Visual Artist & Renowned Educator: Jeff Donaldson
- Ninfa O. Barnard
- Oct 8
- 4 min read
Pine Bluff native Jeff Donaldson was a renowned African American visual artist and art educator who co-founded the AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) and partnered with 11 other artists to create Chicago’s famous Wall of Respect in the 1960’s which featured over 50 well-known African Americans known for their promotion of Black excellence.
Image Credit: www.aaa.si.edu
Image Credit: kavigupta.com
Jeffery Richardson Donaldson was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on December 15, 1932, to Clementine Frances Richardson Donaldson and Sidney Frank Donaldson Sr. As the youngest of four siblings, Donaldson’s love of art began when his older brother started drawing. Soon after, he started drawing cartoons and comic books as well.
Donaldson graduated from Merrill High School before enrolling at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical, and Normal College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff). In 1954, he received a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art, becoming the university’s first major in studio art. His interest in Afrocentric art flourished under the tutelage of artist, educator, and Pine Bluff native, John Miller Howard, who was mentored by renowned Harlem Renaissance artist Hale Woodruff. For the next year, Donaldson was an art instructor at Lanier High School in Jackson, Mississippi, until he was drafted into the U.S. Army.
After his time in the military, Donaldson settled in Chicago, Illinois. From 1957 to 1959, he was an art instructor for the Chicago Public Schools. From 1959 to 1965, he chaired the art department at Marshall High School. From 1965 to 1968, he was an assistant professor at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, Illinois. From 1968 to 1970, Donaldson was a visiting professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
In 1963, Donaldson graduated with a Master of Science degree in art education and administration from the Institute of Design of the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1974, he became the first person to be awarded a PhD in African-American art history from Northwestern University. While conducting research for his dissertation about young Harlem Renaissance artists, Donaldson interviewed artists like Charles Alston and Romare Bearden.
In 1967, while in Chicago, Donaldson co-founded the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) Visual Art Workshop. OBAc’s goal was to utilize the visual arts to advocate for civil rights. The group's magnum opus, Wall of Respect, a mural painted by 12 artists on an abandoned brick corner building, featured more than 50 African American individuals who personified black pride, including Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Malcolm X, and Muhammad Ali. Paul Richard, a Washington Post critic, later described the Wall of Respect as a “black-is-beautiful piece, a rough guerrilla mural, part hall of fame, part billboard, pridefully depicting black figures who took pride in being black.” When interviewed about the mural’s success, Donaldson said, “It seemed that overnight news of black artists painting pictures on the outside of a dilapidated tavern in the heart of the despised ghetto spread over Chicago and the nation like flames in a windstorm.” Unfortunately, the Wall of Respect was destroyed when the damaged building was demolished following a fire in 1971. Before its demise though, the Wall of Respect helped to fuel a nationwide street-mural movement.
In 1968, Donaldson co-founded the AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), an artist collaborative aimed at promoting pride in Black culture, forging connections with African traditions, and eliminating demeaning stereotypes. In 1970, he organized the Conference on the Functional Aspects of Black Art (CONFABA).In 1977, he led the American delegation to the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in Lagos, Nigeria. From 1975 to 1980, he served as the director of FESTAC.
From 1970 until he retired in 1998, Donaldson was a faculty member and administrator at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He served as chair of the art department, director of the art gallery, and dean of the College of Fine Arts.
Throughout, Donaldson was a dedicated artist who painted and developed African-inspired mixed media art. His works were marked by their vivid, visually active nature, which usually depicted Black figures. His art, which includes the paintings Aunt Jemima and the Pillsbury Doughboy (1963), Wives of Shango (1969), and JamPact/JelliTite (1988), as well as the screen print Victory in the Valley of Eshu (1971), has been widely exhibited. Donaldson participated in over 200 group and solo exhibitions in galleries and museums in Africa, Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and the United States. He was also a prolific writer of essays on art criticism and history, and a mentor to artists such as Harold S. Dorsey and Wosene Kosrof.
On February 29, 2004, Donaldson died of a heart attack in Washington, D.C. He was survived by his daughter, Jameela K Donaldson, and his son, Tarik Jeff Donaldson.
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Written by: Ninfa O. Barnard