Morris Atkinson Blackburn (1902–1979) was a

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

ist, and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. He is considered to be a pioneer of

silkscreen printing Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen in a "flood stroke" ...

. Blackburn's work is in the collections of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, and the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

. His papers are held by the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

Early life and education

Blackburn was born in Philadelphia in 1902. He studied architectural drawing at the Philadelphia Trade School in 1918 after which he worked at the Hog Island shipbuilding yard. Blackburn studied art at the Graphic Sketch Club, now the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, in 1922. He attended the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

from 1925 to 1929. While at PAFA, he studied sketching under

Arthur Carles Arthur Beecher Carles (March 9, 1882 – 1952) was an American Modernist painter. Biography Carles was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts between 1900 and 1907. He studied with Thomas Pol ...

, painting under

Henry McCarter Henry Bainbridge McCarter (1864–1942) was an American illustrator and painter known for his influence on the modernistic art movements. McCarter worked as an illustrator in New York before becoming an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of ...

, and drawing under

Daniel Garber Daniel Garber (April 11, 1880 – July 5, 1958) was an American Impressionist landscape painter and member of the art colony at New Hope, Pennsylvania. He is best known today for his large impressionist scenes of the New Hope area, in which he ...

Career

Artistic career

Blackburn was a painter and graphic designer. Much of his work featured scenes of Philadelphia,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, and

Taos, New Mexico Taos () is a town in Taos County, New Mexico, Taos County, in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Santa Fe ...

. He was an early adopter of the silkscreen process and often used it in his work. Blackburn created two murals for the Works Progress Administration's Public Works Art Project in the mid-1930s. The murals were located at Mastbaum Vocational School and

Haverford High School Haverford Senior High School is the public high school of Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, United States, operated by the School District of Haverford Township. It is at 200 Mill Road in Havertown, Pennsylvania ...

Teaching career

Blackburn began teaching at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art, now the University of the Arts, in 1932. He taught at various art schools, including the

Tyler School of Art The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is part of Temple University, a large, urban, public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Tyler currently enrolls about 1,350 undergraduate students and about 200 graduate st ...

, from 1948 to 1952 and joined the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1952.

Collections

Works by Blackburn are kept in several museum collections: * Smithsonian American Art Museum * National Gallery of Art * Metropolitan Museum of Art * British Museum * Philadelphia Museum of Art

References

External links

Image via Temple University Libraries: Humbert Howard with Morris Blackburn, Lois Mailou Jones, and Jacob Lawrence at a Pyramid Club Art Exhibition, 1957.

Morris Blackburn Papers
at the

Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackburn, Morris African-American printmakers 20th-century American male artists

Early life and education

Career

Artistic career

Teaching career

Collections

References

Further reading

External links