David Driskell was a pioneering scholar of African American art. He was for many years on the faculty of the department of art at the University of Maryland, where he was awarded the title of Distinguished University Professor. In 2002, the university opened the David C. Driskell Center, for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora.
In addition to curating major exhibitions, such as Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art, 1800–1950 (1985) and Harlem Renaissance: Art of Black America (1987), Driskell reached audiences through numerous lectures and television presentations. In 1977, CBS commissioned him to make “Hidden Heritage: The Roots of African American Painting,” a film he both wrote and narrated.
Driskell was also an accomplished artist, best known for his brightly colored abstract paintings that were often inspired by the natural world surrounding his summer studio in rural Maine. A major retrospective of his work is scheduled to open at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta (2021) before traveling to the Portland Museum of Art in Maine and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
Clarice Smith, who made this portrait in 2006, was one of many artists and art historians to study with Driskell during his long career. He informally mentored several other arts professionals who have since gone on to help establish the field of African American art history at institutions across the country—and around the world.
