Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Tibbs, Thurlow Evans, Jr. print view role Collector Dealer/Gallery dates 1952-1997 city Washington state DC sex M historical notes Born in Washington, DC, in 1956, Thurlow Evans Tibbs, Jr. was a prominent African American art collector and dealer. Tibbs began his collection with paintings inherited from his grandmother, including Henry O. Tanner's "The Good Shepherd." He went on to acquire over 600 pieces, including works by obscure African American painters and artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Tibbs's collection, the Evans-Tibbs Collection, was regarded as one of the most important private collections of African American art ever assembled. It included early landscapes and allegorical paintings by Tanner, William Harper, and Aaron Douglas, as well as more recent works by Lois Mailou Jones, Betye Saar, Raymond Saunders, and others. Tibbs's dream was to have the paintings of lesser-known African American artists hung next to those of acknowledged masters. His donation of more than 30 paintings, photographs, and other works helped make the Corcoran Gallery a major center for the study of African American art. The Corcoran initially exhibited his collection, valued at more than $1 million, in two galleries, but intended to integrate the works into the museum at large. Following the closing of the Corcoran in 2014, the collection entered the National Gallery, along with an important archive that Tibbs assembled to document the history of black artists and their work in the United States. In the meantime, he had opened a gallery at his Washington home, which had been in the family since 1904. decades of activity 1970-1980 1980-1990 1990-2000 website https://www.nga.gov/press/2019/evans-tibbs.html updated 03/22/2024 12:09:32 bibliographic search Search Frick Art Reference Library Catalog Search Photoarchive Search Worldcat Search Wikidata Entry Archives/Repository Collection Title Collection Details see also: Kelly, Harriet Kelly, Harmon «  back