This collection showcases the rich legacies of HBCUs through artistic expression. Featured works include paintings, sculptures, murals, mixed media, prints, drawings, and fine art photography.
Sampson’s mural study depicts Mother Nature surrounded by birds, turtles, trees, fossils, and an expansive blue sky. This piece is painted in a geometric style that appears frequently in the work of students of Dr. John T. Biggers during the mid to late 1970s. Apart from some minor changes, Sampson’s final mural replicates the design in this earlier draft.
Oliver’s drawing is of a man looking upwards. This is a pre-sketch for a mural in Hannah Hall, which has a matching version with a woman and child. Oliver would find small spaces between other students’ murals and fill in the gaps with his own compositions. As a result, Oliver painted 6 murals in the building; no other student artist painted more than 2.
Williams’ painting is a pre-study for his mural. Across three scenes, the artist portrays birth, family home life, and farm work. This triptych style of composition appears frequently in the murals painted by students of Dr. John T. Biggers. The checkerboard motif that Williams uses in each panel is also drawn from Biggers’ teaching. Although Texas Southern is an urban university, many students hail from rural areas in Texas and these themes of country life appear repeatedly in student murals.
Word’s painting is a partial pre-study of his Hannah Hall mural. The painting, featuring a family in a small room with a fireplace, washboard, mounted gun, and radio, is done in a geometric style frequently seen in the art of Biggers’ students from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Word’s full mural design includes adjacent panels depicting a church, an abstract figure with a bubble-like head, and an homage to the Wizard of Oz.
Biggers created this sketch while working on his mural, “The Contributions of the Negro Woman to American Life and Education,” for the Blue Triangle Branch of the YWCA. This mural was the culmination of his research for his doctoral dissertation at Penn State University. It features Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth leading enslaved people to freedom and educating African Americans, respectively.
Samples' painting is a study of his mural created in Hannah Hall. The design unfolds like a dream, with each panel above the central figure (the artist himself), who is asleep on a table, revealing a constellation of scenes from the artists’ youth. Lower window panels evoke a harmonious existence with nature and animals, while upper panels reveal struggles with racism in the South and his mother’s death. The shadowy dogs along the sides of the study were not included in the final mural.
Settles' mural study depicts muscular, mostly naked men and women seemingly being sucked into a portal. An angel attempts to pull them away, while two men are stripped of their skin and bones. The figures’ hair is painted with great detail and seems imbued with special powers. The backdrop shows a horizon of shotgun homes. Settles’ final mural nearly replicates this earlier draft.
Curnell’s painting is a pre-study of her mural “Awakening” in Hannah Hall. The mural shows a reflection of Curnell’s past, present, and future life. She is seen pictured here as an infant, at her current age, and her future self as an elder. The quilt that stretches across the composition features various religious symbols, including the cross, the star of David, and the ankh.
This is a maquette created by an unknown Texas Southern University art student. This maquette displays a stout figure with various swirls on the body. The swirls are a required component for the maquette project, as Carroll Harris Simms pushed his students to richly embellish their works.
Morris’ painting is a golden portrait of boxer Muhammad Ali raising his fists and preparing for a strike. The painting is inspired by a photograph taken in the 1960s at the height of his athletic career. Ali gained acclaim, controversy, and celebrity not just for his boxing achievements, but also for his conversion to Islam, civil rights activism, and refusal to fight in the Vietnam War.
James H. Green, Jr., was an artist from Orangeburg, SC. Mrs. Pepper depicts a woman with a textured bob hairstyle chiseled into stone. Her head is titled in a expression of inquiry.
John Payne was an artist from New Orleans, LA. Mr. Mardi Gras is an abstract depiction of a male figure in the midst of the euphony of colors that represent the vibrance of Mardi Gras.
John N. Robinson, born in Washington, D.C., was a self-taught painter. Mr. and Mrs. Barton is an oil painting of an elderly black couple inside their home. The husband is standing in a suit, while the wife is sitting in a sweater and gray dress. Behind them are two framed portraits, a vanity, and the doorway to the kitchen.
The work shows a group gathering for a libation ceremony in a field; as one member is pouring water into the ground, the other members are playing musical instruments. A libation ceremony is when liquid is poured into the ground as an offering to and in remembrance of a deceased loved one. This ceremony is practiced across the African diaspora.
