This list of African-American visual artists is a list that includes dates of birth and death of historically recognized African-American fine artists known for the creation of artworks that are primarily visual in nature, including traditional media such as painting, sculpture, photography, and

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

, as well as more recent genres, including installation art, performance art, body art, conceptual art, video art, and digital art. The entries are in alphabetical order by surname.

Artists

Edward Mitchell Bannister's painting 'Driving Home the Cows'

A–B

Panteha Abareshi Panteha Abareshi ( fa, پانته‌آ ابارشی; born 1999) is a Canadian-born American multidisciplinary artist and curator, primarily working within installation art, video art, and performance art. They are of Jamaican and Iranian descent, ...

(born 1999), multidisciplinary artist *

Nina Chanel Abney Nina Chanel Abney is an American artist, based in New York. She was born in Harvey, Illinois. She is an African American contemporary artist and painter who explores race, gender, pop culture, homophobia, and politics in her work. Personal life ...

(born 1982), painter *

Blanch Ackers Blanch Ackers (November 28, 1914 – May 24, 2003) was an African-American folk artist, who was born in Arkansas but spent most of her life in Michigan. She began drawing and painting while in her seventies, and her work has been acquired by th ...

(1914–2003), painter * Terry Adkins (1953–2014), artist *

Mequitta Ahuja Mequitta Ahuja (born 1976) is a Contemporary art, contemporary American Feminism, feminist Painting, painter of African Americans, African American and South Asian descent who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Ahuja creates works of self-portraiture tha ...

(born 1976), painter, installation artist *

Larry D. Alexander Larry Dell Alexander (born May 30, 1953) is an American artist, Christian author and Catechist from Dermott, Arkansas in Chicot County. Alexander is best known for his creations of elaborate colorful, and black & white "pen and ink" drawings in ...

(born 1953), painter *

Laylah Ali Laylah Ali (born 1968Baker, Alex (2007) ''Laylah Ali: Typology''. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. p. 47. ) is a contemporary visual artist known for paintings in which ambiguous race relations are depicted with a graphic clarity and cartoo ...

(born 1968), painter * Jules T. Allen (born 1947), photographer *

Tina Allen Tina Allen (December 9, 1949 – September 9, 2008) was an American sculptor known for her monuments to prominent African Americans, including Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and George Washington Carver. Early life and education Allen was ...

(1949–2008), sculptor * Steve R. Allen (born 1954), painter * Charles Alston (1907–1977), painter *

Amalia Amaki Amalia K. Amaki (born Lynda Faye Peek, July 8, 1949) is an African-American artist, art history, art historian, educator, film critic and curator who recently resided in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she was Professor of Modern and Contemporary Ar ...

(born 1959), artist * Emma Amos (1938–2020), painter * Benny Andrews (1930–2006), painter *

Edgar Arceneaux Edgar Arceneaux (born 1972, in Los Angeles) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He is the co-founder of the Watts House Project, a non-profit neighborhood redevelopment organization in Watts. Career Arceneau ...

(born 1972), drawing artist *

Nellie Ashford Nellie Ashford (born 1943) is a self-taught folk artist from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Her mixed-media folk art depicts the experiences of Charlotte’s African-American community from the Jim Crow era to contemporary day in the U.S. ...

(born c. 1943), folk artist * James Atkins (b. 1941), painter *

Roland Ayers Roland Ayers (1932–2014) was an African American watercolorist and printmaker. He is better known for his intricate drawings – black-ink figures of humans and nature intertwined in a dream-like state against a neutral backdrop. A poet and love ...

(1932–2014), printmaker *

Radcliffe Bailey Radcliffe Bailey (born 1968) is a contemporary American artist noted for mixed-media, paint, and sculpture works that explore African-American history. He is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. Early life and education Radcliffe Bailey was born ...

(born 1968) collage, sculpture * Kyle Baker (born 1965), cartoonist * Matt Baker (1921–1959), comic book artist *

James Presley Ball James Presley Ball, Sr. (1825 – May 4, 1904) was a prominent African-American photographer, abolitionist, and businessman. Biography Ball was born in Frederick County, Virginia, to William and Susan Ball in 1825. He learned daguerreotype ...

(1825–1904), photographer *

Alvin Baltrop Alvin Baltrop (December 11, 1948 – February 1, 2004) was an American photographer. Baltrop's work focused on the dilapidated Hudson River piers and gay men during the 1970s and 1980s prior to the AIDS crisis. Early life Baltrop was born i ...

(1948–2004), photographer *

Henry Bannarn Henry Wilmer "Mike" Bannarn (July 17, 1910 – September 20, 1965) was an African-American artist, best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance period. He is known for his work in sculpture and as a character artist in the various paint m ...

(1910–1965), painter *

Edward Mitchell Bannister Edward Mitchell Bannister (November 2, 1828January 9, 1901) was an oil painter of the American Barbizon school. Born in Canada, he spent his adult life in New England in the United States. There, along with his wife Christiana Carteaux Bannist ...

(1828–1901), painter * Ernie Barnes (1938–2009), neo-Mannerist artist * Richmond Barthé (1901–1989), sculptor *

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved fame as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, alongside Al ...

(1960–1988), painter *

C. M. Battey Cornelius Marion Battey (August 26, 1873 – March 14, 1927) was an American photographer who shot photographic portraits of black Americans in a pictorialist style. His photograph of black leaders appeared on the cover of the NAACP's magazine ''T ...

(1873–1927), photographer * Romare Bearden (1911–1988), painter *

Arthello Beck Arthello Beck Jr. (July 17, 1941 – November 5, 2004) was an American artist. He often painted scenes of places he had visited, using a variety of mediums, including oils, watercolors, and charcoal. Beck was born in Dallas, Texas, and attende ...

(1941–2004), painter *

Arthur P. Bedou Arthur P. Bedou (July 6, 1882 – July 2, 1966) was an African-American photographer based in New Orleans. Bedou was, for a time, the personal photographer of Booker T. Washington, and documented the last decade of Washington's life. He also docum ...

(1882–1966), photographer * Darrin Bell (born 1975), cartoonist *

Mary A. Bell Mary A. Bell (1873–1941) was an African-American artist and illustrator. She produced over 150 known works featuring mostly women of all classes and races in their daily lives. She was little known during her life, but became more prominent af ...

(1873–1941) * Dawoud Bey (born 1953), photographer *

Sharif Bey Sharif Bey (born 1974, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.) is an African American artist, ceramicist and professor. He produces both functional pottery and ceramic and mixed- media sculpture, using a variety of forms and textures. His body of work r ...

(born 1974), ceramist *

John T. Biggers John Thomas Biggers (April 13, 1924 – January 25, 2001) was an African-American muralist who came to prominence after the Harlem Renaissance and toward the end of World War II. Biggers created works critical of racial and economic injustice. He ...

(1924–2001), muralist *

Sanford Biggers Sanford Biggers (born 1970 in Los Angeles) is a Harlem-based interdisciplinary artist who works in film/video, installation, sculpture, music, and performance.

(born 1970), interdisciplinary * Gene Bilbrew (1923–1974), cartoonist and fetish artist * Camille Billops (1933–2019), filmmaker, sculptor, painter, printmaker *

McArthur Binion McArthur Binion (born 1946) is an American artist based in Chicago, Illinois. Binion was born in Macon, Mississippi. He holds a BFA from Wayne State University (1971) in Detroit, Michigan and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield ...

