Lorraine O’Grady (1934–2024), the conceptual and performance artist who transformed how audiences understand race, gender, and identity, died at 90. Beginning her art career at 45, she created groundbreaking works like Cutting Out The New York Times and championed Black female subjectivity, while her incisive writing and performances challenged systemic erasure and segregation in the art world.
Lorraine O’Grady (1934–2024), the trailblazing conceptual artist, used performance, collage, and writing to confront the art world’s racial and gender hierarchies. From her first collages in Cutting Out the New York Times to the fearless persona Mademoiselle Bourgeoise Noire, O’Grady challenged Black artists and institutions alike, blending wit, audacity, and Black feminist insight to transform how audiences see identity, creativity, and self-expression.
Lorraine O’Grady (1934–2024), an indefatigable conceptual artist whose work critiqued definitions of identity, died in New York on Friday aged 90. O’Grady confronted the structures of race, gender, and class while celebrating self-definition, dialogue, and the humanity at art’s core.
Lorraine O’Grady (1934–2024), a pioneering conceptual and performance artist, used her work to challenge racism, sexism, and class hierarchies while centering Black women’s voices. Known for her powerful persona Mlle Bourgeoise Noire and her iconic performance Art Is . . ., O’Grady redefined how identity, language, and art intersect in the fight for visibility and change.
Lorraine O’Grady (1934–2024) was a groundbreaking conceptual and performance artist whose work confronted race, gender, and power with incisive wit and emotion. From Mlle Bourgeoise Noire to Art Is . . ., her art and writing redefined Black female subjectivity and inspired generations to see themselves as part of art’s narrative.
After the opening of O’Grady’s first exhibit, The Knight, or Lancela Palm-and-Steel, at the Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, artist Ayana V. Jackson wrote about her experience of meeting O’Grady who Jackson has long revered. Jackson notes how O’Grady’s pathmaking opened up worlds for Black women to come: “She stood alone so we can stand together… And on our own.”
Press release for the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation’s 2024 fellows which includes O’Grady in support of her forthcoming performative work project.
In her introduction for “Teaching/Learning with Lorraine O’Grady’s Both/And,” Amanda Gilvin offers a unique vantage point for viewing the renowned artist’s multi-decade career. While many have described O’Grady as becoming an artist later in life, Gilvin highlights the links between Wellesley College and the development of O’Grady’s groundbreaking concept of “both/and” over time, revealing that perhaps it was while at the college, her artistry first began to take form.
Boston Globe, 2024. Murray Whyte reviews O’Grady’s “Both/And” at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. Whyte notes the multifaceted nature of O’grady with a life that includes a stint at the US Department of Labor, writing rock criticism, and teaching. All of these positions converged into her art making process, beginning with the performance “Rivers, First Draft.”
Forbes, 2024. Chad Scott reports on O’Grady’s “Both/And” exhibit at the Davis Museum of Wellesley College. As an alum of Wellesely, O’Grady’s exhibit and accompanying archival materials offers a unique experience for students to learn about the journey of a former student forging their own path in the art world.
Patch, 2024. Jainie Winter reports on O’Grady’s “Both/And” solo exhibit, showing at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. In the article Winter provides an overview of O’Grady’s work and the themes she often explores such as “calls for an anti-hierarchical approach to difference.”
Boston Globe, 2024. Ahead of the showing of “Both/And” at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Murray Whyte provides a comprehensive background on O’Grady beginning as one the few Black graduates of Wellesley College in 1955. Whyte offers an overview of some of O’Grady’s most renowned works that are included in the exhibit such as “Mlle. Bourgeoise Noire,” “Rivers, First Draft,” and “Cutting Out The New York Times”
Wellesley Magazine, 2024. Kerry Gaertner Gerbracht offers an insightful look into O’Grady’s prolific career as a writer, teacher, and artist in this article covering the opening of “Both/And” at the Davis Museum. Gerbracht notes the expansion of the exhibit from its original showing which includes pieces directly related to her time at Wellesley College as a student.
The Wellesley News, 2024. The reopening of Davis Museum at Wellesley College began with the opening of O’Grady’s “Both/And” retrospective exhibit. In this review of opening night, Phoebe Rebhorn pays special attention to the inspiration that alum O’Grady can serve for current Wellesley students. An accompanying symposium, gave insight on the lessons of O’Grady’s art which calls for a consistent pushing of new boundaries and encourages limitless thinking.
The Bay State Banner, 2024. Susan Saccocia reviews O’Grady’s “Both/And” at the Davis Museum at O’Grady’s alma mater, Wellesley College. Saccocia describes several of O’Grady’s most prominent works on display in the exhibit and highlights how the show weaves the narrative of O’Grady’s lustrous and expansive career.
WBUR, 2024. Arielle Gray explores the works featured in O’Grady’s “Both/And” exhibit as well as O’Grady’s own writing and words, Arielle Gray. While some may view some of O’Grady’s life as a journey to become an artist, Gray highlights how she always was one. Synthesizing O’Grady’s impact on the art world and her own view of her body of work, Gray finds that it’s not only a critique of or disruption O’Grady seeks, but she crafts a world that shows “all of her multiplicity and nuance.”
The Momentary, 2024. To commemorate the acquisition of “Untitled: Mlle Bourgeoise Noire,” by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Larissa Ramey examines O’Grady’s presentations of Black womanhood and identity within her work which sheds light on the intricate intersection of race and gender in contemporary society.”