AphroChic

Looking for one-of-a-kind pieces for entertaining? This Large Black Handwoven Ugandan Decorative Basket is exactly what you need. Handmade by artisans in Uganda, each bowl is a work of art for your walls. Available in large and medium sizes, these sustainably made bowls, are handmade with raffia and banana stalks, and will last for years to come.

Girl with Pomegranates, 1938, by acclaimed African American artist, Laura Wheeler Waring is a mix of genres, combining several of the artist's most noted strengths. Blending elements of portrait, still life and landscape, the image depicts a young woman sitting with a bowl of pomegranates, one held in her hand, before a setting in which a landscape painting is partially obscured by the backdrop. Known primarily for her landscapes and still lifes, the artist, who was born in Connecticut and studied extensively in Paris before settling in Philadelphia to teach at Cheyney University, completed striking portraits of fellow contemporaries in the New Negro Movement. This work is emblematic of Wheeler's studies of Black women of the time, defying stereotypes of race and class with depictions of Black women as sophisticated and modern. Here, it is the inclusion of the pomegranate that is most telling. In the myths of ancient Egypt and other Mediterranean cultures, the fruit is a symbol of fertility and sensuality as well as prosperity. It was frequently depicted in hieroglyphs on Egyptian tombs and whole pomegranates have been found among the funerary goods of Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV, and various nobles interred at the necropolis of Thebes. Later, in Christian art, the pomegranate would be widely employed as a symbol of wealth, royalty, divinity and eternal life in paintings such as Botticelli's Madonna of the Pomegranate (1487) and the similarly-themed, The Virgin with the Pomegranate (1426) by Giovanni da Fiesole, a Dominican friar and painter, also known as Fra Angelico. Wheeler’s work brings all of this symbolic power to bear, placing it literally in the hands of a Black woman as she looks serenely out at the viewer.

Un Pintor En Reposo, literally, "A Painter in Repose (or at rest)," is a 1916 work by the renowned Mexican artist, Diego Rivera. Known for many things, including his famously tumultuous relationships with both the Communist Party and equally legendary painter, Frida Kahlo (whom he married twice), Rivera — of African and Indigenous, as well as Portuguese Jewish and Spanish ancestry — is perhaps best remembered artistically for his politically-charged murals. Yet, throughout his career, Rivera displayed a remarkably versatile talent that was equally comfortable in the genres of Realism, Pointillism, Post-Impressionism and Cubism, as well as his unparalleled Muralism. Un Pintor En Reposo comes from a very early moment in the artist's journey during which he lived and studied across Europe. The work is one of many that he produced between 1912 and 1917, a period in which he embraced Cubism, inspired by meetings with both Pablo Picasso and Paul Cézanne, the latter himself remembered as the great bridge between his own Post-Impressionist movement and that of the Cubists. Exploring Cézanne's theory that any physical object can be represented in art through reference to the cylinder, sphere or cube — whether singly or in combination — the painting represents the simple subject of a seated painter as a complex and evocative mix of shapes, colors and impressions. Printed on 5.57 oz smooth matte fine art paper, this work is available framed and unframed, reproduced by archivists in the United Kingdom using museum quality paper and ink, resulting in a piece that is faithful to the original.

Looking for one-of-a-kind pieces for entertaining? This Medium Blue Handwoven Ugandan Decorative Basket is exactly what you need. Handmade by artisans in Uganda, each bowl is a work of art for your walls. Available in large and medium sizes, these sustainably made bowls, are handmade with raffia and banana stalks, and will last for years to come.

Time in Paris, 1932, a close study of the face and features of a Black woman, was created by acclaimed African American artist and Harlem Renaissance figure, Laura Wheeler Waring. Known primarily for her landscape and still life paintings, the artist, who was born in Connecticut and studied extensively in Paris before settling in Philadelphia to teach at Cheyney University, completed striking portraits of fellow contemporaries in the New Negro Movement. Among her most noted capture the images of James Weldon Johnson, Mahalia Jackson and W.E.B. Du Bois among several others. She also worked with Du Bois as an illustrator, contributing more than twenty cover and copy illustrations to his magazine, The Crisis. Contrasting her realist portraits, 10 of which reside in the collections of the Smithsonian, Wheeler was known for her impressionist creations, which frequently explored the beauty of flowers and nature.