(born 1946), painter * Robert Blackburn (1920–2003) master printmaker, lithographer, and educator. *

Thomas Blackshear Thomas Richman Blackshear II (born November 14, 1955) is an African-American artist, many of whose paintings adorn Evangelical churches. He is also a sculptor and a designer of ornaments, often of African American themes. Early life Blackshea ...

(born 1955) * Betty Blayton (1937–2016), painter, printmaker * Chakaia Booker (born 1953), sculptor *

Edythe Boone Edythe (Edy) Boone (born 1938), is an African-American artist and activist. She has worked as a muralist, counselor, and art teacher throughout her life in an under-served area in California. She is the aunt of Eric Garner, an African-American m ...

(born 1938), muralist *

Charles Boyce Charles Boyce (born 1949 in Olive Branch, Mississippi), is an American cartoonist known for his syndicated comic panel ''Compu-toon''. Boyce is also known for creating the KeyPad Kid, a cartoon character used in public affairs awareness programs ...

(born 1949), cartoonist *

Tina Williams Brewer Tina Williams Brewer is an American quilting artist, recognized for story quilts about African Americans, African American history. Brewer was born in Huntington, West Virginia. She graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design. Brewer sta ...

, fiber artist *

Michael Bramwell Michael Bramwell is an American visual artist based in North Carolina. He graduated from Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama and received a Master of Arts from Columbia University, an M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel H ...

(born 1953), conceptual artist * James Brantley (b. 1945), painter * Mark Bradford (born 1961) * Elenora "Rukiya" Brown, doll creator * Elmer Brown (1909–1971) *

Frank J. Brown Frank J. Brown (1956 – April 9, 2020) was an African-American visual artist active in Minnesota. His sculptures have entered several public collections. Early life and education Brown was raised in Carbondale, Illinois, the youngest of ten c ...

(1956–2020), sculptor * Frederick J. Brown (1945–2012), painter *

Larry Poncho Brown Larry "Poncho" Brown (born December 19, 1962) is an American artist, who began as a sign painter professionally, and has worked in both painting and sculpture. He has also worked as a curator. His work has been shown in exhibitions, television ser ...

(born 1962) *

Manuelita Brown Manuelita Brown is an American sculptor from San Diego, California. Biography Early life and education Brown has beginning in 1961, through the 1990s; Fine Art - Sculpture with Bruno Lucchesi, Scottsdale Artists, Nigel Konstam, Verrocchio Art C ...

, sculptor * Robert Brown (c. 1936 – 2007), cartoonist * Beverly Buchanan (1940–2015), painter, sculptor *

Selma Burke Selma Hortense Burke (December 31, 1900 – August 29, 1995) was an American sculptor and a member of the Harlem Renaissance movement. Burke is best known for a bas relief portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt which may have been the model ...

(1900–1995), sculptor * Calvin Burnett (1921–2007), book illustrator *

Pauline Powell Burns Pauline Powell Burns (1872–1912) was an American painter and pianist. She was the first African-American artist to exhibit paintings in California in 1890. Powell was also a pianist who gave recitals around the San Francisco Bay Area. Family hi ...

(1872–1912), painter * John Bush (?–1754), powder horn carver * Bisa Butler (born 1973), quilter * Robert Butler (1943–2014), painter

C–D

Frank Calloway Frank Calloway (July 2, 1915 – September 1, 2014) was an American self-taught artist. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1952, he was committed to Bryce Hospital and the Alabama Department of Mental Health in Tuscaloosa. He lived in the Alice M. K ...

(1915–2014) *

E. Simms Campbell Elmer Simms Campbell (January 2, 1906 – January 27, 1971) was an American commercial artist best known as the cartoonist who signed his work, E. Simms Campbell. The first African-American cartoonist published in nationally distributed, slick ...

(1906–1971), cartoonist *

Allen 'Big Al' Carter Allen Dester Carter (June 29, 1947 – December 18, 2008), known as 'Big Al' Carter, was an Alexandria, Virginia artist and public school art teacher in Washington, D.C. When profiled by ''The Washington Post Magazine'' in May 2006, Carter estim ...

(1947–2008) * Fred Carter (born 1938), cartoonist * Bernie Casey (1939–2017), painter * Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012), sculptor and printmaker *

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

(born 1959), performance artist * Michael Ray Charles (born 1967), painter * Barbara Chase-Riboud (born 1936), sculptor * Jamour Chames (born 1989), painter *

Don Hogan Charles Don Hogan Charles (September 9, 1938 – December 15, 2017) was an American photographer. He was the first African-American staff photographer hired by ''The New York Times''. In his four decades there, Charles photographed notable subjects inclu ...

(1938–2017), photographer * Caitlin Cherry (born 1987), painter and sculptor *

Claude Clark Claude Clark (November 11, 1915 – April 21, 2001) was an American painter, printmaker and art educator. Clark's subject matter was the diaspora of African American culture, including dance scenes, street urchins, marine life, landscapes, an ...

(1915–2001), painter and printmaker * Edward Clark (1926–2019), painter *

Sonya Clark Sonya Clark (born 1967, Washington, D.C.) is an American artist of Afro-Caribbean heritage. Clark is a fiber artist known for using a variety of materials including human hair and combs to address race, culture, class, and history. Her beaded hea ...

(born 1967), textile and multimedia artist *

Willie Cole Willie Cole (born 1955 in Somerville, New Jersey) is a contemporary American sculptor, printer, and conceptual and visual artist. His work uses contexts of postmodern eclecticism, and combines references and appropriation from African and Afr ...

(born 1955), painter * Robert Colescott (1925–2009), painter *

Eldzier Cortor Eldzier Cortor (January 10, 1916 – November 26, 2015) was an African-American artist and printmaker. His work typically features elongated nude figures in intimate settings, influenced by both traditional African art and European surrealism ...

(1916–2015), artist and printmaker *

Pamela Council Pamela Council (born 1986) is an American multidisciplinary artist and educator. They work to produce sculpture, textiles, print-based media and performance art. Their work addresses Black American culture, and often features humor. Early life ...

(born 1986), multidisciplinary artist, sculptor *

Ernest Crichlow Ernest Crichlow (June 19, 1914 – November 10, 2005) was an American social realist artist. Early life and career Crichlow was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1914 to Barbadian immigrants. He studied art at the School of Commercial Illustrating ...

(1914–2005), social realist artist * Allan Crite (1910–2007), painter *

Njideka Akunyili Crosby Njideka Akunyili Crosby (born 1983) is a Nigerian-born visual artist working in Los Angeles, California. Through her art Akunyili Crosby "negotiates the cultural terrain between her adopted home in America and her native Nigeria, creating collag ...

(born 1983), painter * Emilio Cruz (1938–2004), painter *

Frank E. Cummings III Frank E. Cummings III (born 1938) is an artist and professor of fine arts at California State University, Fullerton. Cummings makes wood vessels and furniture using precious materials, inspired by spiritual meanings of objects in Africa. Backgrou ...

(born 1938), woodworker *

Michael Cummings Arthur Stuart Michael Cummings OBE (born Leeds, Yorkshire, 1 June 1919, died London, 9 October 1997) was a British newspaper cartoonist. Gifford, Dennis,Obituary: Michael Cummings, ''The Independent''. 11 October 1997. Retrieved 28 February 2020 ...

(born 1945), textile artist *

Ulysses Davis Ulysses Davis (November 5, 1872 – October 1, 1924), was an American film director. He directed 86 films between 1911 in film, 1911 and 1916 in film, 1916, some at Champion Film Company. He is probably best remembered today for having direc ...

(1913–1990), sculptor *

Bing Davis Willis "Bing" Davis (born June 30, 1937) is a contemporary artist and an educator. Life Willis "Bing" Davis is an African American Artist and teacher, born in Greer, South Carolina, whose artwork portrays his feelings for life and appreciation f ...

