Gwendolyn Knight: Difference between revisions

| training = [[Howard University]] <br /> [[Harlem Community Arts Center]]

Knight painted throughout her life but did not start seriously exhibiting her work until the 1970s. Her first retrospective was put on when she was nearly 90 years old, "Never Late for Heaven: The Art of Gwen Knight," at the [[Tacoma Art Museum]] in 2003.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/obituaries/27knight.html |newspaper= The New York Times |title=Gwendolyn Knight, 91, Artist Who Blossomed Late in Life, Is Dead |first=Christopher|last=Lehmann-Haupt |date=February 27, 2005}}</ref> Her teachers in the arts included the sculptor [[Augusta Savage]] (who obtained support for her from the [[Works Progress Administration]]) and [[Jacob Lawrence]], whom she married in 1941 and remained married to until his death in 2000.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/obituaries/27knight.html Cotter, Holland. (June 10, 2000).'' "Jacob Lawrence Is Dead at 82; Vivid Painter Who Chronicled Odyssey of Black Americans." New York Times'']''.''</ref> During the course of her career, she received many awards, including the National Honor Award, and two [[honorary degree|honorary]] [[doctorate degree]]s, from [[University of Minnesota]] and [[Seattle University]].

With her husband, Knight founded the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation in 2000, initially to support the early careers of professional artists. When Lawrence died, Knight disbanded the original foundation and changed her will so that most of the couple's assets went to support children's programs. Today the Foundation's activities are devoted to the maintenance of a website that had been developed in 2000.<ref>[{{Cite web |url=http://www.jacobandgwenlawrence.org/artandlife04.html The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation Website's Searchable Archive] {{webarchive|urlarchiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080707031429/http://www.jacobandgwenlawrence.org/artandlife04.html |date=2008-07url-07status=dead |title=The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation Website's Searchable Archive |archivedate=July 7, 2008}}</ref> The U.S. copyright representative for the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation is the [[Artists Rights Society]].<ref>[{{Cite web |url=http://arsny.com/requested.html Most frequently requested artists list of the Artists Rights Society] {{webarchive|urlarchiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212232154/http://www.arsny.com/requested.html |date=2010-02url-status=dead |title=Most frequently requested artists list of the Artists Rights Society |archivedate=February 12, 2010}}</ref>

Knight was born in 1913 in Barbados, West Indies. At the age of seven, her mother entrusted her to close friends with whom she immigrated to the United States. She and her foster family first lived in St. Louis, Missouri. At age 13, she and her foster family moved to Harlem (New York City), where she graduated from [[Wadleigh High School]] in 1930. From 1931 to 1933 she attended [[Howard University]], studying fine arts. The depressionGreat Depression caused financial hardship, causing Knight to drop out before receiving her degree.

In 1934 Knight joined a Works Progress Administration (WPA) mural project, where she met her future husband and fellow painter, [[Jacob Lawrence]]. The couple were married in 1941. In 1946, [[Josef Albers]] invited them to teach at [[Black Mountain College]], which had begun integrating and incorporating African-American culture into its curriculum a few years prior to the couple's time there.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mountainx.com/arts/jacob-and-gwendolyn-lawrence-and-the-integration-of-black-mountain-college/|title=Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence and the integration of Black Mountain College|last=Marshall|first=Alli|website=Mountain Xpress|date=23 February 2017 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref> During the 1950s, the couple worked and lived in New York. Then in 1964, they traveled to Nigeria. In 1971, Lawrence accepted a position at [[University of Washington]]’s School of Art. The couple moved to Seattle, where they lived as active members of the artist community and of the city itself.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historylink.org/File/5120|title=Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight|last=Earl Thomas|first=Barbara|date=23 January 2003|website=|publisher=HistoryLink.org|access-date=28 January 2017}}</ref> Knight even procured support from The National Links, Inc. for her first one-woman show, which was developed in 1976. This exhibit sparked a greater desire for her work and the acquiring of her pieces by national museums.<ref name="phillipscollection.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.phillipscollection.org/research/american_art/bios/knight-bio.htm |website=www.phillipscollection.org |title=Gwendolyn Knight (1913–2005) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831101404/https://www.phillipscollection.org/research/american_art/bios/knight-bio.htm |archive-date=31 August 2020}}</ref>

Knight succeeded her husband,survived Lawrence,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lawrence, Jacob (1917-20001917–2000) and Gwendolyn Knight (1913-20051913–2005)|url=https://www.historylink.org/File/5120|access-date=2020-11-03|website=www.historylink.org}}</ref> and passed away in Seattle on February 18, 2005, at the age of 91.<ref>{{Cite web|titlename=Gwendolyn Knight - Bio|url=https://www."phillipscollection.org" /research/american_art/bios/knight-bio.htm|access-date=2020-11-03|website=www.phillipscollection.org}}</ref>

[[Category:African-American women artists]]