A Portrait of Professor Jeff Donaldson is a piece of digital artwork by Walter Neal which was uploaded on April 16th, 2020.
A Portrait of Professor Jeff Donaldson
Jeffrey Richardson Donaldson was born on December 15, 1932 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Clementine Frances Richardson Donaldson and Sidney Frank... more
by Walter Neal
Title
A Portrait of Professor Jeff Donaldson
Artist
Walter Neal
Medium
Digital Art - Digital Mixed-media
Description
Jeffrey Richardson Donaldson was born on December 15, 1932 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Clementine Frances Richardson Donaldson and Sidney Frank Donaldson Sr. He attended Merrill High School in Pine Bluff. He received a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 1954, the college’s first studio art major. He worked for a year at Lanier High School, establishing an arts program for black students then was drafted into the U.S. Army for service. Donaldson went on to complete his M.F.A. at the Institute of Design of the Illinois Institute of Technology of Chicago in 1963. In 1974, Donaldson earned the degree of Ph.D. from Northwestern University, becoming the first African American to do so in the nation.
As the chairman of the Arts Department at Howard University beginning in 1970, Donaldson used his influence to revolutionize the curricula of the African and African-American art history majors. He broadened the narrowly defined concept of art to include its other, less mainstream facets, causing its most dedicated pupils to view it with a new respect and significance. Art came to be interpreted by these students as something that could take multiple and unique forms, as well as something that carried with it a social meaning. Thanks to his influence, the art program at Howard University become world-renowned.
Jeff Donaldson, who 'transitioned' on Feb 29, 2004 ,was a visual artist whose work helped define the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Donaldson, co-founder of AfriCOBRA and contributor to the momentous Wall of Respect, was a pioneer in African-American personal and academic achievement. His art work is known for creating alternative black iconography connected to Africa and rooted in struggle, in order to replace the history of demeaning stereotypes found in mainstream white culture.
In the midst of the racial and cultural turmoil of the 1960s, a group of African-American artists endeavored to relate its artwork to the black masses. Aiming to use art for social impact, artists such as Donaldson strove to create an "art for the people"—an art form that was recognizable by and directed toward the common black folk, rather than a group of well-educated elite. Within his works and collaborative efforts, Donaldson essentially became the father of a new, uniting aesthetic—transAfricanism!!!
Uploaded
April 16th, 2020
More from Walter Neal
Comments
There are no comments for A Portrait of Professor Jeff Donaldson. Click here to post the first comment.