Keith Morrison’s art explore imagery of a wide global range, typically as a continuous circle of ideas from Europe, the Americas (north and south), to Africa and the Middle East. Within a conventional language of painting, he creates visual paradoxes of space, prismatic planar shifts, panoramas, oblique angles, perspective oddities and an elusive reality. His art involves many themes, such as trans-continental evolution; cross-cultural fertilization of religion; mysticism and sexuality versus spirituality; global continuum of African and mezzo-American myths and legends as add mixture to Western civilization; urban anthropology; and socio-cultural dysfunction and destruction. Sometimes witty, sometimes poignant, sometimes fatalistic and sometimes perverse, his art, nevertheless, always posits moral challenge. His images range from the horrific to the sublime. Seen through the body of his work is a personal lexicon of venues and icons, which form the unmistakable cosmogony of life and death in the world according to Keith Morrison.”
— Peter Wilson, 2014

Keith Anthony Morrison is a Jamaican painter, printmaker, educator, art critic, art curator and university administrator. He represented Jamaica in the 2001, Venice Biennale, the world’s most famous and prestigious art exhibition, the only time Jamaica has been represented there. He also represented Jamaica in the Caribbean Biennale in Santo Domingo, in 1994. He curated the art exhibition, Ceremony in Space and Time and sound, an exhibition of 14 Jamaican artists living in Jamaica and abroad, for the National Art of Jamaica, in Kingston in 2008. He is the subject of the biography, Keith Morrison, by Dr. Rene Ater, 2004; His paintings form the foundation for an anthology by scholars from the Caribbean, Latin American, US, and the UK, titled, African Diaspora in the Cultures of Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States, 2014. His painting is the iconic image on the cover of the book, Senghorian Meditations: The Onthology of Afro-Diasporic Aesthetics, by Professor Marc Mae Bekele, to be published by L’Harmattan Press, Paris, France, March 2015. Morrison has exhibited worldwide, including in the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Modern Monterrey, Mexico, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution and the deYoung Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and exhibitions in countries such as the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Poland, Egypt, Lebanon, Liberia, Japan, Brazil, Cuba, India, and China. In the USA he has had solo exhibitions in cities such as New York, Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Boston. Morrison has had a distinguished career as an art critic, having published in many books, periodicals, newspapers, and museum catalogues. He is also an international art curator. He is author of the book, Art in Washington and Its African-American Presence, 1940 to 1970. He has curated art exhibitions in Cuba, the USA and Jamaica. In 2008 he represented the USA as critic to the Shanghai Biennale. He was Fulbright Senior Scholar to China the following year. Keith Morrison was the first African-American to be appointed academic dean of art in a predominantly white American university, a position he has been appointed to 5 times in different institutions. Morrison served as Dean of Tyler School of ArtTemple University, Philadelphia; Dean for the College of Creative Arts, San Francisco State University; Dean for Academic Affairs, San Francisco Art Institute, and Dean for the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was previously Professor and Chair of the Art Department. He was a Distinguished Visiting Artist/Scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Previously he was Associate Dean and Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Chicago; Art Department Chair, DePaul University; and Assistant Professor of Art at Fisk University. More information may be found elsewhere on the web, including museum and university websites, and at www.keithmorrison.com

Keith Morrison is an internationally known painter, print-maker, art critic, curator, art consultant, educator and administrator. He is Professor Emeritus and former Dean of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University. He was previously academic dean at: College of Creative Arts San Francisco State University; College of Arts and Humanities, University of Maryland College Park; and Dean for Academic Affairs, San Francisco Art Institute. 

Birth: Linstead, Jamaica, May 20, 1942.

 

Education

M.F.A., (plus Art Education) Art Institute of Chicago, 1965

B.F.A., Art Institute of Chicago, 1963

Also studied at: University of Chicago; DePaul University; Loyola University

Calabar High School, Jamaica.

 

Academic Appointments:

Professor of Art, Temple University, 2008 –

Visiting Professor, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, China, 2008

Dean Tyler School of Art, Temple University, 2005-2008

Dean, College of Creative Arts, San Francisco State University, Jan. 1997-2005

Dean, College of Arts and Humanities, University of Maryland, College Park, July 1996 to Jan. 1997

Dean, College of Creative Arts, San Francisco State University, June.1994 to June 1996.

Dean, San Francisco Art Institute, Jan., 1993- June 1994

Chairman, Department of Art, Univ. of Maryland, 1987-1992

King-Chavez Distinguished Visiting Scholar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Jan.-Feb., 1990

Graduate Lecturer: Maryland Institute of Art, 1989-90

Art Studio Coordinator, Dept. of Art, University of Maryland, College Park, 1987.

Professor of Art, University of Maryland, 1979-present.

Associate Professor of Art, University of Illinois, Chicago, 1971-79.

Associate Dean, College of Architecture and Art, University of Illinois, Chicago, 1974-78.

Chairman and Associate Professor of Art, DePaul University, Chicago, 1969-71.

Assistant Professor of Art, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, 1967-68.

