30

J. Eugene Grigsby, Jr.

(1918-2013)

Enduring Women (Women of Darfur).

Acrylic on cotton canvas, circa 1960s.
Signed in acrylic, lower right.
Frame: 37 1/2 x 25 1/4 in. (95.3 x 64.1 cm.)

  • Provenance:
    Estate of Dr. J. Eugene Grigsby, Jr.
  • Notes:
    Artist, educator, playwright, published author, and jazz musician, Dr. J. Eugene Grigsby was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. He attended Johnson C. Smith University for one year before transferring to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, to complete his Bachelor of Fine Arts, where he studied under Hale Woodruff. Grigsby completed his master's from Ohio State University two years later. In 1963, he received a doctorate in Arts Education from New York University. Additionally, he studied at the American Artists School in New York and the École des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, France.

    After completing his education, Dr. Grigsby volunteered for World War II in 1942 and served in the Army. Upon returning after the war, he eventually settled in Phoenix, Arizona, where he spent much of his professional career. Starting in 1946, Dr. Grigsby served as the Founder and Chair of the Art Department at Carver High School for eight years, followed by serving as the Chair of Phoenix Union High School, once Carver High School closed due to desegregation. His fine art practice consisted of printmaking and painting in a quasi-abstract and expressionist form that questioned spirituality and the Black experience.

    In 1966, Dr. Grigsby became a professor in the School of Art at Arizona State University. During his tenure, he became the first Black author and artist to publish a book for art educators with his book Art and Ethnics: Background for Teaching Youth in a Pluralistic Society. Art and Ethnics was reprinted by the National Art Education Association in 2000. As an educator, Grigsby was known for encouraging students to use their cultural heritage to understand their own identities and to inform their art practice.
  • Condition:
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April 2, 2026 12:00 PM EDT
New York, NY, US

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