Adolphus Ealey
BornFebruary 22, 1941
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
DiedNovember 11, 1992
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation(s)Artist, curator, educator, writer, entrepreneur, art dealer
Spouse(s)Howard University,
Académie de la Grande Chaumière,
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Adolphus Ealey (1941–1992) was an American artist, curator, educator, writer, and entrepreneur. He was African-American and a noted Black art authority, and he was the longtime curator of the Barnett–Aden Collection of Black art.[1][2][3]

Early life and education

Adolphus Ealey was born on February 22, 1941, in Atlanta, Georgia.[4] He attended Howard University (B.A. degree 1963) and studied under James V. Herring.[4][1] He received a master's degree (1964) at Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris,[5] and a Ph.D. in art from the University of Wisconsin.[2]

Career

"All things are interrelated and nourish one another. All cultures are interwoven."

– Adolphus Ealey (in 1991)[6]

Ealey was a longtime curator of the Barnett–Aden Collection of Black art starting in 1969; the collection was formerly associated with Barnett-Aden Gallery and bequeathed to Ealey by James V. Herring.[7][8] Later the collection was located at the Museum of African American Art in Tampa, Florida (which has since closed).[9][10] He took an anthropological approach to the collection of objects, emphasized culture and organized them around a village concept.[11]

Ealey was a professor at Washington Technical Institute (now University of the District of Columbia) from 1969 to 1971.[1] He also taught art classes at Sharpe Health School in Washington, D.C., a school for children with disabilities, from 1972 to 1975.[1] From 1976 to 1978, Ealey was the first director of the Afro-American Cultural and Historical Museum of Philadelphia (now the African American Museum in Philadelphia).[1]

In 1985, he designed memorabilia for the first national celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, commissioned by the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change; and it was said to have been personally approved by Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr..[12]

He was the president of Heritage Noir Inc. in 1983.[5] Ealey had been friends with artist Alma W. Thomas.[4]

Death and legacy

He had AIDS and died of kidney failure on November 11, 1992, at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C..[1] He has artist files at the National Gallery of Art Library;[13] and he is included in the public museum collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art.[14]

Exhibitions

  • 1972, Reflections: the Afro-American Artist: an Exhibit of Paintings, Sculpture, and Graphics, group exhibition, Benton Convention Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina[15]
  • 1973, Exhibition 73 (the D.C. Art Association), group exhibition, Anacostia Museum, and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture[15]
  • 1977, Black American Art from the Barnett Aden Collection, group exhibition, Frick Fine Arts Museum at the University of Pittsburgh[15]
  • 1979, Reflections of a Southern Heritage: 20th Century Black Artists of the Southeast, group exhibition, Gibbes Art Gallery, Charlestown, South Carolina[15]

Publications

  • Ealey, Adolphus (Spring 1977). Lewis, Samella (ed.). "The Curator". Black Art: An International Quarterly. 1 (3).

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Adolphus Ealey, Authority On Black Art, Dies At 51". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  2. 1 2 "Noted Black Art Authority Adolphus Ealey, 51, Dies". Jet (magazine). Johnson Publishing Company. 1992-12-07. p. 54.
  3. ↑ "Inheriting a talent". Tampa Bay Times. 1991-04-07. p. 70. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  4. 1 2 3 Etinde-Crompton, Charlotte; Crompton, Samuel Willard (2019-12-15). Alma Woodsey Thomas: Painter and Educator. Enslow Publishing. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-9785-1469-0.
  5. 1 2 Who's Who Among Black Americans. Who's Who Among Black Americans, Incorporated, Publishing Company. 1994. p. 426. ISBN 978-0-8103-5461-6.
  6. ↑ Tampa Bay Magazine. Tampa Bay Publications, Inc. August 1991. p. 13.
  7. ↑ "Barnett Aden Gallery, African American Heritage Trail". Cultural Tourism DC. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  8. ↑ Peterman, Peggy (1992-12-29). "A bruising year of African-American adversity". Tampa Bay Times. p. 29. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  9. ↑ Bush, Teresia (2022). "Barnett-Aden Gallery". Bloomsbury Art Markets. doi:10.5040/9781350924390.2327130. ISBN 9781350924390.
  10. ↑ Ross, Sandy (1991-04-28). "Curator's dedication infuses museum's collection with vitality". The Tampa Tribune. p. 30. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  11. ↑ Beurden, Sarah Van (2015-11-25). Authentically African: Arts and the Transnational Politics of Congolese Culture. Ohio University Press. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-8214-4545-7.
  12. ↑ "Posters, Pins and More to Celebrate King's Day". Jet (magazine). Vol. 68. Johnson Publishing Company. 1985-08-26. p. 19. ISSN 0021-5996.
  13. ↑ "Adolphus Ealey: vertical files". National Gallery of Art Library. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  14. ↑ "Dr. Adolphus Ealey". Baltimore Museum of Art. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Ealey, Adolphus". African American Visual Artists Database (AAVAD). Archived from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved 2023-05-20.

Further reading

  • Spradling, Mary Mace (1980). In Black and White: Afro-Americans in Print. Kalamazoo, MI: Kalamazoo Public Library.
  • Thomison, Dennis (1991). The Black Artist in America: An Index to Reproductions. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press.


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