Instructor of Art, Public School System, Gary, Indiana

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Passages: Keith Morrison, 1999-2019
By Judith Stein, Katzen Museum, Washington D.C., 2019

Senghorian Meditations: The Onthology of Afro-Diasporic Aesthetics
By Marc Mae Bekele, L’Harmattan Press, Paris, France, March 2015

African Diaspora in the Cultures of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States
Persephone Braham, Editor
University of Delaware Press., December, 2014

The artists Eye (review of the Curator’s Eye III, Observer, Jamaica, June, 2008

“The Art of Keith Morrison, Franklin Knight, Observer, Jamaica, October, 2011

“Magical Visions,” WHYY-TV, March 27, 2012

Chen-Young, Leisha: “An Artistic Eye,” Jamaica Observer, June 15, 2008

Keith Morrison, monograph by Renee Ater, Pomegranate Press, CA, 2005

Driskell, David C: The Other Side of Color
San Francisco: Pomegranate Press, 2001

Amidon, Catherine: “Migration, Transition, and Change”
New York: Venice Biennial, 2001

Morrison, Keith. “Preserving Whose Mortality or Immortality?” p. 161-164
Mortality/Immortality?: The Legacy of 20th Century Art. Miguel Angel Corzo, editor
Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 1999

Bettelheim, Judith A. “Three Transnational Artists: Jose Bedia, Eduoard Duval-Carrié and Keith Morrison.” p. 43-48

The International Review of African American Art, 1998, Vol. 15 No. 3

Malpert, Roger, History of African American Art, Oxford University Press, 1998

Burgard, Timothy. Art and Ethnography
San Francisco: M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, 1998

Poupeye, Veerle. Caribbean Art
New York: Thames and Hudson, 1998

Patton, Sharon F. African American Art
Oxford University Press, 1998

Powell, Richard. Black Art and Culture in the Twentieth Century
London: Thames and Hudson, 1997

Baker, Kenneth. “Keith Morrison’s Art is the Stuff of Dreams”. p. E1
San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 1996

Berkson, Bill. “Chaos Dancer”
San Francisco: Bomani Gallery, 1996

Bettelheim, Judith. “A Transnational Artist with a Jamaica Soul”
African Arts, 1996

Art in Chicago, 1945-95
Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1996

Britton, Crystal A. African American Art: The Long Struggle
New York: Smithmark, 1996

Lewis, Samella. Caribbean Visions
Richmond, VA: Art Services International, 1995

Art News “Myth, Magic, and the Mainstream”
pg. 112, Summer 1995

Risatti, Howard. “Keith Morrison at Brody Gallery.” p. 108
Artforum, January 1992

Perry, Regina A. Free Within Ourselves
Washington, DC: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1992

Mereweather, Charles: Myth and Magic, In the Americas: The Eighties
Monterrey: Museum of Modern Art, 1991

Lippard, Lucy. Mixed Blessings : New Art in a Multicultural America
New York: Pantheon Books, 1990

Smith, Roberta. “The Galleries of TriBeCa and What’s in Them.” p. C22
The New York Times, April 27, 1990

Driskell, David C. “Keith Morrison: Interpreter of the Mythic Dream”
New York: Alternative Museum, 1990

Powell, Richard. “Anansi Revisited: Keith Morrison’s New Work.”
New York: Alternative Museum, 1990

Francis, Irma Talabi. “Keith Morrison: Spiritual Obsession.”
Eyewash, November 1990

Forgey, Benjamin. “Urban Expressions: Contemporary Art Opens at Anacostia.” p. G7
The Washington Post, May 16, 1987

Bontemps, Arna Alexander: Choosing
Washington DC: Museum Press, 1985,.

Laing, E.K: “Why it’s important to bring black artists out of cultural isolation”
The Christian Science Monitor, P. 29, November 20, 1985

Richard, Paul. “Black Artists: Their Pride & Problems: Keith Morrison.”
The Washington Post, March 15, 19

East/West: Contemporary American Art
Los Angeles: California Afro-American Museum, 1985.

Livingston, Jane: Ten + Ten + Ten
Washington, D.C.: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1984

PUBLICATIONS

The Much-Vaunted American Melting Pot, Cracks and All
Jillian Steinhauer, The New York Times, 2022

 

[Cover, 2022] The Sociology of Slavery by Orlando Patterson
Polity Press, UK

 

Soul of a Nation Reader, writing by and about Black American artists, 1960-1980
edited by Mark Godfrey and Allie Brown

 

“Mortality, Immortality”, republication
Getty Museum, LA

 

“David Driskell, the Fisk Years”
Rizzoli/Portland Museum of Art

 

“David Driskell: The Fisk Years,” Portland Museum of Art, 2021

 

“Ralph Arnold and a Tale of Two Chicagos”
The Many Hats of Ralph Arnold, pp 83-96
Museum of Contemporary Photography
Columbia College, Chicago 2018

 

“The Abstract Originality of Norman Lewis”
Brandywine Art Magazine, Vol. 1, 2016

 

“The Curator’s Eye III,” National Gallery of Art, Kingston, Jamaica, 2008

 

“Graham Davis,” Mutual Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica, 2008

 

“David Driskell,” Pomegranate Press, 2006

 

“Pin-Pricked Dieties: The Art of Joyce Scott”

 

Catalog Essay. Baltimore: Baltimore Museum/Maryland Institute College of Art, 1999

“Preserving Whose Mortality or Immortality?”

Catalog Essay. Mortality/Immortality?: The Legacy of 20th Century Art.

Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 1999

 

Contemporary Artists From Cuba

Catalog Essay. Metaphor/Commentaries: Artists From Cuba

San Francisco: San Francisco State University, 1999

 

Art and Ethnography

Catalog Essay. Art of the Americas: Art and Ethnography

San Francisco: M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, 1998

 

Narratives of African American Art and Identity : The David C. Driskell Collection

Catalog Essay. San Francisco: Pomegranate Communications, 1998

 

Brandywine Workshop: 25th Anniversary Catalog

Catalog Essay. Philadelphia: Brandywine Workshop Center for the Visual Arts, 1997

 

African American Visual Aesthetics : A Postmodernist View; edited by David C. Driskell

Lead Essay. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995

 

Artists of Conscience

Catalog Essay. New York: Alternative Museum, 1991

 

“Questioning the Quality of the Canon”

New Art Examiner, October 1990

 

Perspectives on the Art of Gauguin; For Nonwhites, It’s Racist Propaganda

The Washington Post, Sunday, July 3, 1988

 

“Black Artists of the Mid-Atlantic”

Catalog Essay

 

“Myth and Ritual”

Catalog Essay. Washington, DC: Touchstone Gallery, 1986

 

“Contemporary Print Images”

Catalog Essay. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1986

 

“Afro-American Painting and Mixed Media: 1970-1985” and “Printmaking by Afro-Americans”

In Choosing: An Exhibit of Changing Perspectives in Modern Art and Art Criticism by Black Americans 1925-1985; edited by Arna Alexander Bontemps. Hampton VA: Hampton University, 1986

 

Art in Washington and Its Afro-American Presence: 1940-1970

Catalog. Washington DC: Washington Project for the Arts, 1985

 

“Pattern in Painting”

Catalog Essay. Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery, 1985

 

“Evocative Abstraction”

Catalog Essay. Philadelphia: Foundation for Today’s Art, 1985

 

“The Washington Show: Promises, Premises and Politics”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, October 1985

 

“Speak Easy: Abstract Painting”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, March 1984

 

“Poetic Objects”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, March 1983

 

“Art of Pakistan at the Hirshhorn”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, February 1983

 

“Washington Printmakers”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, May 1982

 

“Jeff Donaldson at Howard”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, September 1981

 

“Gerald Williams at Noa Gallery”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, May 1981

 

“Corcoran Biennial”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, April 1981

 

“R.B. Kitaj at the Hirshhorn: The sword of Don Quixote”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, March 1981

 

“Realist Self-Portraits at Fendrick Gallery”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, February 1981

 

“Marguerite Kendall and Aaron Levine at Osuna”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, February 1981

 

“Alternatives by Black Artists”

Catalog Essay. Washington, DC: Washington Project for the Arts, 1980

 

“African Heritage and American Independence”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, September 1980

 

“Black Art in America”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, September 1980

 

“Fueling the Art Economy”

Exhibit Review. Format, Vol. 2 No. 9, 1980

 

“David C. Driskell”

Catalog Essay. College Park MD: University of Maryland, 1980

 

“Art Criticism: A Pan-African Point of View”

Essay. New Art Examiner, January 1979

 

“Emilio Cruz”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, 1978

 

“Samuel Crockett and Bill Walker at South Side Art Center”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, November 1977

 

“Ed Paschke at Phyllis Kind”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, November 1977

 

“James Harvard”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, November 1976

 

“Realism at Young-Hoffman”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, November 1976

 

“Vera Clement”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, November 1976

 

“Chicago’s Eclectic DuSable Museum”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, May 1976

 

“Adrienne Drapkin and Barbara Grad”

Exhibit Review. New Art Examiner, March 1976

 

“Black Experience in Art”

Catalog Essay. Chicago: Bergman Gallery, University of Chicago, 1971

 

“Jacob Lawrence’s Toussiant L’Ouverture”

Chicago: Art Scene 1969

 

“The Probing Line: Art of Richard Hunt”

Fisk University, 1968

 

ART EXHIBITIONS CURATED

Magical Visions

University of Delaware Museums, fall 2011

Exhibition of paintings, photographs, sculptures and video.

Artists: Terry Adkins, Sonya Clark, Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam, Barkley L. Hendricks, calep Linzy, Karyn Olivier, Odili Odita, Faith Ringgold, William T.Williams

Keith Morrison wrote the catalogue essay

The Curator’s Eye III

at the National Gallery of Art, Kingston, Jamaica, 2008

Exhibition including film, video, performance, multimedia, painting, sculpture, prints.

Wrote catalogue essay.

Guest curator for the exhibition of international artists from the US, Denmark, Britain, Jamaica.

Artists include: Michelle Eistrup, Cleve Bowen, Carol Campbell, Carol Creigton, Paula Daly, Lawrence Graham-Brown, Albert Chong, Khepera Hatsheptwa, Andy Jefferson, O’Neil Lawrence, Tal Rickards, Ebony Patterson

Metaphor/Commentaries: Artists from Cuba

An exhibition jointly curated with Helmo Hernandez, Director of the Ludwig Foundation in Havana. The exhibition of photographs, prints, installations and videos included work of the following artists, all of whom lived in Cuba at the time: Juan Carlos Alon, Cirenaica Moreira, Marlon Castellanos, José Manuel Fors, Abigail González, Antonio Nüñez, Ramón Pacheco, René Peña, Manuel Piña, Sandra Ramos, Enrique Alvarez, Tania Bruguera, Pavel Giroud, and Luisa Marisy. The catalogue essay, “Contemporary Artists for Cuba,” was written by Keith Morrison. The exhibition was selected in Cuba and shown at the Art Gallery, San Francisco State University, Feb. 21 – March 24, 1999

American Prints at the Brandywine Workshop.

