Celebrating the Artistic Vision: Arts and Culture in Black History

Art has historically been a way for individuals to show their creativity and passion through painting, music, sculptures and many more. We often ignore how important art is, as it is the best medium to shed light on talented individuals and their work. From the songs we listen to every day, to the movies we watch and even the illustrations we admire, creativity is always present. 

However, for a long time many Black artists had not been recognized for their work and contributions towards the art community. They were not given appreciation for their creativity . While celebrating Black History Month, now is the perfect time to get to know more about some of the most influential artists in history, ranging from painters, musicians and even sculptors.

1) Alma Thomas 

Alma Woodsey Thomas (September 22, 1891 – February 24, 1978) was an African-American artist and Art teacher who lived and worked in Washington, D.C. Thomas always had a passion for art growing up. She made small pieces of artwork such as puppets, sculptures and plates mainly out of clay from the river behind her childhood home. In 1907, when Thomas was 16, the family moved to the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. There, she attended Armstrong Technical High School, where she took her first art classes. She entered Howard University in 1921 at age 30. Her artistic focus at Howard was on sculpture; the paintings she produced during her college education were described as “academic and undistinguished”. While for a long time she taught arts at Shaw Junior High School, she became a professional artist in 1960. Her technique consisted of drawing faint pencil lines across the canvas to create shapes and patterns of different sizes and using paint to fill in the canvas later. She specialized in abstract and brightly colored artwork. Her most famous works include ‘Red Abstraction’ (1960) and ‘Pansies in Washington’ (1969). 

2) James Brown 

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, and musician. He was born in Barnwell, South Carolina. The Brown family lived in poverty in Elko, South Carolina, which was an impoverished town in 1933. They moved to Augusta, Georgia, when he was four or five. Brown began singing in talent shows at a young age. While in Augusta, Georgia, he performed buck dances to entertain troops from Camp Gordon at the start of World War 2. He also learned piano, harmonica and the guitar during this time. Brown was known for many titles, such as “Soul Brother Number 1”, “The Godfather of Soul”, “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business”. His sound was defined as funk music. His career lasted more than 50 years, he is also recognized for influencing the development of multiple music genres. He acted as a cultural leader and was recognized for writing songs calling for Black Pride. He used his music to break the boundaries of racial segregation. ‘Say It Loud—I'm Black and I'm Proud’ (1968) and ‘Don't Be a Drop-Out’ (1966) are examples of some of his most famous works.

3) Faith Ringgold

Faith Ringgold ( October 8, 1993 - April 13, 2024) was a mixed media sculptor, painter, performing artist, author, teacher and activist. She was best known for her narrative quilts. Ringgold was born in Harlem, New York. Her mother was a fashion designer and her father was a storyteller while working other jobs. From a young age, she was influenced by art through the people around her. Ringgold had chronic asthma, so she spent a lot of time with her mother using crayons and experimenting with art. Her mother also taught her how to sew fabric and create designs. When it comes to her artwork, Ringgold showed a lot of variety, she showed her creativity by painting quits, making sculptures and performance arts. She was a multimedia artist, she made sure to include topics of family, gender and race in her work. Even her story quilts captured the experiences of Black Americans and this became her signature art form. As an activist, Ringgold protested against racial and gender discrimination in the art world in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Her famous works include ‘Street Story Quilt’ (1985) and ‘Echoes of Harlem’ (1980). 

4) Jacob Lawrence

Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter and was known for his portrayal of African American historical subjects. He was considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century. His style was known as “dynamic cubism”, this was a form of art popular in Europe, with heavy inspiration from West African and Meso-American arts and culture. He was born in Atlantic city, New Jersey. Lawrence was introduced to arts when he was enrolled in an after-school arts class at a settlement house in Harlem, called Utopia Children’s Centre. Lawrence was encouraged to attend the Harlem Community Art Centre, where he continued his passion. He was also one of the finest trained artists in and by the African American community in Harlem. Lawrence developed his reputation for creating paintings that told a story to the audience and depicted aspects of his chosen subject. At the age of 21, his series of 41 paintings of the Haitian general Toussaint L’Ouverture, who led the revolution of slaves that eventually gained independence, was shown at the Baltimore museum of art. His work, Soldiers and Students (1962), represented the terror and anger many felt during the process of school integration. He was one of the first African American artists to be known worldwide, and some of his famous works are ‘The Builders’ (1947) and ‘The Library’ (1960). 

5) Kara Walker

Kara Elizabeth Walker (November 16, 1969) is an American contemporary artist, printmaker, filmmaker and silhouettist. She is well known for her black cut paper silhouettes. Walker has gained popularity for exploring race, gender and violence in her artwork. Walker was born in 1969, in Stockton, California. When she was 13, her family shifted to the city of Stone Mountain. She received her BFA (Bachelor of Fine Art) from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and her MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degree from Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. Walker uses her paper cut silhouettes to confront the painful history of slavery and racial discrimination, often through violent imagery. She specializes in using drawings, films, shadow puppetry and other forms of art to show her audience the tragic effect of slavery, as well as gender and race stereotypes. Walker was awarded the MacArthur fellowship in 1997 when she was 28. Notable works made by Kara Walker include ‘A Subtlety’ (2014) and ‘Darkytown Rebellion: 2001’ (2001). 

