African-American Artist Names

This year for Black History month, we salute the African-American artist names of  distinguished painters, sculptors and photographers — accentuating, of course, those with the most interesting names.

These Black history names range in time from portrait painter Joshua Johnson, born in 1763 and viewed as the first person of color to make his living as an artist in America, to contemporary women artists like Lorna Simpson, Ellen Gallagher and Kara Walker who confront issues of race head-on in their work.

The following is, of course, just a small representation of the countless distinguished artists of color. If you’re an artist or an art lover looking for an appropriate honor name, you may want to count these among your Black hero names.

African-American Artist Names for Girls

Adrian Piper — an artist who introduces issues of race and gender into her conceptual art.  Note the conventionally male spelling of her name, rather than the usual feminine Adrienne.

Alma Thomas — moved from realistic to more abstract, expressionist paintings, two of which were chosen by Michelle Obama for the White House.

Augusta Savage — a sculptor who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. Students in her Harlem studio included Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight. She chose the unusual spelling of Agnus as her daughter’s name.

Carrie Mae Weems — an award-winning mixed-media artist whose work incorporates photography, fabric, digital images and video, much it exploring Black family life, racism and gender issues.

Chakaia Booker — an assemblage artist who has worked with a variety of materials, including black rubber tires, said to address African-American identity.

Clementine Hunter — pronounced “clem-en-TEEN”,  just like Mrs. Winston Churchill, and originally named Clemence. A self-taught Louisiana Creole folk artist who began painting in her fifties, her work depicts plantation life in the early 20th century.

Edmonia Lewis — the first African-American woman to gain international recognition as a sculptor, drawing inspiration from her mixed cultural heritage — Haitian and Ojibwa. She was commissioned by President Ulysses S. Grant to paint his portrait; her name is an unusual feminization of Edmond.

Ellen Gallagher — appropriates images from vintage magazines, such as wigs, lips and other features, reconfigured into formal paintings to show how African-Americans have been represented and stereotyped.

Faith Ringgold — best known for her painted story quilts modeled on Buddhist Thangkas,  and has also illustrated a number of prize-winning books.

Howardena Pindell — an abstract artist, known for her use of unconventional materials, such as string, perfume and glitter. She was, not surprisingly, named for her father, Howard.

Kara Walker — is known for her exploration of race, gender and identity, employing large black cut-paper silhouettes, many portraying violence against enslaved people in the Antebellum South.

Lois Mailou Jones — a painter, illustrator and textile designer who was part of the Harlem Renaissance, combined traditional African forms with Western techniques and materials to produce vivid and forceful work.

Lorna Simpson — an artist and photographer who often portrays Black women, the visuals combined with expressive, confrontational texts.

Meta Warrick Fuller — considered the first American Black artist to reflect African themes; a sculptor who studied in Paris and was influenced by Rodin.

Minnie Evans — a visionary folk artist who was a onetime domestic, started drawing inspired by a dream, and her colorful, complex crayon drawings continued to be based on dreams. She had a major exhibition at the Whitney Museum in 1975.

African-American Artist Names for Boys

Aaron Douglas — a painter and graphic artist who played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance, incorporating Cubist forms with shapes drawn from African art.

Archibald Motley — another Harlem Renaissance figure, known for his colorful depiction of Black life in the 1920s and 1930s.

Beauford Delaney — known for his vivid paintings of the New York urban landscape, was a mentor to the young James Baldwin and his friends included Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Miller.

Dawoud Bey, born David — a photographer focused on portraits of teenagers from a wide spectrum of ethnic and economic backgrounds.

Dox Thrash — worked with the 1930s Federal Arts Project, where he invented a printmaking process called carborundum mezzotint. Dox wins first prize for the most interesting name on this list.

Gordon Parks — well known photographer turned filmmaker, Parks was the first African-American to work as a staff photographer on Life magazine and the first Black artist to produce and direct a major Hollywood film, in 1969.

Hale Woodruff — a printmaker, painter and muralist (he apprenticed with Diego Rivera), whose works were primarily in the Cubist mode.

Horace Pippen — whose paintings depict scenes from his childhood and World War I experiences, as well as portraits of figures like Marian Anderson.

Jacob Lawrence — a major figure who referred to his style as “dynamic cubism,” portrayed the struggles of African-Americans, his subjects including Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.

Joshua Johnson — one of the earliest known African-American artists. He was born into slavery, and freed at the age of 19. His respected portraits of Baltimore families with children had a naïve quality.

Palmer Hayden — was part of the Harlem Renaissance; he is known for his watercolor narrative scenes of Harlem life and the rural South. Born Peyton Cole Hedgeman, he was renamed by his World War I commanding sergeant.

Richmond Barthé — a sculptor known for his many public works, focusing on the lives of Black people, both in the United States and Africa.

Romare Bearden — a significant figure of the Harlem Renaissance whose work encompassed everything from oil paintings to collage to cartoons.

Roy DeCarava — a photographer who began as a painter and illustrator, which is reflected in the strength and richness of his photos.

Sargent Claude Johnson — a multi-talented painter, printmaker, sculptor, ceramist and potter influenced by the New Negro Movement, focused on racial identity.

Ulysses Davis — a Savannah barber who was also a skilled folk artist, known for his wood carvings, including an acclaimed series of busts of forty U.S presidents, using his barber’s tools for textural details.