A United States Information Agency exhibition traveling throughout Africa (1987-89). Including 50 offset lithographs, serigraphs and etchings of 35 artists. Some of the artists: Jules Olitski, John Dowell, Richard Hunt, Sam Gilliam, James DuPree, Hitoshi Nagazato. The show is accompanied by a color catalogue whose main essay is written by Keith Morrison (see “Catalogues”).The exhibition traveled to: the National Museum, Bamako, Mali; the American Cultural center, Niamey, Niger; the School of Fine Arts Gallery, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda; Municipal Gallery, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Contemporary Print Images

An exhibition of prints from the Brandywine Workshop prepared and traveled to museums throughout the U.S. (1986-88) by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. The exhibition included work by 19 artists, including Frank Smith, Elizabeth Catlett-Mora, Benny Andrews, Selma Burke, John Wade and James Wells. A catalogue with photographs and an essay written by Keith Morrison accompanied the exhibition.

Myth and Ritual

An exhibition of nine artists from Washington, D.C., at Touchstone Gallery (a co-op. gallery), Washington, D.C., February, 1986. The artists: Sam Gilliam, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Yvonne Carter, Sylvia Snowden, Frank Smith, Denise Ward-Brown, Michael Platt, Jerome Meadows and Percy Martin. The exhibition included a catalogue essay written by Keith Morrison (see “Catalogues”).

Evocative Abstraction

An exhibition of abstract art from Washington, D.C., at Nexus Gallery (Suzanne Horowitz, director) Philadelphia, PA., January, 1986. The artists: William Willis, W.C. Richardson, Walter Kravitz, Chris Gardener, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Patrice Kehoe, Steven Cushner and Keith Morrison. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue with photographs and essay written by Keith Morrison (see “Catalogues”).

Art in Washington and its Afro-American Presence: 1940-1970.

An exhibition of 140 historical works, including paintings, sculptures, prints, crafts from the U.S., Central and South America, and Ancient African art. Accompanied by a catalogue/book, with black and white and color reproductions, written by Keith Morrison (see “Catalogue/Book).

Exhibition held at Washington Project for the Arts (Jock Reynolds, director) April, 1985.

Alternatives by Blacks

An exhibition of painting, sculptures and environmental installations of eight artists including: Terry Adkins (Virginia), Yvonne Carter (Washington), David C. Driskell (Maryland), Sherman Fleming (Washington), Sam Gilliam (Washington), Lois Mailou Jones (Washington), Jerome Meadows (Maryland), Martha Jackson-Jarvis (Washington), Robert Owings (Baltimore), Lorenzo Pace (Chicago), Gregg Pitts (Los Angeles), Joyce Scott (Baltimore). A catalogue accompanied the exhibition.

Held at Washington Project for the Arts (Al Nodal, director) Washington, D.C.

Black Experience in Art.

An exhibition of ten Mid-Western artists including Geraldine McCullough, Ralph Arnold, Bertram Phillips, Nelson Stevens, Sherman Beck.

Exhibition held at Bergman Gallery (Virgil Bernett, director), University of Chicago, 1971.

Jacob Lawrence’s Toussaint L’Ouverture Series.

An exhibition of the 39 works of the series of paintings, borrowed from Fisk University. Held at DePaul University Gallery (Keith Morrison, director), Chicago, IL., May, 1969.

 

LECTURES GIVEN

University of Delaware, 2012

University of Delaware, Museums, 2011

Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, 2009

Szechuan Academy,2008

Southwest University, 2008

Shanghai Art and Crafts Vocational School, 2008

Hangzhou Library, 2008

Arts School of Hangzhou Normal University, 2008

US Consulate lecture, 2008

Shanghai Biennale, 2009

East China Normal, 2008

Arts Scholl of Shanghai University

Aaron Douglass, Smithsonian Institution, 2008

2008“Graham Davis, Mutual Gallery, , Kingston, Jamaica, 2008

“Artists of the Curator’s Eye III,” National Gallery of Art, Jamaica, 2008

“Art and Collaboration, “ Edna Manley College, Jamaica, 2007

“International Issues in Contemporary Art, Taipei, 2001

“Legacy and Promise,” School of Visual Art, Kingston, Jamaica, 2000

“My Recent Work,” State University of New York, Stony Brook, 2000

“Mortality/Immortality: the Legacy of Twentieth Century Art” Getty Museum of Art, 1999

My Recent Painting, Colgate University, 1999

“Art and Cultural Identity, de Young Museum, San Francisco, 1999

“Issues in Contemporary Art,” Michigan State University, 1996

“The Emerging Artist,” University of California, Berkeley, 1995

“Race in Contemporary Art,” de Young Museum, San Francisco, 1994

“Horace Pippin,” Art Institute of Chicago, 1994

“David Driskell and Samella Lewis,” Bomani Gallery, San Francisco CA, December 1993

“A Sense of Place,” University of Michigan, Center for the Humanities, Ann Arbor, Michigan

“Jacob Lawrence, Sources and Influences,” de Young Museum, San Francisco.

