Hidden Figures: Georgette Seabrooke #WomensHERstoryMonth 27/28 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Georgette Seabrooke #WomensHERstoryMonth 27/28

Georgette Seabrooke (aka Georgette Seabrooke Powell; August 2, 1916 – December 27, 2011), was an American muralist, artist, illustrator, art therapist, non-profit chief executive and educator. She is best known for her 1936 mural, Recreation in Harlem at Harlem Hospital in New York City, which, having survived a fire, was restored and put on public display in 2012 after being hidden from view for many years. In 1933, at the age of 17, she was admitted to the prestigious Cooper Union School of Art in New York, where in 1935 she received the school's Silver Medal, its highest honor, for a painting entitled "Church Scene." Cooper Union denied Seabrooke her diploma in 1937 but in 1997 it invited her back to its campus to honor her achievements. In 2008 Cooper Union presented Seabrooke with a lifetime achievement award, and the school now considers her a member of its class of 1937. While studying at Cooper Union, Seabrooke was chosen by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as one of four "master artists" to paint murals at Harlem Hospital. She was the youngest artist so chosen and the only female. The mural she painted, Recreation in Harlem, is nearly 20 feet long and depicts daily life in Harlem in the 1930s, including women chatting through a window and children performing in a choir. The hospital's management was not pleased with her depiction of an all-black Harlem community and requested that Seabrooke add white characters, as they did not want to be known as a "Negro hospital." Seabrooke also received a WPA commission to paint a mural at Queens General Hospital, now known as Queens Hospital Center, in Jamaica, Queens, New York. Seabrooke moved to Washington, D.C., in 1959. In 1970, she founded Operation Heritage Art Center, now known as Tomorrow's World Art Center. In 1972 she became a registered art therapist, and the following year earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Howard University. She was very active in combining art with mental health therapy, teaching at the Operation Heritage Art Center, and also at a series of events in Malcolm X Park known as "Art in the Park". During the 1970s and 1980s, a time when Washington had a growing homeless population, Seabrooke painted a series of portraits of homeless men and women which emphasized their plight but also imbued them with humanity. Near the end of her life, Seabrooke moved to Palm Coast, Florida. Though she became too ill to continue making art, she remained involved in art therapy and art fundraising until her death, due to cancer, on December 27, 2011. Seabrooke's work appeared in 72 major exhibitions between 1933 and 2003. Her works hang in distinguished collections around the United States. #HiddenFigures #GeorgetteSeabrooke ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: 'At the Feet of a Master: What Georgette Seabrooke Powell Taught Me About Art, Activism, and the Creative Sisterhood:' https://truthout.org/articles/at-the-feet-of-a-master-what-georgette-seabrooke-powell-taught-me-about-art-activism-and-the-creative-sisterhood/ Legacy Keepers: Interview with Georgette Seabrooke Powell: https://www.si.edu/object/siris_arc_385628 'Art Changes Things - The Art and Activism of Georgette Seabrooke Powell:' https://www.si.edu/exhibitions/art-changes-things-the-art-and-activism-of-georgette-seabrooke-powell-1299 'At the Feet of a Master: What Georgette Seabrooke Powell Taught Me about Art, Activism, and the Creative Sisterhood:' http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/georgette-seabrooke-powell.html#.XKFgOy2ZNE4 ARTIST - GEORGETTE SEABROOKE: https://livingnewdeal.org/artists/georgette-seabrooke/ 'Woman in Profile (Young Girl of African Descent),1933 - Georgette Seabrooke Powell American:' https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/491386 Georgette Seabrooke Powell - Biography: https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/georgette-seabrooke-powell-41 Georgette Seabrooke (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgette_Seabrooke