Visual Artist, Novelist and Poet Barbara Chase-Riboud

In celebration of Black History Month, throughout February I'm sharing with you three women artists who have made significant contributions to the art world:

• sculptor and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett
• painter Alma Woodsey Thomas
• artist, novelist and painter Barbara Chase-Riboud

This week I'm excited to introduce you to:

Visual Artist, Novelist and Poet Barbara Chase-Riboud

Barbara Chase-Riboud with Malcolm X Stele (USAToday)

Barbara Chase (b. 1939) was born in Philadelphia and at age 8 began attending the Fleisher Art Memorial School. In 1957 Chase-Riboud received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Temple University in 1957, studied at the American Academy in Rome, and received her Master's Degree in Design and Architecture from Yale University in 1960. Since 1961 Chase-Riboud has lived abroad in Paris, and spends extensive time traveling.

Starting out as a sculptor and painter, Chase-Riboud published her first novel Sally Hemings in 1979, and her novels and poetry have sold millions of copies and inspired a TV mini-series, plays and major films. Despite living all her adult life abroad, including marrying twice and raising two sons in France, most of Chase-Riboud's works focus on life in the United States.

Barbara Chase-Riboud The Malcolm X Steles

I don't write as a white or black woman; neither do I write about "white" or "black" characters. I write about human beings and the human condition, which is universal.

~ Barbara Chase-Riboud, 2010, Historical Novels 

Barbara Chase-Riboud's works include:

• Le Lit drawing series,1966
• 13 Malcolm X sculptures, begun in 1969
• Book of poetry From Memphis & Peking,1974
• Novel Sally Hemings, 1979
• Book of poetry Portrait of a Nude Woman as Cleopatra, 1987
• Novel Echo of Lions, 1989
• Roman Egyptien, poetry written in French, 1994
• Monument Drawings, 1996-97
• Sojourner Truth Monument, 1999

Barbara Chase-Riboud exhibits and honors include:

• solo exhibition was at the Galleria L'Obelisco at the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy, 1957
• John Hay Whitney Fellowship, 1957
• Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for the best novel written by an American woman Sally Hemings, 1979
• Carl Sandburg Prize for Poetry 1988
• knighted by the French Government and received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 1996 
• commissioned by the United States General Services Administration for the memorial Africa Rising, at the African Burial Ground National Monument NYC, 1979
• won an important copyright decision, Granville Burgess vs. Chase-Riboud, 1991
• honorary Doctorate of Letters from Muhlenberg College, 1993
• James Van Der Zee Award for lifetime achievement, 1995
• honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Connecticut, 1996
• American Library Association Black Caucus Award for fiction for her novel Hottentot Venus, 2005
• Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007
• Philadelphia Museum of Art presented Barbara Chase-Riboud: The Malcolm X Steles, 2013

Sojourner Truth by Barbara Chase-Riboud

For more works by Barbara Chase-Riboud

visit my Pinterest Board African American Female Artists

à la prochaine,

Shirley

3 Female African American Artists You'll Want to Discover

In honor of Black History Month, I want to share with you three women artists who have made

Mother and Child by Elizabeth Catlett
courtesy of www.elizabethcatlett.org

contributions to the art scene. As a female African American artists who has lived and traveled around the world, I'm inspired by the many people I have met on my travels, and am excited to share with you three African American female artists who represent the many black visual artists I have met.

During February I will be sharing with you the artistry of three female African American artists:

• sculptor and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett
• painter Alma Woodsey Thomas
• artist, novelist and painter Barbara Chase-Riboud

This week I'm honored to share the works of:

Sculptor and Printmaker Elizabeth Catlett

Elizabeth Catlett, artist
courtesy of www.elizabethcatlett.org

Born in Washington D.C. Elizabeth Catlett is best remembered for the political sculptures and prints she created during the 60s and 70s. Catlett earned her MFA at the University of Iowa, where her mentor artist Grant Wood influenced her to to focus on African American subjects, especially black women.

After a brief art teaching career and move to Harlem, she married her second husband, Mexican artist Francisco Mora; and permanently moved to Mexico where she raised her children. She taught and became head of the sculpture department at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, as well as worked with other artists to use their art to encourage social change.

Her political outspokenness about the plights of African Americans - including picketing, protesting and arrests - and becoming a Mexican citizen resulted in being banned from returning to the US for 10 years.

Are we here to communicate? Are we here for cultural interchange? Then let us not be narrow. Let us not be small or selfish. Let us aspire to be as great in our communication as the forefathers of our people who's struggles made our being here possible.

~ Elizabeth Catlett, 1961, Washington D.C., address to

The Third Annual Meeting of the National Conference of Negro Artists 

Catlett's works include:

• Sharecropper

  

  Louis Armstron by Elizabeth Catlett
  courtesy of www.elizabethcatlett.org

• Malcolm X Speaks For Us
• Dancing Figure
• The Black Woman Speaks
• Target
• The Singing Head
• Statue of Louis Armstrong in Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans
• Ralph Ellison Memorial in West Harlem, NYC
• Children of Flowers in the National Mall, Washington DC
• Sculpture of Mahalia Jackson in New Orleans

In addition to her formal education, Elizabeth Catlett received the following honors:

• Women's Caucus for Art
• Elizabeth Catlett Week in Berkley, California
• Elizabeth Catlett Day in Cleveland, Ohio
• Honorary Doctorate from Pace University, NYC
• Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award
• Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, PA
• Jazz piece Quiet Pride about her sculptures by musician Rufus Reid
• NCAA Image Awards 2009

For more photos of works by Elizabeth Catlett 

visit my Pinterest Board African American Female Artists

Next week, I look forward to sharing  you the artistry of  Alma Woodsey Thomas.

• Alma Woodsey Thomas
• Barbara Chase-Riboud

à la prochaine,

Shirley