Discover more than 200 years of the history of Black American artists. Explore the earliest known portraits by Joshua Johnson from before the Civil War. Robert Duncanson, Edward Bannister, Edmonia Lewis, and Henry Ossawa Tanner are notable Black artists following the Civil War. We’ll examine Black artists from The Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, such as Archibald Motley, Aaron Douglas, and Augusta Savage. Artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Faith Ringgold, and Kehinde Wiley also represent the variety of Black artists from the 20th & 21st centuries.

Martha Chiarchiaro has brought history to life through the art of the times for more than 30 years. She received her Masters’ degree in the History of Art from Williams College and provides a variety of art history presentations at the Worcester Art Museum, for WISE (the Worcester Institute for Senior Education), garden clubs, and other organizations. As noted on her Seeing History website, Martha’s specialty presentations related to specific periods, artists, and activities provide an in-depth look at the life and times of people through their art.

image: Robert S. Duncanson, Landscape with Rainbow, 1859, Oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC