Georgette Seabrooke

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Georgette Seabrooke
File:Archives of American Art - Georgette Seabrook - 2381 CROPPED.jpg
Seabrooke, 1939
Born (1916-08-02)August 2, 1916[1]
Charleston, South Carolina[1]
Died December 27, 2011 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Nationality American

Georgette Seabrooke (aka Georgette Seabrooke Powell; August 2, 1916 – December 27, 2011), was an American muralist, artist, illustrator, art therapist, non-profit chief executive and educator.

Biography

Early Life

Seabrooke was born in Charleston, South Carolina to George and Anna Seabrooke. She grew up an only child. George was raised with ideologies of Black independence from a White economy, and owned and operated a hotel while Anna was a landowner. George and Anna were parents late in life and were highly proactive in Georgette's development. By age three, Georgette could read and write. Despite their independence and financial stability, George and Anna feared that Georgette would have diminished access to quality education in South Carolina. They soon joined The Great Migration and moved to New York City when Georgette was four.

Though George passed away while Georgette was attending elementary school, Anna persisted in enrolling her daughter in programs that would facilitate her intelligence and talent. Seabrooke attended the prestigious Yorkville School. As a teenager she enrolled with the Harlem Art Workshop and the Harlem Community Art Center alongside contemporaries Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden. There, Seabrooke studied under the guidance and instruction of Charles Alston, Augusta Savage, and Gwendolyn Bennett.

Education

In 1933, at the age of 17, she was admitted to the prestigious Cooper Union School of Art in New York, where in 1935 she received the school's Silver Medal, its highest honor, for a painting entitled "Church Scene."[2][3] While there she was chosen by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as one of four "master artists" to paint murals at Harlem Hospital. She was the youngest artist so chosen and the only female. The mural she painted, Recreation in Harlem, is nearly 20 feet long and depicts daily life in Harlem in the 1930s, including women chatting through a window and children performing in a choir. The hospital's management was not pleased with her depiction of an all-black Harlem community as they did not want to be known as a "Negro hospital."[4] Seabrooke added eight white characters to the mural, but obscured their race in some cases and turned their face from the viewer in others. Seabrooke also received a WPA commission to paint a mural at Queens General Hospital, now known as Queens Hospital Center, in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

Cooper Union denied Seabrooke her diploma in 1937 for what it said at the time was incomplete work, but reversed this decision nearly 60 years later, and several years after that, in 1997, invited Seabrooke back to its campus to honor her achievements.[3] In 2008 Cooper Union presented Seabrooke with a lifetime achievement award, and the school now considers her a member of its class of 1937.[5]

Art Styles and Techniques

While working under the Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project, Seabrooke created her first major piece of public work. Alongside Charles Alston and Vertis Hayes, Seabrooke painted several murals for the New York City hospital administration. "Recreation in Harlem" was painted in the Harlem Hospital. This mural was placed inside the Children's Pavilion and portrayed everyday scenes of hustle and bustle in Harlem. Seabrooke strived to create a mural that would comfort children by creating a familiar and comforting atmosphere. Seabrooke felt strongly that the work should be honest in its depictions of the Black Harlem community. The mural received backlash from the hospital administration and the city for depictions of Black figures and subject matter, demanding the mural would be Whitened. Seabrooke, Hayes, Alston, and many others waged protest against the city and administration, refusing to give in to demands. Seabrooke decided finally to add several White figures to the mural, and the mural remains in the hospital today as one of Seabrooke's most well known works.

Later Years and Death

Seabrooke married Dr. George Wesley Powell in 1939. The remained married until 1959. After the couple was married, the moved to Washington, D.C. They sacrificed artistic and entrepreneurial careers to focus on life at home with their three children. During this time, Seabrooke would expand her repertoire with a variety of mediums and artistic approaches, continuing to engage with Black culture community, and creating many autobiographical paintings.

Seabrooke was a dedicated art therapist and activist for the duration of the rest of her life, and much of her work expressed relatable sympathetic emotions. Seabrooke carried these into a series of portraits of the homeless. During the 70s and 80s, Washington D.C. rapidly developed a homeless population due to a surge of displaced war veterans and diminishing access to mental health resources. To express her outrage, Seabrooke created portraits of homeless men and women with materials which emulated the surroundings and garments of the homeless lifestyle, while imbuing her subjects with heartfelt humanity. Seabrooke's passion for art therapy and community activism led her to found Tomorrow's World Art Center, a non profit arts and education organization that reflected her philosophy and remained an active organization for 30 years.

Near the end of her life, Seabrooke moved to Palm Coast, Florida. Seabrooke died of complications related to cancer on December 27th, 2011. During the time leading up to her death, her increasingly severe illness made her incapable of continuing art making. However, she remained involved in art therapy and art fundraising until her death. Seabrooke's work appeared in 72 major exhibitions between 1933 and 2003 in the Uinted States, Senegal, Venezuela, and Nigeria. Her works hang in distinguished collections around the United States.

Works

  • Recreation in Harlem - Harlem Hospital Center - New York City, New York
  • Grandmothers's Birthday - Johnson Publishing Company - Chicago, Illinois
  • Hampton Institute - Hampton, Virginia
  • New York Public Library - New York City, New York
  • Anacostia Museum - Washington D.C.
  • Library of Congress - Washington D.C.
  • Baltimore Museum of Art - Baltimore, Maryland
  • Chicago Public Library - Chicago, Illinois
  • Center for African American History and Culture - Washington D.C.

Awards

  • 1935: Cooper Union School of Fine Arts - Silver medal for painting
  • 2001: Washington D.C. Commission on the Arts
  • 2002: D.C. Hall of Fame Society - Legacy Award
  • 2005: Duke Ellington School of Arts
  • 2008: Art Therapy Pioneer Award - American Art Therapy Association[6]

Exhibits

  • 1993: "Radiance and Reality" (one woman show) - Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
  • 1995: "Art Changes Things" - Smithsonian Institution - Anacostia Museum

See also

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[1]

[2]

Further reading

  • Farrington, Lisa E., (2005). - Creating Their Own Image: The History of African-American Women Artists. - New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516721-4
  • Heller, Jules and Nancy G. Heller, (1995). - North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. - New York: Garland. ISBN 978-0-8240-6049-7

External links

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