Odysseus with Laurel

David Driskell was a prominent African American artist, art historian, curator, and teacher, who played a foundational role in the field of African American art history. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, before going on to earn his BA at Howard University in 1955 and his MFA from Catholic University of America in 1962. Driskell curated the groundbreaking exhibition “Two Centuries of Black American Art,” in 1976. Driskell’s paintings, collages, and prints reflect his keen interest in modern art. He resisted categorization in prevailing avant-garde styles, preferring to incorporate various modernist aesthetics and art historical traditions to create his own mode of representation.