Whitfield Lovell
Encyclopedia
Whitfield Lovell is an African-American artist who works in a variety of media, including charcoal and oil stick on wood and on paper. He also makes lithographs on paper and large-scale installation pieces that incorporate his drawings on wood with found objects.

Lovell graduated from the Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1981. He also studied at the New York University Graduate Program, Venice, Italy and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME. He is currently represented by DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY.

Work

History and memory have inspired Lovell's work for a number of years. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he created large-scale oil stick and charcoal drawings that allegorically examined issues of family, identity, gender, love, loss, and the passage of time. He was working mostly from old family photographs or vintage studio portrait photographs.

Lovell's most recent work consists of tableaux constructed from charcoal drawings on vintage wood combined with found objects. In creating his tableaux, Lovell draws upon his personal archive of hundreds of photographs of anonymous African Americans, most dating from the early years of the twentieth century. Once an image has captured his attention, he draws freehand in charcoal on old wood, which is carefully selected for its grain, texture, and remnant paint or wallpaper.

The free-standing tableaux developed out of a series of installations that Lovell has created over the past decade. His first installation took place in a 19th-century slave trader's mansion in Italy. This was followed by an abandoned 1930s row house in Houston, TX and the former barracks of a 16th-century Spanish fort in Havana, Cuba. Lovell's installations recognized and utilized the ambiance of the existing historical spaces.

Whispers From the Walls was Lovell's fourth installation, created during a 1999 residency at the University of North Texas Art Gallery in Denton. In a nondescript modern gallery space, Lovell created a rectangular house of salvaged boards with multicolored peeling paint. He covered the floors with soil and old clothing through which gallery visitors walked. Inside the house was a single room filled with furniture, clothing, personal objects, and sound. On the interior walls, life-size charcoal drawings suggested human residents. This exhibition received critical acclaim and toured nationally, appearing at venues such as the Seattle Art Museum
Seattle Art Museum
The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It maintains three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened on...

 and Harlem's Studio Museum.

More recent installations include: Portrayals, which originated at the Neuberger Museum in Purchase, NY in the spring of 2000; Visitation: The Richmond Project, which traveled to the University of Wyoming, Laramie, the Columbus Museum Uptown, Georgia, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia in 2004; SANCTUARY: The Great Dismal Swamp at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia; and Grace: A Project by Whitfield Lovell at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY.

Awards

2009
  • Nancy Graves Grant for Visual Artists, The Nancy Graves Foundation, New York, NY
  • Malvina Hoffman Artists Fund Prize, 184th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, New York, NY

2007
  • MacArthur Fellows Program
    MacArthur Fellows Program
    The MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...

    , Chicago, IL
  • Emil & Dines Carlsen Award, National Academy Museum

2003
  • Richard C. Diebenkorn Fellowship, San Francisco Art Institute
    San Francisco Art Institute
    San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...

    , CA

2002
  • Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, VA, Artist in Residence

2001
  • Literacy Through Photography, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University
    Duke University
    Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

    , Durham, NC,
  • Artist in Residence, Hand Workshop Art Center, Richmond, VA
  • Artist in Residence, School Art League, NY, Youth Friends Award

1999
  • University of North Texas
    University of North Texas
    The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...

    , Denton, TX, Artist in Residence

1998
  • Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, Artist in Residence

1997
  • New York Foundation for the Arts
    New York Foundation for the Arts
    The New York Foundation for the Arts was created in conjunction the in 1971. The organization gives grants to individual artists and writers and developing arts organizations with a mission to '.'-NYFA's Programs:...

     Fellowship

1996
  • Joan Mitchell Foundation Award Grant

1993
  • The City of New York Human Resources Administration Certificate for Volunteer Services

1992
  • Awards in the Visual Arts Fellowship, AVA 11
  • National Endowment for the Arts
    National Endowment for the Arts
    The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

     Mid-Atlantic Fellowship
  • American Red Cross
    American Red Cross
    The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...

     Special Service Award

1991
  • New York Foundation for the Arts
    New York Foundation for the Arts
    The New York Foundation for the Arts was created in conjunction the in 1971. The organization gives grants to individual artists and writers and developing arts organizations with a mission to '.'-NYFA's Programs:...

     Fellowship
  • Art Awareness Residency, Lexington, NY
  • Artists Homeless Shelter Collaborative Grant

1990
  • Penny McCall Foundation Grant
  • Metropolitan Transit Authority
    Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York)
    The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the U.S...

    , Arts for Transit Poster Commission
  • Promise of Learnings Inc. Award for Excellence in Education

1988
  • Mousem D’Asilah Residency, Asilah, Morocco

1987
  • New York State Council on the Arts
    New York State Council on the Arts
    The New York State Council on the Arts is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell , with backing from Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and began its work in 1961...

