SAMELLA LEWIS (1923 - 2022) Creole Woman.

SAMELLA LEWIS (1923 - 2022)
Creole Woman.

Gouache on wove paper, 1949. 285x234 mm; 11¼x9¼ inches. Signed, titled and dated in pencil, lower edge.

Provenance: acquired from Paramour Fine Arts, Michigan; private collection, Illinois (1998).

This early, modernist work on paper by artist, art historian and educator, Samella Lewis, portrays a young woman in three-quarter profile. In 1947, Lewis was doing her graduate work at the Ohio State University. In 1949, she lived with relatives in the Bayou Teche region of Louisiana painting more portraits of Creole workers from the sugarcane fields. In 1951, Lewis became the first African American woman to receive doctoral degrees in both fine art and art history.