Lorraine O’Grady, Conceptual Artist and Critic, Dies at 90
O’Grady’s profile had grown significantly over the last 10 years.
Adam Schrader
December 13, 2024
Lorraine O’Grady, who went from an early career as a research economist for the government to a second life as a conceptual artist and cultural critic in her mid-40s, died Friday. She was 90 years old. She is best remembered for her diptychs which juxtapose images for a critical look at gender, race, and class disparities, and as a rock music critic for Rolling Stone and the Village Voice.
O’Grady’s death was confirmed by Mariane Ibrahim, the art dealer who represented her and has venues in Chicago, Paris, and Mexico City. Ibrahim did not reveal her cause of death.
“Lorraine O’Grady was a force to be reckoned with,” said Ibrahim. “Lorraine refused to be labeled or limited, embracing the multiplicity of history that reflected her identity and life’s
journey. Lorraine paved a path for artists and women artists of color, to forge critical and confident pathways between art and forms of writing.”
O’Grady was born in Boston in 1934 to West Indian immigrants and was educated as a child at the elite Girls’ Latin School. She went on to study economics and Spanish literature at Massachusetts’s Wellesley College. After graduating in 1955, O’Grady worked for more than five years as a research economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“I think the Department of Labor knew before I did that I wasn’t cut out for government service!” O’Grady once wrote of her early career. “Still, though it was the most welcoming to women, even at Labor there were limits. You could look around and see that division chief was as high as any woman would get.” ( … )