Art Collection

The collection includes works donated over the years by Professor David C. Driskell from his own private art collection. Among the significant works are those by artists such as Richard Barthé, Romare Bearden, Aaron Douglas, Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, Jacob Lawrence, Augusta Savage, Alma Thomas, James Wells and other significant artists. 

This unique collection was donated to the Driskell Center by Professor Driskell and his wife Thelma. It mainly consists of 150 drawings by David C. Driskell, many of them done during the 1960s while Professor Driskell traveled in Europe. These drawings were created with very organic lines and reflects Driskell’s interest in trees, building, religion, still life, and people. 

In 2012, Sandra Baccus, an art lover and collector of African American art, passed away, and bequeathed to the Center a collection of more than 280 works, the majority of them by African American artists. Mrs. Baccus met Professor Driskell in the early 2000, and inspired and guided by him, she quickly amassed a large and impressive collection. She knew that the Center would present, preserve, and research the collection. Among the artists in the collection are Benny Andrews, Radcliff Bailey, Sam Gilliam, Loïs Mailou Jones, Hale Woodruff, and James Van Der Zee. 

In 2015, the Center presented Collectors’ Legacy: Selections from the Sandra and Lloyd Baccus Collection. It features 68 works and showcased diverse range of media–sculpture, painting, photography, drawing, print, and object–from an array of prominent African American and African Diasporic artists. 

The collection was donated over the years by the second Director of the David C. Driskell Center, Dr. Robert E. Steele, and his wife, Jean, who are both major collectors of works on papers, mostly by African American artists. The collection, consists of more than 250 works, includes works by contemporary artists such as Emma Amos, John T. Biggers, Melvin Edwards, Samella Lewis, John T. Scott, Lou Stovall, and Deborah Willis.  

In 2012, the Driskell Center presented the traveling exhibition Successions: Prints by African American Artists from the Jean and Robert Steele Collection, an exhibition of works by some of the most highly regarded African American artists. Forty-five artists, using traditional printmaking techniques such as etching, monoprint, lithography, linocut and silkscreen, created the sixty-two works on display. The exhibition highlighted the remarkable focus of the Jean and Robert Steele whom, for the last four decades, have amassed a collection of thousands of prints and works on paper by African American artists. Instrumental in the Steele’s collecting has been their patronage of artist studios, galleries representing African American artists, printmaking workshops that have been established by, and focus on, African American artists, and institutions with which African American artists have collaborated. 

The African collection includes works donated by several collectors of African objects, among them the Wil and Irene Petty Collection, the Lester Trachtman collector, and the Esther K. Reed Collection.

The African collection includes more than 200 works from such counties and cultures as Kongo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Senufo, Yoruba, and more. This collection was amassed in part to provide hands on experiences to students who are interested in working with art objects, exploring Africa, and even creating three dimensional prints based on those objects. 

Larry and Brenda Thompson are major collectors of African American art and generously support the Driskell Center. The Thompsons donated thirty-nine works to the Center, including by such artists as Camille Billops, Louis Delsarte, Paul Keene, Preston Sampson, Walter Williams, William T. Williams, and more.

This collection, amassed since the Driskell Center, was founded in 2001 and includes works by African American artists donated over the years by artists, collectors, gallery owners, and many individuals who support the Center’s mission.

Donations range from one to several works, created using different medium, and range from early 1800s to the present. The collection continues to grow as we add works on a regular basis.