#SamellaLewis
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“Cleo” by Samella Lewis (American) – Offset color lithograph / 1996 – Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, California) #WomenInArt #SamellaLewis #CrockerArtMuseum #Lithograph #AfricanAmericanArt #BlackArt #art #artText #BlackArtist #ArtoftheDay #arte #AfricanAmericanArtist #1990sArt #PortraitofaWoman
A young Black woman stands quietly before a geometric background. Her dark face is framed by pale, intricately patterned hair, with a thin yellow outline drawing attention to her features. Her large eyes gaze slightly upward towards us, while her expression remains solemn. She wears a white blouse with a rounded collar and a blue skirt as her dark hands gently hold the flower stems. Behind her, blocks of gold, blue-green, and deep brown form the suggestion of a cross or crossroad giving her a dignified, almost sacred presence. The meaning of “Cleo” is especially interesting because American artist Samella Lewis’s grandson Unity Lewis, revealed that Cleo had been one of his grandmother’s nicknames. He suggested that the youthful figure might represent a symbolic self-portrait. The name also recalls Clio, the Greek muse of history, whose mother was Mnemosyne, the personification of memory. Unity interpreted the yellow glow surrounding the face as a sign of enlightenment, the flowers as symbols of strength and renewal, and the cross as a possible reference to sacrifices made by earlier generations. These interpretations connect the image to remembrance, identity, and the preservation of cultural history. African American artist Samella Lewis was a pioneering printmaker, painter, educator, and art historian whose career transformed the recognition of Black artists in the U.S. Born in segregated New Orleans, she studied with the influential artist Elizabeth Catlett before earning advanced degrees in art history. With fellow artist Ruth G. Waddy, she published the groundbreaking Black Artists on Art volumes beginning in 1969, giving Black artists a platform to discuss their own work. She also founded the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles in 1976 and established an important scholarly journal devoted to African American art. Throughout her life, she challenged the exclusion of Black artists, particularly women, from art institutions and historical accounts.
November 5, 2026 at 3:04 AM
outlived.org
Died #otd Samella Lewis (1923-2022), American visual artist, 3 years ago today #SamellaLewislife story...
May 27, 2025 at 7:45 AM