Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Education

2019

• Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA

2011

• MFA, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT

2006

• Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2004

• BA (Honors), Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA

Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions

2019

• Njideka Akunyili Crosby: “The Beautyful Ones”, Victoria Miro, Venice

2018

• Njideka Akunyili Crosby: “The Beautyful Ones”, National Portrait Gallery, London
• FOCUS: Njideka Akunyili Crosby | Counterparts, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX
• Art on the Underground, Brixton Station, London
• Obodo (Country/City/Town/Ancestral Village), MOCA Mural, Los Angeles, CA

2017

• Front Room: Njideka Akunyili Crosby | Counterparts, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
• Predecessors, Tang Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
• Predecessors, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH

2016

• Portals, Victoria Miro, London
• I Refuse to be Invisible, organized by Cheryl Brutvan, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
• Before Now After (Mama, Mummy, Mamma), 95 Horatio Street, The Whitney Museum of American Art Billboard Project, New York, NY

2015

• Hammer Projects: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, organized by Jamillah James, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
• The Beautyful Ones, organized by Jamillah James, Art + Practice, Los Angeles, CA

2013

• I Always Face You, Even When it Seems Otherwise, Two-Person Show with Simone Leigh, Tiwani Contemporary, London
• I Still Face You, Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, MN

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019

• May You Live In Interesting Times, curated by Ralph Rugoff, the 58th Venice Biennale, Venice
• I am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.
• God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin, curated by Hilton Als, David Zwirner, New York
• Dirty Protest: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
• Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco traveling to the Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, MI; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT

2018

• Sanguine | Bloedrood. Luc Tuymans on Baroque, Fondazione Prada, Milan
• Michael Jackson: On The Wall, National Portrait Gallery, London
• We the People: New Art from the Collection, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
• In My Room: Paintings of interiors from 1950-present, Fralin Museum of Art at The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
• Give and Take: Highlighting Recent Acquisitions, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
• All things Being Equal…, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa

2017

• Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp, curated by Trevor Schoonmaker, New Orleans, LA
• A Good Neighbour, 15^th Istanbul Biennial curated by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, Pera Museum, Istanbul
• POWER, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, CA
• African-Print Fashion Now! A Story of Taste, Globalization, and Style, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
• 21 Artists Shortlisted for the Future Generation Art Prize 2017, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, UKR

2016

• The Grand Balcony, La Biennale de Montreal 2017 curated by Philippe Pirotte, Musee d’art Contemporain de Montreal, Montreal, QC
• Prix Canson 2016 Finalist’s Exhibition, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
• Human Interest: Portraits From The Whitney’s Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
  
• KALEIDOSCOPE: A Moment of Grace, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK

2015

• Forces in Nature, organized by Hilton Als, Victoria Miro Gallery, London
• Portraits and Other Likenesses from SFMOMA, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco
• Surround Audience, 2015 New Museum Triennial curated by Lauren Cornell and Ryan Trecartin, New Museum, NY

2014

• Kings County, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
• Draped Down, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
• Sound Vision: Contemporary Art from the Collection, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC
• Meeting in Brooklyn, curated by Monica Lenaers, Landcommandery of Alden-Biesen, Bilzen, Belgium

2013

• Housewarming, curated by Elizabeth Ferrer, BRIC, Brooklyn, NY
• Bronx Calling: The Second Bronx Biennial, Bronx Museum, NY
• Cinematic Visions, Paintings at the Edge of Reality, Victoria Miro Gallery, London
• Exhibition of Works by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards, American Academy of Arts and Letters, NY

Residencies, Awards, and Grants

2019

• Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Swarthmore College

2017

• MacArthur Foundation Fellow

2016

• Financial Times Women of the Year
• Future Generation Art Prize 2017 Shortlist
• Prix Canson 2016

2015

• Foreign Policy’s Leading 100 Global Thinkers of 2015
• Next Generation Prize, New Museum of Contemporary Art
• The Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize, Studio Museum in Harlem
• Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc. Grant
• Art Here And Now (AHAN) Acquisition, LACMA

2014

• The James Dicke Contemporary Artist Prize, Smithsonian Museum

2013

• The Space Program at the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation
• Rosenthal Family Foundation Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters
• International Studio and Curatorial Program, sponsored by the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund of the New York Community Trust
• Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant
• Bronx Museum Artist in the Marketplace program

2011

• Artist-In-Residence, Studio Museum in Harlem

Selected Press and Publications

2019

• Njideka Akunyili Crosby: “The Beautyful Ones”, Victoria Miro, London & Venice, 2019
• Fineberg, Jonathan, “ArtSeen: Venice Biennale,” The Brooklyn Rail, July – August 2019
• Kay, Christin, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Doron Langberg Visit Anderson Ranch, Talk about the Perils of Success,” Aspen Public Radio, July 3, 2019
• Green, Tyler. “No. 374: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Bierstadt’s West,” The Modern Art Notes Podcast, January 3, 2019

