About

About Faith Ringgold

Ringgold, born 1930 in Harlem, New York is a painter, sculptor, teacher, activist and author of numerous award winning children’s books. Ringgold received her B.S. and M.A. degrees in visual art from the City College of New York in 1955 and 1959. Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of California in San Diego, Faith Ringgold has received 23 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees.

 

Faith Ringgold is the recipient of more than 80 awards and honors including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship; two National Endowment for the Arts Awards; The American Academy of Arts and Letters Award and the Medal of Honor for Fine Arts from the National Arts Club.  In 2017 Faith Ringgold was elected as a member into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston, MA.

 

Ringgold’s work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums in the United States and abroad including The Art Institute of Chicago, IL; The Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; The Boston Museum of Fine Art, MA; The High Museum, GA; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY; The Brooklyn Museum, NY; The National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; The Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA; The Studio Museum, NY; Glenstone Museum, MD and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England, among others.

 

Known for her oil paintings from the 1960s and Faith Ringgold’s narrative painted story quilts, she created a body of work in the 1970s that reflected Ringgold’s political activism and her personal story within the context of the women’s movement. Faith Ringgold was one of a very small group of black women who helped galvanize the Black and Feminist Art Movements in New York in the 1970s.  This body of work, including tankas and soft sculptures, led to Faith Ringgold’s painted story quilts.
 
Ringgold’s first story quilt Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima? was created in 1983 as a way of publishing her unedited words.  The addition of text to Ringgold’s quilted paintings has developed into a unique medium and style all her own.

 

Tar Beach, Faith Ringgold’s first children’s book, has won over 20 awards including the Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King award for the best-illustrated children’s book of 1991. It was made into an animated short for HBO. The original painted story quilt, Tar Beach, is in the permanent collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

 

Faith Ringgold’s artwork is featured on The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Timeline of Art History, a chronological, geographical and thematic exploration of the most important art from around the world.

 

In 2019 the Serpentine Gallery in London organized a traveling survey of Faith Ringgold’s work. In conjunction with the exhibition BBC produced a full-length documentary, Faith Ringgold: Tell It Like It Is.

 

Faith Ringgold is as important to the overall culture of America as she is to the specifics of contemporary American art.  From her earliest breakthroughs during the turbulent decade of the 1960s and continuing into the new millennium, Faith Ringgold maintains her stature as a creative and cultural force.  She is a role model for artists and scholars and continues to influence and inspire others.

 

Faith Ringgold has been represented worldwide exclusively by ACA Galleries since 1995.

Artworks
  • Faith Ringgold, Mahalia: We Love You, 2012
    Faith Ringgold
    Mahalia: We Love You, 2012
    Silkscreen
    30 x 22 in.
    76.2 x 55.88 cm
    2/3 AP
  • Faith Ringgold, Coming to Jones Road Part II #4 Aunt Emmy and Uncle Tate, 2010
    Faith Ringgold
    Coming to Jones Road Part II #4 Aunt Emmy and Uncle Tate, 2010
    Acrylic on canvas with fabric border
    55 x 35 1/2 in.
    139.7 x 90.17 cm
  • Faith Ringgold, Jazz Stories: Mama Can Sing, Papa Can Blow #5: You Put the Devil in Me, 2004
    Faith Ringgold
    Jazz Stories: Mama Can Sing, Papa Can Blow #5: You Put the Devil in Me, 2004
    Acrylic on canvas with pieced fabric border
    81 1/2 x 67 1/2 in.
    207.01 x 171.45 cm
  • Faith Ringgold, Wynton's Tune, 2004
    Faith Ringgold
    Wynton's Tune, 2004
    Silkscreen
    29 x 20 in.
    73.66 x 50.8 cm
    23/ AP
  • Faith Ringgold, Jazz Stories: Mama Can Sing 7/9, 2001-2004
    Faith Ringgold
    Jazz Stories: Mama Can Sing 7/9, 2001-2004
    Acrylic on paper
    19 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.
    49.53 x 34.29 cm
  • Faith Ringgold, Jazz Stories: Sonny Blows, 2001-2004
    Faith Ringgold
    Jazz Stories: Sonny Blows, 2001-2004
    Acrylic on paper
    19 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.
    49.53 x 34.29 cm
    1/3
  • Faith Ringgold, Jazz Stories: Sonny Blows, 2001-2004
    Faith Ringgold
    Jazz Stories: Sonny Blows, 2001-2004
    Acrylic on Paper
    19 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.
    49.53 x 34.29 cm
    2/3
  • Faith Ringgold, Coming to Jones Road #2: Sunday Evening on Jones Road, 1999
    Faith Ringgold
    Coming to Jones Road #2: Sunday Evening on Jones Road, 1999
    Acrylic on canvas with pieced fabric border (Storyquilt)
    43 x 59 in.
    109.22 x 149.86 cm
  • Faith Ringgold, We Came to America, 1998
    Faith Ringgold
    We Came to America, 1998
    Color etching
    15 1/2 x 19 3/4 in.
    39.4 x 50.2 cm
    13/15
  • Faith Ringgold, The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles, 1997
    Faith Ringgold
    The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles, 1997
    Silkscreen
    28 x 31 in.
    71.1 x 78.7 cm
    26/425
  • Faith Ringgold, Groovin' High, 1996
    Faith Ringgold
    Groovin' High, 1996
    Silkscreen
    32 1/2 x 44 in.
    82.6 x 111.8 cm
    92/425
  • Faith Ringgold, No More War Story Quilt Part II, 1985
    Faith Ringgold
    No More War Story Quilt Part II, 1985
    Intaglio, dyed and pieced fabric
    71 x 101 in.
    180.34 x 256.54 cm
  • Faith Ringgold, Little Joe, 1978
    Faith Ringgold
    Little Joe, 1978
    Soft sculpture
    43 x 10 x 10 in.
    109.22 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm
  • Faith Ringgold, Windows of the Wedding #1: Woman, 1974
    Faith Ringgold
    Windows of the Wedding #1: Woman, 1974
    Acrylic on canvas
    63 x 27 in.
    160.0 x 68.6 cm
  • Faith Ringgold, Windows of the Wedding #20: No Children, 1974
    Faith Ringgold
    Windows of the Wedding #20: No Children, 1974
    Acrylic on canvas
    77 x 18 3/4 in.
    195.6 x 47.6 cm
  • Faith Ringgold, Woman Free Yourself, 1971
    Faith Ringgold
    Woman Free Yourself, 1971
    Offset print
    24 x 18 in.
    60.96 x 45.72 cm
  • Faith Ringgold, Women Free Angela, 1971
    Faith Ringgold
    Women Free Angela, 1971
    Poster
    28 1/4 x 19 1/2 in.
    71.76 x 49.53 cm
  • Faith Ringgold, South African Love Story #2: Part I and II (diptych), (Diptych) 1958-87
    Faith Ringgold
    South African Love Story #2: Part I and II (diptych), (Diptych) 1958-87
    Intaglio on canvas
    63 x 76 in.
    160.02 x 193.04 cm
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