Art Papers: Special Issue on Contemporary Black Artists

Publisher: Art Papers
Year: 1988
Pages: 74


In 1988, ART PAPERS was in its 12th year. Mildred Thompson was an associate editor, and the editorial direction of the magazine was already firmly rooted in intersectional art criticism with an eye on race and class. These commitments manifested in the July/August 1988 Special Issue on Contemporary Black Artists.

The issue recently sold out in print, so we have made several of its features available in this online dossier. Texts are reproduced as they appeared in 1988, although without Charlie Reidy’s signature typography from that era of ART PAPERS. It may not surprise readers that many of the issue’s essays and features feel as if they were written yesterday. And of course, others are quite obviously from the late 1980s. We hope these archival texts provide history and context to current conversations, as well as an insightful glimpse into the thoughts of our predecessors from more than three decades ago.