Dr. Samella Lewis is the first African American to earn a PHD in Fine Art and Art History. She is the founder of the MAAA, the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles, CA. The museum was founded in 1976 by noted artist and art historian Dr. Samella Lewis and a group of academic, artistic, business, and community leaders whose goal was to increase public awareness of African American art. The museum operates based on individual and corporate donations.
Lewis is also a published author, art historian and a former educator.Widely exhibited and collected as an artist herself, Lewis is better known as a historian, critic and collector of art, especially African-American art. Lewis has completed four degrees, five films, seven books and a substantial body of artworks which have received critical respect. She pursued an art degree starting off at Dillard University in 1941, but left Dillard for Hampton Institute in Virginia, earning her master’s degree in 1947. She earned her B.A. degree at Hampton University, then completed her master and doctorate in art history and cultural anthropology at the Ohio State University in 1951.
Lewis became chair of the Fine Arts Department at Florida A&M University in 1952; she was a professor at the State University of New York and at Scripps College in Claremont, California. She co-founded, with Bernie Casey, the Contemporary Crafts Gallery in Los Angeles in 1970. In 1973, she served on the selection committee for the exhibition BLACKS: USA: 1973 held at the New York Cultural Center.
Lewis is the founder of the International Review of African American Art in 1975. She founded the Museum of African-American Arts in 1986.
In the 1960s–1970s her work reflected humanity and freedom. She produced lithographs, linocuts, and serigraphs.**
A few years ago I visited the Oakstop in Oakland, CA and I had the pleasure of speaking with art entrepreneur Trevor Parham about an upcoming art show I was interested in curating. During our discussion, I told him about my interests in creating published material about art. He told me about his involvement with publications written by Samella Lewis, the first African American to earn a PHD in Fine Art and Art History, in creating published works about African American artists.
Books by Dr. Samella Lewis can be found
here. Sources:
She is my inspiration and one of many people who motivates me.
Thank you, Samella Lewis.
Images are not my own.
The information on this web-page is for educational and research purposes. Article entries and images are not my own. Please review sources and links above for more information. This blog post is for educational purposes only and for sharing valuable information to others interested in the arts.
Thank you.
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