International Review of African American Art Volume 8 Number 4

Samella Sanders Lewis (born February 27, 1924) is an African-American creative person, and fine art historian. She works primarily equally a printmaker and painter. She has been chosen the "Godmother of African American Art".^[1] She received Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Accomplishment from the College Art Association (CAA) in 2021.^[2]

"Art is not a luxury as many people think – it is a necessity.  It documents history – it helps educate people and stores cognition for generations to come up." – Dr. Samella Lewis^[1]

Early life and background [edit]

Lewis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Widely exhibited and collected as an artist herself, Lewis is ameliorate known as a historian, critic and collector of art, especially African-American art. Lewis has completed four degrees, five films, vii books and a substantial body of artworks which have received critical respect. She pursued an art caste starting off at Dillard University in 1941, only left Dillard for Hampton Institute in Virginia, earning her master's degree in 1947. She earned her B.A. degree at Hampton University, then completed her master and doctorate in art history and cultural anthropology at the Ohio Country University in 1951.^[iii] Lewis is the offset female person African American to earn a doctorate in fine art and art history.^[four]

While finishing her doctorate, Lewis taught fine art at Morgan State Academy.^[v] Lewis became the outset Chair of the Fine Arts Section at Florida A&M Academy in 1953;^[6] that same year Lewis too became the first African American to convene the National conference of African American artists held at Florida A&Chiliad University.^[seven] She was a professor at the State University of New York, California State University, Long Beach, and at Scripps College in Claremont, California. She co-founded, with Bernie Casey, the Contemporary Crafts Gallery in Los Angeles in 1970.^[3] In 1973, she served on the selection committee for the exhibition BLACKS: USA: 1973 held at the New York Cultural Center.^[8]

Lewis's grandson is Bay Area creative person and musician Unity Lewis.^{[4] [9]} He plans to create a contemporary version of Samella Lewis'southward itemize Black Artists on Art, which featured black artists not typically showcased in mainstream art galleries and sold thousands of copies.^[ix] "I wanted to brand a chronology of African American artists, and artists of African descent, to certificate our history. The historians weren't doing information technology. I felt it better the artists exercise information technology anyway, through pictorial and written information… It was really about the movement," Samella Lewis said of the book published in 1969 and 1971.^[10]

In 1960-70s, Samella Lewis belonged to a group of artists that would run across every month.^[7]

Lewis has been collecting art since the year 1942. She mostly collects art from WPA and the Harlem Renaissance.^[7]

Career [edit]

In the 1960s–1970s her work, which includes lithographs, linocuts, and serigraphs, reflected humanity and liberty. Between 1969-70, Lewis and E.J. Montgomery were consultants for a "ground breaking" exhibition creating awareness to the history of African American history and fine art.^[7]

Lewis is the founder of the International Review of African American Art in 1975. In 1976, she founded the Museum of African-American Art^[11] with a group of artistic, academic, business and customs leaders in Los Angeles, California.^[3] These founders had similar goals including increasing the public'southward awareness of African American art. Many individual and corporations, such as Macy'due south, made generous donations to the museum.^[12] Lewis, as the staff's senior curator in the museum, not only organized great numbers of exhibitions but as well developed various ways of educating the public on African American arts. In an commodity, she discussed the ideas of "art of tradition", and argued that museums had the responsibility to explore the African roots of African American art.^[xiii] The museum operates on donations in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza with staff and volunteers who are dedicated to supporting the museum. Lewis once mentioned an "art of inspiration" based on the experiences of African Americans themselves.^[14] Lewis founded three other museums in the Los Angeles, California. She also has a museum westward of Mississippi.^[7]

She is an NAACP member, and a collector of fine art with her collection including African, Chinese, Asian, Southward American and other art. Some of the art that Lewis has collected was transferred to the Hampton Institute, now the University Museum.^[7]

In 1984, she produced a monograph on the artist Elizabeth Catlett,^[7] who had been one of Lewis'southward mentors at Dillard University.^[15]

In 2015, Unity Lewis and art entrepreneur Trevor Parham created The Legacy Exhibit, which featured 3 generations of blackness fine artists, including gimmicky artists as well as some included in the original "Black Artists on Art." The show launched their recruitment efforts for 500 blackness American artists to participate in the updated volumes.^[9]

Exhibitions [edit]

