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James Amos Porter Self-Portrait

James Amos Porter Self-Portrait
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
James Amos Porter, 22 Dec 1905 - 28 Feb 1970
Sitter
James Amos Porter, 22 Dec 1905 - 28 Feb 1970
Date
1957
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Stretcher: 76.4 × 56.2cm (30 1/16 × 22 1/8")
Frame: 90.8 × 70 × 8.4 cm (35 3/4 × 27 9/16 × 3 5/16")
Topic
Home Furnishings\Furniture\Seating\Chair
Interior\Interior with Exterior View
Art implements\Paintbrush
Architecture\Building
Self-portrait
James Amos Porter: Male
James Amos Porter: Literature\Writer
James Amos Porter: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter
James Amos Porter: Education and Scholarship\Educator\Professor\University
James Amos Porter: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter\Muralist
James Amos Porter: Visual Arts\Art historian
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Dorothy Porter Wesley
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
NPG.92.31
Exhibition Label
Born Baltimore, Maryland
An influential artist and art historian, James A. Porter founded the field of African American art history. He chaired Howard University’s Art Department and directed the university’s art gallery from 1953 until his death in 1970. Porter championed unrecognized African American artists through organized exhibitions and published work. His influential Modern Negro Art (1943) placed African American art in the context of the history of modernism for the first time. Porter studied in France, Cuba, and Haiti and traveled in West Africa, Egypt, and Brazil. These trips abroad influenced his work, which was included during his lifetime in exhibitions at major institutions, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Nacido en Baltimore, Maryland
El influyente pintor e historiador del arte James A. Porter fundó el campo de la historia del arte afroamericano. Dirigió el Departamento de Arte de la Universidad Howard, y la galería de exposiciones de dicha institución, desde 1953 hasta su muerte en 1970. A través de sus publicaciones y las exposiciones que organizaba, Porter también promovió a numerosos artistas afroamericanos ignorados. Su prestigioso libro Modern Negro Art (1943) ubicó por primera vez al arte afroamericano en el contexto de la historia del modernismo. Porter estudió en Francia, Cuba y Haití, y viajó por el oeste de África, Egipto y Brasil. Estos periplos por el extranjero influenciaron su obra pictórica, la cual en vida del artista fue expuesta en importantes instituciones como Corcoran Gallery of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts y Museum of Modern Art.
Provenance
The artist; his wife Dorothy Porter Wesley, Washington, D.C.; gift 1992 to NPG
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view