Njideka Akunyili Crosby (born 1983) is a Nigerian-born visual artist working in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Through her art, Akunyili Crosby "negotiates the cultural terrain between her adopted home in America and her native Nigeria, creating collage and photo transfer-based paintings that expose the challenges of occupying these two worlds". In 2017, Akunyili Crosby was awarded the prestigious

Genius Grant The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

from the

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6 billion and ...

Early life and education

Njideka Akunyili was born in 1983 and raised in

Enugu Enugu () verbally pronounced as "Enụgwụ" by the Igbo indigenes is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by the states of Benue and Kogi, Ebonyi State to the east and southeast, Abia State to the so ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. She is of

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a t ...

descent and grew up bilingual in Igbo and English. One of six siblings, Akunyili Crosby's father, Chike Akunyili, was a surgeon and her mother,

Dora Akunyili Dora Nkem Akunyili (14 July 1954 – 7 June 2014) was the Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria from 2001 to 2008. Early life and education Dora Edemobi was born in Makurdi, ...

, was a professor of

pharmacology Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...

at the University of Nigeria, and the former director of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration. Akunyili Crosby moved to

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

when she was thirteen years old to attend the secondary school Queen's College (QC)

Yaba, Lagos Yaba is a suburb located on Lagos Mainland, Lagos in Lagos State, Nigeria. With its educational institutions and technological start-ups, Yaba is considered the technological hub of Lagos. Inaugurated in 2021, the ultra-modern Mobolaji Johnson C ...

. Her mother won the U.S. green card lottery for the family, enabling Akunyili Crosby and her siblings to move to the United States and to get financial aid to study there. In 1999, at the age of 16, she left Nigeria with her sister, Ijeoma, and moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. She spent a gap year studying for her

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

's and taking American history, science, and calculus classes before returning to Nigeria to serve a year of National Service. After she completed her service, she returned to the United States to study in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. She took her first oil painting class at the

Community College of Philadelphia The Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) is a public community college with campuses throughout Philadelphia. The college was founded in 1965 and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. It offers over 100 associate ...

where her teacher Jeff Reed encouraged her to apply to Swarthmore College. She graduated

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

in 2004, where she studied art and biology as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. She was at first getting pre-medical requirements to pursue a career in medicine before deciding to pursue art. She didn't pursue art until her senior year at Swarthmore after realizing she enjoyed her art classes more than her Organic Chemistry and Advanced Biology classes. She felt the urgency to tell her experience as a Nigerian in the diaspora through her art. After graduating from Swarthmore in 2004, she studied at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

. This is where she earned a post-baccalaureate certificate in 2006. She later attended the

Yale University School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in graphic design, painti ...

, where she earned a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

degree.

Career and accomplishments

After graduating from Yale in 2011, Akunyili Crosby was selected as artist-in-residence at the highly regarded

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an African-American art museum at 144 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African A ...

, known for promoting and supporting emerging African artists. During this residency she met her mentor, New-York based artist,

Wangechi Mutu Wangechi Mutu (born 1972) is a Kenyan American visual artist, known primarily for her painting, sculpture, film, and performance work.

. She spent her year of residence experimenting with drawing, figure painting, studying contemporary art, postcolonial history and diasporic studies. In 2015,

Jamillah James Jamillah James (born 1980) is an American curator. She is the Manilow Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Early life and education James grew up in New Jersey. Her mother was a musician. Her early interest in music and film ...

, a former

curator and at the same time, assistant curator at the

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

, organized Akunyili Crosby's first solo exhibition at the

. That same year, James organized another exhibition of Akunyili Crosby's work at Art and Practice in

. In 2016, Akunyili Crosby was named one of the ''Financial Times'' Women of the Year." That same year, a solo exhibition of Akunyili Crosby's work was held at the

Norton Museum of Art The Norton Museum of Art is an art museum in West Palm Beach, Florida. The museum has a collection that includes over 8,200 works, with a concentration in Western art history, European, Visual arts of the United States, American, and Chinese art ...

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

. In 2017, Akunyili Crosby won the

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

Genius grant. In 2018, Akunyili Crosby designed the mural that wrapped the Museum of Contemporary Art, Grand Avenue, Los Angeles. The mural features her signature style of combining painting with

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

, printmaking, and drawing to create intricate, layered scenes. She was the second artist to create a mural for the site under a new initiative by the museum. “Thriving and Potential, Displaced (Again and Again and…)” (2021) was commissioned for the Met's exhibition, ''

Before Yesterday We Could Fly ''Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room'' is an art exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The exhibit, which opened on November 5, 2021, uses a period room format of installation to envision the past, ...