2018

• Nelson, Steven, “b.O.s. 5.2 / Obodo (Country/City/Town/Ancestral Village),” ASAP Journal, July 30, 2018
• Greenberger, Alex, “David Zwirner Now Represents Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” ArtNews.com, November 9, 2018
• White, Simone, “Skin or Surface,” Frieze Magazine, No.194, April 2018
• Pollack, Gina, “From Nigeria to LA, Painter Njideka Akunyili Crosby Becomes a Star,” KCRW’s Press Play with Madeleine Brand, February 8, 2018
• Michel, Karen, “MacArthur ‘Genius’ Paints Nigerian Childhood Alongside Her American Present,” All Things Considered, National Public Radio, Inc., January 2, 2018

2017

• Vankin, Deborah, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby: The Painter in Her MacArthur Moment,” LA Times, November 2, 2017
• Solway, Diane, “Nigerian Artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby Is Painting the Afropolitan Story in America,” W Magazine, September 2017
• Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, “On Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” @chimamandaadichie, February 17, 2017

2016

• Steiner, Rochelle, Vitamin P3: New Perspectives In Painting, Phaidon, London, UK, 2016
• Cattelan, Maurizio, and Salah, Myriam Ben, “FAQ,” Fontegrafica, Italy, 2016
• Griffin, Jonathan, “Women of the Year: Njideka Akunyili Crosby On Her Breakthrough Year,” The Financial Times, December 7, 2016
• Davies, Cassie, “Interview With Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” TheWhiteReview.com, November, 2016
• Aggarwal-Schifellite, Manisha, “The Lenny Interview: Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” LennyLetter.com, October 14, 2016
• Jansen, Charlotte, “Portals On The World,” Elephant 28, Fall 2016
• Baker, Harriet, “Multifaceted Collage of Cultures,” The Financial Times, October 7, 2016
• Heawood, Sophie, “The Nigerian Artist Who Is Exploding The Myth of The ‘Authentic African Experience’,” The Guardian G2, October 4, 2016
• Jansen, Charlotte, “In Massive Paintings, Njideka Akunyili Crosby Pushes Post-Colonial Narratives Forward,” Artsy.net, October 3, 2016
• Ando, Erica, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” Bomb Magazine, Fall 2016
• Walker, Tim, “Intricate Lives,” Vogue UK, October 2016
• Barnard, Imelda, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby at Victoria Miro,” Apollo-Magazine.com, September 24, 2016
• Jansen, Charlotte, “Interiors and Interiority: Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” Carla, Issue 4, 2016
• N/A, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby Awarded 2016 Prix Canson Prize for Art on Paper,” ArtForum.com, June 22, 2016
• Steadman, Ryan, “The Complicated Beauty of Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” Observer.com, May 5, 2016
• Solway, Diane, “Art: Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” WMagazine, April, 2016
• Brown, Liz, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” Elle Décor Magazine, March 2016
• Sjostrom, Jan, “Nigerian-born Artist Explores Expatriate Identity at Norton Museum,” PalmBeachDailyNews.com, January 30, 2016

2015

• Mullins, Charlotte, “Picturing People: The New State of the Art,” Thames & Hudson Ltd, London, 2015
• Krug, Simone, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Hammer Museum,” Art in America, December 2015
• Jansen, Charlotte, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s intimate tableaus echo her transnational world,” Wallpaper.com, November 23, 2015
• Sutton, Kate, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” Frieze.com, November 5, 2015
• Dedieu, Jean-Philippe, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s Intimate Universes,” The New Yorker, November 5, 2015
• Farago, Jason, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby,” Even Magazine, Issue 2, Fall 2015
• N/A, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby Wins Studio Museum in Harlem’s Wein Prize,” Artforum.com, October 27, 2015
• Kennedy, Randy, “Wein Prize Is Awarded to a Nigerian-born Artist,” The New York Times, October 26, 2015
• Russeth, Andrew, “Trans-Everything: Njideka Akunyili Crosby Mounts Two Shows in Los Angeles,” ArtNews.com, September 29, 2015
• Wood, Sura, “Portraying Lives of the African Diaspora,” Bay Area Reporter, May 14,2015
• Mongezeleli Joja, Athi, “Infinite Possibilities: Interview with Njideka Akunyili,” Contemporary And, January 5, 2015

2014

• Fawcett, Kirstin, “Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s Intimate Work Straddles Mediums and Oceans,” Smithsonianmag.com, December 1, 2014
• Smee, Sebastian, “Many Techniques, Much to Ponder, in ‘Rest of Her Remains’,” Boston Globe, March 4, 2014
• Ong, Amandas, “Showcase: Njideka Akunyili,” Elephant, Issue 17 – Winter 2013-14

2013

• Merjian, Ara H., Vitamin D2, Phaidon, London, UK, 2015
• Wyatt, Daisy, “Things Fall Into Two Parts: Artist Njideka Akunyili Tells a New Nigerian Story,” The Independent, October 17, 2013