“Recent Work,” Arizona State University, October, Tempe, 1993

“Changes” keynote graduation Address San Francisco Art Instate, May, 1993

“The Art of Claude Clark, Richard Mayhew, Richard Yarde, Bomani Gallery, San Francisco, March, 1993

“Recent Work, Somona State Univ., May, 1993

“Art of James Porter, Keynote, Howard University, Nov. 1992

“Recent Paintings,” Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, MD, Nov. 6, 1991

“Sources of My Work,” University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, February, 1990

“Myth and Memory,” California Institute for the Arts, April, 1990

“Caribbean Influences,” Wayne State University, Detroit, February, 1990

“Art Outside the Mainstream,” National Museum of American Art, Washington D.C., Oct., 1989

“Printmaking at the Brandywine Workshop,” Charleston College, NC, Sept., 1989

“Gauguin and the Origin of the Sauvage in Modern Art,” Metropolitan Museum, NYC, February, 1989.

“Abstract Art and Cultural Identity,” Philadelphia Academy, January, 1989

“Art in the Caribbean and Central America,” Latin American Museum of Modern Art, Washington D.C., June, 1988.

“The Graduate Art Student,” Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, May, 1988.

“Civilization and Barbarism in Art,” Wabash College, Indiana, May, 1988.

“Memory and Myth,” Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, December, 1987.

“Primitivism in Contemporary Art,” Corcoran School of Art, Washington D.C. October, 1987.

“Caribbean Art,” Latin American Book Fair, University of the District of Columbia, October, 1987.

“Afro-American Art and the Evolution of Art Criticism in the Twentieth Century,” Baltimore Museum of Art, June 13, 1987.

“The Mythic Content,” Anacostia Museum, Smithsonian Institution, July 2, 1987.

“In Search of Patrons, the Dilemma of Afro-American Artists,” National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., January, 1987.

“Art by Afro-Americans Since 1970,” Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL. February, 1986.

“Directions in Afro-American Art,” Baltimore Museum of Art, MD., February, 1985.

“Counterpoint: Five Black Artists of the Nineteenth Century,” National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., February, 1985.

“Contemporary Issues in Afro-American Art,” National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. April, 1985.

“Influences of Recent Afro-American Art,” Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia, PA., April, 1985.

“Afro-American Art Since the Depression,” Art Institute of Chicago, IL., September, 1985.

“Issues in Contemporary Art,” Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA., October, 1985.

“Trends and Minority Artists,” Philadelphia Art Alliance, Pennsylvania, April, 1984.

“West African Continuities in Afro-American Art,” National Conference of Artists, Richmond, VA., April, 1984.

“Black Modernists in Art,” Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C., November. 1983.

“Afro-American Women in Art,” University of Maryland, College Park, MD., October, 1980.

“Irony in Contemporary Art,” University of Wisconsin, Stephens Point, November, 1980.

“Art and Social Thought,” University of Liberia, 1979.

“Art and the Forces of Culture,” Chicago State University, IL., 1978.

“Recent Afro-American Iconography,” College Art Association of America,” Detroit, Michigan, January, 1974.

“New Realism in Art,” Elgin College, Illinois, 1972.

“Recent Ideas in My Painting,” Art Institute of Chicago, IL. 1971.

“Universal Concepts in the Humanities,” National Catholic Educators Association, Atlantic City, NJ., 1970.

 

SYMPOSIUMS

“Contemporary African American Art,” Lincoln University, 2012

“Contemporary Art in Cuba,” Toronto Art Fair, 2001

The Art of Joyce Scott, Baltimore Museum of Art, 2000

Panel Moderator, “Cuban Contemporary Art,” San Francisco State University,

Feb. 1999, with Judith Bettelheim (art historian); Tony Labat (artist) ;

Marilyn Zeitlin (museum director); Alex Rosenberg (Director, Rosenberg Fine Arts); and Wilfredo Benitez (Cuban art curator).

Panel Moderator, “MFA Bill of Rights, Rites” CAA, New York, 1994

“Free Within Ourselves ” symposium, Crocker Museum, Sacramento, CA, Nov., 1993,

with Dr. Paul Rogers, University of Chicago, Tretobia Benjamin, Howard

University, Dr. Allan Gordon, Professor emeritus, California State University

“Claude Clark, Richard Mayhew, Richard Yard,” Bomani Galley, San Francisco, 19

“Issues in Contemporary Art,” CCAC, Oakland, 1993

“Artist Who Work Outside of New York,” with Steven Mannheim, chair, Paul Kraneck, Ed Paschke

James McGarrell, Hollis Siegler

College Art Association of America, Chicago, Feb., 1992

“Who Needs Criticism,” with David Carrier.

Maryland Art Place,

Baltimore, MD., October, 1991

“Multicultural perspectives, National Assoc. of Museum Professionals,

Smithsonian Institution, April, 1991

“Pluralism Today,” With Leslie King Hammond, Mark Zuver.