6) Henry Ossawa Tanner 

Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859 - May 27, 1937) was a popular American Artist who spent a lot of his time in France. He also became the first African American painter to get recognized internationally. Tanner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied at Avery College and Western Theological Seminary. At the age of 13, Tanner saw a landscape painter working at Fairmount Park. This was when he decided he wanted to be a painter. Tanner went to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1879. He was also the only Black student there. He moved to Paris, France in 1891 to study at a private arts school and gained popularity amongst the French citizens. Tanner’s art style consisted of painting landscapes, religious themes, as well as scenes of day to day life. He depicted scenes of everyday life for African Americans, though he mainly focused on depicting religious subjects. Tanner offered unique perspectives on the lives of African Americans as well as the significance of their culture. Artworks such as ‘The Banjo Lesson’ (1893) and ‘The Thankful Poor’ (1894) are some of his most well liked.

7) Whitney Houston 

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 - February 11, 2012) was a popular American singer, film producer and actress. One of her biggests accomplishments was being the only artists to chart seven back to back #1 Billboard Hot 100 Hits. She was born in Newark, New Jersey. Her family later shifted to a suburban area of East Orange. In February 1978, she sang her first solo when she joined her mother’s band. Around 1980, she started fashion modelling and also appeared on the cover of ‘Seventeen’ in 1981. This was a huge achievement since she was one of the first ever Black models to do so. Also in the 1980’s, she recorded demos for gospel songs. In 1982, she was featured as the lead vocalist by the band Material for the song ‘Memories’. Whitney Houston was referred to as ‘The Voice’ for her vocal talent and abilities. Houston helped break down the color barrier that existed for Black female artists at the time. She was also recognized for paving the way forward for other Black female artists. Not only that, she has been given many awards for her performances and even today is one of the highest selling music artists. Some of her famous songs include ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ (1987) and ‘My Love is Your Love’ (1999).

8) Gordon Parks 

Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 - March 7, 2006) specialized in photography, filmmaking and photojournalism. He was also a poet and an author. Through the 1940s and 1970s he was a prominent figure when it came to civil rights, issues of poverty and African Americans. He was born in Fort Scott, Kansas. Parks attended a segregated school where Black students were given poor treatment. When he turned 28, he was inspired by the photographs of migrant workers in a magazine, this led him to buy his first camera. Gordon Parks was a self taught photographer, and even when he was still learning people praised his work. After some work on a fashion assignment , he later shifted to Chicago 1940. He started a portrait business and later documented social conditions in the country. Parks worked on several Hollywood films, including a film dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., called ‘Martin’. He worked on volumes of poetry and also wrote about photography and filmmaking. The films he made highlighted the struggles of slaves and Black Americans. Gordon Parks saw the injustice around him and showed it in the forms of photos and films. He was twice named ‘Photographer of the Year and received many other awards. His famous works include ‘American Gothic’ (1942) and ‘Emerging Man’ (1952). 

9) Aaron Douglas 

Aaron Douglas (May 26, 1899 - February 2, 1979) was an American painter and illustrator. His painted murals and illustrations addressed social issues, primarily about racial discrimination. He was born in Topeka, Kansas and graduated from Topeka highschool in 1917. After school, he moved to the city of Detroit. There, Douglas worked several jobs. Along with working, he took free art classes at the Detroit Museum of Art. After gaining his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Degree in 1922, he taught visual arts at Lincoln High School in Kansas City, Missouri (1923 - 1925). Aaron Douglas played an important role in the African American modernist movement. He blended aesthetics with ancient African art and incorporated themes of African and African American history. A lot of his work was featured in exhibitions and museums. The murals Douglas made represented the rich culture of the African Americans. Even today, he is known as ‘The Father of African American Art’. Artworks made by Aaron Douglas, such as ‘Song of the Towers’ (1934) and ‘Into Bondage’ (1936) are famous even today.

10) Horace Pippin 

Horace Pippin (February 22, 1888 - July 6, 1946) was an American painter, known for painting a range of themes, ranging from landscapes to biblical subjects. The U.S. 's history of slavery and discrimination are represented in some of his popular Pippin’s works. He was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Though he grew up in Goshen, New York, when he got older he returned to West Chester. As a child, his passion for art started when he won a set of crayons and watercolors from an advertising contest. Later, he enlisted in World War 1. After World War I, Pippin moved to Bellville, New Jersey, with his brother and worked as a truck driver. In the 1920s, he took up painting. Pippin developed a unique art style, he often revised his compositions and explored themes like landscapes, still lifes and biblical subjects. Pippin's paintings were discovered when he entered two of his paintings in the Chester County Art Association's Annual Exhibition. Between 1938 and his death in 1946, Pippin's popularity increased greatly. He had one-man shows in prominent galleries in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Pippin made at least 140 paintings, all of various themes, including scenes from World War 1, portraits and even the lives of African Americans. His most famous paintings include ‘Mr. Prejudice’ (1943) and ‘Domino Players’ (1943). 

These artists have had a major impact on the way people see art pieces and their significance. They have challenged racist ideologies as well as oppressive actions towards African Americans throughout history. These artworks have also been a way for them to celebrate their culture and share it with others. There are many more Black artists out there who have not been appreciated enough for their work and contributions. As we continue to celebrate Black History Month, it is essential to honor and elevate the voices of these artists, ensuring that their contributions are recognized and appreciated for generations to come. 

Sources: Wikipedia, National Gallery of Art, Britannica, The Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum