Reframing Blackness: What’s Black about “History of Art”?

by Alayo Akinkugbe

‘Thorough, accessible, essential’ Katy Hessel, author of The Story of Art without Men

‘A sparkling debut. Bold, eloquent, personal and clear-eyed, Alayo Akinkugbe is a major new voice in writing about art, museums and culture. This book will shift your frames of reference, expand your canvas, and give you hope for the future — changing how you look at art while also making you look again at your ways of seeing’ Dan Hicks, author of The Brutish Museums

'To explore a history of Black communities across centuries of art is a love letter to the practice, a gift of knowledge and an ode to those who’s creative expressions give us much to be inspired by today' Sofia Akel, cultural historian and founder


Since the inception of mainstream art history, Blackness has been distinctly ignored.

In Reframing Blackness, art historian and founder of @ABlackHistoryOfArt, Alayo Akinkugbe challenges this void.

Exploring the presentation of Black figures in Western art, as well as Blackness in museums, in feminist art movements and in the curriculum, Alayo unveils an overlooked but integral part of our collective art history.

Refreshing and accessible, this promises to start a much-needed conversation in culture and education.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Sociology, History

176 pages, Hardcover

First published July 10, 2025

Reviews

[Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliantly written manifesto for inclusion, positive change, and integration. Concise, succinct, informative, and the next book you need to read on Art if you've been reading the classic texts.

[kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the book very interesting and enjoyable to read. Akinkugbe critiques the Eurocentric canon while highlighting the work of Black artists, curators, and thinkers. I found myself contrasting my own university experiences (at CU Boulder and ASU) in the US to that experienced by the author in the UK. The systemic and educational differences—how they appear (or fail) in coursework and institutional framing—were fascinating to observe, and added a valuable layer of reflection to a thought-provoking book.

[Amy Quichiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was beyond enlightening, i felt like i was inside of a museum. looking up every art piece and knowing so much history behind it now left me so speechless. Feminist theory is everything.

I will say, I wish queerness could have been included! 😭

This book should be a requirement.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m often surprised when folks are surprised that art history’s whiteness is an issue; after all, there’s that widespread view that non-European worlds did not have art in the way Europe did/does – arts and crafts, perhaps, but not Art – a proper noun. Yet its defensive whiteness is there in the title – a subject that deals exclusively with a European tradition of ‘great men’, the founders and makers of a tradition of Art does not limit itself – it is ‘art history’ and all about the Euro-American world, but only white folks in that world. Elsewhere we get geographically-limited, gendered (as in women’s and queer art), and art by racially minoritized populations in that Euro-American world – but Art History remains largely untouched.

This impressive small but gorgeously produced, well illustrated book explores the presence, and absence, of Blackness in that whitest of subjects. Alayo Akinkugbe, a young critic and curator, drawing on her own experience in the industry and as recent student of the subject, unpacks art history, albeit with a very British bent, along five key faultlines: the art museum, school and university curriculums, the intersection of Black and feminist art, the presence of Black muses in the hegemonic version of art, and efforts to recast and represent Blackness in contemporary rethinking and reshowings of Art.

Some of the work and works she discussed expose the marginalisation of Blackness, its omission and deletion, whereas in other discussions she highlights those features. One of the things I like that she does well, and unobtrusively, is that across the course of the book she sets up a set instance of speaking back. In some cases this is explicit: her treatment of patricia kaersenhout’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Too as a direct response to Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party, whereas Malik Sidibé’s work is explored as a form of photographic portraiture that disrupts the conventions of that form.

Delightfully, Akinkugbe also clear in her writerly voice that she is addressing a non-specialist, as in non-academic, audience – which she does without seeming to speak down, producing an engaging and accessible book that opens up vital questions about who’s included in the stories we tell, in the images we produce, in the narratives and discourses we build of who and what is culturally and socially valued. I’ve been following her Instragram (@ABlackHistoryOfArt) for some time – it’s well worth it in that it offers a glimpse into insights that are more fully developed here, and in her podcast A Shared Gaze: she provides a great way into looking at the Art around us and seeing it in new ways.

[phebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

should be required reading!! I started uni only a few years after Akinkugbe did, reading the same subject, but at the Other university (although cambridge is always “the other one” in my mind). we share some academic interests so parts of it felt familiar to me, but there were still some new discoveries— and tbf it’s always enjoyable to revisit my favorite aspects of the history of art :•)

[Dominique Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative. Reflective. Accessible.

Akinkugbe shares detailed reflections of her time at university studying art history at Cambridge. She explores her experience of what it was like studying the subject and how her lived experience exposed inequalities about the way art history is taught as well as the representation issues surrounding which artists were studied.

The author reflects on efforts that artists, academics and curators have undertaken to interrogate the gaps in art history through art, literature and exhibitions in order to bring these issues to light. Akinkugbe emphasises the importance of representation in the arts across the industry, beyond hospitality roles - from restoration and care to archiving - in order to preserve history and reflect the perspective doesn’t begin and end with the white male gaze.

Written in such accessible language with clear examples and case studies to illustrate her points, Akinkugbe’s book clearly articulates how art education in its current iteration has failed many students (and art lovers) and advocates for change that is long overdue.

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short book with the aim to relook at art history and the way it is taught at university and the way large institutions (within the UK) present it with the question: Where is blackness? Where are the Black Artists? Where are the depictions of Black People? Throughout it intersperses the authors own experiences as a student of art history and what motivated her to create an instagram of the topic. I appreciated the author situating herself.

I think it does what it sets out to do fantastically and this book introduced me to so many great artists including Faith Ringgold, Kudzanai-Violet Mwami and Amoako Boafo.

Big recommend!

Only caveat is that there are not enough pictures in this book (as always in art books). I spent time while reading googling each artist and this really enhanced my experience of reading!

[gaverne Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly great book!

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

always fantastic when an author can blend personal experience and astute observation to make a compelling case - i found the section on the Felix Vallotton painting particularly moving

[Uzoamaka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick short read, a good book with art history centred around Blackness.

[Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely balance between informative and personal. Would highly recommend to anyone interested in art history!

[Sibusiso · Rating 5 out of 5]

A master class in Art History that should really be a guide to collectors, curators and artists.