(born 1937), potter and graphic artist *

Charles C. Dawson Charles C. Dawson (June 12, 1889 – 1981) was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, and graphic designer. Life and education Dawson was born in Georgia in 1889. He studied art at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama from 1905 to 1907, t ...

(1889–1981) illustrator, painter, and printmaker *

Roy DeCarava Roy Rudolph DeCarava (December 9, 1919 – October 27, 2009) was an American artist. DeCarava received early critical acclaim for his photography, initially engaging and imaging the lives of African Americans and jazz musicians in the communi ...

(1919–2009), photographer *

Beauford Delaney Beauford Delaney (December 30, 1901 – March 26, 1979) was an American modernist painter. He is remembered for his work with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as his later works in abstract expressionism following his move ...

(1901–1979), painter * Joseph Delaney (1904–1991) *

Xiomara De Oliver Xiomara De Oliver (born 1967) is a Canadian-born Black artist. She is known for her paintings, which explore the concerns of Black women. She is based in Marina del Rey, California. Biography Xiomara De Oliver was born in 1967 in Grand Forks, B ...

(born 1967), Canadian-born American painter. *

Woody De Othello Woody De Othello (born 1991) is an American ceramicist and painter. He lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Early life and education Woody De Othello was born in 1991 in Miami, Florida. He is of Haitian descent. Othello ...

(born 1991), ceramicist, painter * Louis Delsarte (1944–2020), artist * Joseph Clinton Devillis (1878–1912), painter *

Thornton Dial Thornton Dial (10 September 1928 – 25 January 2016) was a pioneering American artist who came to prominence in the late 1980s. Dial's body of work exhibits formal variety through expressive, densely composed assemblages of found materials, oft ...

(1928–2016) * Terry Dixon (born 1969), painter and multimedia artist * Jeff Donaldson (1932–2004), painter and critic * Aaron Douglas (1899–1979), painter * Emory Douglas (born 1943), Black Panther artist *

John E. Dowell Jr. John Edward Dowell Jr. (born March 25, 1941, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American printmaker, etcher, lithographer, painter, and professor of printmaking at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Life and education Dowell was b ...

(born 1941), printmaker, etcher, lithographer, and painter * David Driskell (1931–2020), artist and scholar *

Robert Seldon Duncanson Robert Seldon Duncanson (1821 – December 21, 1872) was a 19th-century American landscapist of European and African ancestry. Inspired by famous American landscape artists like Thomas Cole, Duncanson created renowned landscape paintings and is ...

(1821–1872), Hudson River School * Edward Dwight (born 1933) sculptor, painter, author

E–H

* Walter Edmonds (1938– 2011), muralist *

William Edmondson William Edmondson (c. 1874–1951) was the first African-American folk art sculptor to be given a one-person show exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (1937). Biography Edmondson was born sometime in December 1874 on the Compt ...

(1874–1951), folk art sculptor *

Allan L. Edmunds Allan L. Edmunds (born 1949, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American artist. Biography Edmunds attended the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, receiving a master's degree in Fine Art. In 1972 Edmunds founded the Brandywine Graphic Workshop ...

(born 1949), printmaker *

Mel Edwards Melvin "Mel" Edwards (born May 4, 1937) Samella S. Lewis, ''African American Art and Artists'', University of California Press, 2003, p. 210. Lisa S. Weitzman"Edwards, Melvin 1937–" encyclopedia.com. is an American contemporary artist, teacher ...

(born 1937), sculptor *

Janiva Ellis Janiva Ellis (born 1987) is an American painter based in Brooklyn, NY and Los Angeles, CA. Ellis creates figurative paintings that explore the African-American female experience, while incorporating her journey of self-identity within the Black ...

(born 1987), painter *

Walter Ellison Walter Ellison (1899–1977) was an African American artist, born in the state of Georgia. Although the American Civil War had ended in 1865, African Americans still faced many difficulties at the turn of the century, so many of them left the ...

(1899–1977), painter *

Minnie Evans Minnie Eva Evans (December 12, 1892 – December 16, 1987) was an African American artist who worked in the United States from the 1940s to the 1980s. Evans used different types of media in her work such as oils and graphite, but started with us ...

(1892–1987), folk artist *

Lola Flash Lola Flash (born 1959) is an American photographer whose work has often focused on social, LGBT and feminist issues. An active participant in ACT UP during the time of the AIDS epidemic in New York City, Flash was notably featured in the 1989 "Ki ...

(born 1959), photographer *

LaToya Ruby Frazier LaToya Ruby Frazier (born 1982) is an American artist and professor of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. From Braddock, Pennsylvania, Frazier began photographing her family and hometown at the age of 16, revising the socia ...

(born 1982), photographer * Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877–1968), artist * Ellen Gallagher (born 1965) * Reginald Gammon (1921-2005), painter, printmaker, activist *

Melvino Garretti Melvino Garretti (born 1946) is an American multidisciplinary artist who works in ceramics, painting, and performance. His visual works are known for their recognizable abstract motif, which often includes a variety of colorful emblematic shape ...

(born 1946) * Theaster Gates (born 1973), sculptor, ceramicist, and performance artist * Reginald K (Kevin) Gee (born 1964), painter * Herbert Gentry (1919–2003), painter * Wilda Gerideau-Squires (born 1946), photographer *

Robert A. Gilbert Robert Alexander Gilbert (Born c. 1870, Natural Bridge, Virginia; died January 7, 1942, Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an African-American nature photographer. Gilbert was a helper and field assistant to ornithologist William Brewster from 1896 o ...

(c. 1870 – 1942), nature photographer *

Leah Gilliam L. Franklin Gilliam is an American filmmaker and media artist. Her work explores issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation. Gilliam was the director of projects and community catalyst at gamelab's Institute of Play and a visiting faculty mem ...

(born 1967), media artist and filmmaker * Sam Gilliam (1933–2022), painter * Russell T. Gordon (1936–2013), printmaker * Billy Graham (1935–1999), comic book artist *

Lonnie Graham Lonnie Graham is a fine art photographer, professor, installation artist, and cultural activist investigating the methods by which the arts can be used to achieve tangible meaning in peoples lives. He is Professor of Visual Art at Pennsylvania Sta ...

, photographer and installation artist *

Deborah Grant Deborah Grant (born Deborah Jane Snelling; 22 February 1947) is an English actress. Between 1981 and 1991, she played Deborah Bergerac in the BBC television detective series '' Bergerac''. Since 2007, she has appeared in the sitcom ''Not Going ...

(born 1968), painter * Todd Gray (born 1954), photographer, installation and performance artist *

Leamon Green Leamon Green (born 1959) is an Americans, American visual artist who works in different types of media. Biography Green was born in 1959 in the town of Anniston, Alabama. His education includes a Master of Fine Arts at Temple University, Philade ...

(born 1959) * Renee Green (born 1959), installation artist *

Mario Gully Mario Gully – also known professionally as O.M.G. – is an American comic book artist, who created the comic book series ''Ant''. Ant was first picked up by Arcana Studios and later moved to Image Comics where it would deal with more adult th ...

, comic book artist *

Tyree Guyton Tyree Guyton (born August 24, 1955) is an artist from Detroit, Michigan. He is married to Jenenne Whitfield and continues to live in Detroit. Before becoming an artist, Guyton worked as a firefighter and an autoworker and served in the U.S. Army ...

