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Not so long ago, black women collectors of art were not a thing. Today, some of them are important influencers in the world of art, as they impact the industry through the works that they collect. They do so through the choices that they make, but also by how they acquire paintings, sculptures and more. Indeed, when someone like Denise Gardner mentions that she starts being interested in an artwork when she notices it on Instagram, it certainly gives ideas to other collectors. But today, we focus on Pamela Joyner and Charlotte Newman, two important art collectors with influence.

When the Collectors are as Important as the Collection They own

The two women that we feature are important figures in their community. They are career-oriented ladies, that can be examples to all other black women. Although they made a priority out of work, it isn’t the only one that they have. They also enjoy abstract art, sculptures and they like to discover original nude paintings that possess a deeper meaning, like liberty. They are, in other words, open-minded women that have become influencers in the world of art, through their opinions and the artworks that they choose to add to their collection.

Pamela Joyner

Not many people love art more than Pamela Joyner. To understand that, you just need to know that she is a trustee at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, as well as at the J. Paul Getty Trust. She sits on various boards relating to the artworld, including the Tate Americas Foundation and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as at the non-profit organization Art + Practice. The time she devotes to them has many artists saying that she is much more than an art collector, and they often call her an advocate for the world of art.

However, there is no mistaking her true love for art, when you discover her own collection, that she has built with her husband, Alfred J. Giuffrida. Some of the famous names that have found their way inside it, are the likes of Charles Gaines, Lorna Simpson, and Julie Mehretu. Her goal is to revisit the contemporary art canon. To do so, she made sure to include more African artists, into her collection, but also in some of the museums she collaborates with, like the J. Paul Getty Meum who invested in the research of African American Art History.

Charlotte Newman

This important collector who works at Amazon Web Services, as said what everyone knew before, but was afraid to mention out loud: Although many black artists found their way onto the scene, there aren’t enough black people that are acquiring their works. Like Pamela Joyner, her main subject of interest is contemporary art. She looks for artworks that questions our identity, whether it has to do with race or gender, which definitely makes her a woman of her time. She also has an interest in works representing the future of humanity, namely ones that shows the black community in a faraway, distant time. She is also a fervent supporter of online galleries, which are democratizing the art collection industry.