Faith Ringgold

Art Brokerage: Faith Ringgold American Artist: b. 1930-2024. Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930 in Harlem, New York City) is an African American artist, best known for her painted story quilts. She is professor emeritus in the University of California, San Diego visual art department. Dedicated to innovative art forms that express black cultural awareness, Faith Ringgold uses soft sculpture figures and painted hanging pieces in performance art. Her sculptures displayed together give the appearance of being African masks with much finished work of beading, stitchery, and fabrics. She was born (1930) and raised in Harlem, New York, and married a jazz musician and raised two children. She divorced, finished college, and earned a Master's Degree at City College of New York and there, influenced by Robert Gwathmey and Yasuo Kuniyoshi, decided to become a full-time artist. Her first work were western themes, but she did not relate to this subject matter and turned to the civil rights and African themes, completing in 1967 a mural of abstracted forms and harsh patterns titled Die, of a street riot. She modeled her "story quilts" on the Buddhist Thangkas, lovely pictures painted on fabric and quilted or brocaded, which could then be easily rolled up and transported. She has influenced numerous modern artists, including Linda Freeman, and known some of the greatest African American artists personally, including Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Betye Saar. Her work is in the permanent collection of many museums including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and other museums, mostly in New York City. Sadly, this artist passed away April 13, 20024. Listings wanted.