African American Artists Educational Art History Posters
for the classroom and home schoolers in the study of aruy87t and Black History.

Charles Alston
Edward Bannister
Romare Bearden
Allan Rohan Crite
Aaron Douglas
Minnie Evans

Palmer Hayden
Malvin G. Johnson
William H. Johnson
Lois Mailou Jones
Jacob Lawrence

Charles Alston, Family No. 1, Art Print

Charles Alston
b. 11-28-1907; Charlotte, NC
d. 4-27-1977 (cancer)

Abstract Expressionist artist Charles Alston illustrated album covers for jazz musician Duke Ellington, book covers for poet Langston Hughes and painted murals as part of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project at the Harlem Hospital Center.

Alston was also the first African American instructor at the Art Students League of New York (1950–1971) and the Museum of Modern Art (1956) and he became a full professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) in 1973.

FYI ~ Charles Alston and Romare Bearden were cousins by marriage.

African American Artists - Edward Bannister, Approaching Storm, Art Print

Edward Mitchell Bannister
b. 1828; New Brunswick, Canada
d. 1-9-1901; Providence, RI

Edward Bannister, who admired Millet and the Barbizon School, did mostly pastoral scenes, seascapes, and daily life (genre) works along with portraits and biblical/mythological paintings. Bannister, who is considered an autodidact, or one who self-directed his learning, drew much of his iconography from Spenser, Virgil, Ruskin and Tennyson.

• Edward Mitchell Bannister
• weather posters

She-Ba, Art Print

Romare Bearden
b. 9-2-1911; Charlotte, NC
d. 3-12-1988; NY (bone cancer)

Artist Romare Bearden, influenced by Cubism and Harlem’s jazz scene, is considered one of the most prominent African-American artists of 20th century. Bearden was also a writer, songwriter, book illustrator, political cartoonist, theater designer, humanitarian and played baseball in the Negro Leagues.

• Allan Rohan Crite: Artist-Reporter of the African American Community

Allan Rohan Crite: School's Out, Poster

Allan Rohan Crite
b. 3-20-1910; North Plainfield, New Jersey
d. 9-6-2007; Boston

Allan Crite was encouraged to draw as a child. His talent and desire created works of art that “tell the story of man through the black figure.”

• Allan Rohan Crite: Artist-Reporter of the African American Community

Minnie Evans (nee Kelley)
b. 1890; Pender Co., NC
d. 1987; Wilmington, NC

Minnie Evans, an African American folk artist, worked in colored pencils to depict scenes from the her private dream world.

• Painting Dreams: Minnie Evans, Visionary Artists

Palmer Hayden
née Peyton Cole Hedgeman
b. 1-15-1890; Virginia (?)
d. 2-18-1973

Hayden, who was both self-taught and studied at Cooper Union and in Paris, depicted the lives of rural and urban African-Americans.

FYI - Hayden was in the army during WWI - it was his commanding sergeant mispronouncing his birth name that resulted in his ‘artist name’.

• Harlem Renaissance: Art of Black America
plates of Hayden's work available in book

Malvin Gray Johnson, Historic Print

Malvin Gray Johnson
b. 1-28-1896; Greensboro, NC
d. 1934;NY

Malvin Gray Johnson was a member of the Harlem Renaissance.

William H. Johnson - Going to Church Poster • William H. Johnson: Truth Be Told

William Henry Johnson
b. 3-18-1901; Florence, SC
d. 1970; Central Islip State Hospital on Long Island, NY

William H. Johnson, whose work is becoming recognized years after his death, ranged from woodcuts inspired by German Expressionism to paintings he called a primitive style.

Johnson tragedically never reached his full potential, being hospitalized from 1956 to his death, from the effects of advanced syphilis. He donated all his work to the National Museum of American Art, now the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

African American Artists - Jacob Lawrence - The Migration Series

Jacob Lawrence
b. 9-17-1917; Atlantic City, NJ
d. 6-9-2000; Seattle, WA

Jacob Lawrence quote:
• “When the subject is strong, simplicity is the only way to treat it.”

• more Jacob Lawrence posters

The Eclipse, poster not available

Alma Woodsey Thomas
b. 9-22-1891; Columbus, Georgia
d. 2-24-1978; Washington, DC

Artist Alma Woodsey Thomas was the first graduate of Howard University’s newly organized art department (1924). In 1972 she became the first African American woman to hold a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

She was also a noted teacher, starting a community arts program that encouraged student appreciation of fine art.

