. Oates. Joyce Carol. November 28, 2017. The New York Times. February 3, 2018. en-US. 0362-4331.
  21. News: Elements Of Style, Aperture Gala 2017. Aperture Foundation NY. February 3, 2018. en-US.
  22. Web site: Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite. June 13, 2020. Aperture Foundation NY. en-US.
  23. Web site: Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography. June 13, 2020. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
  24. Web site: Tools of Revolution: Fashion Photography and Activism – Houston Center for Photography. June 13, 2020. en-US.
  25. News: Kwame Brathwaite: The Struggle Continues, Victory is Certain. Philip Martin Gallery.
  26. News: Facing Forward: Photographic Portraits from the Collection. Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
  27. News: Changing Times. Philip Martin Gallery.
  28. News: My Village/New York. Philip Martin Gallery.
  29. Web site: 2023 . Kwame Brathwaite: Things Well Worth Waiting For . 2023-04-10 . The Art Institute of Chicago . en.

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