Baltimore Museum, February, 1991

“Contemporary African Art,” Annual African Studies Association

Conference, Baltimore, October, 1991

“Multicultural Issues in Washington,” with Mark Zuver,

Maurice Berger, others, September, 1991

Corcoran Gallery of Art,

“Provincialism and Art Outside New York”

with Derek Guthrie, New Art Examiner

            School 33, Baltimore, MD., May 1990

“The Decade Show,” with Judith Wilson, David Deitcher, others.

City College of NY, NYC

“American Visions: Twentieth Century Afro-American Artists.”

Keith Morrison’s: presentation: “In Search of Patrons: the

Dilemma of Afro-American Artists from 1925 to the present.”

other panelists: Judith Wilson, art critic; James

Washington, Professor of Church History, Union

Theological Seminary; Frank Smith, Professor of Art,

Howard University (moderator); Steven L. Jones,

Archivist, National Conference of Artists (respondent).

National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., January 14, 1987.

“Recent American Art: Its Sources and Hidden Influences.”

Morrison’s presentation: “The lack of Documentation of Contributions of Afro-American Artists in Contemporary Art.”

Other panelists: Sam Gilliam, artist, David Stevens,

artist, Jody Pinto, artist.

Philadelphia Art Alliance, Pennsylvania, 1984

“Issues In Afro-American Art,”

Morrison’s presentation: Afro-American Artists and Museum

patronage.” Other panelists included Fred Eversley,    sculptor, Carroll Sims, sculptor, and Sharon Patton, art

historian/curator, moderator.

California Afro-American Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA., 1984.

“Role of the Critic in Contemporary Art.”

Morrison’s presentation: “The Significance of Critical Advocacy.” Others on the panel: John Perrault, poet, critic,

Village Voice; Ellen Lubell, critic, Art in America;

Carrie Ritchie, critic Art News.

National Writers Conference, New York, NY., 1981.

“American Sculpture Today and Yesterday.”

Morrison’s presentation: “Robert Morris’s the Present Tense of Space.” Other panelist: Kenneth Campbell, sculptor and

Professor of Art University of Maryland; Ralph Baney, sculptor.

University of Maryland, College Park, June, 1980.

“Recent Art in the South: the Southern Mystique.”

Morrison’s presentation: Effects of Black Southern Folk Art

upon Contemporary American Art.” Other panelist: Dr. Allan

Gordon, Chairman, Dept. of Art, California State University, Sacramento.

Nashville Tennessee, 1976.

“Responsibility of the Artist to Society”

Morrison’s presentation: “The making of Art as an A-social

Activity” Other panelists: Morris Barazani, painter,     Professor of Art, University of Illinois, Chicago; Dennis

Kowalski, sculptor, Assistant Professor, DePaul University.

Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL., 1974.

“Jacob Lawrence and Toussaint L’Ouverture.”

Morrison, moderator. Panelists: Dr. Margaret Burroughs, Director DuSable Museum; Charles Burroughs, historian;

  1. Jeff Donaldson, Art Historian.

DePaul University, Chicago, 1971.

 

ART EXHIBITIONS GIVEN

Solo/Duo Exhibitions

“Brandywine Latinx Prints”, Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, 2021

“African American Art of the Twentieth Century”, Hudson River Museum, NY, 2021

“Arrivals”, Katonah Museum, NY, 2021

International Museum of Slavery and Memory, Ouida, Berlin, 2021

The International Museum of Memory and Slavery (MIME), Benin, 2021

“Still Modern,” Flint Institute of Art, 2019

London Print Studio, UK, 2019

Zona Imaginera Graphic Studio, Buenos Aires, 2019

Center for Fine Print Research, Massachusetts, 2019

Multidisciplinary Printmaking Programme, Bristol, UK, 2019

Katzen Museum, Washington DC, 2019

Philadelphia Airport, United Airlines Terminal, 2019

Driskell Center, University of Maryland, 2018

University of Delaware Museums, fall, 2011

Luce Gallery, Cornell College, Iowa, 2008

“New Possessions,” Art Museum of the Americas, 2006

511 Gallery, NYC, 2005

Brandywine Graphic Workshop, Philadelphia, PA, 2005

Miller/Geisler Gallery, NYC, 2002

De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, 1998 — duo

“Caribbean Visions,” Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, FL, 1997

“Caribbean Visions,” New Orleans Museum of Art, LA, 1997

Bomani Gallery, San Francisco, 1996

Cavin Morris Gallery, NYC, 1993 — duo

Brody’s Gallery, 1991

Alternative Museum, NYC, 1990

Fonda Del Sol, Washington D.C. 1990

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1990

Hampton University, VA., 1988 — duo

HarrisBrown Gallery, Boston, 1985

Brody’s Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1987

Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, 1979 — duo

NAME Gallery, Chicago, duo, 1978

Monrovia, Liberia, 1979

Chicago State University, Chicago, 1978

“Works on Paper,” DePaul University Gallery, Chicago, 1976

Illinois State Arts Council, Chicago. 1975

South Side Art Center, Chicago, 1975

Carl Van Vechten Gallery, Fisk University, 1974

 

Group Exhibitions

Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2016

Flint Museum, Michigan, 2015

Kalamazoo Institute of Art, Michigan, 2015

Muskegon Museum of art, Michigan, 2015

Polk Museum of Art, March 21 –June 29, 2015

Figge Museum of Art, Sept. 20, 2014 – Jan 4, 2015

“Conversations: African and African American Art in Dialogue,” Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, No. 2014

