CHARLES ALSTON

Alston (1907-1977) was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and grew up in Harlem. On his first job in 1929 Alston directed a boys' club for the Children's Aid Society in Harlem, where his young art students included Jacob Lawrence and Robert Blackburn. The painter and sculptor is best known as an instructor at the Art Students League (1950-1971) and at the City College of New York (1974-1977).

EDWARD M. BANNISTER

Bannister (1828-1901) was born in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, and settled in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1871 and was a founder and active member of the Providence Art Club. Bannister became the first African American artist to receive a national award when he won a first prize at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 for his painting "Under the Oaks." Bannister sketched in pencil, charcoal, chalk, and painted watercolor drawings of his favorite subjects (landscapes with cattle, brambles, and rolling clouds), figure studies, seascapes, and biblical scenes.

ROMARE BEARDEN

Bearden (1914-1988) was born in the Charlotte, North Carolina, but spent most of his life in New York City, where he developed an artistic reputation that probably surpasses any other modern African American artist. During his career as a painter, he experimented with different media and styles as a social realist, a cubist, and an abstract expressionist. He is best known as a collagist, which often reflected his southern background, and always reflected his African American heritage. He worked in Harlem during the 1920s, received a degree in mathematics from New York University in 1935, and then decided to become an artist. He studied with George Grosz at the Art Students League, and his first paintings, on large sheets of brown paper, recalled his memories of the South. In 1945, after serving in the Army, he exhibited in Washington and New York and began to gain a national reputation.

CLAUDE CLARK

Clark (1915- ) was born in Georgia. His art maintains a link to folk activity and his African American heritage. His paintings, such as "Slave Lynching," tend to be simple and direct, leading the viewer to see the obvious social commentary.

AARON DOUGLAS

Douglas(1899-1979) was the leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance, known especially for his striking murals in libraries and other public buildings. These murals usually depicted significant events and people in African American history. For almost thirty years Douglas was head of the Department of Art at Fisk University, influencing a great many students, including a number who were to become prominent African American artists.