#black-portraiture

#black-portraiture

That arresting image was made from a tiny portrait of the artist's brother, expanded to monumental public proportions, that announced the Met's "Witnessing Humanity" exhibit, a Wilson retrospective that continues through February 8. In the picture, the brother's brow is steadfast, his gaze grave and alert, mouth and chin resolutely composed; perhaps no Black face has ever so effectively stared down the self-regard of Manhattan's Museum Mile.

You might already recognize the figures in Coreen Simpson's photographs. Yes, they are influential and famous: Winnie Mandela, Eartha Kitt, and Toni Morrison, to name a few. But some of her other images - her studio portraits and street candids - are familiar in a different way. Simpson's lens captures them with such intimacy that they might call to mind your neighbors, childhood pastor, or play cousins.