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.
This rare pot is an original work of Yvonne and Curtis Tucker, a ceramic artist duo who developed a new art form, Afro-Raku. Their collaboration spanned 26 years and focused on honoring the past and the Black diaspora through West African spirituality. This pot, “Sunday Sister,” was meant to identify women as a classical, beautiful vessel.
The Kings Procession brass sculpture vividly depicts a ceremonial parade, celebrating the rich traditions and cultural heritage of African royalty. Crafted with intricate detail, it showcases figures adorned in regal attire, emphasizing community and leadership.
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.
In this entry, Margaret Walker is writing from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is reacting to the assassanation that day of Martin Luther King Jr., writing, “May God have mercy on us! What will happen next?” This page also reflects her doodling, which can be found across the entire collection of her journals.
Ashanti Alston, a Black Liberation Army (BLA) member who was imprisoned for 11 years for a robbery to raise money for the BLA, says that he is getting big and his beard is too. He mentions his attempt to draw Nina Simone and says that the photo is two years old. The note is dated September 17th with no year listed.
William Artis was a sculptor from Washington, DC. "A Terra-Cotta Head" is a bust of a woman with a solemn expression. The bust has a slight head tilt with an elongated neck.
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.
Signature fusion of urban expressionism and folk art. The horses, are a recurring symbol in his work, represent freedom, movement, and resistance. Created with bold, layered brushstrokes on reclaimed wood, the piece embodies themes of liberation and struggle, often inspired by the energy and challenges of inner-city life.
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.
This rare, highly revered royal mask originates from the Kuba tribe in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Because the Kuba saw the elephant as a symbol of wealth and leadership, the mask is modeled after an elephant’s trunk and embellished with cowrie beads (which only royalty could handle in exchange for valuable ivory).
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.
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.
Hale Aspacio Woodruff was an artist and art educator known for his murals, paintings, and prints from Cairo, IL. "Dissipation," the third panel in the Art of the Negro mural series, portrays the theft and disruption of African art and culture by Europeans through colonization.
Hale Aspacio Woodruff was an artist and art educator known for his murals, paintings, and prints from Cairo, IL. "Influences," the fifth panel in the Art of the Negro mural series, conveys the role of traditional African art in the development of 20th-century Western art movements.
Hale Aspacio Woodruff was an artist and art educator known for his murals, paintings, and prints from Cairo, IL. "Interchange," the second panel in the Art of the Negro mural series, depicts Africans exchanging knowledge of arts and sciences in antiquity.
