Claudette Johnson facts for kids

Claudette Johnson is a famous British artist, born in 1959. She is well-known for her big drawings of Black women. She was also a founding member of an important art group called the BLK Art Group. Many people consider her one of the best artists in Britain today who draws people. In 2024, she was chosen as a finalist for the Turner Prize, which is a very important art award. The same year, she was also elected to the Royal Academy of Arts. Her artworks can be found in many public collections, like the Tate Britain and the Manchester Art Gallery.

About Claudette Johnson

Claudette Johnson was born in Manchester, UK. She studied Fine Art at Wolverhampton Polytechnic. While she was still a student, she helped start the BLK Art Group. She took part in their second art show in London in 1983. Her ideas shared at the First National Black Arts Conference in 1982 were very important. They helped shape the Black feminist art movement in the UK.

Her Art and Style

Johnson's art has been shown in many important group exhibitions. These include Five Black Women and Black Woman Time Now in 1983. Her work was also in The Thin Black Line in 1986. When her solo show In This Skin: Drawings by Claudette Johnson opened in 1992, artist Steve McQueen wrote about it. He said her work showed the "soul, sensuality, dignity, and spirituality of the black woman." He also noted that her art was "rooted in her African heritage."

Artist Lubaina Himid has described Johnson's work as "deeply sensuous" and "richly coloured." Johnson herself calls the Black women in her drawings "monoliths." This means they are "larger than life versions of women." Another artist, Eddie Chambers, said these portraits were "imposing pieces." They "demanded the viewer’s attention, as well as their respect."

Research and Exhibitions

In 2011, Claudette Johnson helped start the BLK Arts Research Group. She worked with Marlene Smith and Keith Piper. Their goal was to look again at the work and history of the BLK Arts Group. In 2012, this group put on two big projects. One was a symposium and an exhibition called The Blk Art Group in Sheffield. The other was a conference called "Reframing the Moment" at the University of Wolverhampton. Her art was also part of the No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990 exhibition in London.

In 2017, Johnson had a solo exhibition at Hollybush Gardens in London. She showed seven large drawings on paper. Frieze magazine said this collection of work had a "profound and tender intimacy."

In 2019, Johnson had her first major museum exhibition since 1990. It was held at Modern Art Oxford. This show was seen as an overview of one of Britain's most skilled artists. Her art aims to correct negative images of Black people. It also helps make Black people more visible in art and culture. A reviewer from Art Fund said her studies of Black people were "intimate, powerful and sometimes deliberately uncomfortable." They "demand attention and command respect."

Apollo magazine noted that Johnson believes "blackness is a fiction created by colonialism." But she also says this idea "can be interrupted by an encounter with the stories that we have to tell about ourselves." Johnson's subjects show many different stories. As she says, "I’m interested in our humanity, our feelings and our politics." Her art captures all of this in the gentle and strong forms of individual people.

In September 2023, Claudette Johnson: Presence opened at the Courtauld Gallery in London. This was her first solo show at a major public gallery in London. A critic from The Guardian praised how Johnson "brilliantly questions depictions of non-white figures." They added that her work "invites a more meditative response."

Awards and Recognition

Claudette Johnson's art is in many important collections. These include the Tate Britain, Arts Council England, and the Manchester Art Gallery.

In 2022, she was given the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) award for her contributions to art. Also in 2022, she received an honorary doctorate from Wolverhampton University. This is where she earned her degree in Fine Art in 1982.

Her solo exhibitions Presence in London and Drawn Out in New York were mentioned. These shows helped her become one of the four finalists for the 2024 Turner Prize. In March 2024, she was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts.

She has also completed important art projects. These include a portrait of Stuart Hall for Merton College, Oxford. She also created a mural called "Three Women" for Brixton tube station in London. In 2023, The Guardian newspaper asked her to paint a portrait of activist Sarah Parker Remond.

Selected Exhibitions

• 1983: Five Black Women Artists. Africa Centre, London.
• 1983: Black Women Time Now. Battersea Arts Centre London.
• 1984: Into the Open: New Paintings Prints and Sculptures by Black Contemporary Artists. Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield.
• 1986: The Thin Black Line. Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
• 1987: The Image Employed: The Use of Narrative in Black Art. Corner-House, Manchester.
• 1992: In This Skin: Drawings by Claudette Johnson. Black Art Gallery, London.
• 1997: Transforming the Crown: African, Asian and Caribbean Artists in Britain 1966–1986. Royal Festival Hall, London, and The Caribbean Cultural Centre, The Studio Museum in Harlem and The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York.
• 2012: Thin Black Line(s). Tate Britain, London.
• 2015–16: No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990, Guildhall Art Gallery, London
• 2017: Claudette Johnson, Hollybush Gardens, London
• 2019: Claudette Johnson: I Came to Dance, Modern Art Oxford (1 June – 8 September 2019)
• 2023: Claudette Johnson: Presence. Courtauld, London (29 September 2023 – 14 January 2024)
• 2023: Claudette Johnson: Drawn Out. Ortuzar Projects, New York