(born 1955) *

Ed Hamilton Edward Norton Hamilton, Jr. (born February 14, 1947) is an American sculptor living in Louisville, Kentucky, who specializes in public art. His most famous work is ''The Spirit of Freedom'', a memorial to black American Civil War, Civil War vetera ...

(born 1947), sculptor *

Patrick Earl Hammie Patrick Earl Hammie (born November 23, 1981) is an American visual artist and educator best known for his large-scale portrait and nude paintings of allegorical subjects. Hammie's paintings emphasize movement, color, and sensuality, drawing fro ...

(born 1981), painter * David Hammons (born 1943), artist *

Trenton Doyle Hancock Trenton Doyle Hancock (born 1974) is an American artist working with Printmaking, prints, drawings, and collaged-felt paintings. Through his work, Hancock mainly aims to tell the story of the Mounds, mystical creatures that are part of the artist ...

(born 1974) * Austin Hansen (1910–1996), photographer *

John Wesley Hardrick John Wesley Hardrick (September 21, 1891 – October 18, 1968) was an American artist. He painted landscapes, still lifes and portraits. Early life and family origins Hardrick's grandfather, Shephard Hardrick, was a land-owning farmer in Kentuck ...

(1891–1948), painter *

Edwin Harleston Edwin Augustus Harleston (March 14, 1882 – May 10, 1931) was an American artist and founding president of the Charleston, South Carolina, branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He is known for his realistic portr ...

(1882–1931), painter *

Elise Forrest Harleston Elise Forrest Harleston (February 8, 1891- 1970) is known as South Carolina’s first female African-American photographer. She was also one of the first Black female photographers in the United States. Elise Beatrice Forrest was born in Charles ...

(1891–1970), photographer * Jerry Harris (1945–2016), sculptor *

John T. Harris John Thomas Harris (May 8, 1823 – October 14, 1899) was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer and judge from Virginia. He was often referred to after the American Civil War as "Judge Harris", even after his election to Congress. He was ...

(1908-1972), painter, printmaker, educator * Kira Lynn Harris (born 1963), multidisciplinary *

Lawrence Harris Lawrence Harris is an American painter who was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1937. He studied art in both the United States and Europe. Harris is known for both impressionistic paintings (such as ''Abandoned Ship'') and abstract comp ...

(born 1937), painter *

Ilana Harris-Babou Ilana Harris-Babou (born 1991) is an American sculptor and installation artist. Harris-Babou was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her upbringing was discussed in an interview on the ''Amy Beecher Show'' in August 2019. Artistic practice Harris-Bab ...

(born 1991), sculptor and installation artist * Marren Hassenger (born 1947), sculptor, installation, performance *

Palmer Hayden Palmer C. Hayden (January 15, 1890 – February 18, 1973) was an American painter who depicted African-American life, landscapes, seascapes, and African influences. He sketched, painted in both oils and watercolors, and was a prolific artis ...

(1893–1973), painter * Donté K. Hayes (b. 1975), ceramicist *

Barkley Hendricks Barkley L. Hendricks (April 16, 1945 – April 18, 2017) was a contemporary American painter who made pioneering contributions to Black portraiture and conceptualism. While he worked in a variety of media and genres throughout his career (from p ...

(1945–2017), painter *

Nestor Hernández Nestor Hernández (1961–May 13, 2006) was an American photographer and photojournalist of Cuban descent, based in Washington, DC. Hernández was best known for his street photography of his Washington, DC neighborhood as well as street scenes of ...

(1961–2006), photographer *

George Herriman George Joseph Herriman III (August 22, 1880 – April 25, 1944) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip ''Krazy Kat'' (1913–1944). More influential than popular, ''Krazy Kat'' had an appreciative audience ...

(1880–1944), cartoonist * LaToya M. Hobbs (born 1988) printmaker, painter, mixed media artist *

Alvin Hollingsworth Alvin C. Hollingsworth (25 February 1928 – July 14, 2000),
at the Humbert Howard Humbert Howard (1905 or 1915-1990) was an American artist and art director of the Pyramid Club. Biography Howard was born in Philadelphia. Sources differ on Howard's birth year, some stating 1905 and some stating 1915. Howard attended Howard U ...

(1905 or 1915-1990), painter, ceramicist * William Howard (active 19th century), American woodworker and craftsman *

Bryce Hudson Bryce Hudson (March 29, 1979, Rabat, Morocco) is a Moroccan-American Neo-plasticist (De Stijl) painter. Hudson's early geometric paintings explore race and stereotypes through means of the Geometric abstraction style. Later in his career, infl ...

(born 1979), painter, sculptor *

Julien Hudson Julien Hudson (January 9, 1811 – 1844) was a 19th-century free man of color who lived in New Orleans. He was a successful painter and art teacher. He was thought to be the first African American by whom a self-portrait is known, however the L ...

(1811–1844), painter, sculptor * David Huffman (born 1963), painter *

Edward Ellis Hughes Edward Ellis Hughes (1940-2017) was an American painter. He was born in Philadelphia in 1940. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Cheyney University of Pennsylvania where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. ...

(1940-2017), painter * Richard Hunt (born 1935), sculptor *

Clementine Hunter Clementine Hunter (pronounced Clementeen) (late December 1886 or early January 1887 – January 1, 1988) was a self-taught Black folk artist from the Cane River region of Louisiana, who lived and worked on Melrose Plantation. Hunter was born ...

(1886/7–1988), folk artist

J–O

Wadsworth Jarrell Wadsworth Aikens Jarrell (born November 20, 1929) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker. He was born in Albany, Georgia, and moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he attended the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduation, he became heav ...

(born 1929), painter, sculptor *

Oliver Lee Jackson Oliver Lee Jackson (born 1935) is an American painter, printmaker, sculptor, and educator. He was a professor at the California State University, Sacramento from 1971 until 2002 and was one of the founders of the Pan African Studies program at th ...

(born 1935), painter, sculptor, printmaker, educator *

Tomashi Jackson Tomashi Jackson (born 1980) is an American multimedia artist working across painting, video, textiles and sculpture. Jackson was born in Houston, Texas, raised in Los Angeles, and currently lives and works in New York, NY and Cambridge, MA. Jacks ...

(born 1980), multimedia artist, painter, videographer, textile-maker and sculptor *

Steffani Jemison Steffani Jemison (born 1981) is an American artist based in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. Her work has been shown at Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, and other US and international venues. Personal life Jemison was born in Berkeley, Cal ...

(born 1981), performance artist, video artist * Wilmer Angier Jennings (1910–1990), printmaker, painter, jeweler * Annette P. Jimerson (born 1966), painter * Joshua Johnson (c. 1763 – c. 1824), portrait painter and folk artist * LeRoy Johnson (born 1937), multidisciplinary artist *

Malvin Gray Johnson Malvin Gray Johnson (January 28, 1896 – October 4, 1934) was an American Painting, painter, born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Early life and education Gray Johnson began painting at an early age when his sister Maggie noticed his ...

(1896–1934), painter * Martina Johnson-Allen (born 1947), painter, sculptor, and printmaker, educator *

Rashid Johnson Rashid Johnson (born 1977) is an American artist who produces conceptual post-black art. Johnson first received critical attention in 2001 at the age of 24, when his work was included in '' Freestyle'' (2001) curated by Thelma Golden at the St ...

(born 1977), conceptual artist * Sargent Johnson (1888–1967), sculptor * William H. Johnson (1902–1970) * Calvin B. Jones (1934–2010), painter, muralist * Ida E. Jones, painter * Jennie C. Jones (born 1968), multidisciplinary * Lois Mailou Jones (1905–1998), painter * Lawrence A. Jones (1910–1996), artist, teacher *

Samuel Levi Jones Samuel Levi Jones (born 1978) is an American artist, he is known for his paintings and assemblage art. Many of his works are abstract, and centered on African Americans, African-American history, and identity; often using historically sourced mate ...

