Exhibition “Samella! Black as Lacquer and Iron”

About this event

“Samella! Black as Lacquer and Iron” illuminates the extraordinary life and profound influence of Dr. Samella Lewis as an art historian, educator, philanthropist, and artist. The exhibition, curated by her Scripps student Francine Farr, includes works by Claude Lewis, Harmon Outlaw, Alison Saar, Howard Smith and others, as well as drawings and prints by Samella Lewis.

A seminal figure in 20th-century American art, Samella Sanders Lewis (1923-2022) was a trailblazing art history professor at Scripps College and considered the first American woman polymath of African descent to receive a PhD in the history of art. Her life and global legacy celebrate and perpetuate the visual arts not only of African Americans and Africans but also of Asians, Asian Americans, Austronesians, and other indigenous peoples within and neighboring the Pacific Rim and Western Hemisphere.

The exhibition, sponsored by Gould Asset Management LLC with additional support from Dana and Kirk Delman and Suzanne Muchnic, will remain on view through November 15, 2026.