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historical notes
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Constance E. Clayton is a retired educator and art collector with a particular passion for African American art. Her mother introduced her to the arts, and together they spent nearly 50 years collecting works by Black artists from auctions, galleries, and thrift shops. The collection, consisting of 78 artworks, including two Robin Tanner etchings, was donated by Clayton to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) as part of a gift, which is now exhibited at PAFA as part of the “Awakened in You” exhibition. The collection features works by 42 artists, including Charles White, Augusta Savage, Sam Gilliam, Laura Wheeler Waring, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, and Barbara Chase-Riboud, among others.
Clayton founded the African American Collections Committee at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2000 to ensure that more young people could see themselves reflected on the gallery walls. The committee fundraised for acquisitions and spearheaded the large-scale exhibition “Represent: 200 Years of African American Art” (2015), showcasing work from the museum’s collection. Additionally, Clayton opened up her collection to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a branch of the New York Public Library, allowing the center to showcase pieces from her collection in a special exhibition, titled “A Labor of Love” (2019) . |