''. Akunyili Crosby's work was included in the 2022 exhibition ''Women Painting Women'' at the

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) is an art museum of post-World War II art in Fort Worth, Texas with a collection of international modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1892, The Modern is located in the c ...

. Her work was also featured in the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

's 2023 ''Kinship'' exhibit alongside fellow artists Ruth Leonela Buentello, Jess T. Dugan,

LaToya Ruby Frazier LaToya Ruby Frazier (born 1982) is an American artist. Early life From Braddock, Pennsylvania, Frazier began photographing her family and hometown at the age of 16, revising the Social documentary photography, social documentary traditional of ...

, Jessica Todd Harper, Thomas Holton, Sedrick Huckaby, and Anna Tsouhlarakis.

Process

She uses photos she has taken herself in Nigeria along with family photos and pages from popular Nigerian magazines. The photos "are layers in her work by collage and acetone-transfer prints, creating a fabric of images throughout her paintings". Her primary mediums include collage, photo transfer, acrylic paint, charcoal, fabric, and colored pencil. Along with strong Nigerian influence, her style is also derived from pop culture, personal experience, and Western academia. While creating, she thinks of her dual audience: American and Nigerian. However, her work cannot be categorized as either American nor Nigerian, but rather the work is an autobiography based on her "character that doesn't fit into a box." Women are in a position of power in most of her work. She believes a woman's agency is to not be questioned and she is an active participant. Akunyili Crosby also wanted to create images of interracial marriage that she had never seen growing up in Nigeria. Her husband is a white man from Texas, which she represents in some of her work. “The Rest of Her Remains” (2010) combines drawing, painting, xerox transfers, and collage on paper. In this piece, Crosby created clothing out of

papier collé ''Papier collé'' (French: ''pasted paper'' or ''paper cut outs'') is a type of collage and collaging technique in which paper is adhered to a flat mount. The difference between collage and papier collé is that the latter refers exclusively to th ...

(a form of collage that uses prefabricated paper that is applied to a flat surface). This piece displays a younger version of Crosby laying on a bed in an empty room surrounded by patterns related to her heritage. The placement and pose of the figure reference

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

’s painting " The Dead Toreador". The chosen title of “The Rest of Her Remains” references the differences and disconnect between her life in the United States versus her life growing up in

Influences

While attending Queen's College, Akunyili Crosby was exposed to more Nigerian, British, and American popular culture which contributed to the similarities between her work and the work of pop-culture artists. She draws on her personal experience as a Nigerian woman living in America in her work. This concept of integrating African intimacy with Western painting, was introduced to her through the work of

Kerry James Marshall Kerry James Marshall (born October 17, 1955) is an American artist and professor, known for his paintings of Black figures. He previously taught painting at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2017, Marshall ...

. Artist

Wangechi Mutu Wangechi Mutu (born 1972) is a Kenyan American visual artist, known primarily for her painting, sculpture, film, and performance work.

influenced her to use many images to create built another. Mutu uses images to speak to a fracture while Akunyili Crosby's approach focuses more on syncretism. She has incorporated photo transfers and fabrics to bring in different aspects such as hair styles, fashions, architecture, and furnishings from the two cultures Photo transferring reduces the visual sharpness of a photograph which Akunyili Crosby likes. To her, it seems symbolic of how information is lost as people move between cultural spaces. She is influenced by writer

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe (; born Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. His first novel ''Things Fall Apart'' ( ...

whose focus on changing the English language to fit his culture is interpreted through Akunyili Crosby's artwork. Achebe said that when the English language is altered, it can be used to bear the burden of his African experience. In her work, Akunyili Crosby cracks English and uses it to create a transcultural, syncretic space. Akunyili Crosby cites classic and contemporary painters

Édouard Vuillard Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist, and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, Vuillard was a member of the avant garde artistic group Les Nabis, creating paintings that assembled areas ...

and

Chris Ofili Christopher Ofili, (born 10 October 1968) is a British painter who is best known for his paintings incorporating elephant dung. He was Turner Prize-winner and one of the Young British Artists. Since 2005, Ofili has been living and working in ...

as influences. Other influences are J.D Okhai Ojeikere and

Malick Sidibé Malick Sidibé (1935 – 14 April 2016) was a Malian photographer from a Fulani ( Fula) village in Soloba, who was noted for his black-and-white studies of popular culture in the 1960s in Bamako, Mali. Sidibé had a long and fruitful career as ...

