Samella Lewis, an artist, historian, and author who founded the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles and advocated for African American artists, has died.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Lewis passed away from renal failure at the age of 99 on May 27.
Born and raised in New Orleans in the 1920s, she used art to cope with life’s harsh realities of life as a Black woman.
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She studied at Dillard University in New Orleans before transferring to Hampton Institute (Hampton University) in Virginia to complete her degrees in 1945. Then she went on to earn her master’s and doctorate degrees in art history from Ohio State University.
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Lewis made her mark in the Los Angeles art scene. In 1969 she became education coordinator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and started a group called Concerned Citizens for Black Art. The group set up guidelines and made recommendations to the museum to encourage more Black art to be showcased.
She later established three galleries in the Los Angeles area. In 1976 she founded the city’s Museum of African American Art, where she served as senior curator until 1986.
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In 1970, Lewis was also appointed professor of art history and humanities at Scripps College in Claremont. She made history as the school’s first tenured African American faculty member and used her role in academia to continue highlighting the careers of African American artists.
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She was awarded Charles White Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993 and the UNICEF Award for the Visual Arts in 1995.
In 2002 Scripps established the Samella Lewis Scholarship for African American students. The college also launched the Samella Lewis Contemporary Art Collection in her honor.
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Rest in peace to the true “Godmother” of African American art.
