Elizabeth Catlett was an artist and educator from Washington, D.C., who repatriated to Mexico. "Black is Beautiful: Mother and Son" depicts a profile view of a Black woman and her child. Catlett captures the mother's grace and her son's curiosity as they look away from the viewer.
Lillie Kate Walker was an artist from Atlanta, GA. "276 Chestnut Street" is a faux naive depiction of a house on a neighborhood street. Walker uses broad, simplistic strokes of mostly primary colors to craft a residential scene
Taylor offers a snapshot of Houston’s Third Ward in the mid-20th century. Growing up in Third Ward, Taylor saw it grow and change. The scene is a busy one and depicts various storefronts and residents of the neighborhood. Taylor named the pool hall in the lower left corner after himself.
William Artis was a sculptor from Washington, NC. "A Mother's Love" is a limestone sculpture of a mother holding her daughter in her lap. The mother looks down affectionately as she cradles the child's head.
Ware’s blue, abstract painting is created in landscape form. Curved shapes are layered over an oval-shaped form. The top layer is a slanted prism with cutout shapes that slightly imitate the forms floating around. Abstract art of this sort is not commonly featured in the permanent collection of Texas Southern University.
This is an abstract work featuring adornments like swirls, eyes, and pyramids. This blend of symbols suggests themes of hybridity and the fusion of cultures. Professor Carroll Harris Simms' terracotta tradition was inspired by the shrine sculptures of the Nok and Ife peoples of West Africa. In diasporic contexts, the sculptures' significance evolves.
Barbara L. Gallon was an artist from Tallahassee, FL. "Abstraction" centers two abstracted shapes painted in a light tan, paired with a bright red square in the left. They are boarded by black paint and layered on a surface of dark red, brown, black, and tan.
Walter Augustus Simon was an art historian, professor, and artist best known for his abstract oil paintings from Petersburg, VA. "Abstraction—The City—No. 3" depicts a city scene in front of a set of brownstones with abstracted bricks. Several Black people are conversing, relaxing, and playing around the building.
This sketch by John Biggers is part of his planning process for his mural in Christia V. Adair Park, named for an iconic Houston civil rights activist. As part of this project, Biggers also designed a pavilion to contain this mural, drawing inspiration from the homes of the Dogon people of Mali. The mural itself features scenes from Adair's life interspersed with Biggers's own Afrocentric iconography.
John Woodrow Wilson, a sculptor, painter, and printmaker from Roxbury, MA, was known for his creative portraits and stylistic approach to social justice. "Adolescence" is a sketch depiction of the social interiorities of urban life. A young boy faces the viewer in the foreground while groups of people socialize in the background.
This is a brochure from Lawndale Art Center advertising, among other things, the Otabenga Jones & Associates’ exhibition Symmetrical Patterns of Def. Made up of members Dawolu Jabari Anderson, Jamal Cyrus, Kenya Evans and Robert A. Pruitt, the collective was formed to harness the group's creativity and provide them an entry-point into the art world. The four met and became friends in Harvey Johnson’s drawing class at Texas Southern University.
Dr. Eddie Jordan, Sr., was a Southern artist from Wichita Falls, TX. "African Decree" is a metal sculpture of a humanoid figure. It has two legs with feet that stand on stilts and a middle section of the body with vertically stacked bolts. Sculpted metal parts extend to mimic arms, and the spiraled metal pieces represent coiled hair.
Dr. Eddie Jordan, Sr. was a Southern artist from Wichita Falls, TX. "African Female and Animal" is a wooden assemblage of its namesake made from repurposed furniture.
Ellis Wilson was an artist from Mayfield, KY. "Allen" is a portrait depicting a shirtless, seated Black man wearing an aviator hat. The subject is leaning against the backrest of a wooden chair with his arms crossed, looking away from the viewer.
Henri Linton was an artist and art professor from Tuscaloosa, AL. "Alone" depicts a melancholy woman sitting in a chair. The muted blue background emphasizes her solemnity as she rests her head in solitude.
