Faith Ringgold

April 26 to June 16,2018

W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture (Humboldt-University):
April 23, 2018, 6.30pm

The work of artist Faith Ringgold (* 1930, Harlem, New York) is of exceptional contemporary significance and enjoys international recognition. Her achievements as an artist, teacher, and activist have received numerous honors, including 24 honorary doctorates. Her books have been awarded over 30 prestigious awards. Ringgold’s work is represented in all major museums in the United States. The Museum of Modern Art recently acquired the large-size work American People Series # 20: Die (1967), which was recently exhibited at the Tate Modern in London as part of the exhibition Soul of a Nation. This exhibition is the first solo exhibition by the artist, whose work was exhibited in Germany at Kunsthaus Hamburg (with the Gedok Association) and at Documenta 5 in 1972.

Spanning media such as painting, graphics, collage, textile art, and sculpture, Ringgold’s work captivates through the precise and masterly use of materials and artistic processes as well as the integration of their cultural and political significance. The work of the artist is based on her critical, global, and art-historical expertise: she precisely uses figuration, abstraction, and constructivism to give depth and power to her content. Since 1961, the artist has traveled extensively. On her trips to Europe she visited museums such as the Louvre and the Stedelijk Museum. In 1976, first visits to Ghana and Nigeria followed.

Works by Faith Ringgold address issues of race, gender, and economic status. Among the works to be seen in Berlin is Ringgold’s Ego Painting (1969), expressing her political identity as a black feminist: the three words “Ringgold”, “black,” and “America” are arranged in geometric shapes in a color palette of blue, red, and black on the square canvas. Man (1967), also from the Black Light Series, illustrates Ringgold’s interest in African art and typographic design. Hate Is A Sin, a screen print from 2007, describes Ringgold’s experience with racism in New York in 1968. The large-size painted storyquilt Marlon Riggs: Tongues Untied, also exhibited in Berlin, was created in honor of the eponymous filmmaker and author shortly after his death in 1994. The benefit of the quilting technique for Ringgold has both historical-political and practical reasons: the painted quilts could easily be transported to lectures in schools and museums. The artist’s lifelong friendship with jazz musicians such as Sonny Rollins finds its expression in the series Jazz Drawings (2002-2003).

In the context of the exhibition and in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the U.S. Embassy, Faith Ringgold will be holding the Distinguished W.E.B. Dubois Lecture of the Humboldt University.

The artist will be present at the opening of the exhibition on April 24, 2018 in Bundesallee 221, 10719 Berlin.


Faith Ringgold

Born 1930 in New York, United States
Lives and works in New York

Solo Exhibitions (selected)

  • 2018

    Sugar Hill Museum of Art and Storytelling, New York, United States
    Faith Ringgold: Art and Activism, ACA Galleries, New York, United States
    Weiss Berlin, Berlin, Germany
    Faith Ringgold: An American Artist, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, United States

  • 2017

    The Magnificent Faith Ringgold, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, United States
    Faith Ringgold: Story Quilts, National Building Museum, Washington DC, United States

  • 2013

    American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold’s Paintings of the 1960’s,
    National Museum of Women in the Arts
    , Washington, United States

  • 2010

    American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold’s Paintings of the 1960’s,
    Neuberger Museum of Art, New York, United States

  • 1998

    Dancing at the Louvre: Faith Ringgold’s French Collection
    and Other Story Quilts
    , New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, United States

  • 1997

    Magical Tales of Lonnie, San Diego Children’s Museum,
    San Diego, United States

  • 1996

    Faith Ringgold: The French Collection Story Quilts, The Hudson River Museum of Westchester, New York, United States
    Faith Ringgold: Paintings and Drawings Spanning Four
    Decades
    , A.C.A. Gallery, New York, United States

  • 1994

    Currents 57: Faith Ringgold, The St. Louis Art Museum,
    St. Louis, United States

  • 1993

    Inspirations: Exploring the Art of Faith Ringgold, The
    Textile Museum, Washington, United States
    Dinner at Aunt Connie’s House and Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky, Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library,
    Hewlett, United States

  • 1992

    Faith Ringgold: The French Collection, Bernice Steinbaum
    Gallery, New York, United States

