African American Art and Artists » (Revised and Expanded Edition)

Samella Lewis is Professor Emerita of Art History, Scripps College, and the author of The Art of Elizabeth Catlett (2000) and Caribbean Visions: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture (1995).

"Beginning with the arts produced in the Colonial period, Dr. Lewis documents and interprets the flow of creative productions of an important segment of the American population. Her book shows that the range of art produced by African American artists covers the entire spectrum of craft productions through painting, sculpture, and printmaking. There is a progressive development of style that not only reflects the trends in particular periods, but reveals an evolving pattern of indigenous qualities that are distinct. The art community in general and the African American community in particular are fortunate to have Dr. Samella Lewis, for she has developed unusual authority in the area of African American art. I know that African American Art and Artists will be of great value educationally and that it will offer a stimulating and rewarding experience to all who have the opportunity to share in its contents."—Jacob Lawrence

Library Journal

This book belongs on the art reference shelf of every major library. A revised and updated edition of the 1978 work Art: African American, it presents short biographies and illustrations of the work of 176 artists of African descent working in the United States from the Revolution to the present. The strongest section covers artists, almost all of them painters, working from 1865 to 1960. Descriptions of artists after 1960 are a jumble of thoughtful three-page essays and uninformative three-sentence citations. Because this scholarly but readable work will be the starting point for so much research, the lack of annotations in the bibliography and the overall variability in the quality of citations is a major disappointment. Despite these flaws, this will be the book to reach for when African American art reference questions arise. Recommended for fine arts collections.-David McClelland, Temple Univ. Lib., Philadelphia