I liked the sound of Leroy Johnson’s voice before I got to meet him. It was strong, happy, eager to make my acquaintance, as people of his generation might say. I had only learned of…
Tag: black artists
Connecting with a 19th-century Black history & art collector
Posted in Art, Black history, Books, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
William Henry Dorsey was not only an artist but a collector. That’s not unusual. What is unusual is that he was both at a time when Black folks were struggling to survive the dehumanization of…
Artist Ann Tanksley – ‘My voice is in my painting’
Posted in African American women, Art, and Black history
As a child, Gertrude Ann Graves had difficulty expressing herself. She stuttered. She wasn’t as lovely as her sister, whom relatives gushed over. She was a quiet girl who retreated to an apple tree on…
In 1923, Augusta Savage applied for a summer program at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts, a newly opened American-owned school in France. The all-white and all-male selection committee rejected her because she was black. Savage…
Artists who’ve gotten lost in history
Posted in Art, and Black history
I was at an auction this week where paintings and prints by several Philadelphia artists were sold. I knew some of the names, but others were unfamiliar to me. This wasn’t the first time that…