Works of Art: Benny Andrews

Turtle Dove, 1980, lithograph, ed. 94/275

30 x 22 in., $ 750

Biography: Benny Andrews

Benny Andrews (American, 1930-2006) is among his generation’s most prominent African-American artists. At first his figurative, social-realist paintings went against 1960s art-world trends, though the work has proven to have great appeal across racial and ethnic lines. In the 1960s, Andrews led museum pickets in New York, protesting the exclusion of minorities and women as museum staff or exhibiting artists. He nevertheless refused to be labeled a “black artist” because the label suggested he was interested in African-American subject matter only.

Andrews early on used collage alongside other media in highly designed, textural, expressive works with simple forms and elongated figures. His mixing of media fit in well with art world trends of the past three decades, resulting in increased critical acclaim. His work often provided social and political commentary and took on a different tone as social and racial tensions changed. Andrews’ work is in museums across the country, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., Michigan’s Detroit Art Institute, the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga., and the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Ga.