EXHIBIT A : David Driskell
The Colorado Scape is an abstract watercolor painting that embodies the significance of African American art. The colorful painting was created in 1960, and shows a beautiful landscape of a region that inspired the artist.
David Driskell (1931 - 2020) was an important Georgia-born artist, art historian, curator, thought leader, collector, and philanthropist. He was instrumental in paving the way for African American artists, including Columbus native Alma Thomas. Thomas' solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1972 made history as she became the first African American woman to do so. The Columbus Museum acquired Colorado Scape in 2020, just months before Driskell died in Maryland, where he had been an emeritus professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Driskell was born in 1931 in Eatonton, Georgia, USA. He was educated at Howard University and received the Master of Fine Arts degree in 1961 from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He held the title of Distinguished University Professor of Art, Emeritus, at the University of Maryland, College Park. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in Art from Howard University in 1981 and from The Catholic University of America in 1996. In October 1997, Driskell was awarded the President’s Medal, the highest honor the University of Maryland bestows on a member of its faculty. He received the Presidential Medal from William Jefferson Clinton in December 2000 as a National Endowment for the Humanities recipient. Upon his retirement from teaching at the University of Maryland in 1998, The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the African Diaspora was founded to promote his scholarship and service to the University.
Before the Columbus Museum obtained this piece of art, the painting was exhibited in the Museum for the African American Art Initiative. The work of art expresses the liveliness of the landscape through vivid colors shown by the beaming sun and the saturation of the chosen colors. Driskell accomplished a strong contrast of darker greens in the trees to balance the brightness of the painting. The artist added a touch of splattered paint to give texture and depth to the painting as it illuminates and draws the audience’s attention.