Columbus P. Knox
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Columbus P. Knox (1923–1999) was a painter, muralist, illustrator and printmaker. He was a mainstay at the annual Rittenhouse Square Fine Arts Show in Philadelphia, the oldest outdoor art exhibition in the country. His works are in museums and private collections. Knox created his own style of painting: using brushstrokes that resembled a rake being pulled through sand.


Early life and education

Columbus Pearl Knox was born on September 14, 1923, to Mary B. and William P. Knox who had moved from
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
to Philadelphia to build a better life for their family. He learned to draw by looking over the shoulder of his older brother Norman as he drew. He copied what he saw. At age seven, he used small pieces of plaster of paris to draw on the streets in
South Philadelphia South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west."." ''City of Philadelphia''. Retrieved November 8, ...
where he grew up. In school, his teacher allowed him to decorate the bulletin board and classroom, and he illustrated his assignments with his artwork. After school, he headed over to the community center at St. Simons Church to draw and paint. Knox was also mentored by teachers at Barratt Junior High School and Central High (now Ben Franklin High) where one teacher exhibited his works. He garnered several awards. The teachers recognized his ability – as he himself did - and arranged for a scholarship to art school. He put it off to join the Army in 1943. After the war he resumed his arts education and attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now University of the Arts) while freelancing at Leonard Studios Mural Arts Co. and his brother's company, Reliance Art Service. Knox worked full time as an illustrator and graphic artist and part-time as a fine-art painter. He was assistant director in charge of graphics at the Naval Supply Depot in Philadelphia, a graphics field representative for Philco/Ford and a publication specialist in the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health administration and art director of its magazine. He retired from the Labor job in the late 1980s. He created graphics for several government agencies and private firms. He freelanced for such companies as the
Franklin Mint The Franklin Mint is a private mint founded by Joseph Segel in 1964 in Wawa, Pennsylvania. The building is in Middletown Township. The brand name was previously owned by Sequential Brands Group headquartered in New York City. It is currently ...
,
All-American Comics ''All-American Comics'' is a comics anthology and the flagship title of comic book publisher All-American Publications, one of the forerunners of DC Comics. It ran for 102 issues from 1939 to 1948. Characters created for the title, including Gree ...
,
Time-Life Books Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and direct marketeer seller ...
and several book publishers.


His artwork and exhibitions

Knox painted in
watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...
, oil, pencil, pastels and acrylics. Most of his themes related to African American culture, and his works are identifiable through his brushstroke style of painting. He signed his works in a stylistic “CPKnox,” connecting the letters.
“I used to enter in different shows and I would walk around and it looked like everybody was painting the same thing,” he said. “So I tried to do something a little differently. That’s when I started using the brushstroke. Nobody’s doing it because it’s completely different from any of the old masters.” By 1996, he had been using it for the past 17 years.
One of his first paintings out of art school was “Charging Warriors” about Sudanese warriors fighting the British in the 19th century. His painting “Pebbles,” an oil of a little Black girl in bifocals, won him first prize in an art competition. His other oil paintings included “Inez’s Holy Communion,” “Dancing Watusi” and “Black Madonna.” The oil “Project Blues” is in the collection of the
Gibbes Museum of Art The Gibbes Museum of Art, formerly known as the Gibbes Art Gallery, is an art museum in Charleston, South Carolina. Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the museum moved into a new Beaux Arts building at 135 Meeting Street, in t ...
in
Charleston, SC Charleston is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of th ...
. Knox was chosen for commissions, illustrated comic and coloring books, posters and calendars, and participated in many local exhibitions, making him a well-known artist and go-to person. He was a familiar face at the Rittenhouse Square Fine Arts Show, which began in 1928 as the Rittenhouse Clothesline Exhibition. He painted a life-size portrait of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his a ...
that hangs at the school that bears the name of the civil rights leader. Knox was involved with the
Odunde Festival The Odunde Festival is a one-day festival and mostly a street market catered to African-American interests and the African diaspora. It is derived from the tradition of the Yoruba people of Nigeria in celebration of the new year according to ...
in Philadelphia, illustrating the annual commemorative posters sold by the organization as a fundraiser. He also illustrated a coloring book “Odunde Means Happy New Year” in 1990. He exhibited often with the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance's annual “Celebrating the Arts” and illustrated the organization's fundraising calendars. He also was a perennial artist in October Gallery's annual Art Expo in Philadelphia. Knox was represented in a
Free Library of Philadelphia The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...
exhibit of prints by Black artists living in the
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. Several of those works were by artists who participated in the Works Projects Administration during the Depression, including Samuel J. Brown Jr.,
Dox Thrash Dox Thrash (1893–1965) was an African-American artist who was famed as a skilled draftsman, master printmaker, and painter and as the co-inventor of the Carborundum printmaking process.Donnelly, Michell"The Art of Dox Thrash" The Encyclopedia of ...
and
Raymond Steth Raymond Steth (1917 - 1997), born Raymond Ryles, was a Philadelphia-based graphic artist recognized for his paintings and lithographs on the African-American condition in the mid-20th century, often through scenes of rural life and poverty. Worki ...
. The prints were in the collection of the library, which mounted the exhibit in 1992" In 1952, Knox helped create an “exotic frame-background” for a fashion show sponsored by the United Negro Assembly, of which he was a member of its Art Committee. The organization held an event at the Pyramid Club that year to encourage Black businesses to advertise. The event presented advertising art, layouts and copy by Black artists and ad designers. In 1984, he illustrated an anti-graffiti comic book written by a
Philadelphia School District The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the largest school district in Pennsylvania and the eighth-largest school dis ...
educator. The workbook, which featured a multicultural group of friends, grew out of a 1976 book titled “Quadrus & Goliath” by Alvin Lester Ben-Moring. It was designed as an education tool in the middle grades. In 1994, Knox exhibited at the MARC Studio Art Museum in “Untold West,” featuring three artists who used the American West as a theme in their works. The cover image for the show's invitation was a Knox painting of a Black cowboy during a rodeo. He painted African subjects but he never visited the continent, relying on friends to bring back items from there and the
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
. “I have a photographic memory and once I see something I remember it and can paint from my memory,” he once said. In 1969, he was one of 200 Black artists from across the country to participate in a major exhibition titled “Afro-American Artists 1800-1969,” sponsored by the Philadelphia School District and the Philadelphia Civic Center Museum. The exhibit included the works of Ellen Powell Tiberino,
Horace Pippin Horace Pippin (February 22, 1888 – July 6, 1946) was an American painter who painted a range of themes, including scenes inspired by his service in World War I, landscapes, portraits, and biblical subjects. Some of his best-known works address ...
, Barbara Bullock,
Nancy Elizabeth Prophet Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (born ''Nancy Elizabeth Profitt''; March 19, 1890 – December 13, 1960) was an American artist of African-American art, African-American and Native American ancestry, known for her sculpture. She was the first African-Ame ...
,
Jacob Lawrence Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", an art form populariz ...
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Roland Ayers Roland Ayers (1932–2014) was an African American watercolorist and printmaker. He is better known for his intricate drawings – black-ink figures of humans and nature intertwined in a dream-like state against a neutral backdrop. A poet and love ...
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, Avel de Knight,
Barkley Hendricks Barkley L. Hendricks (April 16, 1945 – April 18, 2017) was a contemporary American painter who made pioneering contributions to Black portraiture and conceptualism. While he worked in a variety of media and genres throughout his career (from ph ...
, Paul Keene, Raymond Saunders, Louis B. Sloan, Ed Wilson,
Henry Ossawa Tanner Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859 – May 25, 1937) was an American artist who spent much of his career in France. He became the first African-American art, African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, ...
and Joshua Johnson. In 1988, he was represented in an exhibit at the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum in Philadelphia of works from its collection. Titled “Rejuvenating a Collection:
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Artists and Acquisitions,” it featured 32 works from some “prominent” local artists.


