Samella Lewis, artist, author, and professor emerita, Scripps College, and Suzanne Muchnic ’62, journalist, Los Angeles Times will join Scripps College President Nancy Y. Beckavac in an event to honor the foundation of the Samella Lewis Collection of Contemporary Art on Tuesday, February 27, at 4 p.m. in Balch Auditorium, Scripps College. The lecture, sponsored by the Scripps College Office of the President, is free and open to the public. For more information, please call (909) 621-8148.
Scripps College announces the Samella Lewis Collection of Contemporary Art in honor of Dr. Lewis, the first tenured African American faculty member at Scripps College. Dr. Lewis taught art history at Scripps from 1969 to 1984. As one of the founders of the Museum of African Art in Los Angeles, the author of several books on African American art history, and the producer of four films on African American artists, Dr. Lewis has been a leader in her field.
The collection honoring Dr. Lewis has already acquired a number of works including four works on paper by Samella Lewis, a major mixed-media work titled “Blade Wing” (1989) by Susan Rankaitis, Fletcher Jones Chair of Art, Scripps College, and photographs by Eileen Cowin, Janet Delaney, Anthony Friedkin, George Hurrell, and Max Yavno. A selection of the collection will be on view during the event.