A. B. Jackson (painter)
Alexander Brooks Jackson (April 18, 1925 – March 23, 1981)[1] was an American painter.
Life and career
[edit]Jackson was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of a black father and an English mother who was born in Manchester, England.[2][3] He earned BFA and MFA degrees from Yale University, studying with Josef Albers[4] in the mid-1950s. Before entering the teaching field, he spent three years as a designer in the Watson-Manning Advertising Agency in Stratford, Connecticut.
He taught briefly at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1955, before moving to Norfolk, Virginia in 1956.[1] In 1967, after teaching 10 years at Norfolk State, he joined Old Dominion University (ODU) as a full professor and its first black faculty member.
During his teaching years, Jackson also exhibited his art in many local and neighboring venues.[5] After being denied entry to the Virginia Beach Boardwalk Art show in 1962 because of his race, he won best-in-show there in 1966.[3] He received significant attention in 1968 when several of his drawings were included in a Smithsonian Institution traveling art exhibition.[5]
Influenced by Rembrandt, Jackson worked in a range of materials, including watercolors, pastels, charcoal and acrylic.[6] His series of paintings "The Porch People" depicts anonymous sitters on their porches in Ghent, the district of Norfolk, Virginia, where he lived. His book As I See Ghent: A Visual Essay was published in 1979.[1][3]
Jackson died in 1981 at age 55, in Norfolk, Virginia.
He is represented in the permanent collections of:
- Mint Museum of Art
- University of Virginia
- Yale University
- Harvard University
- Dartmouth College Museum
- Howard University
- North Carolina State University
- Old Dominion University
- Longwood College
- Louisiana Arts & Sciences Museum
- Muscarelle Museum of Art
- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Chrysler Museum of Art (three-site retrospective exhibition)
- Smithsonian Institution
Legacy
[edit]Passerby: An A.B. Jackson Retrospective showed at ODU's Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries from May 23 to August 2, 2015.[7]
Personal life
[edit]Jackson was the maternal grandfather of professional American football quarterback Russell Wilson.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "The Papers of A.B. Jackson: Biography", Special Collections & University Archives, Old Dominion University.
- ^ a b Russell Wilson with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at The Richmond Forum. April 18, 2016. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved April 18, 2016 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b c "A.B. Jackson" Archived 2015-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, Quest, Old Dominion University.
- ^ Kathryn Waggener McGuire, "A. B. Jackson and the 'black art' paradigm" Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine, Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art, Volume 2, Issue 3, September 2013. Published by Intellect.
- ^ a b George Paaswell, "Exhibit Offers Study Of A Vanishing Culture; Works Of A.b. Jackson At Suffolk Museum", Daily Press, February 2, 1990.
- ^ "NCCU Art Museum Receives Major Donation Of A.B. Jackson Works" (press release), North Carolina Central University Art Museum, June 25, 2009.
- ^ "Upcoming events", The Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, Old Dominion University.
External links
[edit]- "The Papers of A.B. Jackson: Biography", Special Collections & University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
- "Norfolk Artist AB Jackson, Porch People and Passersby Video". YouTube.
- "Alexander Brooks 'A.B.' Jackson", Special Collections and University Archives Wiki, Old Dominion University Libraries
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