The HCAC public history focused digital archive cataloging is an ongoing process, and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. We welcome your comments and feedback if you have more information to share about an item featured on the site, please contact us at: HCAC-DigiTeam@si.edu
William V. Harper was an artist and art educator from Cayuga, Ontario, Canada. Group Study #1 is a gestural drawing focusing on several human figures' physical composition. Lines of body parts overlap, and each figure moves in different positions and directions.
Wilay Mendez Paez is an Afro-Cuban sculptor and collage artist. Guia Eliptica, 2018, is a mixed-media collage piece compiled with found objects. Wilay completed it during an Artist Residency at Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, where the museum's permanent collection inspired him.
Calvin Burnett was a graphic artist, illustrator, painter, designer, and art teacher from Cambridge, MA. Head depicts a racially ambiguous woman from her neck up. Burnette draws the subject passively, looking past the viewer. The subject has fine hair, a thin nose, Asian eyes, and full lips, which complicate determining her racial identity.
Houston E. Chandler was a sculptor, printmaker, painter, and teacher from Saint Louis, MO. Head is a wooden bust of an African person with distinct features. Chandler crafts a voluminous mouth, nose, and forehead and elongated ears that enhances its indegneity.
Samella Sanders Lewis, born in New Orleans in 1923, was a printmaker, painter, sculptor, and art historian. Head is a print portrait of a male face just below the chin to slightly above the front hairline. The contrast in deep shadows and light creates a composition of distinctive cheekbones, a broad nose, and baggy eyes.
William Artis was a sculptor from Washington, NC. Head of a Young Lady is a limestone bust of a woman. The subject has pursed lips and a broad neck, maintaining a critical expression toward the viewer.
Gregory L. Ridley, Jr. was an artist from Smyrna, TN. Hold On is a limestone sculpture of a figure securing itself to a pole-like form. The piece is heavily textured, distinguishing between skin, hair, clothing, and natural materials.
Calvin Burnett was a graphic artist, illustrator, painter, designer, and art teacher from Cambridge, MA. Horseplay is a watercolor depiction of an interracial group of young adults socializing. Two pairs are in a romantic embrace, one pair is dancing, and a trio shares a cigarette.
Lois Mailou Jones was an artist and art educator known for her costumes, textile designs, watercolors, paintings, and collages from Washington, D.C. Impasse De L'Oratoire Grasse depicts a dead-end market street in Grasse, France. There are several people in the piece: two smoking cigarettes, two in their windows, two shopping, and one person exiting their home.
Hayward Oubre was a multimedia artist and educator from New Orleans, LA. In a Pensive Mood is a sculpture of a woman sitting in a worried position. Her hands cover her mouth and right eye as she sits with her left leg tucked under her right.
Jenelsie Walden Holloway was an artist and art educator from Atlanta, GA. In a World Alone is a sketch of a nude woman. The sketch depicts the nude woman in a reflective pose, sitting on a porch with a cityscape in the distance.
Calvin Burnett was a graphic artist, illustrator, painter, designer, and art teacher from Cambridge, MA. Insect is a painting of a dragonfly in a close-up perspective. The dragonfly is primarily bright green with long, thin legs, two white wings, and a dark blue head. A naturalistic setting of bright yellows, browns, and greens surrounds it.
Archie Taylor was an artist from Montgomery, AL. Javanese Ritual is an abstract depiction of an indigenous Indonesian spiritual ceremony. The Javanese have rituals for coming-of-age, marriage, appeals to nature, and secret initiations.
Jimmie Mosely was an artist, navyman, and art professor from Lakeland, FL. Johannesburg is an abstract watercolor depiction of African people traveling through the street. Mosely uses bright colors that emphasize the vibrance of South African culture.
Charles White was a painter, printmaker, muralist, and educator known for his stylistic approach to African American subjects from Chicago, IL. John Brown is a print portrait of its namesake. He was a prominent member of the American abolitionist movement. The print portrays Brown in dark hues as he stares off into the distance.