Cornett's work shows Stokely Carmichael with angelic features amidst raised hands. He was a key civil rights activist, a leader of the SNCC, and popularized the term "Black Power." He spoke at Texas Southern one month prior to the TSU Invasion, when Houston police invaded the campus, fired 5,000 rounds into dormitories, and arrested 488 students.
Walter Washington Smith was an artist who often painted religious scenes and created city signs and posters from Clearfield, PA. However, "April Blizzard" indicates Smith's variability as it depicts a residential neighborhood during a blizzard. The sidewalk, open and empty street, and a house behind four barren trees are covered in blowing snow.
Lacy’s mural depicts houses from a variety of different civilizations and cultures, ranging from small circular huts to step pyramids. The center structure is a depiction of the terracotta sculpture she created under the instruction of Professor Carroll Harris Simms.
Lacy’s terracotta tower sculpture features cut-outs throughout the body. The top bears an abstract, smiling face with conical ears. The work is decorated with spirals and rolled balls of clay, both of which are among the signature embellishments used by students of Professor Simms. Lacy features this sculpture prominently in her Hannah Hall mural, where it appears as a building.
John Howard was an artist from Alcorn, MS. "Arkansas Landscape" shows a red house with a wooden gate, five posted signs, and six mailboxes in the foreground. The house is surrounded by dark green grass, leading to a mountaintop in the background. A sign pinned to a tree reads “For Sale” along with other titled signs throughout the landscape.
Johnny Jones’s sculpture, “Armadillo,” features decorative embellishments along the body of the animal, especially the shell. The spiral motif is often found on the sculptures of student artists taught by Carroll Harris Simms. Armadillos, which utilize their shells for protection, are commonly found in Texas.
Alvin Smith was an artist from Brooklyn, NY. "As in an Arctic Sunrise" is an abstract depiction of the sunrise in a frozen landscape. Muted yellows shine through an array of black, white, and muted blues.
Gregory L. Ridley, Jr., was an artist from Smyrna, TN. "Asleep in Stone" is a marble sculpture of a person asleep. The subject's face is subtly carved into the marble, giving the impression that the subject is not separate from the stone.
This Biggers print shows a person's head surrounded by animals and a checkerboard. Checkerboards and swirls are common motifs in Biggers' work, which he referred to as sacred geometry. The pictured animals are symbolic; for instance, tortoises represent longevity and rabbits represent bad omens.
John Payne was an artist from New Orleans, LA. "Awaiting the Welfare Agents" is a mixed-media depiction of a traditional family with pensive expressions. They are sitting together preparing for a visit from a representative of the Department of Human Services.
Gordon’s mural examines her own life and personal development. A wispy fabric running through the mural serves as a metaphor for her emerging self-awareness; this motif is found in some of her other works. Gordon’s mural showcases herself working on several art projects from her undergraduate period.
Franklin Shands was a painter from Cincinnati, Ohio. "Back Way" shows the rear view of conjoined brick buildings with chimneys, a staircase, and a balcony. A door sits at the center of the painting, with four stacked barrels on the right.
Romeyn van Vleck Lippman was a 19th-century painter and educator. "Baptismal (I Give This Child to Baptism)" depicts a religious scene of a woman preparing to baptize a girl. Both female subjects are dark-skinned and standing in water, dressed in white, under a dark blue sky. The woman is wearing a red kerchief, and the girl's is white.
Samella Sanders Lewis was a printmaker, painter, sculptor, and art historian from New Orleans, LA. "Barrier" is a drawing that depicts the physical and social barriers between groups of people. In the foreground, three women and a boy suspiciously look at a group of townspeople who return their stare from the other side of a barbed wire fence.
This work by Allen shows two basketball players reaching up for a jump ball amidst a run-down, graffiti-covered warehouse. The scene has minimal color, save for the graffiti, which enhances the abandoned atmosphere. Allen is an alumnus of Texas Southern and focuses on highlighting the Black experience in his work, often creating collages that include sports imagery.
