Claudette Johnson

Claudette Johnson
Born 1959 (age 56–57)
Manchester, England

Claudette Johnson (born in 1959) is a British artist. She is known for her large-scale drawings of Black women and involvement with the BLK Art Group.

Biography

Claudette Johnson was born in Manchester, UK. She studied Fine Art at Wolverhampton Polytechnic. While still a student there, she joined the BLK Art Group and took part in their second show at the Africa Centre in 1983.[1] Her talk and seminar at the First National Black Arts Conference in 1982 is recognised as a formative moment in the Black feminist art movement in the UK.[2] Her work has featured in such important group exhibitions as Five Black Women Artists at London's Africa Centre Gallery in 1983, Black Woman Time Now at Battersea Arts Centre in the same year, and The Thin Black Line at the ICA in London in 1986.[3] Reviewing her 1992 solo exhibition In This Skin: Drawings by Claudette Johnson, at the Black Art Gallery, London, artist Steve McQueen (at the time a student at Goldsmiths College) wrote: "What she does is to bring out the soul, sensuality, dignity, and spirituality of the black woman....Claudette Johnson's work is rooted in her African heritage. Her talent is as powerful as it is obvious."[4]

Lubaina Himid describes Johnson's work as "deeply sensuous" and "richly coloured".[5] The artist calls the Black women in her drawings "monoliths, larger than life versions of women".[5] Eddie Chambers notes: "These portraits were imposing pieces that demanded the viewer’s attention, as well as their respect."[6]

In 2011 Johnson co-founded the BLK Arts Research Group with Marlene Smith and Keith Piper,[7] to re-examine the BLK Arts Group's body of work and historical legacy. In 2012, two major projects were staged by this research group: a symposium with a retrospective exhibition entitled "The Blk Art Group" was held at the Graves Gallery, Sheffield, and an international conference entitled "Reframing the Moment" was held at the University of Wolverhampton.[7]

Johnson's work is in the collections of the Arts Council, Mappin Art Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery and Wolverhampton Art Gallery[8]

Selected exhibitions

References

  1. ↑ "Keith Piper, a short history". Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "Politics of the Art School: Black Art Movement Then and Now (2015)". Nottingham Contemporary. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "Claudette Johnson" at Diaspora Artists.
  4. ↑ Steven McQueen, "In This Skin: featuring Claudette Johnson", African Peoples Review, August 1992, p. 5. Quoted in Eddie Chambers, Black Artists in British Art: A History from 1950 to the Present, pp. 146–147.
  5. 1 2 3 Biswas, Sutapa; et al. (2011). Thin Black Line(s) (PDF). Making Histories Visible Project, Centre for Contemporary Art, UCLAN. ISBN 978-0-9571579-0-3.
  6. ↑ Eddie Chambers, Black Artists in British Art: A History from 1950 to the Present, I.B. Tauris, 2014, p. 146.
  7. 1 2 "Blk Arts Group Research Project 2012".
  8. ↑ "About the Artists". Thin Black Line(s), Tate Britain 2012.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Chambers, Eddie (2014). Black Artists in British Art: A History from 1950 to the Present. I.B.Tauris. pp. 254–. ISBN 978-1-78076-272-2.
  10. ↑ Ratnam, Niru (2002). "Black Woman Time Now". In Donnell, Alison (ed.). Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. Routledge. pp. 49–. ISBN 978-1-134-70025-7.
  11. ↑ "Claudette Johnson". Diaspora Artists. Retrieved 19 July 2015.

Further reading

External links

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