“Flow,” IDB Center, Washington, DC, June 2014-January 2015

Crocker Museum, Sacramento, CA, July –October, 2014

“In Conversation,” Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, May –August,

“African American artist of the twentieth Century,” Minnolo Museum of Art, Orlando, Florida, Feb., 2013

“African-American Art Since 1950,” Taft Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb., 2013

“New Acquisitions, “Flint Institute of Art, Michigan, Feb., 2013

“Prints from the Brandywine workshop,” Snyderman/Works gallery, Philadelphia, 2013

“Full Spectrum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, fall, 2012

“Out of Many,” Fonda del Sol Gallery, September, 2012

“African American Artists,” Smithsonian American Museum, April, 2012

Prints, Brandywine Graphic Workshop, Philadelphia, 2012

Solo, U Delaware, Sept-Dec., 2011

Philadelphia Museum, print, 2011 (Ruth Fine, curator), 2011

“African-American Art: 1950-2010,” SITES/Driskell Center, U of Maryland, 2011

American University Gallery: exhibition: WPA 35 years, fall 2010

New Orleans Museum “Amistad” exhibition, June-July 2010

University of Museum, U of Delaware, 2008

Temple University, 2007-08

Art Institute of Chicago, 2003

Triton Museum of Art, California, 2003

Naples Museum of Art, Florida, 2002

Brandywine Graphic Workshop, Philadelphia, 2002

University of Maryland Art Gallery, 2002

Venice Biennale, Italy, 2001

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2001

Newark Art Museum, NJ, 2001

de Young Museum, San Francisco, 1999-2000

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2000

High Museum, Atlanta, 2000

Cincinnati Art Museum, 2000

de Young Museum, San Francisco, 1999

University of Marilyn, College Park, 1998

Latin American Art Museum, Long Beach, CA, 1998

Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida, 1998

Center for African American art and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, 1997

Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, 1997

“Caribbean Visions,” Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, CT, 1997

Middlebury College Art Museum, Vermont, 1997

Art in Chicago, 1945-95, Museum of Contemporary Art, 1996

African American Museum, Dallas, Texas, 1996

New Orleans Art Museum, LA, 1996

“Caribbean Visions: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture,” Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, Florida, 1995

Caribbean Biennial, Santo Domingo, 1994

Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1994

National Museum of American Art, 1994

Brody’s Gallery, Washington, DC, 1994

Brandywine Graphic Workshop, Philadelphia, 1993

Cavin-Morris Gallery,, 1993

Jamaica Art Center, New York, 1992

National Museum of American Art, 1992

Isobel Neal Gallery, Chicago, 1992

Museum of Modern Art, Monterrey Mexico, 1992

Alternative Museum, NYC, 1991

Bowling Green University, 1991

“Myth and Magic in the Americas: the Eighties,” 1991

Museum of Modern Art, Monterrey Mexico, 1991

University of Maryland, Baltimore, 1991

Studio Museum, NYC, 1990

Bronx Museum, NYC, 1990

“The Blues Aesthetics,” WPA Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1989

“Art By Americans and Brazilians of African Descent,”

California Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, 1989

California Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, 1989

Connecticut Gallery, New Haven, 1989

“Surrealism Continued,”

South Eastern Center for Contemporary Art, 1989

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1988

Pensacola Museum of Art, Florida, 1988

“From the Caribbean,” Fonda Del Sol Gallery,

Washington D.C., July, 1988.

Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, , 1988

HUB Galleries, State College, PA ,1988

University of Minnesota, Morris, MN , 1988

Krasal Art Center, St. Joseph, MI. , 1988

Purdue University, 1988

Oregon Historical Society, 1988

“Art of Black America in Japan,” Tokyo, 1987

Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, 1987

Robert Hull Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, 1987

Midland Arts Council, Midland Center for the Arts, Michigan, , 1987

Anacostia Museum, Smithsonian Institution (with Sam Gilliam,

Martha Jackson-Jarvis, William T. Williams), Washington D.C., , 1987

Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1987

CGNA Museum and Art Collection, Philadelphia, PA. , 1987

Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1987

The Print Club, Philadelphia, 1987

Richmond College, Dallas, Texas, 1987

Harris Brown Gallery, Boston, Mass., 1986

High Museum, Atlanta, GA., 1986

California Museum of Afro-American Art, LA., 1986

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida,, 1986

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Illinois, 1986

Millersville University, PA., 1986

High Museum Georgia Pacific Center, Atlanta, GA., 1986

“Choosing,” Portsmouth Art Center, Portsmouth, VA., 1986

University of South Carolina, 1986

Chicago State University, Illinois, 1986

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1986

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Illinois, 1986

Art Institute of Chicago, Contemporary Art Gallery, 1985

Tyler Gallery of Art, Temple Univ. Philadelphia, PA., 1985

“Encore,” HarrisBrown Gallery, Boston, MA. 1985

“Evocative Abstraction,” Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia, 1985

“Installations,” Miami-Dade Library Gallery, Florida, 1985

“History in the Making,” Parent Association Art Gallery,

University of Maryland, College Park, 1985

“Profiles,” Univ. of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park, 1984