Alma Woodsey Thomas quote ~
• “Creative art is for all time and is therefore independent of time. It is of all ages, of every land, and if by this we mean the creative spirit in man which produces a picture or a statue is common to the whole civilized world, independent of age, race and nationality; the statement may stand unchallenged.”

Lois Mailou Jones - Les Fetiches Wall Poster

Lois Mailou Jones
b. 11-3-1905; Boston, MA
d. 6-9-1998

Painter Lois Mailou Jones was a noted teacher, professor and mentor. Her oil painting Les Fetiches, done in Paris during her first sabbatical from Howard University, combines traditional African forms with Western techniques and materials, and is one of her best known works.

• more Notable Women Artists Posters
• more masks posters

Augusta Savage, Stars of the Harlem Renaissance, Poster

Augusta Savage, née Fells
b. 2-29-1892; Green Cove Springs, FL
d. 3-26-1962; NY

While Augusta Savage is mostly known as a sculptor, she was also a wonderful art teacher and a tirelss supporter of the rights of all artists, expecially black artist. But she was lucky that she was able to pursue her art at all. She grew up in Florida with thirteen brothers and sisters. Her father was a strict Methodist minister who believed that the Bible forbade creating “graven images.” He punished Augusta whevever he found any of the small clay figurines she made as a child. But she did not let that get in her way. As she got older, she won awards for her work – and she also won her father's approval. She headed north to Harlem in 1921.

Savage's talent won her scholarships and friends among Harlem's elite. She was hired to sculpt the likenesses of some of the major black political figures of the time, including W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. Then, in 1923, she applied for a special summer arts program in France. When the selection committee found out Savage was black, however, her application was rejected. The controversy became front-page news in New York, as many scholars and community leaders rallied to her cause. But it wasn't until six years later that she was finally able to study in France.

In Her Hands: The Story of Sculptor Augusta Savage

In her later years, Savage spent more of her time teaching than sculpting. She founded a school that became the Harlem Community Art Center, the largest art center in the United States. One of her students, Jacob Lawrence, went on to become perhaps the most successful African American painter of all time. The art world lost a major figure when Augusta Savage died in 1962.

• more Stars of the Harlem Renaissance posters
• more women artists posters

Betye Saar

Betye Saar
b. 7-30-1926; Los Angeles, CA

Artist Betye Saar is best known for her work in the field of assemblage and collage. Saar collected stereotyped African-American images from advertising and folk culture, combining them into political and protest statements.

Aaron Douglas: Art, Race and The Harlem Renaissance

Aaron Douglas
b. 5-26-1899; Topeka, KS
d. 2-22-1979

Aaron Douglas, inspired by the great black American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner, became interested in art at an early age. His parents encouraged him by hanging his painting all over the house. Douglas graduated from the Universtiy of Nebraska in Lincoln in 1922 with a degree in fine arts. He was teaching art at Lincoln High School in Topeka when his friends in New York convinced him that New York was the place for a young black artist to be. He moved there in 1926, and he became one of the top artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

Aaron Douglas took many different influences, from ancient Egyptian art and African sculpture to European cubism, and mixed them all thogether to create his own style. He is best known today for his murals, or large painting on walls. Douglas painted his murals in hotels, clubs, and libraries from Harlem to Chicago and Nashville. He was also a popular magazine and book ilustrator, He designed the covers for many of the most important books of the Harlem Renaissance and created bold work for magazines such as Vanity Fair; Fire!; and The Crisis, the magazine of the NAACP.

In 1941, Aaron Douglas founded the art department at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. At Fisk, he helped countless young artists learn their craft. He retired from active teaching in 1966 and died in 1979. (text from out of print poster).

Banjo Lesson - Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner
b. 6-21-1859; Pittsburgh, PA
d. 5-25-1937; Paris, France

Henry Ossawa Tanner was the first African American artist to be internationally acclaimed.

The Banjo Lesson, one of Tanner's early painting, bring attention to the everyday life of African Americans though he is also well know or his religious subjects.

James VanDerZee

James VanDerZee
b. 6-19-1886; Lenox, MA
d. 6-1983, Washington, DC

James Van Der Zee, a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance, started taking pictures as a hobby. His photographic career exceeded his musical career - his collection of 75,000 photographs from over six decades document of African-American life.

James VanDerZee quote ~
• “Happiness is perfume, you can't pour it on somebody else without getting a few drops on yourself.”

• The James VanDerZee Studio