John T. Biggers
John Thomas Biggers (1924–2001) was an African American muralist who came to prominence after the Harlem Renaissance and toward the end of World War II. Dr. Biggers was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and attended the Lincoln Academy, the Hampton Institute, and then Pennsylvania State University from which he earned a doctorate in 1954.
His works can be found on the campus of Hampton University (formerly Institute), primarily in the campus library.
Dr. Biggers founded the art department at Texas State University for Negroes, now Texas Southern University, in 1949. Biggers received a fellowship from UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, in 1957 allowing him to become one of the first African American artists to visit Africa.
John Biggers studied under Viktor Lowenfeld at Hampton Institute, who significantly influenced Biggers in his artistic development. Biggers later created works which reflected his perspective of the anguish that people have suffered merely because of their race or religious beliefs.
[edit] Auction Records
On October 8, 2009, Swann Galleries set an auction record for any work by Biggers when they sold the painting Shotguns, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1987, for $216,000 in a sale of African-American Fine Art. A stellar representation of the shotgun-style houses found in Southern black communities, the painting had been widely exhibited and was considered a culmination of Biggers’s work. It had remained in a private collection since being acquired directly from the artist in 1987.
[edit] External links
- The Murals of John T. Biggers
- The Houston Murals of John Thomas Biggers
- John T. Biggers Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
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