The David C. Driskell Room

David C. Driskell's artwork will be featured in one of our three private dining areas, and the room will be renamed to reflect this. More information to come.

David C. Driskell (1931-2020), an American artist, scholar, and curator, was recogn ized for his work in establishing African-American Art as a distinct field of study. In his lifetime, Driskell was cited as one of the world's leading authorities on the subject.

Driskell advised notable figures including Oprah Winfrey on their art collections. In 1996 he advised the White House on its purchase of the first artwork in the White House's collection by a Black artist, Alma Thomas. (Resurrection, 1966).

In twelve sumptuous serigraphs in this portfolio, Driskell "... represents the doorway as a passage between two worlds - interior and exterior, material and spiritual, real and imagined" writes Phillips Collection (Washington D. C.) Curator Elsa Smithgall. Colorful, and full of movement and rhythms, the images vary from recognizable pictorial views to highly abstract representations of the idea of a passageway.

His works can be found in collections across the country, including the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; and the Studio Museum, Harlem, NY.