• 1969: Samella Lewis and Geroge Ballyhoo, Brockman Gallery, Los Angeles
• 1980: Solo Exhibition, University Matrimony Gallery, California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, California
• 1980: Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition, The states and Canada
• 1981: Solo exhibition, Pasadena Urban center College, Pasadena, California
• 1981: Solo exhibition, University of California, San Diego
• 1984: African American Art in Atlanta, Public and Corporate Collections, High Museum of Fine art, Atlanta, Georgia
• 1984: Solo exhibition, Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles, California
• 2011: Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California^[16]

Awards and recognition [edit]

• 1962: Fulbright Fellowship to study Asian civilisation at First Institute of Chinese Culture and Tung Mai Academy, Taiwan
• 1964-65: National Defense Education Human action postdoctoral fellow at Academy of Southern California, studying Chinese language and Asian civilization
• 1995: UNICEF Honour for the Visual Arts
• 1996-97: Named a Distinguished Scholar by the Getty Heart for the History of Art and Humanities
• 1993: Charles White lifetime Achievement Laurels
• 2003: The History Maker Award
• 2004: Special Twenty-four hours Recognition Award for Outstanding Contributions from the Metropolis of New Orleans
• 2005: Alumni Association Award from the Ohio State Academy
• 2021: Distinguished Creative person Laurels for Lifetime Achievement from the College Art Clan^[two]

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} Robinson, Shantay (19 March 2019). "Dr. Samella Lewis: The Godmother of African American Art". www.blackartinamerica.com . Retrieved 16 Feb 2021.
2. ^ ^{a b} Durón, Maximilíano (2021-02-12). "Samella Lewis, Artist and Historian Focused on Advancing Black Art, Awarded CAA'southward Highest Award". ARTnews.com . Retrieved 2021-02-15 .
3. ^ ^{a b c} Farrington, Lisa (2005). Creating their own image: the history of African-American women artists . Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN9780199767601.
4. ^ ^{a b} "Bay surface area artist hopes to establish himself at Kaneko Gallery". The American River Current . Retrieved 2017-02-06 .
5. ^ Lewis, Samella Southward. interviewee; Cándida Smith, Richard; Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, compiler; J. Paul Getty Trust, publisher (1999). Prototype and belief : Samella Lewis. Getty Research Found.
6. ^ "Fine Arts Program - Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University 2018". www.famu.edu . Retrieved 2018-ten-23 .
7. ^ ^{a b c d eastward f 1000} Harris, Juliette. "The international review of African American art". Samella Lewis: An Art Establishment in Her Own Right. eighteen: 14–15.
8. ^ "BLACKS: USA: 1973 Opens at the Cultural Heart". Chicago Metro News. 29 September 1973.
9. ^ ^{a b c} "Drummond: Oakland exhibit celebrates blackness fine art – The Mercury News". Retrieved 2017-02-06 .
10. ^ "Black Artists on Fine art: The Legacy Exhibit | OAKSTOP". oakstop.com . Retrieved 2017-02-06 .
11. ^ "THE MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN Fine art". www.maaala.org . Retrieved 2018-ten-23 .
12. ^ Duersten, Matthew (August 30, 2019). "Welcome To The Museum Of Black Art Tucked Away In A Crenshaw Mall". LAist . Retrieved 2020-10-07 .
13. ^ "Lewis, Samella 1924– - Dictionary definition of Lewis, Samella 1924– | Encyclopedia.com: Gratis online dictionary". www.encyclopedia.com . Retrieved 2017-02-06 .
14. ^ "The Museum of African American Art | Los Angeles". world wide web.maaala.org . Retrieved 2017-02-06 .
15. ^ "Samella Lewis | At present Dig This! digital archive | Hammer Museum". Hammer Museum . Retrieved 2018-x-23 .
16. ^ "At present Dig This!". Hammer Museum . Retrieved 3 March 2018.

Farther reading [edit]

• Lewis, Samella Due south. African American art and artists (Berkeley : University of California Press, 1990) ISBN 0-520-08788-7; ISBN 9780520087880; ISBN 0-520-08532-9; ISBN 9780520085329 (Worldcat link: [1])
• Samella S. Lewis; Ruth Grand. Waddy. Black Artists on Art (Los Angeles, Gimmicky Crafts Publishers, 1969) OCLC 48813 (Worldcat link: [2]

External links [edit]

• Academy of Delaware: Paul R. Jones Collection
• African American Museum of Dallas
• Tilford Art Group
• Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Samella S. Lewis papers, 1930-2010

obrienoppoichest.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samella_Lewis

Share this post