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African American Visual Arts from the Colonial Period to the Present

African American Visual Art from the Colonial Period to the Present is intended to introduce the student researcher to sources of information about visual arts created by African Americans over the past three centuries.

What is African American Art?

 

Modernist painting of well-dressed Black couple dancing, with jazz instruments in the background

 

 African American Visual Art from the Colonial Period to the Present is intended to introduce the student researcher to sources of information about visual arts created by African Americans over the past three centuries.  These artists have worked in a wide range of media, from traditional folk arts like basketry and quilting to fine arts like painting and sculpture, to architecture and fashion design. 

 

 

 

 

 

(Jitterbugs(II). 1941. William H. Johnson. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation.)

Black Art and Contemporary Culture

Two portraits of Black women, one with an Afro and blue lipstick and the other with a blue hat with a sheer veil.

Credit...Mickalene Thomas/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Librado Romero/The New York Times

From The New York Times art critic:

"What made the 2010s the most thrilling of all the decades I’ve spent in the New York art world was the rising presence of black artists of every ilk, on every front: in museums, commercial galleries, art magazines, private collections and public commissions.
During this exhilarating sea change new talent emerged, older talent was newly appreciated and the history of American art was suddenly up for grabs — and in dire need of rewriting."

Roberta Smith. November 24, 2019.

 

Related LibGuides

For additional and related information consider viewing these libguides:

St. Louis Community College Libraries

Florissant Valley Campus Library
3400 Pershall Rd.
Ferguson, MO 63135-1408
Phone: 314-513-4514

Forest Park Campus Library
5600 Oakland
St. Louis, MO 63110-1316
Phone: 314-644-9210

Meramec Campus Library
11333 Big Bend Road
St. Louis, MO 63122-5720
Phone: 314-984-7797

Wildwood Campus Library
2645 Generations Drive
Wildwood, MO 63040-1168
Phone: 636-422-2000