David C. Driskell (b. 1931, Eatonton, GA, d. 2020, Hyattsville, MD) was a legendary African American artist, art historian, curator, and educator. As an artist, scholar, and curator, he made substantial contributions to these fields that transformed the understanding of African American art. His paintings and collages unite a strong modernist impulse with personal vision, memory, spirituality, and cultural history. Driskell transformed iconic African art forms into personal visions with his distinctive style, vibrant colors, layered surfaces, and calligraphic gestures, melding these forms with Modernist aesthetics and Western art traditions. His work reflects his Southern upbringing, travels throughout Africa, and deep connection to the landscape of Maine, while exploring nature, abstraction, Christian devotional imagery, African traditions, and jazz. In addition to being a practicing artist, Driskell’s scholarship and curatorial work were foundational to the field of African American art history. He curated more than 35 exhibitions, including the groundbreaking Two Centuries of Black American Art, which opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 1976 and subsequently traveled to the High Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, and Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition introduced many audiences to artists including Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, and Alma Thomas. Driskell was also a dedicated educator for nearly four decades, teaching at Talladega College, Howard University, Fisk University, and the University of Maryland, where he remained until his retirement in 1998. Among his notable students were Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Sylvia Snowden, Terry Adkins, Shaun Leonardo, and Jefferson Pinder. He maintained important connections to the Bay Area, where he exhibited at Bomani Gallery and developed lasting relationships with artists and scholars including Keith Morrison and Allan M. Gordon. Driskell received numerous honors throughout his career, including recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Humanities Medal in 2000, and the Skowhegan Lifetime Legacy Award in 2016. In 2005, the High Museum of Art established the David C. Driskell Prize, the first national award honoring contributions to the field of African American art by a scholar or artist. His works are held in prominent collections including the National Gallery of Art, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, High Museum of Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and Portland Museum of Art.
