{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0500025886?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0500025886","authors":["Koyo Kouoh"],"book_id":"9780500025888","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/when-we-see-us-9780500025888","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780500025888.jpg?v=c213266d8acdca68","description":"This landmark publication accompanies an international touring exhibition devoted to Black figuration in painting from the 1920s to now, featuring artists from Africa and the African diaspora. Published to accompany a major exhibition at Zeitz MOCAA, CapeTown, When We See Us presents a comprehensive exploration of Black representation through portraiture and figuration, celebrating Black subjectivity and Black consciousness from Pan-African and Pan-Diasporic perspectives. In the past decade, figurative painting by Black artists has risento a new prominence in the field of contemporary art. This timely and revelatory book highlights the many ways in which artists critically engage with notions of blackness, contributing to the critical discourse on topics such as Pan-Africanism, the Civil Rights Movement, African Liberation and Independence movements, the Anti-Apartheid and Black Consciousness mobilizations, Decoloniality, and Black Lives Matter. With a primary focus on figurative painting, When We See Us explores how Black artists have imagined, positioned, memorialized, and asserted African and African diasporic experiences from the early 20th century to the present day. Featuring more than 200 works of art—and contributions from well-known writers such as Ken Bugul, Maaza Mengiste, Robin Coste Lewis, and Bill Kouelany— When We See Us is a major contribution to our understanding of Black art that will appeal to anyone interested in modern and contemporary figurative art and Black cultural history.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780500025888","publication_date":"20230328","publisher":"WW Norton","slug":"when-we-see-us","subtitle":"A Century of Black Figuration in Painting","title":"When We See US"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"ART015010","confidence_band":"high","label":"African Art History","score":0.8156,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"ART015110","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Contemporary Art History (1945-)","score":0.7669,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"ART006010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Group Show Catalogs","score":0.7527,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"ART015010","confidence_band":"high","label":"African Art History","score":0.8156,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"ART015110","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Contemporary Art History (1945-)","score":0.7669,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"ART006010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Group Show Catalogs","score":0.7527,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"ART006010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Group Show Catalogs","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"ART015010","confidence_band":"high","label":"African Art History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"ART015110","confidence_band":"high","label":"Contemporary Art History (1945-)","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"African Art History","score":0.8156,"slug":"african-art-history"},{"label":"Contemporary Art History (1945-)","score":0.7669,"slug":"contemporary-art-history-1945"},{"label":"Group Show Catalogs","score":0.7527,"slug":"group-show-catalogs"}],"reader_fit":["For readers interested in figurative art and Black cultural history.","For readers interested in modern and contemporary art."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Phaidon Editors","Joseph L. Underwood","Chika Okeke-Agulu","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9781838662431","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781838662431.jpg?v=cba9f7dce7cfcb6f","score":0.7549,"title":"African Artists","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781838662431"},{"authors":["Zaria Ware"],"book_id":"9780063272415","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063272415.jpg?v=5a3760a5b71e0b14","score":0.7469,"title":"BLK ART","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063272415"},{"authors":["Camille Jouneaux"],"book_id":"9783791377186","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9783791377186.jpg?v=f1f32bca7e2e1f72","score":0.6836,"title":"Leonardo, Frida and the Others","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9783791377186"},{"authors":["Stith Thompson","Sidney Littlefield Kasfir"],"book_id":"9780253219220","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780253219220.jpg?v=3d4020de20e7ab5b","score":0.6776,"title":"African Art and the Colonial Encounter","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780253219220"},{"authors":["Chika Okeke-Agulu"],"book_id":"9780822357469","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780822357469.jpg?v=6702d5c561c52fa8","score":0.676,"title":"Postcolonial Modernism","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780822357469"},{"authors":["David Salle"],"book_id":"9780393354966","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780393354966.jpg?v=27eb12f5cf0d129a","score":0.6715,"title":"How to See","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780393354966"},{"authors":["Deborah Willis"],"book_id":"9781510760158","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781510760158.jpg?v=5359e588c38d15e4","score":0.6703,"title":"Black","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781510760158"},{"authors":["Charlotte Cotton"],"book_id":"9780500204481","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780500204481.jpg?v=0111cca2119d03d0","score":0.6625,"title":"The Photograph As Contemporary Art","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780500204481"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:art history"],"label":"History","score":0.4536,"slug":"history"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:culture"],"label":"Culture","score":0.0449,"slug":"culture"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:philosophy"],"label":"Philosophy","score":0.0334,"slug":"philosophy"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:cultural studies"],"label":"Studies","score":0.0285,"slug":"studies"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Black subjectivity and consciousness, Black liberation movements, African diasporic experiences.","Themes: History, Culture, Philosophy.","Reading lane: African Art History and Contemporary Art History (1945 )."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.94,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["For readers interested in figurative art and Black cultural history.","For readers interested in modern and contemporary art."],"themes":["Black subjectivity and consciousness","Black liberation movements","African diasporic experiences"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":41,"goodreads_ratings_count":11,"goodreads_reviews_count":1,"quality_score":0.8382}}