Databases
- Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new window Provides online access to St. James Guide to Black Artists. Entries include listing of individual and group exhibitions, collections (museum, gallery) of works, videos, primary sources, and bibliography.
- Grove Art Online This link opens in a new window Grove Art Online is an encyclopedia covering both Western and non-Western art and all aspects of visual culture. Articles include bibliographies and searchable images. As part of Oxford Art Online, keywords also are simultaneously searched in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and The Oxford Companion to Western Art.
- American National Biography Online This link opens in a new window Biographical dictionary of notable deceased American men and women from all eras of American history. Includes illustrations and links to other web resources.
- AskART Academic This link opens in a new window AskART Academic is a database of information about artists, including names, birth and death dates, state or local affiliation, fields in which artist worked, book and periodical references to artist, dealers and museums where works may be viewed, auction prices of works, and some biographical details.
- The Art Story: African American Artists Biographies and analysis of work by African-American artists. Also explore the movement pages that include important innovators, especially The Harlem Renaissance and Identity Politics.
Books
African American Architects: a biographical dictionary, 1865-1945 by
African-American architects have been designing and building houses and public buildings since 1865. Although many of these structures survive today, the architects themselves are virtually unknown. This unique reference work brings their lives and work to light for the first time. Written by 100 experts ranging from architectural historians to archivists, this book contains 160 biographical, A-Z entries on African-American architects from the era of Emancipation to the end of World War II. Articles provide biographical facts about each architect, and commentary on his or her work. Practical and accessible, this reference is complemented by over 200 photographs and includes an appendix containing a list of buildings by geographic location and by architect.
Location: Mugar Stacks NA736 .A47 2004
African American Art and Artists by
Samella Lewis has brought African American Art and Artists fully up to date in this revised and expanded edition. The book now looks at the works and lives of artists from the eighteenth century to the present, including new work in traditional media as well as in installation art, mixed media, and digital/computer art. Mary Jane Hewitt, an author, curator, and longtime friend of Samella Lewis's, has written an introduction to the new edition. Generously and handsomely illustrated, the book continues to reveal the rich legacy of work by African American artists, whose art is now included in the permanent collections of national and international museums as well as in major private collections.
Location: Mugar Stacks N6538.N5 L38 2003
African American National Biography by
The African American National Biography will present history through a mosaic of the lives of thousands of individuals, illuminating the abiding influence of persons of African descent on the life of this nation from the arrival of Esteban in Spanish Florida in 1529 through to notable blackcitizens of the present day. Available initially as a handsome 8-volume set containing over 4,000 entries written and signed by distinguished scholars, the AANB will continue to grow along with the field of African American biographical research, and continuous updates to the online edition will bring the total number of livesprofiled to more than 5,000. This is a remarkable achievement, an eightfold increase over the number of biographies contained in 2004's award-winning and substantial African American Lives. In addition to Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr., the AANB will include a wide range of African Americans from all time periods and all walks of life, both famous and nearly-forgotten. In the words of AANB editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "Thesestories, long buried in the dusty archives of history, will never be lost again. And that is what scholarship in the field of African American Studies should be all about."
Location: Mugar Reference X E185.96 .A4466 2008
Encyclopedia of African American Artists [20th & 21st centuries] by
African American heritage is rich with stories of family, community, faith, love, adaptation and adjustment, grief, and suffering, all captured in a variety of media by artists intimately familiar with them. From traditional media of painting and artists such as Horace Pippin and Faith Ringgold, to photography of Gordon Parks, and new media of Sam Gilliam and Martin Puryear (installation art), the African American experience is reflected across generations and works. Eight pages of color plates and black and white images throughout the book introduce both favorite and new artists to students and adult readers alike. African American heritage is rich with stories of family, community, faith, love, adaptation and adjustment, grief, and suffering, all captured in a variety of media by artists intimately familiar with them. From traditional media of painting and artists such as Horace Pippin and Faith Ringgold, to photography of Gordon Parks, and new media of Sam Gilliam and Martin Puryear (installation art), the African American experience is reflected across generations and works. Eight pages of color plates and black and white images throughout the book introduce both favorite and new artists to students and adult readers alike. A sampling of the artists included: Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Achamyele Debela, and Melvin Edwards.
Location: Mugar Reference X N6538.N5 J44 2009
Gumbo YaYa: anthology of contemporary African-American women artists by Location: Mugar Stacks N6538.N5 G85 1995
St. James Guide to Black Artists by
Also available online via Biography in Context.
Profiles 400 prominent 20th-century artists. African American artists make up 75 per cent of the entries, while artists from the Caribbean, Africa and around the world complete this volume. A limited number of influential masters from the 19th century are represented. The guide covers artists working in visual arts, including painting, sculpture, printmaking and photography. Each descriptive entry provides: a concise biography; lists of both individual and group exhibitions; a listing of public galleries and museums that have the work of the entrant in their permanent collection; a bibliography of books and articles by and about the entrant; and a critical evaluation. A photograph of the artist and/or his or her work often accompanies the entry. Comments from the artists themselves regarding their work or the art precede the contributor's essay.
Location: Mugar Stacks N40 .S78 1997; also online in Biography in Context
Black Photographers, 1840-1940 : an illustrated bio-bibliography by Location: Mugar Stacks TR139 .W55 1985
Browse by subject African American artists - Biography
Interviews
- HistoryMakers: African American Video Oral History Collection This link opens in a new window HistoryMakers is a collection of video oral history interviews with historically significant African Americans. Transcripts are included with the interviews.
- ARTbibliographies Modern This link opens in a new window Search for your artist and limit to "interview."
- YouTube General search: African American artist interview
Click image for YouTube interview.
