Outside the spotlight of the nation’s major museums and galleries, and in a longtime segregated school system, African American artist-educators in 20th-century Washington were unified not by a singular aesthetic vision but by a bold and deeply held commitment to inspiring a love of the arts in young people. These artists shared their gifts with their students in the face of the seemingly insurmountable challenges of underfunding, overcrowding and being overlooked.
“A Bold and Beautiful Vision: A Century of Black Arts Education in Washington, D.C., 1900–2000,” now on view at Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum, features captivating artworks, artifacts and rare video footage. It tells the story of the teachers, students and activists who made Washington, D.C., a center for Black arts education.
Washington produced some of the 20th century’s most talented artists, including musical icons Duke Ellington, Billy Taylor and Madame Lillian Evanti; visual artists Alma Thomas, Elizabeth Catlett and James A. Porter; and was home to artist-educators Sam Gilliam, Georgette Seabrooke Powell and Loïs Mailou Jones, among many others.
The exhibition draws heavily from the museum’s collection and features more than 85 objects and artworks, including:
• Original prints from the first solo exhibit of Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012), organized by one of the first Black-owned commercial art galleries in the nation, Washington’s Barnett-Aden Gallery; these same prints later hung for many years on the walls of Catlett’s alma mater, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.
• The custom-made Fischer piano of Madame Lillian Evanti (1890–1967), alumna of Washington’s Armstrong High School, a teacher and the first African American opera singer to perform with a major European opera company.
• The mid-century paintbrushes and watercolor paint set of longtime Washington educator and renowned painter Alma Thomas (1891–1978), donated to the Anacostia Community Museum by David C. Driskell.
• A lifelike marionette that longtime Washington artist and art educator William Buckner (1888–1984) made with his Armstrong High School students in the late 1930s.
• Several artworks by Sam Gilliam (1933–2022), including from the period when he was teaching at McKinley Technical High School (“Long Green,” 1965), another from much later in his career after he had been teaching college and was working on three-dimensional sculptures (“Daily Red,” 1998) and a third that is a cut of canvas he donated to the Anacostia Community Museum (c. 1989) to make available to visitors who would be interested in learning about his techniques.
• Late 1960s silkscreen prints by Lou Stovall (1937–2023) and Lloyd McNeill (1935–2021) created for a weekly concert series organized by the Adams Morgan-based youth arts organization, The New Thing Art and Architecture Center.
• A study drawing of a young James Baldwin by David C. Driskell (1931–2020), alongside artwork by Driskell’s mentors and longtime Howard University professors James A. Porter, Loïs Mailou Jones and James Lesesne Wells.
Visitors are encouraged to learn more about the exhibition and upcoming events by visiting the museum’s website: anacostia.si.edu
The Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum is located at 1901 Fort Pl SE Washington, DC 20020. It is open daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (except Dec. 25) free of charge. More information about the museum’s current exhibition and public programs can be found on the museum’s website at anacostia.si.edu.