John Tarrell Scott (June 30, 1940 – September 1, 2007) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, collagist, and MacArthur Fellow. The works of Scott meld abstraction with contemporary techniques infused with references to traditional African arts and Panafrican themes.

Early life

Scott was born on a farm in Gentilly, a historic section of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, Louisiana. When he was 7 years old, his family moved to the

Lower Ninth Ward The Lower Ninth Ward is a neighborhood in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. As the name implies, it is part of the 9th Ward of New Orleans. The Lower Ninth Ward is often thought of as the entire area within New Orleans downriver of the Indus ...

. His father was a chauffeur and restaurant cook. Scott said his art training began at home where he learned embroidery from his mother. Scott was raised

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Education and grants

After high school, he attended

Xavier University of Louisiana Xavier University of Louisiana (also known as XULA) is a private, historically black, Catholic university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only Catholic HBCU and, upon the canonization of Katharine Drexel in 2000, became the first Cathol ...

in New Orleans and received a Bachelor of Arts degree. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University in

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County. At the 2020 Census the population was 47,741. Located directly east of the state capital ...

in 1965 where he studied under painter

Charles Pollock Charles Cecil Pollock (December 25, 1902, in Denver, Colorado - May 8, 1988, in Paris) was an American abstract painter and the eldest brother of artist Jackson Pollock. Biography Pollock was born on December 25, 1902, in Denver, Colorado. He ...

. Afterwards, he returned to Xavier where he taught for 40 years. In 1983, Scott received a grant to study under the internationally renown sculptor

George Rickey George Warren Rickey (June 6, 1907 – July 17, 2002) was an American kinetic sculptor. Early life and education Rickey was born on June 6, 1907, in South Bend, Indiana. When Rickey was still a child, his father, an executive with Singer S ...

. In 1995, Scott received an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Michigan State University and a Doctor of Humanities from

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

in New Orleans in 1997. In 1992, he was awarded the exclusive MacArthur Grant (also known as the "Genius Grant") from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He used the money to build a larger studio.

Works and commissions

Stony Brook Dance at Ruggles station, July 2021

Scott is best known for creating large

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...

prints and for his African-Caribbean-New Orleans-inspired kinetic sculptures. In 2005, he was the subject of a major retrospective exhibit at the

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans. It is situated within City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Esplanade Avenue, and near the terminus of the ...

entitled "Circle Dance: The Art of John T. Scott." Scott was also commissioned to create several pieces that are placed throughout the City of New Orleans. These public works in New Orleans include ''Spirit Gates'' at the New Orleans Museum of Art and ''Spirit House'' at

DeSaix Circle Desaix may refer to: *Louis Desaix Louis Charles Antoine Desaix () (17 August 176814 June 1800) was a French general and military leader during the French Revolutionary Wars. According to the usage of the time, he took the name ''Louis Charles An ...

(at St. Bernard and

Gentilly Boulevard Gentilly may refer to: France * Gentilly, Val-de-Marne Gentilly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is the closest commune to Paris, located from the city center. Name The name Gentilly was recorded for the first t ...

s) in the Seventh Ward and ''River Spirit'' at

Woldenberg Park Woldenberg Park is a park in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was created in the late 1980s on land that had been occupied by old wharves and warehouses along the Mississippi Riverfront, in the upper French Quarter, first opening as a park in October 19 ...

along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

near the

Port of New Orleans The Port of New Orleans is an embarkation port for cruise passengers. It is also Louisiana’s only international container port. The port generates $100 million in revenue annually through its four lines of business – cargo (46%), rail (31%) ...

. Scott had been quoted as saying that he tried to capture the musicality of New Orleans in the colors and rhythms of his sculptures.

Themes

Scott's work frequently displayed themes related to African-American life, particularly the rich Afro-Caribbean culture and musical heritage of New Orleans. One of the best examples of this style is his sculpture called ''Ocean Song" located in

Woldenberg Park (New Orleans) Woldenberg Park is a park in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was created in the late 1980s on land that had been occupied by old wharves and warehouses along the Mississippi Riverfront, in the upper French Quarter, first opening as a park in October 1 ...

. Scott said the rings at the top of the sculpture represented circle dances performed by slaves who frequented

Congo Square Congo Square (french: Place Congo) is an open space, now within Louis Armstrong Park, which is located in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, just across Rampart Street north of the French Quarter. The square is famous for its ...

. He is also known for his use of divergent materials in constructing his art, such as cast bronze, thin brass strips of wire and bent hardwood to create provocative sculptures.

Collections

John T. Scott’s works are exhibited in several permanent collections including: * The Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans) * The

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

Museum of Art in the Shaw Center for the Arts (

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties ...

) * The Amistad Research Center Collection at

(New Orleans) * The Blanche and Norman C. Francis Collection at

(New Orleans) * Loyola University (New Orleans) * The Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, Texas) * The Scripps College ( Claremont, California) * The Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington D.C

* Fisk University (

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

) *

Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities is a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering the education of residents of the state of Louisiana. In its mission, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities pledges to provide access to and prom ...

(New Orleans) *

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of ...

(Baltimore, MD)

Death

Scott fled New Orleans just before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005 and settled in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, Texas. He died at Methodist Hospital in Houston after receiving two double-lung transplants and his long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis. An exhibition called "Beyond Black" featuring

Ed Clark Edward E. Clark (born May 4, 1930) is an American lawyer and politician who ran for governor of California in 1978, and for president of the United States as the nominee of the Libertarian Party in the 1980 presidential election. Clark is an h ...

, Eugene J. Martin and John T. Scott opened at the LSU Museum of Art, Shaw Center for the Arts, Baton Rouge, LA, on January 28 – May 8, 2011. The McKenna Museum of African-American Art in New Orleans hosted a tribute exhibition in fall 2014 as a Prospect.3+ satellite exhibition.

References

External links

Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities
* ttp://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/09/renowned_no_artist_john_t_scot.html Renowned N.O. artist John T. Scott dead at 67br>John T. Scott by John R. Kemp
* ttp://www.nola.com/arts/index.ssf/2009/11/view_a_video_of_john_t_scotts.html John T. Scott's recovered art: See video By Doug MacCash,The Times-Picayunebr>Press of John T. Scott at the Arthur Roger Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, John T. Xavier University of Louisiana faculty 1940 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters Artists from Louisiana MacArthur Fellows African-American sculptors African-American Catholics 20th-century African-American painters 21st-century African-American artists 20th-century American male artists