(born 1978), painter, assemblage artist *

Seitu Jones Seitu Jones (born 1951, Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a multi-disciplinary artist and community organizer known for his large-scale public artworks and environmental design. Working both independently and in collaboration with other artists, Jones h ...

(born 1951), multidisciplinary, sculptor * Eddie Jack Jordan (1925–1999), artist, teacher *

Ronald Joseph Ronald Joseph (born October 9, 1944) is an American former pair skater who competed with his sister, Vivian Joseph. They are the 1964 Olympic bronze medalists, 1965 World silver medalists, and 1965 North American champions. Personal life R ...

(1910–1992), artist, teacher, and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

* Titus Kaphar (born 1976), painter *

Richard Gordon Kendall Richard Gordon Kendall (also spelled Kendell; 17 November 1933 Paris, Texas – 30 January 2008 Paris, Texas) was an American self-taught artist who, beginning around 1995, began to be chronicled as an outsider artist – in a folk artist. Life Ke ...

(1933–2008), Texas-based outsider artist *

Autumn Knight Autumn Knight (born 1980) is an American interdisciplinary artist working with performance, installation, and text from Houston, Texas who lives and works in New York City. Early life and education Knight attended the High School for Perfo ...

(born 1980), interdisciplinary artist working with

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

, installation, and text * Gwendolyn Knight (1914–2005), artist * Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000), painter *

Deana Lawson Deana Lawson (1979) is an American artist, educator, and photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is primarily concerned with intimacy, family, spirituality, sexuality, and Black aesthetics. Lawson has been praised for her ability to co ...

(born 1979), photographer *

Carolyn Lazard Carolyn Lieba Francois Lazard (born 1987) is an American artist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lazard uses the experience of chronic illness to examine concepts of intimacy and the labor of living involved with chronic illnesses. Lazard expr ...

(born 1987), conceptual artist *

Hughie Lee-Smith Hughie Lee-Smith (September 20, 1915 – February 23, 1999) was an American artist and teacher whose surreal paintings often featured distant figures under vast skies, and desolate urban settings. Life and career Lee-Smith was born in Eustis, ...

(1915–1999), artist *

Simone Leigh Simone Leigh (born 1967) is an American artist from Chicago who works in New York City in the United States. She works in various media including sculpture, installations, video, performance, and social practice. Leigh has described her work as au ...

(born 1967), sculpture, ceramics *

Edmonia Lewis Mary Edmonia Lewis, also known as "Wildfire" (c. July 4, 1844 – September 17, 1907), was an American sculptor, of mixed African-American and Native American ( Mississauga Ojibwe) heritage. Born free in Upstate New York, she worked for most of ...

(c. 1843 – 1879), artist *

Nate Lewis Nathaniel "Nate" Lewis (born October 19, 1966) is a former professional American football wide receiver in the National Football League. He played six seasons for the San Diego Chargers (1990–1993) and the Chicago Bears (1994–1995). Born a ...

(born 1985), visual artist * Norman Lewis (1909–1979), painter * Joe Louis Light (1934–2005), painter and sculptor * Glenn Ligon (born 1960), painter *

James Little James Little may refer to: * James Little (American politician), Wisconsin State Assemblyman * James Little (British politician) (1868–1946), unionist politician in Northern Ireland * James Little (physician) (1837–1916), Irish physician * J ...

(born 1952), painter, curator * Willie Little (born 1961), multimedia artist, painter, sculptor, author * Llanakila, artist, painter, digital illustrator, and digital artist *

Edward L. Loper, Sr. Edward Leroy Loper Sr. (April 7, 1916 – October 11, 2011)Karen Smyles, producer, ', WHYY-TV, January 2012. was an African American artist and teacher from Delaware, best known for his vibrant palette and juxtaposition of colors. He taught paint ...

(1916–2011), painter * Whitfield Lovell (born 1960), artist *

Alvin D. Loving Alvin D. Loving Jr. (September 19, 1935 – June 21, 2005), better known as Al Loving, was an List of African-American visual artists, African-American Geometric abstraction, abstract expressionist Painting, painter. His work is known for hard-ed ...

(1935–2005), artist *

Eric N. Mack Eric National Mack (born 1987) is an American painter, multi-media installation artist, and sculptor, based in New York City. Early life and education Mack was born in Columbia, Maryland. His middle name is National, after Washington DC's Nati ...

(born 1987), painter, multi-media installation artist, and sculptor * Gwendolyn Ann Magee (1943–2011), artist, quilter *

Clarence Major Clarence Major (born December 31, 1936) is an American poet, painter, and novelist; winner of the 2015 "Lifetime Achievement Award in the Fine Arts", presented by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. He was awarded the 2016 PEN Oakland/Reg ...

(born 1936), painter *

Ajuan Mance Ajuan Maria Mance is an American visual artist, author, editor, and a Professor of Ethnic Studies and English at Mills College in Oakland, California. She created the portrait series 1001 Black Men'' Early life and education Mance was born in Da ...

, visual artist, professor * Kerry James Marshall (born 1955), painter *

Eugene J. Martin Eugene James Martin (July 24, 1938 – January 1, 2005) was an African-American visual artist. Art Eugene J. Martin's art is best known for his imaginative, complex mixed media collages on paper, his often gently humorous pencil and pen and ...

(1938–2005), painter *

Louise Martin Louise Ozelle Martin (9 January 1911 – 15 July 1995) was an American professional photographer who received recognition for her photographs of Houston Freedom Riders, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and beyond. She is known as a pioneer for Afri ...

(1911–1995), photographer *

Richard Mayhew Richard Mayhew (born April 3, 1924) is an Afro-Native American landscape painter, illustrator, and arts educator. His abstract, brightly colored landscapes are informed by his experiences as an African American/Native American and his interest i ...

(born 1934), Afro-Native American, landscape painter *

Valerie Maynard Valerie Jean Maynard (August 22, 1937 – September 19, 2022) was an American sculptor, teacher, printmaker, and designer. Maynard's work frequently addressed themes of social inequality and the civil rights movement. Her work has been exhibite ...

(born 1937), sculptor, printmaker, painter *

Ealy Mays Ealy Mays (born January 15, 1959) is a Paris-based African-American contemporary artist. His work has been exhibited in Mexico's Galeria Clave, Paris’ Carrousel du Louvre, Mexico's annual José Clemente Orozco Art competition, and New York's So ...

(born 1959), painter * William McBride (artist) (1912–2000), artist, designer and collector *

Howard McCalebb Howard McCalebb (born May 13, 1947, in Indianola, Mississippi) is an American abstract sculptor. Early life and education He received his M.F.A. in sculpture from Cornell University in 1972, and his B.A. in sculpture from California State Uni ...

(born 1947), artist * Corky McCoy, illustrator * Charles McGee, (1924–2021) painter * Charles McGill (1964–2017), artist, educator *

Julie Mehretu Julie Mehretu (born November 28, 1970) is an Ethiopian American contemporary visual artist, known for her multi-layered paintings of abstracted landscapes on a large scale. Her paintings, drawings, and prints depict the cumulative effects of urban ...

(born 1970), painter, printmaker *

Troy Michie Troy Montes-Michie (born 1985) is an American interdisciplinary painter and collage artist. Early life and education Troy Michie was born in El Paso, TX. He received a BFA from the University of Texas at El Paso in 2009 and an MFA from the Yale ...

