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Legendary Black Artists

6 artworks from 6 artists across 3 galleries
The tour is ordered to begin from the Michigan Avenue entrance. If you are starting in the Modern Wing, simply do your tour in reverse order.

Explore groundbreaking works by these iconic Black American artists.

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  • A vividly colored self-portrait in oil paint by the artist Beauford Delaney. Delaney depicts himself using bold, thick strokes of paint. His skin tone is polychromatic and contrasted by a mustard yellow background. He wears a blue shirt with accents of red and bright red hat.

    Self-Portrait

    Beauford Delaney

    Gallery 262, second level, Arts of the Americas Galleries

    Beauford Delaney offered a penetrating, uncompromising view of himself in this self-portrait. The artist used bold, thick strokes of paint in bright colors to render a portrayal of vibrant yet haunting intensity. The portrait, which seemingly capturing his psyche as well as his appearance, could allude to his struggle for personal and public acceptance as a gay black man.

    "Delaney studied art in Boston before settling in New York in 1929. There he befriended artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock and formed a relationship of mutual inspiration and mentorship with writer James Baldwin."

  • A work made of painted plaster.

    Musician and Dancer

    Augusta Savage

    Gallery 263, second level, Arts of the Americas Galleries

    In this dynamic rendering of a musical partnership, Augusta Savage celebrated everyday people in her local community of Harlem. The two sculptures aesthetically respond to one another: the musician twists at the waist, throwing back his shoulders and head and lifting his wind instrument high in the air, while the dancer likewise leans off his vertical axis, his arms bent close to his body, full of kinetic energy.

    "Savage moved to New York in 1921 and studied at the Cooper Union. Two years later she won a scholarship to train in France—an offer later rescinded because she was Black. Savage would later found her own school and lead the Harlem Community Art Center."

  • View from the middle of a train station looking down three different corridors. Tunnels are marked with the names of southern cities to the left, northern to the right. Light-skinned travelers, many in fine dress, head left, while dark-skinned travelers, many encumbered by luggage, head right.

    Train Station

    Walter Ellison

    Gallery 263, second level, Arts of the Americas Galleries

    Born in Georgia, Walter Ellison moved to Chicago in the 1920s, one of more than six million African Americans who left the South for the promise of a better life. After studying at the School of the Art Institute, the artist began exhibiting his paintings depicting scenes of Black Americans during the Great Migration, like this one of a segregated train station.

    "On the left side of this painting, Ellison depicts white travelers, assisted by Black porters, boarding trains to southern vacation destinations. On the right side, Black passengers carrying their own bags head to northern cities in search of work."

  • A colorful wedding scene with a dark-skinned bride in red and a groom in black at center, their backs to the viewer. A minister cloaked in black stands between them, a dense wall of flowers or perhaps a floral pattern behind him. The group is flanked by two figures and panels of geometric stained glass.

    The Wedding

    Jacob Lawrence

    Gallery 263, second level, Arts of the Americas Galleries

    Known for his depictions of Black American life, Jacob Lawrence composed this vibrant marriage scene. Positioning the bride and groom with their backs to us, Lawrence invites us as guests to the couple’s special day. The brightly colored flowers and boldly patterned stained glass give the scene movement and energy, adding to the joyful spirit of the painting.

    "Raised in Harlem, Lawrence studied at various community cultural centers and art workshops where his talent was quickly recognized. His unique style centered on narrative cycles devoted to African American history, leaders, and life."

  • Three figures dark-skinned, elongated figures lie on a bed of patterned quilts, viewed from above, slightly abstracted. The central figure wears no clothing, their back and buttocks visible. A leg juts in at bottom right. To the right of the bed on a wooden floor lie newspapers and a white baby doll.

    The Room No. VI

    Eldzier Cortor

    Gallery 263, second level, Arts of the Americas Galleries

    Eldzier Cortor lived in Chicago and attended the School of the Art Institute. While drawn to abstraction, he felt that it was not an effective tool for conveying serious social and political concerns. In this painting, the artist exposed the impoverished living conditions of many African Americans on Chicago's South Side through a brilliant use of line and color, reinvigorating the idiom of social realism.

    "Here, Cortor emphasized pattern and texture, particularly the shapes and brilliant colors of the bed linens, floorboards, and wallpaper. His deliberately decorative vocabulary recasts the scene’s bleak circumstances into a dynamic, luminous composition."

  • A work made of marble.

    Standing Figure

    Marion Perkins

    Gallery 264, second level, Arts of the Americas Galleries

    Perkins began making art in the late 1930s and became known for commanding heads and busts carved from wood, stone, and marble that he salvaged from architectural ruins around Chicago. This work, a the full-length body, was unusual for him. The figure's position recalls classical Greek and Roman sculptures, while her exaggerated features and restrained form are emblematic of Perkins’s individual style.

    "Perkins taught sculpture at Chicago's South Side Community Art Center. He was also part of the Chicago Renaissance movement that included other visual artists like Elizabeth Catlett, Eldzier Cortor, Charles White, and Archibald Motley, Jr."

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