32 Facts About David Driskell

David C Driskell was an American artist, scholar and curator recognized for his work in establishing African-American Art as a distinct field of study.

David Driskell held the title of Distinguished University Professor of Art Emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park.

David Clyde Driskell was born in 1931 in Eatonton, Georgia, the son of George Washington Driskell, a Baptist minister, and Mary Cloud Driskell, a homemaker.

David Driskell's grandfather, William Driskell, was born into slavery in 1862, and taught himself Methodist doctrine, becoming a minister.

When David Driskell was five years old, he moved with his family to Appalachia in western North Carolina, where he attended segregated elementary and high schools.

David Driskell attended Howard University in Washington, DC, graduating with a bachelor's degree in art in 1955.

David Driskell started off studying painting and history until meeting James A Porter, an acclaimed African-American art historian, who took him under his wing and encouraged him to study art history.

David Driskell would continue to work closely with Brady throughout his early career.

David Driskell was an associate professor of art at Howard University from 1963 to 1964.

David Driskell was a rigorous scholar and due to his careful cataloging of African-American works he began creating the archive and context for research into black art.

David Driskell was a visiting professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in the spring of 1973.

David Driskell chaired the department there from 1978 to 1983 and, in 1995, was named Distinguished University Professor of Art.

David Driskell had a long relationship with the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture which began in 1953, the year he attended as a participant of the program.

David Driskell was invited back as faculty in 1976,1978,1991, and 2004.

David Driskell served on the Board of Governors from 1975 to 1989 and on the Board of Trustees from 1989 to 2001.

David Driskell served on the Advisory Committee from 2003 until his death in 2020.

David Driskell has been recognized as a mentor for developing art collectors for works by African-American artists, as well as advocating for "younger, up-and-coming artists".

David Driskell died in Washington, DC, on April 1,2020, of complications from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, DC.

David Driskell curated more than 35 exhibitions of work by black artists, including Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, and Elizabeth Catlett.

David Driskell has advised notable figures including Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby on their art collections.

David Driskell selected works that appeared on The Cosby Show.

David Driskell later wrote a book about the Cosby's collection, The Other Side of Color: The African American Collection of Camille O and William H Cosby, Jr.

In 1996, David Driskell advised the White House on its purchase of Sand Dunes at Sunset: Atlantic City by Henry Ossawa Tanner, which became the first artwork in the White House's collection by a Black artist.

David Driskell created works of art including painting, drawing, collage and printmaking, often combining them in the creation of mixed media work.

David Driskell's work is challenging to categorize due to the diversity of his artistic practice, having worked both abstractly and figuratively, and utilizing a wide range of materials including oil paint, acrylic, egg tempera, gouache, ink, marker, and collage, on paper and both stretched and unstretched canvas.

David Driskell's oeuvre reflects, "his openness to the times he is living in and his immediate circumstances, whether in his neighborhood or in nature," John Yao writes for Hyperallergic on the occasion of his 2019 solo exhibition at DC Moore Gallery.

David Driskell's art is represented by DC Moore Gallery in New York City.

David Driskell received numerous awards including the Distinguished Alumni Award in Art from Howard University, the Distinguished Alumni Award in Art from The Catholic University of America, the President's Medal from University of Maryland, and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture's Lifetime Legacy Award.

David Driskell was honored by President Bill Clinton with the Presidential Medal as one of 12 recipients of the National Humanities Medal.

David Driskell was named a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018.

In September 2020, the fourth annual John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, honored David Driskell's legacy, noting his "contribution as a distinguished university professor emeritus of art, and as an artist, art historian, collector, curator, and philanthropist".

In 2021, a documentary titled Black Art, directed by Sam Pollard, pays tribute to David Driskell, featuring his views on how Black artists have been isolated from art history.