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Home > Artists > Faith Ringgold

Faith Ringgold

Born: October 8, 1930

Faith Ringgold

Biography

A painter, book illustrator, sculptor, performance artist, and writer, Faith Ringgold was born in Harlem in 1930 and has always found inspiration in music. “I have spent a lifetime listening to the great music of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and others, she has said. “Many of these musicians also lived in Harlem, so, even though they were stars, they were also neighbors.” The artist’s first husband, Earl Wallace, was a classical pianist and composer, and gifted jazz musicians like Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Jackie McLean were among their friends.

Since the 1950s, Ringgold has worked across media, styles, and techniques “to tell my story, to express what I needed to express. I think about the things people did tell me instead of what I wish I’d known. My mother told me I would have to work twice as hard to get half as far.” Ringgold’s ongoing desire to create figurative work has at times pushed against prevailing norms in an art world, which from the mid-to-late twentieth century, favored abstraction.

Ringgold is the recipient of many honors for her extensive body of work, created over six decades.

Visit artist's website

Illustrations by Faith Ringgold

Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima?Faith Ringgoldhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/whos-afraid-of-aunt-jemima
Somebody Stole My Broken HeartFaith Ringgoldhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/somebody-stole-my-broken-heart
New York is Book CountryFaith Ringgoldhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/new-york-is-book-country
All Power to the PeopleFaith Ringgoldhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/all-power-to-the-people
Black Light Series #3: Soul SisterFaith Ringgoldhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/black-light-series-3-soul-sister

Additional Resources

Bibliography

Farrington, Lisa E. Art on Fire: The Politics of Race and Sex in the Paintings of Faith Ringgold. New York: Millennium Fine Arts Pub., 1999.

Farrington, Lisa E. Faith Ringgold. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2004.

Holton, Curlee Raven and Faith Ringgold. Faith Ringgold: A View from the Studio. Boston: Bunker Hill Publishing, 2014.

Jackson, Sharna. Faith Ringgold: Narrating the World in Pattern and Color. New York: DK Children, 2021.

Ringgold, Faith. We Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold. Boston: Little, Brown, 1995.

Sills, Leslie. Inspirations: Stories About Women Artists: Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Alice Neel, Faith Ringgold. Niles, IL: Albert Whitman & Company, 1989.

Venezia, Mike. Faith Ringgold. New York: Children's Press, 2008.

Wallace, Michelle, Thom Collins, and Tracy Fitzpatrick. American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold's Paintings of the 1960s. Purchase, NY: Neuberger Museum of Art, 2010.

Genres
  • Advertising
    • Corporate
    • Political and Public Service
    • Product
    • Self-Promotion
  • Books
    • Children’s Books
    • Cover Art
    • Interior Illustration
  • Cartooning
    • Advertising
    • Caricature
    • Political and Editorial
    • Sports
    • Spot
  • Comics
    • Comic Books
      • Manga
    • Comic Strips
  • Decorative & Applied Illustration
    • Info Graphics
    • Murals
    • Portraiture
  • Fantasy
    • Adventure
    • Fairy Tales and Fables
    • Mythology
  • Fashion
    • Advertising
    • Design
  • Graphic Novels
    • Fiction
    • Non-Fiction
    • Visual Memoir and Autobiography
  • Internet Illustration
    • Web Comics
    • Website Illustration
  • Magazine
    • Cover Art
    • Story Illustration
  • Moving Image
    • Animation
    • Concept Art
    • Storyboard
    • Video Game Design
  • Newspaper
  • Non-Commissioned Work
  • Poster
    • Event (Promotional)
    • Film
    • Political
    • Propaganda
    • Travel
  • Product Illustration
    • Album/CD
    • Calendars
    • DVD/VHS/Videogame
    • Greeting Cards
    • Packaging
    • Paper Dolls
    • Postage Stamps
  • Pulp Illustration
    • Pinup Art
    • Pulp Magazines
  • Science Fiction
    • Creatures
    • Outer Space
    • Technology
  • Technical
    • Anatomy
    • Archaeological
    • Architecture
    • Courtroom Drawings
    • Horticulture
    • Mechanical
    • Natural History
Global Perspectives
  • North America
  • Europe
  • Asia
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Related Time Periods
  • The Decade 1950-1960 The Decade 1950-1960
  • The Decade 1960-1970 The Decade 1960-1970
  • The Decade 1970-1980 The Decade 1970-1980
  • The Decade 1980-1990 The Decade 1980-1990
  • The Decade 1990-2000 The Decade 1990-2000
  • The Decade 2000-2010 The Decade 2000-2010
  • The Decade 2010-2020 The Decade 2010-2020
  • The Decade 2020-Present The Decade 2020-Present

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