Faith Ringgold: A Living Legend And Her Legacy

Faith Ringgold, the American painter, writer, sculptor, performance artist, and activist, passed away on April 13, 2024, at the age of 93. She was born in Harlem, New York, on October 8, 1930, and became renowned for her narrative quilts, paintings, and children's books, which explored themes of race, class, gender, and social justice.

Faith Ringgold's death

Faith Ringgold, the pioneering American painter, writer, sculptor, performance artist, author, teacher, and activist, passed away on April 13, 2024, at the age of 93. Ringgold's death was mourned across the art world and beyond, with her impactful and innovative work leaving a lasting legacy.

Ringgold's art and activism were inextricably linked, with her work addressing issues of race, gender, and social justice. Her narrative quilts became her signature art form, capturing the experiences of Black Americans and challenging the marginalization of Black artists. Through her quilts, paintings, sculptures, performance art, and children's books, Ringgold explored themes of family, race, class, and gender, drawing on her own experiences growing up during the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement.

Born in Harlem, New York, on October 8, 1930, Ringgold's childhood was steeped in creativity and the arts. Despite facing challenges due to her gender and race, she pursued a degree in fine arts and education, later receiving a master's in fine arts. She began her career as an art teacher in the New York City public school system but soon transitioned to creating art full-time.

Ringgold's early paintings in the 1960s reflected her political consciousness and exploration of African arts and history. Her "American People" series portrayed the Civil Rights Movement from a female perspective, with pieces like "American People #20: Die" offering a bold depiction of contemporary race riots. Throughout her career, Ringgold actively advocated for the inclusion and representation of Black and female artists, protesting against prominent museums and institutions that excluded them.

In the 1970s, Ringgold expanded her artistic practice to include soft sculptures, masks, and performance art. A pivotal moment came during a visit to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where she discovered Tibetan thangkas—paintings on thin cloth framed with silk brocade. Inspired by this medium, she created the "Slave Rape" series, collaborating with her mother, a fashion designer, to paint brutal images on fabric bordered with quilted cloth.

The 1980s marked the beginning of Ringgold's renowned "story quilts," which fused painting and quilting traditions. Her first story quilt, "Who's Afraid of Aunt Jemima?", published in 1983, allowed her to share her unedited words and stories. Over the next four decades, Ringgold continued to innovate, creating new series of paintings and story quilts that explored a diverse range of subjects.

In 1991, Ringgold published her first children's book, "Tar Beach," which won numerous awards, including the Caldecott Honor. She went on to write and illustrate over a dozen more children's books, using her art to approach complex issues of racism in a hopeful and uplifting manner for young readers.

Throughout her illustrious career, Ringgold received numerous accolades and honors, including over 100 awards and 23 honorary doctorates. Her art has been exhibited worldwide and is included in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions such as the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. Ringgold's impact extended beyond her artistic achievements, as she inspired and paved the way for future generations of artists, particularly women and artists of color.

Ringgold's career

Faith Ringgold (1930-2024) was an American artist whose work spanned painting, quilting, sculpture, performance art, and writing. Her work explored themes of family, race, class, and gender, and she is best known for her narrative quilts.

Ringgold was born and raised in Harlem, New York City, and studied art at the City College of New York, receiving her bachelor's degree in 1955 and her master's in 1959. She began her painting career in the 1950s, and her early work was inspired by the writings of James Baldwin and Amiri Baraka, as well as African art, Impressionism, and Cubism. Ringgold's early paintings focused on the underlying racism in everyday activities, and she received a great deal of attention for these works.

In the 1960s, Ringgold created her first political collection, the American People Series, which portrayed the American lifestyle in relation to the Civil Rights Movement. This series included large-scale murals such as "The Flag is Bleeding", "U.S. Postage Stamp Commemorating the Advent of Black Power People", and "Die".

In the 1970s, Ringgold continued to create politically engaged work, including a "Free Angela" poster design for the Black Panthers, and an anti-carceral mural, "For the Women's House", installed at the Women's Facility on Rikers Island. She also began experimenting with sculpture, creating costumed masks, hanging and freestanding soft sculptures, and life-sized "portrait masks".

In the 1980s, Ringgold began working with quilts, a medium that allowed her to combine her skills in painting and fabric work. Her first quilt, "Echoes of Harlem" (1980), was created in collaboration with her mother, a popular Harlem clothing designer and seamstress. Ringgold's quilts often incorporated text and told stories about the experiences of Black Americans, with works such as "Who's Afraid of Aunt Jemima?" (1983) and "Change: Faith Ringgold's Over 100 Pounds Weight Loss Performance Story Quilt" (1986).

In addition to her visual art practice, Ringgold wrote and illustrated over a dozen children's books, including "Tar Beach" (1991), for which she won the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award and the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration. She was also a dedicated educator, teaching in the New York City public school system and at the college level, including as a professor of art at the University of California, San Diego, from 1987 until her retirement in 2002.