     Grant

1986
  • New York State Council on the Arts
    New York State Council on the Arts
    The New York State Council on the Arts is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell , with backing from Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and began its work in 1961...

     Grant
  • Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Fellowship

1985
  • Eastman Scholarship to the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture

1982
  • Jerome Foundation Fellowship to the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop

Solo Exhibitions

2011
  • More Than You Know: Works By Whitfield Lovell, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA

2010
  • Whitfield Lovell, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2009
  • Whitfield Lovell: One Man’s Treasures, Hampton University Museum, Hampton, VA
  • Mercy, Patience and Destiny: The Women of Whitfield Lovell’s Tableaux, Atlanta College of Art Gallery of Savannah College of Art and Design, Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, GA
  • Whitfield Lovell: Distant Relations, Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, NJ

2008
  • Whitfield Lovell: Kith & Kin, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
  • Whitfield Lovell: All Things in Time, Hudson River Museum
    Hudson River Museum
    The Hudson River Museum, located in Trevor Park in Yonkers, New York, is the largest museum in Westchester County. The Yonkers Museum, founded in 1919 at City Hall, became the Hudson River Museum in 1948...

    , Yonkers, NY

2006
  • Whitfield Lovell, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY

2005
  • Whitfield Lovell: Homegoing, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI

2004
  • Whitfield Lovell: Tableaux, Olin Art Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
  • Whitfield Lovell, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2003
  • That You Know Who We Are: Works by Whitfield Lovell, Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, Eatonville, FL
  • Whitfield Lovell: Ancestors, Flint Institute of Arts
    Flint Institute of Arts
    The Flint Institute of Arts, also called FIA, is located in the Flint Cultural Center in downtown Flint, Michigan. It offers exhibitions, interpretive programs, film screenings, concerts, lectures, family events and educational outreach programs to people of various ages, serving over 120,000...

    , MI
  • GRACE: A Project by Whitfield Lovell, Bronx Museum of the Arts
    Bronx Museum of the Arts
    The Bronx Museum of the Arts is a cultural institution located in the New York City borough of The Bronx. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th century works created by American artists, and it has hosted exhibitions of art and design from Latin America, Africa and Asia...

    , Bronx, NY
  • Whitfield Lovell: Tableaux, Art Museum of Southeast Texas
    Art Museum of Southeast Texas
    The Art Museum of Southeast Texas is an art museum in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Established in 1950 as the Beaumont Art Museum, it acquired its current name in 1987 and exhibits 19th century to contemporary American art.-History:...

    , Beaumont, TX

2002
  • Whitfield Lovell: Embers, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
  • Whitfield Lovell: Memories, Thomasville Cultural Center, Thomasville, GA (traveled to: Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA)
  • SANCTUARY: The Great Dismal Swamp, An Installation by Whitfield Lovell, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, VA

2001 - 2004
  • Visitation: The Richmond Project, Hand Workshop Art Center, Richmond, VA (traveled to: University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, WY; The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia)

2001
  • Whitfield Lovell, Recent Tableaux, Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, Richmond, VA
  • Embers, Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, MA
  • Beyond the Frame: Whitfield Lovell, Knoxville Museum of Art
    Knoxville Museum of Art
    The Knoxville Museum of Art is a contemporary art museum located at 1050 World's Fair Park in Knoxville, Tennessee. The KMA is committed to developing exhibitions by emerging artists of national and international reputation.- History :...

    , Knoxville, TN

2000 - 2002
  • Portrayals, Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York, Purchase, NY (traveled to: Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; Tubman African-American Museum, Macon, GA; Evansville Museum of Art, Evansville, IN)

2000
  • Recent Tableaux, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY

1999 - 2005
  • Whispers From the Walls - An Installation by Whitfield Lovell, University of North Texas Art Gallery, Denton, TX (traveled to: Texas Fine Art Association, The Jones Center for Contemporary Art, Austin, TX; Seattle Art Museum
    Seattle Art Museum
    The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It maintains three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened on...

    , Seattle, WA; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; Robeson Art Gallery, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ; Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, VA; Texarkana Regional Arts & Humanities Council, Texarkana, TX; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
    Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
    The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts is a museum located in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, featuring several art collections. For seventy years, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts has been a showcase for the visual arts in Central Alabama...