(born 1985), collage artist, painter, interdisciplinary installation artist, and sculptor * Nicole Miller (born 1982), video artist * Joe Minter (born 1943) sculptor, creator of African Village in America * Dean Mitchell (born 1957), painter *

Scipio Moorhead Scipio Moorhead (active c. 1773-after 1775) was an enslaved African-American artist who lived in Boston, Massachusetts. Moorhead is known through the contemporary African-American poet Phillis Wheatley's poem, dedicated "To S. M. a young African ...

(active 1770s), painter * Barbara Tyson Mosley (born 1950), abstract painter * Archibald Motley (1891–1981), painter *

Zora J. Murff Zora J. Murff (born 1987) is an American photographer, curator, and educator. He is currently based in Fayetteville, Arkansas and teaches photography at the University of Arkansas. Murff's work focuses on social and cultural constructs including r ...

(born 1987), photographer * Wangechi Mutu (born 1972) painter, sculptor *

Gus Nall Gus Nall (1919 – 1995) was an American painter during the mid-20th century in Chicago, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. Born in Illinois, Nall’s most known work is his painting "Lincoln Speaks to Freedmen on the Steps of the Capital at Richmond" ...

(1919–1995), painter *

Senga Nengudi Senga Nengudi (née Sue Irons; born September 18, 1943) is an African-American visual artist and curator. She is best known for her abstract sculptures that combine found objects and choreographed performance. She is part of a group of African-A ...

(born 1943), sculptor, performance artist *

Harold Newton Harold Newton (October 30 1934–1994) was an American landscape artist. He was a founding member of the Florida Highwaymen, a group of fellow African American landscape artists. Newton and the other Highwaymen were influenced by the work of ...

(1934–1994), artist *

Lorraine O'Grady Lorraine O'Grady (born September 21, 1934) is an American artist, writer, translator, and critic. Working in conceptual art and performance art that integrates photo and video installation, she explores the cultural construction of identity – pa ...

(born 1934), conceptual artist *

Turtel Onli Turtel Onli (born January 25, 1952 in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois) is an Citizenship in the United States, American artist, entrepreneur, author, art therapist, educator, and publisher. Over Onli's career, his work has touched upon a variety of di ...

(born 1952), cartoonist *

Jackie Ormes Jackie Ormes (August 1, 1911 – December 26, 1985) was an American cartoonist. She is known as the first African-American woman cartoonist and creator of the ''Torchy Brown'' comic strip and the ''Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger'' panel. Early life and ...

(1911–1985), cartoonist *

John Outterbridge John Outterbridge (March 12, 1933 – November 12, 2020) was an American artist and community activist who lived and worked in Los Angeles, California. His work explores the issues surrounding personal identity such as family, community and the e ...

(1933–2020), assemblage artist *

Joe Overstreet Joe Wesley Overstreet (June 20, 1933 – June 4, 2019) was an African-American painter from Mississippi who lived and worked in New York City for most of his career. In the 1950s and early 1960s he was associated with the Abstract Expressionist ...

(1933–2019), artist

P–S

Jennifer Packer Jennifer Packer (born 1984) is a contemporary American painter and educator based in New York City. Packer's subject matter includes political portraits, interior scenes, and still life featuring contemporary Black American experiences. She paints ...

(born 1985), painter * Gordon Parks (1912–2006), photographer, director *

Cecelia Pedescleaux Cecelia Tapplette Pedescleaux, also known as Cely, (born August 6, 1945) is an African-American quilter of traditional and art quilts, inspired by historians, other African-American quilters, and quilt designs used during the Underground Railroad t ...

(born 1945), quilter *

Janet Taylor Pickett Janet Taylor Pickett (born August 13, 1948) is an American artist. Pickett's mixed media works are inspired by her life experience as an African American woman. Early life and education Janet Taylor Pickett was born in 1948 in Ann Arbor, Michig ...

(born 1948), mixed media artist *

Delilah Pierce Delilah Williams Pierce (March 3, 1904 – 1992) was an African American artist, curator and educator based in Washington, District of Columbia. Pierce is best known for abstract paintings depicting the natural world. Her work also includes portra ...

(1904–1992), artist *

Earle M. Pilgrim Earle Montrose Pilgrim (1923–1976) was an American artist whose work is within the stylistic milieu of Abstract Expressionism and Figurative Expressionism. Working in the early 1950s until the mid 1970s, Pilgrim's style is characterized by f ...

(1923–1976), artist * Howardena Pindell (born 1943), painter *

Jerry Pinkney Jerry Pinkney (December 22, 1939 – October 20, 2021) was an American illustrator and writer of children's literature. Pinkney illustrated over 100 books since 1964, including picture books, nonfiction titles and novels. Pinkney's works addresse ...

(1939–2021), illustrator * Adrian Piper (born 1948), conceptual artist *

Rose Piper Rose Theodora Piper (October 7, 1917 – May 11, 2005) was an American painter best known for her semi-abstract, blues-inspired paintings of the 1940s. In the 1950s, out of financial necessity, she became a textile designer. For nearly thirty yea ...

(1917–2005), painter and textile designer * Horace Pippin (1888–1946), painter *

P. H. Polk Prentice Herman Polk (November 25, 1898 – December 29, 1984) was an American photographer known for his portraits of African Americans. He also served for several years as head of the Tuskegee Institute's Department of Photography. Early life Pre ...

(1898–1984), photographer *

Stephanie Pogue Stephanie Elaine Pogue (1944–2002) was an American professor, printmaker, artist, and curator. Her artistic interests included the portrayal of women and the human figure. Early life and education She was born in Shelby, North Carolina, but w ...

(1944–2002), printmaker *

Carl Robert Pope Carl Robert Pope, Jr. is an African-American art, artist, working primarily in the mediums of photography and video. His work address issues related to Race and ethnicity in the United States, race in America, specifically the social conditions o ...

(born 1961), photographer *

William Pope.L Pope.L (also known as William Pope.L, born 1955 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American visual artist best known for his work in performance art, and interventionist public art. However, he has also produced art in painting, photography and theater ...

(born 1955) conceptual artist * Charles Ethan Porter (1847/49–1923) painter *

Harriet Powers Harriet Powers (October 29, 1837 – January 1, 1910) was an American folk artist and quilter. Born into slavery in rural northeast Georgia, she married young and had a large family. After the American Civil War and emancipation, she and her hus ...

(1837–1910), folk artist *

Walter Price (artist) Walter Price (born 1989) is an American painter based in New York City. He is represented by Greene Naftali and The Modern Institute Early life Born and raised in Macon, Georgia, Price served four years in the navy aboard the . His military s ...

(born 1989), painter *

Martin Puryear Martin L. Puryear (born May 23, 1941) is an American artist known for his devotion to traditional craft. Working in wood and bronze, among other media, his reductive technique and meditative approach challenge the physical and poetic boundaries ...

(born 1941), sculptor *

Mavis Pusey Mavis Iona Pusey (September 17, 1928 – April 20, 2019) was a Jamaican-born American abstract artist. She was a printmaker and painter who was well known for her hard-edge, nonrepresentational images. Pusey drew inspirations from urban constru ...

(1928–2019), abstract painter *

Bob Ragland Bob Ragland (December 11, 1938 – April 10, 2021) was an artist and teacher based in Denver, Colorado. He is best known for his oil paintings and his found object sculptures, as well as his practical "Non-Starving Artist" philosophy. The Bob Rag ...

(1938–2021), painter and sculptor *

Patrick H. Reason Patrick Henry Reason, first named Patrice Rison (March 17, 1816 – August 12, 1898), was one of the earliest African-American engravers and lithographers in the United States. He was active as an abolitionist (along with his brother Charles Lew ...

