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James Little (b. 1952, Memphis, TN) holds a BFA from the Memphis Academy of Art and an MFA from Syracuse University. He is a 2009 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Painting.
In addition to being featured prominently in the 2022 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, his work has been exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions around the world, including at MoMA P.S.1, New York; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. In 2022, Little participated in a historic collaboration for Duke Ellington’s conceptual Sacred Concerts series at the Lincoln Center, New York, with the New York Choral Society at the New School for Social Research and the Schomburg Center in New York. Recent solo exhibitions include: Petzel, New York (2024); Kavi Gupta, Chicago (2022); Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis (2022); Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood (2020); and June Kelly Gallery, New York (2018).
His paintings are represented in the collections of numerous public and private collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond; The Studio Museum, Harlem, New York; The Menil Collection, Houston; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis; Maatschappij Arti Et Amicitiae, Amsterdam; Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton; Tennessee State Museum, Nashville; and the Newark Museum, Newark.
[…] James Little joined us to talk about his show, Affirmed/Actions, which closes January 11 at Petzel Gallery. On the topic of receiving the acclaim he enjoys as a Black artist quite late in his career, Little says he has always considered his journey in the art world a long distance race not a sprint. As movements shifted and changed in the art world, he always felt like an outsider. He remained committed to developing his painting while diligently building the other aspects of his career until things eventually came full circle. To hear more, listen to the complete interview. […]