    , Montgomery, AL; Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, NC; California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Reed College, Portland, OR; National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN; San Antonio Museum of Art, TX; Louisiana State University, Union Art Gallery, LA; Stedman Art Gallery, Rutgers-Camden, NJ; Arkansas Arts Center
    Arkansas Arts Center
    One of the leading cultural institutions in the state, the Arkansas Arts Center is located on the corner of 9th and Commerce streets in MacArthur Park, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. The Arkansas Arts Center was founded in 1960, but the idea began in 1914, when the Fine Arts Club of Arkansas formed...

    , Little Rock, AR; Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum, Logan, KS)

1998
  • Collecting Inspiration, he Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh, PA

1997
  • DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
  • Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston Salem, NC

1993
  • Lehman College Art Gallery, New York, NY

1988
  • Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ

1987
  • Harlem School of the Arts, New York, NY

1985
  • John Jay College, New York, NY

1984
  • Galeria Morivivi, New York, NY

1982
  • Interchurch Center, New York, NY

Books and Exhibition Catalogues

2010
  • Griffin, Farah Jasmine. “Whitfield Lovell,” in RE: COLLECTION, Selected Works from The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 2010.

Franks, Pamela and Robert E. Steele. Embodied: Black Identities in American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery (exhibition catalog). New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 2010: illus. 45.
  • United States Mission to the United Nations, New York: ART in Embassies Exhibition (exhibition catalog), Washington, DC: Art in Embassies, 2010.

2009
  • Carson, Charles D. and Julie L. McGee. Sound:Print:Record: African American Legacies (exhibition catalogue). Newark, DE: University Museums, University of Delaware, 2009: illus. cover, 46.
  • Kim, Linda. “Distant Relations: Identity and Estrangement in Whitfield Lovell’s Kin Series,” in Distant Relations (exhibition catalogue). Mahwah, NJ: Ramapo College, 2009.
  • Lewis, Sarah. Mercy, Patience and Destiny: The Women of Whitfield Lovell’s Tableaux (exhibition catalogue). Atlanta: The ACA Gallery of SCAD, 2009.

2008
  • Sims, Lowery Stokes. Whitfield Lovell: All Things in Time, Yonkers, NY: Hudson River Museum, 2008.
  • Heartney, Eleanor. Art and Today, New York: Phaidon Press, 2008: illus. 412.
  • Conrad, Dr. Derek Conrad. The Other Mainstream II: Selections from the Collection of Mikki and Stanley Weithorn (exhibition catalogue). Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University Art Museum, 2008: illus. 31.

2007
  • Reynolds, Jock. Art For Yale: Collecting for a New Century (exhibition catalogue). New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 2007: illus. 334.
  • 182nd Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art (exhibition catalogue). New York: National Academy Museum, 2007: illus. 133.

2005
  • Yee, Lydia. Collection Remixed (exhibition catalogue). Bronx, NY: The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2005: 54-55.

2004
  • Brookman, Philip. Common Ground: Discovering Community in 150 Years of Art (exhibition catalogue). London: Merrell Publishers, 2004.
  • Princenthal, Nancy et. al. Whitfield Lovell, in +Witness (exhibition catalogue). Sydney: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2004: 42-49.

2003
  • Bessire, Mark H.C. Skowhegan 2002-2003 Faculty Exhibition (exhibition catalogue). Portland, ME: Institute of Contemporary Art, Maine College of Art, 2003.
  • Everett, Gwen. African American Masters: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. New York: Harry N. Abrams; Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2003.
  • Gerdts, William H. et. al. American Art at the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI: Flint Institute of Arts, 2003: 260-261.
  • Lapcek, Barbara. “Whitfield Lovell: Visual Artist,” in Hatch-Billops Collections, Inc.: Artist & Influence, Vol. XXI, New York: Hatch-Billops Collection, 2003: 175-192.
  • Lippard, Lucy R., Carla Hanzal, Leslie King-Hammond, and Jennifer Ellen Way. The Art of Whitfield Lovell: Whispers from the Walls, 2nd. ed., San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2003.

2002
  • Hanzal, Carla. SANCTUARY: The Great Dismal Swamp, An Installation by Whitfield Lovell (exhibition booklet). Virginia Beach: Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, 2002.
  • Nahas, Dominique. Whitfield Lovell: Embers (exhibition catalogue). New York: DC Moore Gallery, 2002.
  • Smagula, Howard J. Creative Drawing, London, England: Lawrence King Publishing, 2002: 15, 133.

2001
  • Fairbrother, Trevor. “Going Forward, Looking Back,” in Words of Wisdom: A Curator’s Vade Mecum on Contemporary Art, New York: Independent Curators International, 2001: 56-58.
  • Kushner, Robert. Beauty Without Regret (exhibition catalogue). Santa Fe: Bellas Artes Gallery, 2001.
  • Makrandi, Nandini. Beyond the Frame: Whitfield Lovell (exhibition brochure). Knoxville: Knoxville Museum of Art, 2001.
  • Selections: Painting (exhibition catalogue). Oakdale, NY: Dowling College, 2001.
  • Wolfe, Townsend. About Face: Collection of Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr. (exhibition catalogue). Little Rock: Arkansas Arts Center, 2001: 62, illus.