Mendoza's painting depicts an expecting mother gazing into the distance and wearing a traditional Mexican rebozo. Rebozos can be used by pregnant women to support their bellies, as this woman appears to be doing. Mother and child is a prevalent theme in art by Texas Southern Art Department students, found in drawings, sculptures, murals, and paintings.
John T. Biggers was an educator, painter, and muralist from Gastonia, NC. Mother and Children depicts a woman sitting with her legs crossed and a baby in her lap. The baby’s face is hidden as they are turned downward in the woman’s lap. The woman hunches over the baby, folding her arms while looking down.
This terracotta maquette is of a woman cradling a child in her arms. The woman is shown naked, with simplified facial features. A circular base supports the sculpture, and spiral motifs are embedded throughout the piece. The crown of the head is topped with layered rings to indicate hair texture. The mother and child theme is prevalent in TSU’s terracotta collection.
Marion Perkins was a sculptor from Marche, AK. Mother and Child is a limestone bust of its namesake. The mother is placed behind the child as she holds his head. The mother looks toward the viewer as the child looks away.
John Woodrow Wilson was a famous painter known for his creative portraits and stylistic approach to social justice. Mother and Child is a black-and-white depiction of a mother embracing their child. The mother has a solemn expression as she looks away from the viewer; her child is tucked into her arms, facing the viewer.
Herman "Kofi" Bailey was an artist from Chicago, IL. Mother and Child is a sepia-toned depiction of a Black mother holding her child in her lap. The mother looks down at the child as a blanket covers them.
John Woodrow Wilson was a famous painter known for his creative portraits and stylistic approach to social justice. Mother and Child is a black-and-white depiction of a mother embracing their child. The mother has a solemn expression as she looks away from the viewer; her child is tucked into her arms, facing the viewer.
“Mother and Child,” by Warren Williams, reflects a theme of unity. The smaller figure is placed in the lap of the larger, held in place by two fingers connecting to form a circle. The sculpture’s form resembles a mother and child bird, perhaps perched in their nest. The mother-child relationship is an important motif in Texas Southern artwork.
Windle’s terracotta portrays a figure embracing a bird in its arms. The exterior of the sculpture is smooth and lacking any of the decorative motifs typically featured on Texas Southern students’ terracottas. The embrace reflects the compassion of a mother and her child, while also displaying interspecies grace and kindness through the act of picking up this bird.
Frank H. Alston, Jr. was an artist and teacher from Providence, RI. Morning on Cape Cod illustrates a cloudy morning along the coast of a peninsula on the Massachusetts Coast. The image depicts a boy standing at the shoreline, boats sailing across the water, a house on top of a hill, and a residential area in the distance.
Davis’s print is of an outhouse, colloquially referred to as a moon house. In modern imagination, the crescent moon on an outhouse door has become an identifying symbol of frontier living. Davis’ print also shows a shirtless man zipping up his pants upon exiting the outhouse, while a huge flock of birds fly overhead.
Charles McGee was an artist and educator from Clemson, SC. Moods of Martha is a portrait of a young Black woman sitting with her head down hiding her face. Her hair and skin are black and almost blend in with the black chair she sits in. She wears a bright flower dress that is mostly green with orange flowers.
Onyeiwu’s drawing is of a young boy wearing a smirk on his face. Onyeiwu creates incredible, realistic portraits with fine details. Originally from Nigeria, Onyeiwu received his undergraduate arts degree from Texas Southern, and has since returned to teach drawing and painting classes at TSU.
Biggers’ drawing shows several linked and overlapping human figures, with babies within the open space their bodies create. Above their heads, children divide and multiply like cells. The lower half of the drawing resembles the shape of the female reproductive system. Biggers called this form the "morning star." A very similar image to this piece appears in Biggers’ mural Family Unity. His artwork often emphasizes themes of motherhood, family, and life cycles.
Calvin Burnett was a graphic artist, illustrator, painter, designer, and art teacher from Cambridge, MA. Merry-Go-Round depicts a young Black girl smiling in a park. Burnett overlays a limpid red merry-go-round over the girl's face.
Ross’s mural represents Black rural life in the early to mid twentieth century. The composition highlights the gendered division of labor, and how women’s work focuses on maintaining the home. Ross grew up in Huntsville, Texas, and this scene may represent his background and experiences.
