This Week in Black Art and Culture is sponsored by The Children’s Trust.
Jennifer Hudson achieves EGOT (Emmy, .Grammy, Oscar, Tony) for co-producing the award-winning musical A Strange Loop. Painter Stanley Whitney is now represented by Gagosian. The release date for Beyoncé’s first full-length album since 2016 isannounced.
Jennifer Hudson Becomes Second Black Woman to Achieve EGOT Status
Jennifer Hudson joins a limited group of people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
Hudson earned an Oscar in 2007 for her part in Dreamgirls and two Grammys—one for best R&B album and another for the cast album of The Color Purple. Baba Yaga, an interactive animated short she executive produced, earned a Daytime Emmy Award.
When Strange Loop, written by Michael R. Jackson, transferred to Broadway, the singer and actress was tapped as a producer. Other celebrities mentioned as producers include RuPaul Charles, Don Cheadle, Mindy Kaling, Billy Porter and Alan Cumming. TheTony award was given for both Best New Musical and Best Book of a Musical.
Hudson is also the second Black woman and third African American to receive the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards, with just 17 entertainers in all having received the honor. Whoopi Goldberg was the first to receive the honor in 2002, followed by John Legend in 2018. Hudson is also the first American Idol participant to achieve the status of EGOT. Hudson reflected on her win on Social media, sharing on Twitter, “What a night! Filled with so many memorable moments! I am so inspired by people who are passionate about their craft! Congratulations to everyone on their well-deserved awards and their beautiful performances!”
On Instagram, Hudson posted a video giving a toast to celebrate her win, “As I said when I won the Oscar, look what God can do, well, he did it again.” Captioning her post in another bout of thanks, she wrote, “I am overwhelmed by all the outpouring of love and support that I am still receiving and I’m still processing this whole new ground. What an honor! Thank u all for being with me on this journey. I could not live this life without u. Like I said when I won my Oscar, look what God can do. Well, He did it again!”
Stanley Whitney Represented by Gagosian Gallery
Stanley Whitney will be represented by Gagosian Gallery. Whitney will hold a solo show at Lisson Gallery in London in 2023 after leaving the gallery, which has represented the artist since 2015. In 2020, he held a solo display at Gagosian’s Rome location. Whitney has been engaged in abstraction since the mid-1970s and is known for the depth of his investigation into the expressive potentials of painted color and shape.
He cemented a process-based painterly style while residing in Rome in the 1990s, which he has sustained and refined over three decades. Whitney picks each next hue in proportion to those set down previously, dividing square canvases into sequences of loosely defined rectangular blocks of rich color marked by linear bands. His evident brushwork creates delicate passageways between these surfaces’ borders. The chromatic and spatial interactions that occur determine the connections between each form and the composition as a whole.
His paintings remove the strictures of the modernist grid, their freehand geometries at one with their succession of vibrant colors. His work is now on display at the Palazzo Tiepolo Passi as part of a collateral exhibition to this year’s Venice Biennale, titled The Italian Paintings.
Release Date for Beyoncé Album Announced
TIDAL finally unveiled the title and release date of Beyoncé’s new album after many days of activity on her official website. On Monday, Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD Foundation Twitter account published a collage of album covers to commemorate Black Music Month, with a picture of a hand pointing to the cover of Brandy’s 2020 album B7, her seventh studio album. earned
The streaming service controlled by Beyoncé’s husband JAY-Z announced a July 29 release date for RENAISSANCE – Act I, and the album’s Apple Music page disclosed a total of 16 tracks. The statement comes only days after followers flocked to Twitter to report fresh discoveries on her website, which included a landing page titled “WHAT IS A B7?”
Renaissance also will be Beyoncé’s first full-length album since 2016’s Lemonade, which received nine GRAMMY nominations, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year, as well as Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best Music Video for Formation.
Since Lemonade, Beyoncé produced a joint album, Everything Is Love, with husband Jay-Z, as well as the Lion King selected soundtrack. She also was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2022 Oscars for Be Alive, which appeared in King Richard. Four box sets, each with a different T-shirt, are available for pre-order on Beyoncé’s official website here. A CD, a 28-page photo booklet, and a tiny poster are also included.
-Sumaiyah E. Wade