, African fine art photographers. She has also listed Kerry James Marshal as an inspiration. Like Akunyili Crosby, Marshall references the European artistic tradition. His work, according to her, has given her the confidence to take that tradition in her own direction.

Personal life

Akunyili Crosby is married to Justin Crosby, who is also an artist. She has formed friendships and traded work with other artists such as

Wangechi Mutu Wangechi Mutu (born 1972) is a Kenyan American visual artist, known primarily for her painting, sculpture, film, and performance work.

and

Kehinde Wiley Kehinde Wiley (born February 28, 1977) leaving Freddie to raise the couple's six children on her own. 3/sup> Wiley has said that his family survived on welfare checks and the limited income earned by his mother's "thrift store"—which consiste ...

Exhibitions

Akunyili Crosby has staged a large number of solo exhibitions at museums and galleries in the United States and internationally. Her notable solo shows include ''I Still Face You'' (2013), Franklin Art Works,

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

; ''Hammer Projects: Njideka Akunyili Crosby'' (2015-2016),

; ''Predecessors'' (2017), originating at the

Contemporary Arts Center The Contemporary Arts Center (abbreviated CAC) is a contemporary art museum in Cincinnati, Ohio and one of the first contemporary art institutions in the United States. The CAC is a non-collecting museum that focuses on new developments in pain ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

; ''Njideka Akunyili Crosby I Counterparts'' (2018-2019), originating at the

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of modern art, ...

; and ''Njideka Akunyili Crosby: “The Beautyful Ones”'' (2018),

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

. She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including ''The Grand Balcony'' (2016),

La Biennale de Montreal La Biennale de Montréal (BNL MTL) is a bi-annual multidisciplinary arts event to confront the Quebec and Canadian art with those of foreign artists around common issues and concepts corresponding to ''"the timeliness of the art"''. Founded in 1 ...

; ''A Good Neighbour'' (2017),

Istanbul Biennial The Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition that has been held biennially in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The Biennial has been organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) since its inception. Istanbul Biennial p ...

; ''Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp'' (2017),

Prospect New Orleans Prospect New Orleans is a multi-venue contemporary art event in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Prospect.1 "Prospect.1 New Orleans" ran from November 2008 to January 2009. Conceived in the tradition of the international biennials, such as the Ven ...

; and ''May You Live in Interesting Times'' (2019),

58th Venice Biennale The 58th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held between May and November 2019. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Ralph Rugoff curated its central exhibition, ''May You ...

Notable works in public collections

*''The Rest of Her Remains'' (2010),

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

*''Efulefu: The Lost One'' (2011),

Rubell Museum The Rubell Museum, formerly the Rubell Family Collection, is a private Contemporary art, contemporary art museum with locations in the Allapattah neighborhood of Miami, Miami, Florida, and the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

*''I Always Face You, Even When it Seems Otherwise'' (2012),

*''Janded'' (2012),

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

*''Nkem'' (2012), Rubell Museum, Miami/Washington, D.C. *''Nwantinti'' (2012),

, New York *''Wedding Portrait'' (2012), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art *''"The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born” Might Not Hold True For Much Longer'' (2013),

Nasher Museum of Art The Nasher Museum of Art (previously the Duke University Museum of Art) is the art museum of Duke University, and is located on Duke's campus in Durham, North Carolina, United States. History In 1936, art collector William Hayes Ackland wro ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

*''Predecessors'' (2013),

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

*''Thelma Golden'' (2013),

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, Washington, D.C. *''Sunday Morning (Predecessors #3)'' (2014),

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a public non-profit museum in Cape Town, South Africa. Zeitz MOCAA opened on September 22, 2017 as the largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. The museum is locat ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

*''"The Beautyful Ones" Series #5'' (2016),

Buffalo AKG Art Museum The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park-Front Park System, Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art a ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

*''Facets: Screen Wall'' (2016),

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple name chang ...

*''Garden, Thriving'' (2016),

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...

*''Mother and Child'' (2016),

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York *''Portals'' (2016),

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, New York *''See Through'' (2016),

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

*''Super Blue Omo'' (2016),

*''Wedding Souvenirs'' (2016),

National Museum of African Art The National Museum of African Art is the Smithsonian Institution's African art museum, located on the National Mall of the Washington, D.C., United States capital. Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African ar ...

, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. *''Dwell: Aso Ebi'' (2017),

*''“The Beautyful Ones” Series #7'' (2018), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston *''Remain, Thriving'' (2018), Tate, London *''Eko Skyscraper'' (2019),

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, Washington, D.C.

Awards and recognition

*2014,

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

's James Dickey Contemporary Art Prize *2015 Next Generation prize at the

New Museum of Contemporary Art The New Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum at 235 Bowery, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-name ...

*2015 The Studio Museum in Harlem's Wein Artist Prize. *2015 Foreign Policy's Leading 100 Global Thinkers of 2015 *2015 Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize at the

*2016 Prix Canson *2016 ''Financial Times'' Women of the Year award *2016 Shortlisted for the 2017 Future Generation Art Prize *2016 Distinguished Alumni Award,

*2017

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

*2019 Honorary Doctorate of Arts,

*2020 Honoree of the

Great Immigrants Award The Great Immigrants Award is an annual initiative by the Carnegie Corporation of New York to honor naturalized citizens of the United States who have made significant contributions to American society, democracy, and culture. Established in 200 ...

by the

Carnegie Corporation of New York The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Since its founding, the Carnegie Corporation has endowed or othe ...

Books and exhibition catalogues

* 2019 Berry, Ian, and Steven Matijcio, ''Njideka Akunyili Crosby: Predecessors'',

The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery is a part of Skidmore College and located in Saratoga Springs, New York. Building The Tang, opened in 2000, was designed by architect Antoine Predock. Predock's design includes two major ga ...

at Skidmore College and

, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2019. * 2016 Brutvan, Cheryl, ''Njideka Akunyili Crosby: I Refuse to be Invisible'', West Palm Beach:

, 2016. * 2015 Cornell, Lauren, and Helga Christoffersen, ed. ''Surround Audience: New Museum Triennial 2015''. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications, Inc., 2015. * 2013 Baptist, Stephanie, ed. ''Njideka Akunyili & Simone Leigh: I Always Face You, Even When it Seems Otherwise''. London: Tiwani Contemporary, 2013. * 2013 Merjian, Ara H. ''Vitamin D2,'' London: Phaidon, 2013. * 2013 The Bronx Museum of Arts, ''Bronx Calling: The Second AIM Biennial''. New York: The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2013.

Art market

Akunyili Crosby has been represented by

Victoria Miro Victoria Marion Miro (born 1 July 1945) is a British art dealer, "one of the grandes dames of the Young British Artists, Britart scene"Husband, Stuart"Go see... the Victoria Miro gallery" ''The Observer'', 3 December 2000. Retrieved 27 September 2 ...

in London since 2014 and by David Zwirner (since 2018). By 2016, demand for Akunyili Crosby’s work, which she produces slowly, far outweighed supply, prompting her prices to soar at auction. She became one of the artists featured in

Nathaniel Kahn Nathaniel Kahn (born November 9, 1962, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American filmmaker. His documentaries '' My Architect'' (2003) – about his father, the architect Louis Kahn – and '' Two Hands'' (2006) were nominated for Academy A ...

's 2018 documentary '' The Price of Everything'' where she discusses her career and attitude to her art market. It culminated with her painting ''Drown'' being sold at

Sotheby Sotheby is a surname, and may refer to: * Admiral Sir Edward Southwell Sotheby (1813–1902), Royal Navy officer * John Sotheby (1740–1807), English auctioneer and founder of Sotheby's * Samuel Sotheby (1771–1842), English auctioneer and ant ...

's contemporary art auction in November 2016 for $900,000. Her first painting to come to market was ''Untitled'' which sold for $93,000 in September 2016 at Sotheby's New York. In March 2017, a work by Akunyili Crosby titled ''The Beautyful Ones (Series #1c),'' the first painting of five belonging to ''The Beautyful Ones Series,'' was sold by a private collector for $3 million at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

London. In May 2018, Akunyili Crosby set a new personal auction record with the sale of her painting ''Bush Babies'' for nearly $3.4 million at Sotheby's New York.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crosby, Njideka Akunyili 1983 births Living people 21st-century Nigerian artists People from Enugu Nigerian women artists 21st-century women artists MacArthur Fellows Swarthmore College alumni Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Yale School of Art alumni American collage artists American women collage artists American people of Igbo descent

Early life and education

Career and accomplishments

Process

Influences

Personal life

Exhibitions

Notable works in public collections

Awards and recognition

Books and exhibition catalogues

Art market

References

Further reading

External links