Ninth International Drawing Exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, Rijeka,

Yugoslavia, 1984

Crystal Briton Gallery, Atlanta, 1984

Fifth National Juried Exhibition, Atlanta Life Company, GA., 1984

Bayly Museum, University of Virginia, 1984

“East/West: Afro-American Contemporary Art,”

California Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, 1984

Art as Image of America,” Indiana University, Pennsylvania, 1983

Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago International Arts Festival, 1983

“Four Artists,” (Gilliam, Driskell, Morrison, Truitt ),

University of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park, 1983

“Ten + Ten + Ten,” Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1982

Carl Van Vechten Gallery, Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., 1982

Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale, VA. 1982

Alma Thomas Memorial Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1982

“Chicago Abstraction,” Gallerie Tillie Hardek,

Karlshrue, Germany, 1980

Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 1977

Renaissance Society Gallery, University of Chicago, IL., 1977

Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL., 1977

NAME Gallery, Chicago, IL. , 1977

Battle Creek Museum, Battle Creek, Michigan, 1977

Washington State University, 1977

Albany Institute of American History and Culture, NY., 1977

Iowa State University. 1977

Jesse Besser Museum, Alpena, Michigan, 1977

Princeton University, NJ., 1976

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1976

Illinois State University, Normal, IL., 1976

University of Cincinnati, Ohio. 1976

“Chicago Art,” Union Gallery, Purdue University, Indiana., 1976

NAME Gallery, “2nd. Drawing Invitational,” Chicago, IL. , 1976

State Capitol Museum, Jackson, Mississippi. 1976

Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 1976

Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee, 1976

Columbus Fine Arts Gallery, Ohio, 1976

Milwaukee Center for the Performing Arts, Wisconsin, 1976

Jackson State University, Mississippi, 1976

Tougaloo College, Jackson Mississippi, 1976

Dignity House, St. Louis Missouri, 1976

University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 1976

Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, 1976

L.B.J. Memorial Library, Austin, Texas, 1976

“Retrospective,” Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL., 1976

Rainbow Sign Gallery, Oakland, California, 1975

“Amistad II Exhibition of Afro-American Art, 1850 – 1975,”

Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, 1975

University of Minnesota, St. Paul, 1975

South Street Seaport Museum, New York, NY., 1975

Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY., 1975

“Chicago Printmakers,” (with Ray Martin and Mish Cohen),

Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago IL. , 1974

University of Tennessee, Martin, Tenn., 1974

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn., 1974

State College in Cleveland, Ohio, 1974

“50 Years of Black Aesthetics,” Chicago Museum of Science and

Industry, Chicago, IL. 1972

“25th. Illinois Invitational,” Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL, 1972

Art Institute of Chicago, 1971

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1971

Sloan Gallery, Valpariso, Indiana, 1971

Malcolm X College, Chicago, IL., 1971

Davenport Municipal Gallery, Davenport, Iowa, 1971

Smith-Mason Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1971

New Jersey State Museum., 1971

“Black Artists ’71,” Illinois Bell Telephone Company, 1971

Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, 1971

Cornell University, Ithica, NY., 1970

Marge Kovler Gallery, Chicago, 1970

Atlanta University, Georgia., 1970

University of Alabama., 1970

“Chicago Prints,” Allan Frumkin Gallery, Chicago, IL. , 1970

“30th. Anniversary Invitational,” Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL. 1969

DePaul University Art Gallery, Chicago, IL., 1969

Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri., 1969

Vanderbilt University Art Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee, 1968

Jarvis Christian College, Texas.

“Grande Jatte,” Practicing Artists of Chicago (PAC), 1968

Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL. , 1968

South Side Art Center, Chicago, IL., 1968

Art Institute of Chicago, 1966

 

AWARDS

Commander in the Order of Distinction (CD), Jamaica, 2017

Lifetime Achievement Award, Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, 2013

Fulbright to China, 2009

US Cultural Envoy to Shanghai Biennale, 2008

Venice Biennale, 2001

King/Chavez Distinguished Visiting Scholar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1990

Distinguished Achievement in Painting, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Education, 1984.

International Award for Painting, Organization of African Unity, Liberia, 1978.

Bicentennial Award for Painting, City of Chicago, IL., 1976.

Danforth Foundation Associate, St. Louis, MO., 1971-72.

Ford Foundation Graduate Student, Art Institute of Chicago, IL., 1963-65.

COLLECTIONS WITH KEITH MORRISON’S ART (SELECTED)

Stanley Museum, University of Texas, Austin

Perez Museum, Miami, FL.

Art Institute of Chicago

Corcoran Gallery of Art

Washington Post Collection

Dusable Museum, Chicago

Burrell Advertising, Chicago, IL.

Hampton University

Johnson Collection, Chicago.

World Bank

Bell Telephone Company

Prudential Insurance Co.

Bill Cosby Collection

Talladega College

National Gallery of Jamaica

Horowich Collection

University of the West Indies

Fisk University

Artery, Washington, D.C.

Philadelphia Mus. of Art

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

Afro-Am. Art/ Culture

Smithsonian American Museum of Art

Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, China

Cincinnati Museum of Art

Flint Institute of Art

University of Alabama

Mobile Museum of Art

Yale University

Driskell Collection, U. of Maryland

National Gallery of Art

Perez Art Museum

Katzen Museum