Femi Lewis: This week's newsletter features 4 African-American visual artists: Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Augusta Savage & Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller

Romare Bearden (1912-1988)

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000)
www.biography.com

Augusta Savage (1892-1962)

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877-1968)

About.com African American History

Femi Lewis

Romare Bearden

Visual artist Romare Bearden portrayed African-American life and culture in various artistic mediums. Bearden’s work as a cartoonist, painter, and collage artist spanned the Great Depression and post-Civil Rights Movement. Following his death in 1988, The New York Times wrote in its obituary of Bearden that he was “one of America’s most pre-eminent artists” and “the nation’s foremost collagist.”

Jacob Lawrence

In 1941 a young African-American artist began creating a series of paintings that would one day make him be described as "one of America's leading modern figurative painters" who was "among the most impassioned visual chroniclers of the African-American experience." His name was Jacob Lawrence and the 60 panel series of paintings was known as the Migration Series for its depiction of the great migration.

Augusta Savage

Augusta Savage’s sculpture, Gamin, depicts an African-American boy living during the Great Depression. Savage began her career as a sculptor during the Harlem Renaissance. Although Savage received financial and professional support from men such as W.E.B. DuBois, she still battled racism and discrimination in the mainstream art world. Yet, she persevered and was able to work as an artist and later established the Harlem Community Art Center.

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller was a true Renaissance woman. Fuller was a painter, poet and sculptor. Her artistry explored and celebrated Afrocentric themes.