Visual Arts Library
Howardena Pindell
(1943 - )Works
Slavery Memorial / LashAutobiography: Water/Ancestors Middle Passage/Family Ghosts
Country
United States
Biography
Howardena Pindell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1943. She made the decision to become an artist when she was a teenager, and earned her bachelor's degree in Fine and Applied Art from Boston University (1965) and a MFA from Yale University (1967). After graduating from Yale, Pindell began a curatorial career at the Museum of Modern Art, where she worked for 12 years, while also continuing to produce her own work. Since 1979, the artist has taught at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and also serves as a visiting professor at Yale University. In her work as an artist and an art historian, Pindell always presents her audience with the difficult yet honest dilemmas of issues including racism, sexism, AIDS, and genocide. Her artwork carries powerful political messages about past and contemporary injustices, interwoven into the fantastic colors and textures of her works. Pindell's awards include a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts (1972-73), the Distinguished Body of Work award from the College Art Association (1990), and the Studio Museum in Harlem Artist Award (1994). Her work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and in Europe.
Further Reading
The Heart of the Question: The Writings and Paintings of Howardena PindellMidmarch Arts Press, 1997.
Lesley Baier, Reinventing the Emblem, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, 1995.
Valerie Mercer, Twenty-five Years of African-American Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, 1994.
Daniel Shapiro and Jack Flam, Western Artists/African Art, The Museum of African Art, New York, 1994.
Howardena Pindell, Paintings and Drawings: A Retrospective Exhibition 1972-1992(exh. cat.), Potsdam College, SUNY, New York, 1992.
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