Seek & Find Gallery Guide
Discover powerful works by Black artists in the LSU Museum of Art’s galleries. Featuring pieces from our permanent collection and special loans, these artworks highlight diverse perspectives, creativity, and storytelling. As you explore, take a moment to seek out and engage with these significant contributions to art and culture.
Madelyn Sneed-Grays (American, b. 1991)
Two Strikes, 2022
Oil on Canvas
Gift of Winifred and Kevin Reilly.
Sneed-Grays, from Dallas, Texas, created this self-portrait to show how being both Black and a woman is sometimes seen as "two strikes" against her. She paints highly realistic, almost photographic portraits that look directly at the viewer. Her goal is to “encourage the exploration of different cultures and bring awareness to the humanity and beauty of the Black community.”
Frank Hayden (American,1934-1988)
Female Figure [Birth], N.D.
Plaster, pigment, wood
Gift of Dr. And Mrs. A Brooks Cronan, Jr.
Hayden, who taught at Southern University for 26 years, made a big impact on the Baton Rouge community. Two of his public sculptures can be found near LSUMOA, in front of the Old State Capitol Building in Galvez Plaza. This sculpture, Female Figure [Birth], is similar in style to many of his other works, featuring smaller figures within a larger figure.
John Biggers (American, 1924-2001)
Four Seasons, 1990
Color lithograph on cream wove paper, ed. 105/120
Gift of Winifred and Kevin Reilly.
Biggers, born in a shotgun house in North Carolina, created artworks ranging from large murals to small sketches. In 1957, a UNESCO fellowship took him to West Africa, where he studied cultural traditions, especially in Ghana. His work often reflects West African folklore, as seen in Four Seasons, where tortoises may symbolize time, longevity, or trickery. He emphasized hands and feet to show strength, and women often appear as pillars of the community.
Ronald Lockett (American, 1965-1998)
Creation, 1989
Paint on found particle board kitchen table
Collection of Doug McCraw.
Lockett grew up in the Pipe Shop neighborhood of Bessemer, Alabama, where he and his older cousin, Thornton Dial, inspired each other by creating art from found objects. This painting, for example, was made using part of a kitchen table. Lockett often included animal shapes and human figures in his work. He used dripping and finger-swirling techniques to create a marbled effect. His art explores many themes, especially Christianity’s connection between God, humans, and nature.
Martin Payton (American, b. 1948)
Sengbe, 2013
Welded steel
Purchased with funds from the Alma Lee, H.N., and Cary Saurage Fund at BRAF, and the Paula G. Manship Museum of Art Endowment Acquisition and Conservation fund.
Martin Payton, born in New Orleans and longtime Baton Rouge resident, comes from a family of musicians. His sculptures are inspired by jazz and West African blacksmithing. When shaping steel, he bends its rigid lines into forms that feel fluid and musical. This sculpture honors Sengbe Pieh (1814-1879), an enslaved man from present-day Sierra Leone who led a successful revolt for freedom and won the historic Supreme Court case United States v. The Amistad.
Radcliffe Bailey (American, 1968-2023)
Far Beyond the Valley, 2003
Mixed media on wood
Gift of Winifred and Kevin Reilly.
Bailey, who spent most of his life in Atlanta, was deeply interested in his family’s history and ancestry. As a young artist, his grandmother gave him a large photo album filled with hundreds of pictures of relatives, many unidentified, like the man in this image. The title of this work likely references the song Far Beyond the Valley by Gregory Isaacs, whose themes of longing and connection align with Bailey’s art.
Railroad tracks are a recurring symbol in Bailey’s work, linked to his father’s job as a railroad engineer, the Underground Railroad, jazz musician John Coltrane (a play on “train/trane”), the album Blue Train, and migration—whether through the trans-Atlantic slave trade or the Great Migration. The colorful blocks reflect quilt patterns, while the tree represents finding one’s roots and staying connected to ancestors.
Bailey once said he’d love to visit “the deepest ends of the oceans and outer space,” a dream reflected in his use of color and the sense of vastness in his work.
Larry Allen, (American, N.D.)
Teapot, 2020
Glazed stoneware
Promised gift of E. John Bullard.
Allen, an Alabama artist, uses sgraffito, a technique from the Italian Renaissance, to carve intricate designs into leather-hard clay. Inspired by African and Native American art, he works with black stoneware clay, covering each vessel with a slip (liquified clay) solution before applying a wax coating. After carving patterns, he accents the design with red glaze and re-fires the piece for a striking finish.
Paul Briggs (American, no date given)
“Sic" Knot Story, 2021
Glazed stoneware
Gift of Winifred and Kevin Reilly.
Briggs, born in New York and now living in Massachusetts, views art as a spiritual practice. As the son of a minister, working with clay feels like a form of prayer. His piece, Sic, is part of a series called Knot Stories, which examines hidden biases in language. The term “sic” is often used when quoting text with a mistake to show the writer knows about the error. In Sic, Briggs uses basic pottery techniques like making coils and slabs, to create stiff shapes like bars and knots, symbolizing systemic racism and how language can reinforce inequality.
John T. Scott (American, 1940-2007)
Garden of Urban Delights, 2005
Ink on handmade paper
Gift of Mary Terrell Joseph.
Scott, born and raised in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, taught at Xavier University for over 40 years. He created art in various forms, including printmaking, sculpture, painting, and collage. This drawing is inspired by The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, exploring themes of lust, pleasure, and humanity’s fall from grace. Scott's piece celebrates New Orleans' unique architecture, culture, and Mardi Gras traditions, highlighting costumes, parades, and the carnival spirit of laissez les bons temps rouler.
