The Art Collection

The David C. Driskell Center is proud to present and preserve its collection of works by African American artists. The collection includes works by well known artists, such as Romare Bearden, David C. Driskell, Sam Gilliam, Jacob Lawrence, Keith Morrison, and Charles White. The Center's art collection will continue to grow through support from the Driskell Center Acquisition Fund. The Center's art collection is anchored by a gift of artworks from the David C. Driskell Collection of African American Art.

The David C. Driskell Center recently awarded a $60,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts [NEA]. The two-year grant will provide support for documenting the Driskell Center’s permanent art collection as well as developing a collection management policy; a task central to the Center’s mission to expand and replenish the field of African American art. The grant is awarded as part of the NEA’s Access to Artistic Excellence Grant program.

The NEA grant for The Center Collection Management Project will provide support for documenting the Driskell Center’s art collection assembled since 2001, the year the Center was founded. Recognizing the historical and artistic value of its permanent collection, the David C. Driskell Center organizes the traveling exhibition African American Art Since 1950: Perspectives from the David C. Driskell Center. The exhibition will be on display at the Driskell Center from September 20 to December 21, 2012 and starts its national tour in 2013.


Sam Gilliam (b. 1933) Scarcely Blue, 1995 Acrylic on wood	Willie Cole (b. 1955) Men of Iron, 2004 Inkjet print, 3/30	Melvin Edwards (b. 1937) Conene, n.d. Welded and cast bronze

Margo Humphrey (b. 1942) The Red Bed, 2006 Lithograph, 5/20	Radcliffe Bailey (b. 1968) Untitled, 2007 Digital and serigraph, A/P 4	Kevin Cole (b. 1960) Hand Writing on the Wall, 1996 Wood and paint

Kara Walker (b. 1969) Freedom, 1997 Artist book, ed. of 4,000	Artist unknown Untitled (Breast Feed), n.d. Brass	James Wells (1902-1993) Untitled (Model Resting), c.1950 Oil on canvas