Friday, May 1, 2009

Painting African-American Life Part 2


Another one of my favorite African-American artist is William Tolliver. Tolliver is probably not as well known as Jacob Lawrence but I feel his work should be put on the same level.

Like Lawrence he was self-taught for the most part. Tolliver was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh. He admired Van Gogh’s use of color and light. Unlike Van Gogh’s farmers of Holland,Tolliver’s subjects were from the Mississippi Delta.

He eventually gained the reputation of one of America’s most renown artists and has been compared to other African-American artist, Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden. Tolliver has stated that “art is a means of documenting one’s history.” Like Lawrence his subjects are often taken from his daily observations.

His works is in the permanent collections of private owners, the Corcoran Museum, McKissick Museum, Hampton University Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art and the Zigler Museum.

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