Taj Matumbi (American, b. 1994)
Cage Free vs. Free Range, 2020
Acrylic and oil stick on paper canvas
Matumbi grew up skateboarding with his brothers in Northern California, and themes of freedom are common in his art. This painting, created during the COVID-19 pandemic, plays on how eggs are labeled as "more ethical" or "less ethical," which often just makes consumers feel better without helping animals or workers. Matumbi uses this idea to question whether African Americans truly have more freedoms today or if this concept is just an illusion.
Malaika Favorite (American, b. 1949)
Learning About Life, c. 1980
Linocut print, ed.7/11
Gift of Thomas Oswald.
Favorite, born in Geismar, Louisiana, and an LSU alum, is an artist and writer deeply inspired by place and community. In 1965, as an eleventh grader, she became the first African American student to integrate Ascension Parish Schools, transferring from the segregated Prairieville High School to Dutchtown High School.
While most of her work is colorful and created with mixed materials, this print, Learning About Life, shares a common theme found throughout her work with its emphasis on women and use of textures and patterns. The two birds within the artwork reflect the poses of the two figures on the floor, symbolizing connection and togetherness.
Willie Birch, (American, b. 1942)
Memories of Bertrandville, 1993
Mixed media on papier-mâché
Gift of the artist and Arthur Roger Gallery.
Birch began working with paper mâché as a child, making Mardi Gras floats in New Orleans. As an adult, he felt inspired to use paper again after seeing a 15th-century crucifix at St. Louis Cathedral during the 1984 World Exhibition. Birch said, “Some part of me is always searching for a metaphor, and paper became a metaphor for what is fragile and wasteful in this culture.” Growing up in New Orleans during segregation, he spent time with his grandparents in Bertrandville. As he got older, he became active in the Civil Rights Movement, joining the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and participating in protests.
Renée Stout (American, b. 1958)
Hoodoo House, 2022
Mixed media on wood
Collection of Doug McCraw.
Stout, born in Kansas and now living in Washington D.C., studies Hoodoo beliefs and practices. She has an alter ego named Fatima Mayfield, a root worker inspired by Madame Ching, a real-life Hoodoo practitioner Stout met in Pittsburgh in the 1980s. Her artwork, Hoodoo House, reflects the curiosity she felt passing Madame Ching’s home. The piece features symbols from conjuring culture, including “222” for balance and cross-like symbols referencing the Kongo cosmogram, which represents the cycle of life and the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds.
Purvis Young, (American, 1943-2010)
Untitled, N.D.
Mixed media on wood.
Collection of Doug McCraw.
Young, who lived in Miami, Florida, used found wood from abandoned storefronts in his Overtown neighborhood as canvases for his art. A self-taught artist with a deep love of learning, he painted wild horses as symbols of freedom, cityscapes reflecting his surroundings, crowds representing protests, and angels expressing his spirituality. He also created large murals throughout Overtown, bringing art directly to the community and making it more accessible to everyone.
Richard Dial (American, b. 1955)
Moses, 1986
Metal
Collection of Doug McCraw.
Dial, born in Bessemer, Alabama, began creating chairs that resemble people or animals in the 1980s. These imaginative works transform an everyday object into something more meaningful—a story or conversation that feels alive. In Hoodoo traditions, the Biblical figure Moses is honored for leading his people out of slavery. Sitting in one of Dial's chairs allows the person to view the world from Moses’s perspective, which can be both comforting and inspiring, connecting them to hope and leadership.
Thornton Dial (American, 1928-1916)
Struggling Tiger, 1989
Oil on canvas
Collection of Rober S. Taubman
Estate of Thornton Dial ZuZu Inc.
Dial's influence on artists is significant, particularly in his hometown of Bessemer, Alabama. Two other artists featured in this guide, Ronald Lockett and Richard Dial, have been directly inspired by his work, along with many others. The tiger is a personal symbol for Dial that appears in many of his creations. Poet Amiri Baraka captures the spirit of Dial's tiger in his words: “I am the Tiger. We is the Tiger. You is the Tiger. My sons and daughters. My brothers. My sisters. My parents. My people. Your people. The ones that fight. The ones that struggle. The ones that struggle and lurk and survive. We is all, who feels this, the tiger.” For Dial, the tiger represents resilience, strength, and the experience of struggle and survival.
Sonya Clark (American, b. 1967)
French Braid and Cornrow, 2013
Cloth, thread, and wood
Purchased with funds from Winifred and Kevin Reilly.
Clark, born in Washington D.C., developed an appreciation for textiles through her grandmother, who was a tailor. The artist often works with cloth because it is familiar and personal; we engage with fabric daily through the clothes we wear. In this piece, she reflects on the meanings that language and materials carry across the African Diaspora, particularly in North America.
This work responds to a comment made by a white student: “Well, a cornrow is really nothing but a small French braid.” The choice of words reveals deeper implications. “French braid” reflects a colonial perspective of power, while “cornrow” carries historical connections to labor in the fields.
She shows this tension in the two panels. In the panel on the left, which represents the French braid, the thread is sewn into the surface. In the panel on the right, which represents the cornrow, the braid is created from the cloth itself. This may suggest that colonization intrudes on a culture and affects both the body and the land.
Note: These artworks are on view in the galleries as of January 2025 when this blog post was written. The museum rotates artworks from the permanent collection in its galleries.
Written by Callie Smith, PhD
LSU Museum of Art Educator and Public Programs Manager