(1816–1898) *

Earle Wilton Richardson Earle Wilton Richardson, (1912–1935) was an African-American artist made famous mainly for an oil painting of his dating from 1934 titled ''Employment of Negroes in Agriculture.'' This now iconic picture (size 48 × 32 inches) depicts two ...

(1912–1935), artist * Taft Richardson Jr. (1943–2008), folk artist *

Faith Ringgold Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930 in Harlem, New York City) is an American painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist, best known for her narrative quilts. Early life Faith Ringgold was born the youngest of three children ...

(born 1930), painter *

Haywood Rivers Haywood "Bill" Rivers (May 8, 1922 – December 27, 2001) was an African American contemporary artist and gallerist. Biography Haywood Rivers was born in Morven, North Carolina on May 8, 1922. He attended classes the Art Students League of New Y ...

(1922–2001), painter *

Amber Robles-Gordon Amber Robles-Gordon (born 1977 San Juan, Puerto Rico) is an American mixed media visual artist. She resides in Washington, DC and predominantly works with found objects and textiles to create assemblages, large-scale sculptures, installations and ...

, installation artist * Arthur Rose Sr. (1921–1995), multidisciplinary *

Bayeté Ross Smith Bayeté Ross Smith (born 1976) is a contemporary African American multi-media artist, film maker and educator, working at the intersection of photography, film & video, visual journalism, 3D objects and new media. He currently lives and works in H ...

(born 1976), photographer *

Alison Saar Alison Saar (born February 5, 1956) is a Los Angeles, California based sculptor, mixed-media, and installation artist. Her artwork focuses on the African diaspora and black female identity and is influenced by African, Caribbean, and Latin Ameri ...

(born 1956), artist *

Betye Saar Betye Irene Saar (born July 30, 1926) is an African-American artist known for her work in the medium of assemblage. Saar is a visual storyteller and an accomplished printmaker. Saar was a part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, which eng ...

(born 1926), artist *

Synthia Saint James Synthia Saint James (born February 11, 1949) is an American visual artist, author, keynote speaker, educator and actor in the 70s. She is best known for designing the original cover art of the hardcover edition of Terry McMillan's book ''Waiting t ...

(born 1949) painter *

Charles L. Sallée Jr. Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

(1923–2006), painter * Reginald Sanders (1921–2001), visual artist * Raymond Saunders (born 1934), painter *

Augusta Savage Augusta Savage (born Augusta Christine Fells; February 29, 1892 – March 27, 1962) was an American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She was also a teacher whose studio was important to the careers of a generation of artists who w ...

(1892–1962), sculptor *

Dread Scott Scott Tyler (born 1965), known professionally as Dread Scott, is an American artist whose works, often participatory in nature, focus on the experience of African Americans in the contemporary United States. His first major work, ''What Is the P ...

(born 1965), performance, photography, installation, screen-printing and video *

John T. Scott 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 Afri ...

(1940–2007), artist *

Joyce J. Scott Joyce J. Scott (born 1948) is an African-American artist, sculptor, quilter, performance artist, installation artist, print-maker, lecturer and educator. Named a MacArthur Fellow in 2016, and a Smithsonian Visionary Artist in 2019, Scott is best ...

(born 1948), sculptor * Lorenzo Scott (born 1934), painter *

William Edouard Scott William Edouard Scott (March 11, 1884 – May 15, 1964) was an African-American artist. Before Alain Locke asked African Americans to create and portray the '' New Negro'' that would thrust them into the future, artists like William Edouard ...

(1884–1964), painter * Charles Searles (1937-2004), painter, sculptor *

Charles Sebree Charles Sebree (1914–1985) was an American painter and playwright best known for his involvement in Chicago's black arts scene of the 1930s and 1940s. Early life and education Sebree spent his early childhood in White City, located in eastern ...

(1914–1985), painter *

Thomas Sills Thomas Sills (August 20, 1914 – September 26, 2000) was a painter and collagist and a participant in the New York Abstract Expressionist movement. At the peak of his career in the 1960s and 1970s, his work was widely shown in museums. His work wa ...

(1914–2000), painter * Gary Simmons (born 1964), artist *

Lorna Simpson Lorna Simpson (born August 13, 1960) is an American photographer and multimedia artist. She came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s with artworks such as ''Guarded Conditions'' and ''Square Deal''. Simpson is most well-known for her work in c ...

(born 1960), artist *

Merton Simpson Merton Daniel Simpson (September 20, 1928 – March 9, 2013) was an American abstract expressionist painter and African and tribal art collector and dealer. Early life Merton Simpson was born in Charleston, South Carolina. Between the ages ...

(1928–2013), painter * William Simpson (1818–1872), portrait painter *

Ferrari Sheppard Ferrari Elite Sheppard (born March 3, 1983) is an American contemporary visual artist, known for his vibrant, hybridized paintings which blend figurativism and abstract art. Aside from being a painter, Sheppard is a writer, photographer, acti ...

(born 1983), painter *

Amy Sherald Amy Sherald (born August 30, 1973) is an American painter. She works mostly as a portraitist depicting African Americans in everyday settings. Her style is simplified realism, involving staged photographs of her subjects. Since 2012, her work ...

(born 1973), painter * Carroll Sockwell (1943–1992), abstract painter *

Jeff Sonhouse Jeff Sonhouse (born 1968) is an American painter, known for his mixed media portraiture dealing with Black identity. He is African American. Biography Sonhouse was born in 1968, in New York City, New York. He attended college the School of Visua ...

(born 1968), painter *

Cauleen Smith Cauleen Smith (born September 25, 1967) is an American born filmmaker and multimedia artist. She is best known for her experimental works that address the African-American identity, specifically the issues facing black women today. Smith is bes ...

(born 1967), filmmaker * Leslie Smith III (born 1985), painter * Vincent D. Smith (1929–2003), painter and printmaker * William E. Smith (1913–1997), painter and printmaker *

Gilda Snowden Gilda Snowden (July 29, 1954 – September 9, 2014) was an African-American artist, educator and mentor from Detroit, Michigan. Early life and education Snowden was born in Detroit, Michigan on July 29, 1954, and grew up in northwest Detroit. ...

(1954–2014) *

Mitchell Squire Mitchell Squire (born 1958) is an American installation artist, sculptor, and performance artist. He was born in Natchez, Mississippi. He primarily focuses on exploring culture through acquired artifacts and the inability to express pain. Squire ...

(born 1958), American installation artist, sculptor and performance artist *

Raymond Steth Raymond Steth (1917 - 1997), born Raymond Ryles, was a Philadelphia-based graphic artist recognized for his paintings and lithographs on the African-American condition in the mid-20th century, often through scenes of rural life and poverty. Worki ...

(1916–1997) * Renee Stout (born 1958), artist *

Thelma Johnson Streat Thelma Beatrice Johnson Streat (1912–1959) was an African-American artist, dancer, and educator. She gained prominence in the 1940s for her art, performance and work to foster intercultural understanding and appreciation. Early life and educ ...

(1911–1959) American painter, dancer, educator *

Martine Syms Martine Syms (born 1988) is an American artist based in Los Angeles who works in publishing, video, installation, and performance. Her work focuses on identity and the portrayal of the self in relation to themes such as feminism and Black cu ...

(born 1988), artist

T–Z

* Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937), artist * Ron Tarver (born 1957), photographer, artist, and educator *

Margaret Taylor-Burroughs Margaret Taylor-Burroughs (November 1, 1915 – November 21, 2010), also known as Margaret Taylor Goss, Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs or Margaret T G Burroughs, was an American visual artist, writer, poet, educator, and arts organizer. She co-fo ...