Later years

Knox's paintings took on a religious theme. Several of those themed works were included in two exhibits in 1997. The Minority Arts Resource Council presented a show titled “Religion Through Brown Eyes” at the William J. Green Federal Building. His “Black Madonna” was shown at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in “Art and Religion: The Many Faces of Faith.” The exhibit included commentary from the artists on the subject. Knox wrote of his experiences as a Black soldier during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, noting that Black soldiers had to turn in their weapons while whites did not, that two his best friends were killed by whites and that Black soldiers were told they would not be discharged because they lied about being in combat. Knox was painting right until the end. The Saturday before he died on June 8, 1999, he was at Rittenhouse Square selling his artwork. Dizyners Gallery, where he had exhibited often, held a memorial show in his honor titled “Distinctively Knox” a year later. Knox's work was included in the 2015 exhibition '' We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s'' at the
Woodmere Art Museum Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the Delaware Valley and includes works by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, ...
.


Collections

* African American Museum in Philadelphia * Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art * The Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art * Free Library of Philadelphia, Print and Picture Collection * Gibbes Museum of Art * Davis Museum, Wellesley College * Philadelphia School District, Martin Luther King High School


Exhibitions

* Philadelphia Civic Center Museum, 1969 * Custom Frame Shop and Gallery, 1971 * The Building Gallery, 1973 * Rittenhouse Square Clothesline Exhibition, 1975 * Camden County Library, 1976 * Peirce Junior College, 1986 * West Philadelphia Regional Library, 1988,1989 * Penn Tower Hotel, October Gallery, 1988 * Uptown Visual Arts Complex, 1988 * Heritage Art Gallery, 1989, 1990 * Esther M. Klein Gallery, University City Science Center, 1990 * University of the Arts, Haviland Hall Gallery, 1991 * Free Library of Philadelphia, 1992 * New Jersey State Aquarium at Camden, 1993 * Crescent Boat Club #5, Boat House Row, 1993 * Chosen Image African American Art Gallery, 1994 * Dizyners Gallery, 1997, 1999, 2000 * Minority Arts Resource Council, William J. Green Federal Building, 1997 * Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1997 * MARC Studio Art Museum, 1998 * Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum, 1998 * Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, 2008 * Woodmere Art Museum 2008, 2015


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, Columbus P. 1923 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American painters Artists from Philadelphia 20th-century African-American artists Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia 20th-century American male artists