  • 1991

    Faith Ringgold: Story Quilts, duPont Gallery, Washington and
    Lee University, Lexington, United States

  • 1990

    Faith Ringgold: Celebrating Cultural Diversity in the
    American Theatre
    , Grove Gallery, University of California,
    San Diego, United States
    Faith Ringgold: A Twenty-Five Year Survey, Fine Arts Museum
    of Long Island (FAMLI), Hempstead, United States

  • 1989

    Faith Ringgold: Paintings/Quilts, Simms Fine Art, New
    Orleans, United States
    Faith Ringgold, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington,
    Seattle, United States

  • 1988

    Retrospective Exhibition, Sims Gallery, New Orleans, United States
    Faith Ringgold: Change 2: Painted Story Quilts, Bernice
    Steinbaum Gallery, New York, United States
    Faith Ringgold: Paintings & Sculpture, Vaughn Cultural
    Center, St. Louis, United States

  • 1987

    Faith Ringgold: Painted Story Quilts, Baltimore Museum of
    Art, Baltimore, United States
    Change: Faith Ringgold’s New Work, Real Art Ways, Hartford, United States
    Faith Ringgold: Painted Story Quilts, Bernice Steinbaum
    Gallery, New York, United States

  • 1985

    Faith Ringgold: Painting, Sculpture & Performance, College
    of Wooster Art Museum, Wooster, United States

  • 1984

    Faith Ringgold: Twenty Years of Painting, Sculpture and
    Performance (1963-1984)
    , The Studio Museum in Harlem, New
    York, United States
    California Dah, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, United States
    Paintings, Sculpture and Masks, Appalachian State
    University, Boone, United States

  • 1983

    Faith Ringgold: Black and Feminist Art, Lehigh University,
    Bethlehem, United States
    Paintings, Sculpture and Masks, San Antonio College, San
    Antonio, United States

  • 1981

    The Wake and Resurrection of the Bicentennial Negro, Trinity
    College, Hartford, United States

  • 1980

    Faith Ringgold: Soft Sculpture, Museum of African and African-American Art, Buffalo, United States

  • 1979

    Faith Ringgold: Paintings from the Sixties, Summit Gallery,
    New York, United States
    Woman on a Pedestal, Texas Technical University,
    Lubbock, United States

  • 1978

    Harlem ’78, Hampton Institute, Hampton, United States
    The Wake and Resurrection of the Bicentennial Negro, St.
    Edwards University, Austin, United States

  • 1977

    The Wake and Resurrection of the Bicentennial Negro, Hamilton-Kirkland College, Clinton, United States

  • 1976

    The Wake and Resurrection of the Bicentennial Negro,
    tableau, Wilson College, Chambersberg, United States
    Paintings, Sculpture and Masks, Polk Community College,
    Winterhaven, United States

  • 1975

    Paintings, Sculpture and Masks, University of Wisconsin,
    Superior, United States

  • 1974

    Paintings and Masks, Lamar University, Beaumont, United States
    Paintings, Sculpture and Masks, University of Tennessee,
    Chattanooga, United States

  • 1973

    Faith Ringgold: 10 Year Retrospective, Voorhees Gallery,
    Rutgers University, New Brunswick, United States
    Paintings and Masks, Wellesley College, Wellesley, United States

  • 1972

    Political Landscapes and Posters, Louisiana State
    University, Baton Rouge, United States

  • 1970

    America Black, Spectrum Gallery, New York, United States

  • 1967

    American People, Spectrum Gallery, New York, United States

  • Group Exhibitions (selected)

    • 2017

      Soul of A Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, United States

    • 2017

      Soul of A Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
      We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-85, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, United States
      From the Collection: 1960-1969, Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States
      Work and Leisure in American Art, Gallery West, Brentwood, United States
      Shifting: African American Women Artists and The Power of Their Gaze, David Driskell Center, Baltimore, United States

    • 2016

      Rhythm & Roots: Dance in American Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, United States

    • 2015

      African American Art After 1950: Perspectives, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, United States

    • 2014

      Post-Picasso Contemporary Reactions, Museu Picasso, Barcelona, Spain
      Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, United States
      My Art, My World, A Look at Contemporary African American Artists, Eastern Kentucky

