Clementine Hunter (1886-1988)
One of the world’s most important self-taught artists, Louisiana artist Clementine Hunter is known for her paintings which reflected her daily life. A prolific artist, she taught herself how to paint in her mid fifties and created 5,000 artworks during her lifetime. Hunter painted her daily life’s memories on plates, discarded fabric, old bottles, cardboard scraps, and even brown paper bags. Her works told the story of early 20th century black life working and living on a plantation. The scenes she painted included church services, working picking cotton and pecans, washing clothes, funerals and baptisms. Hunter also created quilts and tapestries before she started painting.
In 1955, Hunter was the first African-American artist to have a solo art show at the New Orleans Museum of Art and another at Northwestern State College (now University). Though her work was exhibited at Northwestern State College, she was not allowed to attend, because she was African-American and she was not allowed into the college gallery with white patrons who came to see her exhibition. Hunter had to be snuck in the back to see her own exhibition.
Hunter’s work has been exhibited throughout the world in many important art museums such as the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of American Folk Art, the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, and the New York Historical Association. Also, her work is collected by some of the most important art collectors in the world such as Oprah Winfrey.
In 1986, Hunter received an honorary fine arts degree from the Northwestern State University of Louisiana in recognition of her artistic achievements. Hunter lived to be one hundred. She died in 1988.
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These posts are sponsored by the Black Art In America Foundation as part of our continuous advocacy for African-American art.
Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015)
Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015) was an African-American artist whose art works explored the relationship between memory and vernacular architecture in Southern African American culture. Painting, sculpture and video was her media of choice, but she was best known for her series of sculptural assemblage shacks she saw in the rural South. These shacks gave homage to the importance of black resilience and ingenuity in black American culture, which was a very important element that not only contributed to black people’s survival in America but also the beauty of black American culture.
She received fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim and studied under the noted African-American artist Norman Lewis. Her works have been exhibited in various museums and galleries throughout the United States. In 2016, the year after her death, the Brooklyn Museum organized an important exhibition of her work, titled “Beverly Buchanan-Ruins and Rituals.”
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These posts are sponsored by the Black Art In America Foundation as part of our continuous advocacy for African-American art.
Alma Woodsey Thomas (1891-1978)
Courtesy of National Museum of American Art
Alma Woodsey Thomas was born in Columbus, Georgia. Alma Thomas is one of the most important American abstract painters of the twentieth century. A former school teacher who graduated from Howard University, Thomas began painting after she retired. She was the first black woman to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York when she was eighty in 1972. Her largest artwork was a 13-foot painting called “Red Azaleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music.” She painted it in 1976 and it is now owned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The museum owns the largest collection of her work.
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These posts are sponsored by the Black Art In America Foundation as part of our continuous advocacy for African-American art.
Jewel Ham (1998-)
Artist Jewel Ham is a Howard University graduate who majored in fine arts. Jewel Ham’s work focuses on the contemporary black experience of her generation. She graduated from Howard University Summa Cum Laude in 2020. Born in North Carolina, Jewel is a multimedia artist who believes in using art to reach and empower black people. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at various venues including the Mint Museum, Harvey B. Gantt Center and Howard University. In 2021, she was one of the artists juried in the “Black Creativity exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.” Black Creativity is an annual art exhibition which features black artists from all over the United States.
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These posts are sponsored by the Black Art In America Foundation as part of our continuous advocacy for African-American art.
Lonnie Holley (1950-)
Courtesy of Financial Times
Lonnie Holley is one of the most famous self-taught artists in the world. He is known for his narrative found object assemblages, carved sand sculptures, and installations.Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Holley began creating art at age 29. His first works were hand carved sand sculptures, and later he began creating found objects assemblages which are rooted in black southern culture.
His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; and Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., and his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.A man of many talents, and though he has been making music most of his life, at the age of 62, Holley began a career as a musician.
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These posts are sponsored by the Black Art In America Foundation as part of our continuous advocacy for African-American art.
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