This 1932 work by Harlem Renaissance artist Malvin Gray Johnson depicts two West African masks — one Yoruba, the other Bwa. The work is a response to several occurrences in the art scene at that time. First, was a challenge issued by Johnson's friend and mentor, Alain Locke, author of the 1925 New Negro Anthology, to several Black artists to find inspiration in African art. Second, it was a rebuff to the presentation of African art, which was growing in popularity at the time along with European modernist art, as the work of "savages," despite being a significant inspiration for Modernism itself. Negro Masks is one of sixty surviving works by the artist, who tragically passed away at the age of 38 in 1934. Celebrated in his time for his portraits, Malvin is remembered as a pioneering example of Symbolic Abstractionism and Cubist painting. Printed on 5.57 oz smooth matte fine art paper, this work is available framed and unframed, reproduced by archivists in the United Kingdom using museum quality paper and ink, resulting in a piece that is faithful to the original.

Looking for one-of-a-kind pieces for entertaining? This Large Gold Handwoven Ugandan Decorative Basket is exactly what you need. Handmade by artisans in Uganda, each bowl is a work of art for your walls. Available in large and medium sizes, these sustainably made bowls, are handmade with raffia and banana stalks, and will last for years to come.

Girl in Pink Dress, 1927, by acclaimed African American artist, Laura Wheeler Waring depicts a young woman in the Jazz Age style of the Harlem Renaissance. Known primarily for her landscapes and still lifes, the artist, who was born in Connecticut and studied extensively in Paris before settling in Philadelphia to teach at Cheyney University, completed striking portraits of fellow contemporaries in the New Negro Movement. This work is emblematic of Wheeler's studies of Black women of the time, defying stereotypes of race and class with depictions of Black women as sophisticated and modern — indicated here by the woman's trendy flapper-style dress and bobbed haircut. It is one of several such images that the artist produced, drawing the praise of Alain Locke, one of the New Negro Movement's intellectual founders. Wheeler also worked with another of the movement's intellectual pillars, W.E.B. Du Bois as an illustrator, contributing more than twenty cover and copy illustrations to his magazine, The Crisis.

This 1934 Self-Portrait by Harlem Renaissance artist Malvin Gray Johnson was completed shortly before the artist's tragic passing that same year at the age of 38. Johnson’s original oil painting depicts the artist in casual dress and pose, in front of a representation of another of his works — 1932's Negro Masks. Although known for his portraits, several of Johnson's most celebrated efforts, including 1929's Swing Low Sweet Chariot and 1930's Roll Jordan Roll, are Cubist works. Though his paintings were exhibited by the Society of Independent Artists at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and acquired by the Whitney Museum among others, many were lost or neglected after his death so that now only 60 remain scattered across various collections. His passing was met with mourning from the whole Harlem Renaissance community, which until then, had regarded the much-awarded artist as among its brightest lights. This print of one of his most iconic works is reproduced by archivists in the United Kingdom using museum quality paper and ink, resulting in a colorful piece of art that is faithful to the original.

Looking for one-of-a-kind pieces for entertaining? This Medium Black Handwoven Ugandan Decorative Basket is exactly what you need. Handmade by artisans in Uganda, each bowl is a work of art for your walls. Available in large and medium sizes, these sustainably made bowls, are handmade with raffia and banana stalks, and will last for years to come.

Looking for one-of-a-kind pieces for entertaining? This Large Blue Handwoven Ugandan Decorative Basket is exactly what you need. Handmade by artisans in Uganda, each bowl is a work of art for your walls. Available in large and medium sizes, these sustainably made bowls, are handmade with raffia and banana stalks, and will last for years to come.