(1915–2010) * Alma Thomas (1891–1978), painter *

Hank Willis Thomas Hank Willis Thomas (born 1976 in Plainfield, New Jersey; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) is an American conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to identity, history, and popular culture. Early life and education Hank Willis Th ...

(born 1976), photographer * Mickalene Thomas (born 1971), painter and installation artist * Bob Thompson (1937–1966), painter *

Mildred Thompson Mildred Jean Thompson (March 12, 1936 – September 1, 2003) was an American artist who worked in painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture and photography. Critics have related her art to West African textiles and Islamic architecture;Jenni ...

(1935–2003), abstract painter, printmaker and sculptor * Dox Thrash (1892–1962), printmaker, sculptor *

Bill Traylor William Traylor (April 1, – October 23, 1949) was an African-American self-taught artist from Lowndes County, Alabama. Born into slavery, Traylor spent the majority of his life after emancipation as a sharecropper. It was only after 19 ...

(1856–1949) * Henry Taylor (born 1958), painter *

Yvonne Edwards Tucker Yvonne Edwards Tucker, also known as Yvonne Edwards–Tucker (born 1941) is an American artist, known as a potter, sculptor, and educator. She has taught at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee since 1973. About Yvonne Edwards is African-Ameri ...

(born 1941), potter * Adejoke Tugbiyele (born 1977), sculptor, multidisciplinary artist * Morrie Turner (1923–2014), cartoonist *

James Van Der Zee James Augustus Van Der Zee (June 29, 1886 – May 15, 1983) was an American photographer best known for his portraits of black New Yorkers. He was a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Aside from the artistic merits of his work, Van Der Zee ...

(1886–1983), photographer * Kara Walker (born 1969), artist *

William Walker William Walker may refer to: Arts * William Walker (engraver) (1791–1867), mezzotint engraver of portrait of Robert Burns * William Sidney Walker (1795–1846), English Shakespearean critic * William Walker (composer) (1809–1875), American Ba ...

(1927–2011), Chicago muralist * Eugene Warburg, (1825–1859), sculptor * Laura Wheeler Waring (1887–1948), painter *

E. M. Washington Earl Marshawn Washington (born 1962) is an American entrepreneur, printmaker, woodcut artist and art forger. Activities Beginning in 1998, woodcut prints from Washington began appearing on eBay and elsewhere; Washington claiming variously th ...

(born 1962), printmaker and counterfeiter *

Cullen Washington, Jr. Cullen Washington, Jr. (born 1972) is an African-American contemporary abstract painter. Washington lives and works in New York. Early life and education Cullen Washington, Jr. was born in Alexandria, Louisiana in 1972. As a child, he loved sc ...

(born 1972) abstract painter. *

James W. Washington, Jr. James W. Washington Jr. (November 10, 1908 – June 7, 2000) was an American painter and sculptor who grew into prominence in the Seattle art community.Susan Noyes Platt, "James W. Washington Jr." in program for ''Making a Life , Creating a World' ...

(1908–2000), painter and sculptor * Howard N. Watson (1929–2022), watercolor painter *

Richard J. Watson Richard J. Watson (born 1946) is an American artist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In the 1970s, he collaborated with Walter Edmonds to create murals for the Church of the Advocate ...

(B. 1946), painter, printmaker * Lewis Watts * Carrie Mae Weems (born 1953), photographer *

Pheoris West Pheoris West (August 17, 1950 – January 23, 2021) was an African-American artist. He was an Associate Professor Emeritus Ohio State University College of the Arts, where he joined the faculty in 1976. Early life West was born in 1950 in Alba ...

(1950–2021) *

Charles Wilbert White Charles Wilbert White, Jr. (April 2, 1918 – October 3, 1979) was an American artist known for his chronicling of African American related subjects in paintings, drawings, lithographs, and murals. White's lifelong commitment to chronicling the ...

(1918–1979), muralist *

Fo Wilson Folayemi "Fo" Debra Wilson is an American interdisciplinary artist, designer, and academic administrator. Her practice includes work as a furniture designer and maker, installation artist, muralist, and graphic designer. Wilson is the first assoc ...

, Interdisciplinary artist and designer *

Jack Whitten Jack Whitten (December 5, 1939 – January 20, 2018) was an American painter and sculptor. In 2016, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts. Life Whitten was born in 1939 in Bessemer, Alabama. Planning a career as an army doctor, Whitten ent ...

(1939–2018), painter *

Kehinde Wiley Kehinde Wiley (born February 28, 1977)"Kehinde Wiley"
''Artnet''. Retrieved October 13, 2010. i ...

(born 1977), painter *

Gerald Williams (artist) Gerald Williams (born 1941 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American visual artist whose work has been influential within the Black Arts Movement, a transnational aesthetic phenomenon that first manifested in the 1960s and continues to evolve today. W ...

(born 1941), painter *

William T. Williams William T. Williams (born 1942) is an American painter and educator. He is known for his process-based approach to painting that engages motifs drawn from personal memory and cultural narrative to create non-referential, abstract compositions. ...

(born 1942), painter * Deborah Willis (born 1948), photographer * Ellis Wilson (1899–1977), painter * Fred Wilson (born 1954), conceptual artist * John Woodrow Wilson (1922–2015), sculptor *

Beulah Woodard Beulah Ecton Woodard (November 11, 1895 – July 13, 1955) was an African-American sculptor and painter based in California. Woodard was the first African American artist to have a solo exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and ...

(1895–1955), sculptor * Hale Woodruff (1900–1980), painter * Richard Wyatt, Jr. (born 1955), painter, muralist *

Richard Yarde Richard Yarde (1939–2011) was an American artist and professor, who specialized in watercolor painting.Joseph Yoakum (1890–1972), self-taught landscape artist *

Kenneth Victor Young Kenneth Victor Young (1933–2017), was an American artist, educator, and designer. He is associated with the Washington Color School art movement. He worked at the Smithsonian Institution as an Exhibition designer, exhibit designer for 35 years. ...

(1933–2017), painter, designer, educator * Purvis Young (1943–2010), artist

Artist groups

* The Highwaymen *

AfriCOBRA AfriCOBRA (the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) is an African-American artists' collective formed in Chicago in 1968. The group was founded by Jeff Donaldson, Wadsworth Jarrell, Jae Jarrell, Barbara Jones-Hogu, Nelson Stevens and Geral ...

Where We At "Where We At" Black Women Artists, Inc. (WWA) was a collective of Black women artists affiliated with the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. It included artists such as Dindga McCannon, Kay Brown, Faith Ringgold, Carol Blank, Jerri Crooks, ...

Spiral (arts alliance) Spiral was a collective of African-American artists initially formed by Romare Bearden, Charles Alston, Norman Lewis, and Hale Woodruff on July 5, 1963. It has since become the name of an exhibition, ''Spiral: Perspectives on an African-American Ar ...

References

{{reflist, refs= Listed in th
Chronological listing of African-American artists
at ArtCyclopedia See the entry in Macklin, A. D., ''A Biographical History of African-American Artists''. The Edwin Mellen Press; 2001. {{ISBN, 0-7734-7676-8 David Leeming, ''Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney'', Oxford University Press; 1998. {{ISBN, 0-19-509784-X * African-American visual artists African-American visual artists

Visual artists The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

African American Lists of artists lists

Artists

A–B

C–D

E–H

J–O

P–S

T–Z

Artist groups

See also

References