Gladys Williams Renwick was a painter from St.Louis, MO. Kirks Mill is a watercolor painting of a rural neighborhood in Autumn. The painting features four homes of various sizes and colors. There are various trees in the background: some barren and others with orange and green leaves.
John T. Biggers was an educator, painter, and muralist from Gastonia, NC. Kneeling Figure is a sculpture of a nude man kneeling on his knees. His back is hunched over as he leans to the left with his hands resting on his left knee.
John Woodrow Wilson was a sculptor, painter, printmaker, and educator from Roxbury, MA. La Calle, or The Street, is a print depiction of people traveling a gold cobblestoned street. There are male workers carrying wood and rock slabs, women and their children walking, a woman watching the street, and a man facing the viewer.
Merton D. Simpson was an abstract expressionist painter and African art collector from Brooklyn, N.Y. Landscape of Summer is an abstract depiction of a sunny day. Simpson blends shades of yellow, orange, and brown to emulate the luminence of a summer day.
Merton D. Simpson was an abstract expressionist painter and African art collector. Landscape Symphony is an abstract landscape that depicts a white sun with hues of a dark blue-green sky. The connected polygons of vibrant red, green, and orange are the main emphasis of the piece. They reach three bunches of short highlighted strokes in the landscape.
Otis Galbreath was an artist from Jackson, MI. Let By-Gones be By-Gones shows a woman and a young boy sitting down in a room with wooden floors and plant barrels behind them. The woman sits in a rocking chair looking down to knit, while the boy sits across from her with a hand in his mouth. A green hat sits beside him.
Oliver Banks Jr. was an artist from Atlanta, GA. Loneliness depicts a lone valley outside of a mountain range. In the foreground is flat land with scantily leafed trees. Beyond that is a body of water that separates the valley from the foot of the mountain.
Tommie E. Price was an artist from Tulsa, OK. Lost For A Name shows white and black abstract shapes and forms with thinly drawn lines. They are layered to create contrast, variety, and movement for the viewer to experience.
Henry Wilmer Bannarn was a Harlem Renaissance sculptor and artist who worked in pastel and free-form sketching. Louisiana Nocturne depicts the nightlife of a rural town in Louisiana. The piece shows three couples around a two-story building marked Tavern Bar. The bar is between two buildings, and a person is on both porches.
Leo Twiggs was an artist and art professor from St. Stephen, SC. Lullaby depicts a mother singing to her child in a rocking chair. The abstracted background shows farmland as the sun sets just beyond a barn.
Renee Stout is an artist and sculptor from Junction City, KS. Lunch at the Bush White House is a conceptual gothic painting that explores the intersection of Stout's critique of the Bush administration and numerology from an atmospheric perspective. Above a plantation-like landscape, Stout depicts a heart impaled by an ornate fork.
Frederick D. Jones, Jr. is a twentieth-century artist from Chicago, Ill. Madonna Moderne depicts surrealist vignettes of a Black Madonna and child. The piece shows a veiled mother holding an injured baby and the same pair at a gravesite in a war-torn landscape. Jones also includes symbols of purity, humanity, war, and mortality.
Patricia C. Walker was an artist from Worcester, MA. Man is a surrealist drawing that uses gothic symbols, such as the cross, crow on the tombstone, skull, and older man, to signify human mortality. It also uses Christian iconography, such as Adam and the Snake.
Alvin Smith was an artist from Brooklyn, NY. Man Fleeing from Himself depicts an abstract figure running within a centered circle. Smith creates the figure through the white space left by black pencil strokes.
Frederick C. Flemister was an artist from Jackson, GA. Man with Brush is a mannerist self-portrait depicting him in front of an arched window at an empty canvas. Outside of the window is a landscape scene featuring a lake, rolling hillsides, and mountains in the distance.
