Oil on canvas, 1955, signed and dated at upper right, matted and framed.

Stretcher size 19 x 30 in. Frame dimensions 25 1/4 x 36 1/4 in.

From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.

Born in Georgia to a family of sharecroppers, David C. Driskell was a renowned painter and scholar of art. He has authored several books, over 40 catalogues, and essays on African American art which have appeared in major publications throughout the world.

Driskell studied at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, received his undergraduate degree in art at Howard University in 1955, and a Masters in Fine Arts from Catholic University in 1962. He joined the faculty of the Department of Art at the University of Maryland in 1977, and served as its Chair from 1978 to 1983. He was a practicing artist from the 1950s and after, and his works can be found in the National Gallery of Art, the High Museum of Art, and Yale University Art Gallery.

In 1976, Driskell curated the groundbreaking exhibit “Two Centuries of Black American Art: 1750-1950” which laid the foundation for the field of African American Art History. Since 1977, Prof. Driskell has served as cultural advisor to Camille O. and William H. Cosby and as the curator of the Cosby Collection of Fine Arts. In 2000, in a White House Ceremony, Prof. Driskell received the National Humanities Medal from President Bill Clinton. In 2007, he was elected as a National Academician by the National Academy. (Courtesy of the David C. Driskell Center).



Minor age cracking and light grime, small area of instability to the center of the work with slight flaking, otherwise good estate condition.