    • 1988

      Committed to Print, Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States

    • 1985

      Whitney Biennale, Whitney Musuem of American Art, New York, United States

    • 1972

      Documenta IV, Kassel, Germany

      Education

      • 1959

        M.A., City College of New York, New York, United States

      • 1955

        B.S., City College of New York, New York, United States

      • Prizes, Grants and Residencies

        • 2017

          CAA Award for Distinction, University of California, San Diego, United States

        • 2011

          First Annual Cultural Arts Awards, City College of New York, New York, Untied States

        • 2006

          Golden Legacy Visual Arts Awards, Harlem Arts Alliance, New York, United States

        • 2005

          President’s Award, Amistad Center for Art and Culture, Hartford, United States
          Visionary Women Award, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, United States

        • 2004

          National Visionary Leadership Project, Washington, United States

        • 2002

          Living Artist Award, California Art Educators Association, United States

        • 2000

          NAACP Image Award, Best Children’s Book, United States
          First Annual Women of Distinction Award, New York Chapter Continental Societies Inc., New York, United States

        • 1998

          Key the City, Oakland, United States

        • 1997

          Artist of the Year Award, New Jersey Center for the Arts, New Jersey, United States

        • 1996

          Spirit of Woman Award, National Museum of Women oft he Arts, Washington, United States

        • 1995

          Key to the City, Lake Charles, United States
          Townsend Harris Medal, City College of New York Alumni Association, New York, United States

        • 1994

          Womens Caucus for the Arts Honors Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Visual Arts, Queens Museum, New York, United States
          Recognition Award, New York State Fibers Association, New York, United States

        • 1993

          National Endowment for the Arts Travel Awards, United States

        • 1992

          The New York Times Best Children’s Book Award, New York, United States
          Caldecott Honor, United States
          Award for best illustrated book by an African American, The Coretta Scott King Award, United States

        • 1991

          Honors the Artist of the Year, The Studio Museum Harlem, New York, United States

        • 1990

          La Napoule Award, France

        • 1989

          Award for painting, National Endowment for the Arts, United States
          Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Award

        • 1988

          New York Foundation for the Arts Award

        • 1987

          Fellowship, John Solomon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, United States
          Public Art Fund Award from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, United States

        • 1986

          Honor Award, Women’s Caucus for Art, New York, United States
          Guest of Honor, Feminist Art Institute, New York, United States

        • 1984

          Candance Award, 100 Black Women, New York, United States

        • 1983

          Wonder Women Award, Warner Communications, New York, United States

        • 1982

          Dreyfus/MaxDowell Fellowship, Peterborough, United States

        • 1978

          Award for sculpture, National Endowment for the Arts, United States

        • 1976

          American Association of University Women, Washington, United States

        • 1973

          Found Women Award, Ms. Magazine, New York, United States

        • 1971

          Creative Artists Public Service Award (CAPS) Grant, New York, United States

        • Collections

        • American Craft Museum, New York, United States
          ARCO Chemical, Philadelphia, United States
          Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, United States
          Blanden Memorial Art Museum, Fort Dodge, United States
          Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, United States
          Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, United States
          Coca-Cola, Atlanta, United States
          Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, Winter Park, United States
          Delaware State University, Dover, United States
          Fort Wayne Museum of Fine Art, Fort Wayne. United States
          Harold Washington Library, Chicago, United States
          Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
          Metropolitan Transit Authority, New York, United States
          Milwaukee Art Museum, Madison, United States
          National Museum of American Art, Washington, United States
          Newark Museum, Newark, United States
          Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, United States
          NYC Board of Education, P.S.22, Brooklyn, United States
          Pasadena City College, Pasadena, United States
          Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, United States
          Philip Morris Companies, Inc.
          Phoenix Museum of Art, Phoenix, United States
          Public Art for Public Schools, New York, United States
          Public School 22, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, United States
          Rose M.Singer Center, Riker’s Island, United States
          Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, United States
          Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, United States
          Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, United States
          Spellman College Museum, Atlanta, United States
          Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, United States
          St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, United States
          The High Museum, Atlanta, United States
          The Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, United States
          Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, United States
          Worcester Art Museum – Charlotte E.W. Buffington Fund, Worcester, United States