ARTnews

From the street, it’s hard to miss the neon sign treading “Black Owned” that appears in the upstairs window of V. Joy Simmons’s Los Angeles home. To the left of that sign is her front door, which has stained glass windows depicting an elegantly dressed Black couple. There are even more artful treasures inside the two story house; Simmons often keeps more than 150 objects on display.⁠
⁠
Works by Romare Bearden, Robert Colescott, Betye Saar, Raymond Saunders, and Howardena Pindeel form cornerstones of Simmons’s collection. But artists from the next generation whose work she has long supported, like Kerry James Marshall, Mark Bradford, Kehinde Wiley, and Carrie Mae Weems, have also become core to her holdings. Near a 1989 Marshall painting hangs a portrait by Christen Austin and a photograph by Thandiwe Muriu, both of whom are more than three decades younger than Marshall. “I try to have a younger artists in conversation with Kerry James Marshall,” Simmons said, in ARTnews’ latest Top 200 Collectors Issue.⁠
⁠
At the link in our bio, read more about Simmons’s collection—an entire constellation of Black artists and artists of color.⁠
⁠
Photos by @amandavillarosa