Floyd Newsum (born 1955) is an American artist living in Houston, Texas. Since completing his education at Temple University in Pennsylvania, he has worked in abstraction and is best known for his primitive style, employing collage elements to construct narrative in his sculptures and works on canvas.
Life
Born in 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, Floyd Newsum did not grow up in an art-focused environment or even, being African American, one which encouraged freedom of expression. Despite this, he attended Memphis College of Art and attained his bachelor’s degree in painting in 1973. Memphis College of Art then lacked a graduate school, and Newsum attended Temple University to graduate with a master’s degree in painting in 1975. Shortly after graduation, he took a position as professor of art at the University of Houston. He has taught there since and lives in Houston with his wife, Janice.
Work
Newsum’s work consists primarily in painting, collage, and, to a lesser extent, sculpture. He draws extensively from impressionist, African tribal, American Indian, and Pacific island art to construct his highly narrative works. His influences include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Phillip Guston, Marc Chagal, and Henri Matisse. This work has become recognized and is distinguished by his use of ladders, fish, birds, and houses. He favors bright colors in his work, often using entirely pastel and primary colors for his compositions.
Exhibitions
2013 African American Art Since 1950: from the Perspective of the David C. Driskell Center
2013, traveling tour organized by the Center and SITE Smithsonian, Taft Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
2006 Brandywine Workshop, “Houston: Contemporary Works on Paper”, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2006 Pennsylvania State University, group show, “Three Decades of American Printmaking”, University Park, Pennsylvania
2002 The University of Memphis Art Museum, “One Person Exhibition”, Memphis, Tennessee
2002 The Philadelphia Foundation, “30X30”, exhibition of prints, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2002 Center of Fine and Performing Arts, “One Person Exhibition: Fractured Landscapes”, the University of Florida, Pensacola, Florida
2002 African American Museum of Art, Dallas, “Three Centuries of African American Art”, Dallas, Texas
2001 Philadelphia Museum of Art, print gallery “An Exuberant Bounty: Prints and Drawings by African Americans”, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2000 O’Kane Gallery, “One Man Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings”, University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, Texas
1998 Brooks Museum of Art, “Invitational Artist, Memphis Arts Festival”, Memphis, Tennessee
1997 African American Museum of Art, Dallas, “18th Annual African American Art Exhibition”, Dallas, Texas
1994 Project Row Houses, “Tribal Markings”, Houston, Texas
1994 Museum of Fine Arts-Houston, “Speaking of Art: Words and Works from Houston”, Houston, Texas
1992 Brooks Art Museum, “Brooks Biennial Invitational”, Memphis, Tennessee
1990 Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, “Black Out”, Houston, Texas
1990 Blaffer Gallery, “The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism”, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
1988 Museum of African-American Life & culture, “Five Contemporary Artists”, Dallas, Texas
1976 Center of the Arts, Hartwick College, “16 Contemporary Artists”, Oneonta, New York
1976 Brown Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, “Floyd Newsum”, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Collections
2012 Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and History, Washington, DC, “Sirigu, Janie’s Apron” permanent collection, oil and acrylic on paper with mixed medium
2009 David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, “When We Reflect”, oil and acrylic with mixed medium on paper
2005 Mexic-Arte Museum, “Grey Foundation”, Austin, Texas, silkscreen
2005 Xavier University, “Just Because She Could, she Put the World on Its Side”, New Orleans, Louisiana, lithographic print
2005 Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame, “Grey Foundation”, Notre Dame, Indiana, silkscreen print
2003 Main Street Square, City of Houston, “Planter and Stems”, painted steel sculptures
2003 Metro Light Rail, Main Street at McGowen and Main at Berry, Houston, Texas, station Designs
2002 City of Houston, “Painting for Way Finding Project”, Houston, Texas
1999 Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Just Because”, “Blue Spirits”, “Madonna and Night Landscape”, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, litho prints
1999 Memphis Fire Museum, “You Can Count on Me”, Memphis Tennessee, painting
1998 African American Museum of Art, Dallas, “Just Because”, Dallas, Texas, litho print
1991 Museum of Fine Arts-Houston, “Josephine Sho’ Can Dance”, Houston, Texas, painting
1989 Midtown Art Center, Houston, Texas, mural
Literature
2008 “Studios and Workspaces of Black American Artist”, Dennis L. Forbes, Dennis L. Forbes
2004 “Three Decades of American Printmaking”, The Brandywine Workshop Collection, Hudson Hills Press, New York and Manchester
1999 “Texas 150: Works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston”, Alison de Lima Green, Harry N. Abrams
2000 “Private Show! A Juried Exhibition in Print”, The International Review of African American Art, v. 16, no.3
1999 “Response Time”, The Art Car Museum, Houston, Texas (catalog)
1999 “Texas Paper: Works on Paper by Texas Artists”, The Gallery at UT at Arlington (catalog)
1998 “A Place for All People”, Beth B. Schneider, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Texas
1998 “Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas”, Crown Publishers, New York
1996 “Texas National 96 Exhibition”, Stephen F. Austin State University (catalog)
1996 “The Language of Literature”, Arthur N. Applebee; Judith A. Langer, McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin Publishers
1993 “Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves”, Hudson-Weems, Clenora, Bedford Publishers, cover design
1991 “Floyd Newsum”, Performance Art Magazine, no. 1, Houston Visual, Literacy Magazine
1990 “African American Artists”, Samella Lewis, University of California Press
1990 “United States Foreign Policy Toward Southern Africa”, Ike Okafur Newsum, Macmillan Press, Ltd., cover design
1990 “Messages of the South”, Sewall Art Gallery, Rice University (catalog)