Visual art
McArthur Binion
born 1946 · painter
Abstract painter raised in Detroit, the first Black MFA graduate in painting from Cranbrook, who founded an artists' residency in the city in 2019.
- Born
Macon, Mississippi- Detroit years
- 1951–1973, 2019–
- Field
- Visual art
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Binion was born in rural Mississippi, and in 1951 his family moved to Detroit so his father could work in the auto industry. He began in business and creative writing, briefly left Wayne State to edit a magazine in Harlem, and returned to earn his BFA there in 1971. Two years later he completed an MFA at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, becoming the first Black student to earn an MFA in painting at the school. His signature works lay hand-drawn grids of oil stick over collaged personal documents, such as his birth certificate and pages from his address book, merging minimalist abstraction with autobiography and the rhythms of Black music. After decades in New York and Chicago, where he taught at Columbia College, he gained wide acclaim at the 2017 Venice Biennale, and Cranbrook Art Museum paired his work with Saarinen design in 2018. In 2019 he returned to Detroit to found the Modern Ancient Brown foundation, a residency and fellowship program for artists and writers of color.
Highlights
- BFA, Wayne State University (1971)
- First Black MFA in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art (1973)
- Exhibited at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017)
- Binion/Saarinen exhibition at Cranbrook Art Museum (2018)
- Founded the Modern Ancient Brown foundation in Detroit (2019)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1960s–1971
Wayne State University
Where he earned his BFA in 1971.
Studied here · 1971–1973, 2018
Cranbrook Academy of Art and Cranbrook Art Museum
Where he earned his MFA in 1973; the museum staged Binion/Saarinen in 2018.