Have a Question about American Art?

Bet you a dime Joan of Art knows the answer! Ask Joan of Art .

Recently a virtual visitor asked: "I would like to have information about an aged, Black, woman sculptor named Thelma Burke. CBS Sunday Morning did a clip on her life and achievements a few years ago. Thanks loads."

Dear Virtual Visitor,

The artist you are referring to is Selma Burke (1900–1995), an interesting and important sculptor. In fact, if you have a dime in your pocket, you are carrying around a small Selma Burke artwork; the U.S. Mint used her relief portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the main source for the relief on this coin. She played a very important role as an art educator of black Americans. In 1946 she founded the Selma Burke Art School in New York City and later founded and directed the Selma Burke Art Center in Pittsburgh. She also taught at the Harlem Community Art Center during the depression. In 1979, the Women's Caucus for Art honored Burke, along with Louise Nevelson, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Isabel Bishop, at a ceremony conducted at the White House by President Jimmy Carter. I have summarized these highlights of her life from American Women Sculptors, by Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1989).

You can learn more about her online at African-Americans in the Visual Arts: A Historical Perspective at Long Island University.

I hope this information is helpful.

Joan of Art

Pictured: Photograph of Selma Burke (1900–1995). Smithsonian American Art Museum, Peter A. Juley & Son Collection