2000
  • Foster, Carter E., and Stephen F. F. Jost Drawing on Language (exhibition catalogue). Cleveland: SPACES Gallery, 2000.
  • Hills, Patricia. Recent Tableaux (exhibition catalogue). New York, NY: DC Moore Gallery, 2000.
  • 20 Years of Artists in the Marketplace Program (CD-ROM). Bronx, NY: The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2000.
  • Wei, Lilly. Portrayals (exhibition catalogue). Purchase, NY: The Neuberger Museum of Art, 2000.

1999
  • Hertz, Betti-Sue. Urban Mythologies: The Bronx Represented Since the 1960s (exhibition catalogue). Bronx, NY: Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1999.
  • Lippard, Lucy, and Jennifer Ellen Way. The Art of Whitfield Lovell, Whispers From the Walls (exhibition catalogue). Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press, 1999.

1998
  • Taha, Halima M. Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas. New York: Crown Publishers, 1998.

1997
  • Llanes, Llilian. Sexta Bienal de la Habana, El Individuo y Su Memoria (exhibition catalogue). Havana, Cuba: Centro Wilfredo Lam, 1997.

1996
  • Cappellazzo, Amy. Real (exhibition catalogue). Miami: Bass Museum of Art, 1996.
  • Chin, Mel. Scratch (exhibition catalogue). New York: Thread Waxing Space, 1996.
  • Wolfe, Townsend. National Drawing Invitational (exhibition catalogue). Little Rock: Arkansas Arts Center, 1996.

1995
  • de Larrazabel, Eudoxia Estrella. IV Bienal International de Pintura, Cuenca, Ecuador (exhibition catalogue). Cuenca, Ecuador, 1995.
  • Yau, John. Murder (exhibition catalogue). Santa Monica: Smart Art Press, 1995.

1994
  • Balka, Sigmund R. Empowerment: The Art of African American Artists (exhibition catalogue). White Plains, NY: Krasdale Gallery, 1994.
  • Henning, Roni. Screen Printing: Water Based Techniques, Non-Toxic Methods for a Safe Environment. New York: Watson Guptill Publications, 1994.

1993
  • Hazlewood, Carl. Current Identities, Recent Painting in the United States (exhibition catalogue). Newark, NJ: Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, 1993.
  • Yau, John. The Bronx Celebrates Whitfield Lovell (exhibition catalogue). Bronx, NY: Lehman College Art Gallery, 1993.

1991
  • Bellamy, Peter. The Artist Project, Portraits of the Real Word/New York Artists 1981–1990. New York: IN Publishing, 1991.
  • Jones, Kellie, and Thomas W. Sokolowski. Interrogating Identity (exhibition catalogue). New York: Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, 1991.
  • Long, Richard, and Judith Wilson. African-American Works on Paper from the Cochran Collection (exhibition catalogue). Atlanta: Double Density, 1991.

1990
  • Georgia, Olivia. Family Stories (exhibition catalogue). Staten Island, NY: Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 1990.
  • Stanislaus, Grace. New Perspectives: Colin Chase and Whitfield Lovell (exhibition catalogue). Miami: Miami Dade College, Wolfson Gallery, 1990.

1989
  • Smith, Valerie. Selections from the Artists File, Artists Space (exhibition catalogue). New York: Artists Space, 1989.

1988
  • Jones, Kellie. New Visions: James Little, Whitfield Lovell, Alison Saar (exhibition catalogue). Queens, NY: The Queens Museum, 1988.
  • Other Countries: Gay Black Voices, New York, NY: Cultural Council Foundation/Management and Resources for the Arts, 1988.

1987
  • Bibby, Diedre. Who’s Uptown: Harlem ’87 (exhibition catalogue). New York: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 1987.

1986
  • Black Visions ’86 (exhibition catalogue). New York: Tweed Gallery, 1986.
  • Verre, Philip. Curator’s Choice II (exhibition catalogue). Bronx, NY: Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1986.

1984
  • Artist in the Marketplace (exhibition catalogue). Bronx, NY: The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1984.

1983
  • Bickimer, David A. Christ the Placenta, Notes to My Mentor on Religious Education. Birmingham: Religious Education Press, 1983.
  • Rosner-Jeria, Elaine, and William Jung. Trans-Fers (exhibition catalogue). New York: Henry Street Settlement and El Grupo Morivivi, 1983.

External links

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