Ringgold's awards and honours

Faith Ringgold received over 80 awards and honours throughout her career, including:

• The Creative Artists Public Service Award for Painting (1971)
• The National Endowment for the Arts Award for Sculpture (1978) and Painting (1988)
• The Candace Award National Coalition of 100 Black Women (1984)
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for Painting (1987)
• The New York Foundation for Arts Award for Painting (1988)
• The National Endowment for the Arts Award for Painting (1989)
• The La Napoule Foundation Award for Painting in France (1990)
• The Studio Museum in Harlem Artist of the Year (1991)
• The Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration for 'Tar Beach' (1992)
• Jane Addams Peace Association Picture Book Award for 'Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky' (1993)
• Women's Caucus for the Arts Honours Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Visual Arts (1994)
• Townsend Harris Medal City College of NY Alum Assoc (1995)
• Spirit of Woman Award presented by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC (1996)
• Arts Person of the Year, The New Jersey Center (1997)
• Key to the City of Oakland, presented at the Berkeley Art Museum (1998)
• NAACP Image Award for Children's Book 'If a Bus Could Talk' (1999)
• The American Academy of Arts and Letters Award (2004)
• Harlem Arts Alliance Golden Legacy Visual Arts Award (2006)
• Wisdom Award, National Visionary Leadership Program (2007)
• Artist's Fellowship Award (2014)
• Medal of Honour for Fine Arts, National Arts Club (2017)

Ringgold also received 23 Honorary Doctorates, including from:

• Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA (1986)
• The City College, The City University of New York, NY (1991)
• Parsons School of Design, New York, NY (1996)
• Wheelock College, Boston, MA (1997)
• The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (2001)
• Royal College of Art, London, England (2013)

Ringgold's art and its influences

Faith Ringgold's art was influenced by her upbringing in Harlem, New York, during the Great Depression. Her work was also shaped by her family and the vibrant creative scene that surrounded her as a child. Her parents, Andrew Louis Jones and Willi Posey Jones, were descendants of working-class families displaced by the Great Migration. Her father worked a range of jobs and was a powerful storyteller, while her mother was a fashion designer who taught her to sew and work creatively with fabric.

Her childhood home in Harlem was surrounded by a thriving arts scene, with figures such as Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes living close by. Her childhood friend, Sonny Rollins, who became a prominent jazz musician, often visited her family and practised the saxophone at their parties.

Ringgold's early work is composed of flat figures and shapes, inspired by the writings of James Baldwin and Amiri Baraka, African art, Impressionism, and Cubism. She was also influenced by her travels to Europe, West Africa, and Amsterdam, which inspired her to incorporate fabric borders into her paintings.

Her art was also influenced by her experiences of racism, sexism, and segregation in her everyday life. She confronted these issues directly in her work, using shock value to highlight ethnic tension, political unrest, and the race riots of the 1960s. She was particularly inspired by artists such as Jacob Lawrence and writer James Baldwin, whose work explored similar themes.

In her later work, Ringgold continued to deal with prejudice, but in a more subtle way. Instead of using confrontational imagery, she provided young African Americans with positive role models and reimagined hurtful racial stereotypes as strong, successful, and heroic women.

Ringgold's art took various forms, including paintings, quilts, sculptures, performance art, and children's books. She considered painting her "primary means of expression", but she also embraced other mediums such as fabric and quilting to distance herself from the association of painting with Western European traditions and to advocate for the feminist movement.

Her art was also influenced by her activism. She was involved in several feminist and anti-racist organisations and used her art to start and grow organisations that supported African American women artists, such as "Where We At".

Overall, Ringgold's art was shaped by her personal experiences, the people and creative scene around her, her travels, and her commitment to social justice.

Ringgold's early life

Faith Ringgold was born Faith Willi Jones on October 8, 1930, in Harlem Hospital, New York City. She was the youngest of three children born to Andrew Louis Jones and Willi Posey Jones, who were descendants of working-class families displaced by the Great Migration. Ringgold's mother was a fashion designer, and her father worked various jobs and was a gifted storyteller. They raised her in an environment that encouraged her creativity and shielded her from the oppression of growing up in Great Depression-era Harlem.

Ringgold suffered from chronic asthma as a child, so she often explored visual art with the support of her mother, experimenting with crayons and learning to sew and work creatively with fabric. Her childhood home in Harlem was surrounded by a thriving arts scene, with figures such as Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes living close by. Her childhood friend, Sonny Rollins, who went on to become a prominent jazz musician, frequently visited her family and practised the saxophone at their parties.

In 1948, Ringgold enrolled at the City College of New York to study art, but due to the gender restrictions of the time, she was forced to major in art education. In 1950, she married jazz pianist Robert Earl Wallace, and they had two children together before separating four years later due to his heroin addiction. In 1955, Ringgold received her bachelor's degree and began teaching in the New York City public school system. She went on to earn a master's degree from the same college in 1959.

After receiving her master's, Ringgold travelled to Europe with her mother and daughters, visiting museums in Paris, Florence, and Rome. This trip inspired her future series of quilt paintings, 'The French Collection' (1991-1997). However, the trip was cut short due to the untimely death of her brother in 1961, and she returned to the US for his funeral. On May 19, 1962, she married Burdette Ringgold.

Ringgold began her painting career in the 1950s, inspired by the writings of James Baldwin and Amiri Baraka, African art, Impressionism, and Cubism. Her early work features flat figures and shapes, often focusing on the underlying racism in everyday activities, which made sales difficult and disquieted galleries and collectors. These works reflected her experiences growing up during the Harlem Renaissance and matured during the Civil Rights Movement and Women's Movement.

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