Norman Parish (born New Orleans, raised in Chicago August 26, 1937 - July 8, 2013) was an American artist and art dealer. He was the founder and director of the Parish Gallery (founded in 1991) in the Georgetown neighborhood of

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. The gallery was described by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' as an art gallery "that spotlighted African American artists at a time when few other galleries concentrated on showing their work."

Education

Parish studied at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Early life and artwork

Early in his career as an artist in Chicago, Parish was part of a politically active group of African American artists in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, some of whom were later part of the AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) group founded in 1968 by artists Wadsworth Jarrell and Jeff Donaldson, who both taught at

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

. In the late 1960s, Parish and more than a dozen politically active African American artists in Chicago created a then controversial mural, known as ''The Wall of Respect'', in Chicago’s South Side which 40 years later is now "credited with sparking the creation of other ethnic murals around the world." The mural was also celebrated by the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning poet

Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poet ...

in one of her poems: “The Wall.” Parish moved to Washington, DC in 1988 and opened the Parish Gallery in 1991. “It’s because I found out how many artists there were that needed support,” says Norman. “They were good, really good. But they needed someone to help get their work out into the world”, he recalled in an interview in 2013. “At first, a lot of the artists we featured I knew from art school,” he added in the same interview. “But around 93 and 94, other artists just started coming to me. These were artists missing opportunities because nobody was looking out for them, nobody was out there promoting their work.”

Parish Gallery

Norman Parish's Georgetown gallery "became one of the country’s best-known black-owned art galleries, with a focus on works by African Americans and other artists of what is known as the African diaspora." Over the years that the gallery was opened, it showcased the work of more than 170 artists from the United States,

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, alongside those from

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Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

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, and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, including such well-known artists as Sam Gilliam, Richard Mayhew, Lou Stovall,

Percy Martin Percy Martin (1871-1958) was an American-born British engineer and automobile manufacturer. Born in Columbus, Ohio 19 June 1871 he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering, specializing in electrical engineering, from Ohio State University in 1 ...

, Evangeline Montgomery, Victor Ekpuk, Lois Mailou Jones, and Wadsworth Jarrell.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parish, Norman 1937 births 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists African-American contemporary artists American contemporary painters American male painters American modern painters Painters from Washington, D.C. Painters from Chicago American art dealers American muralists Artists from Maryland Art Institute of Chicago University of Chicago alumni 2013 deaths 20th-century African-American painters 21st-century African-American artists 20th-century American male artists