In a practice that spans film, photography, and installation, Arthur Jafa confronts the beauty and alienation at the heart of Black American experience. The artist often juxtaposes original and found footage, exploring the possibilities of images and their archives. Jafa studied film and architecture at Howard University. Before focusing on fine art, he enjoyed an illustrious career as a cinematographer and worked on iconic films such as Daughters of the Dust, Crooklyn, and Eyes Wide Shut. His breakout work, 2016’s Love is the Message, The Message is Death, was shown at institutions around the world, including MOCA Los Angeles, ICA Boston, and MCA Denver, among others. He has been included in exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Amsterdam, and elsewhere. In 2019, Jafa won the Golden Lion Award at the 58th Venice Biennale for his film The White Album.

Founded in 1926 by Christian Zervos at 14, rue du Dragon in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Cahiers d’Art encompasses a publishing house, a gallery, and a revue. The Cahiers d’Art Revue was entirely unique when it was introduced, and it still is: a revue of contemporary art defined by its combination of striking typography and layout, abundant photography, and juxtaposition of ancient and modern art. Between the 1920s and the mid-1970s, Cahiers d’Art published ninety-seven issues of the Revue and more than fifty books on fine art and architecture, as well as the thirty-three volume catalogue raisonné of Pablo Picasso. After its acquisition and relaunch in 2012 by Staffan Ahrenberg, an editorial board comprised of Sam Keller, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Isabela Mora, and Staffan Ahrenberg was created. Cahiers d’Art has since published several new Revues and art books devoted to Ellsworth Kelly, Rosemarie Trockel, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, Thomas Schütte, Gabriel Orozco, Joan Miró, Lucas Arruda, Ai Weiwei, Arthur Jafa, Frank Gehry, Christo, and others. From the 1920s till today, Cahiers d’Art has maintained a gallery, exhibiting the artists it publishes. Cahiers d’Art continues to fulfill its mission to be the cultural bridge between the avant-garde of Picasso, Duchamp, and Le Corbusier, and the leading artists and architects of our time.