Painter and Educator
Watching a funeral in a distant, foreign country changed the course of his art painting focus. Until galleries were willing to display his artwork, he found full-time, day employment to support himself and his family.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
MB was born in a large city as one of 7 siblings. His father was a minister, and his mother was a homemaker.
MB spent a lot of time at his grandmother’s house, where she was often cutting colorful scraps of cloth and sewing them together to create a beautiful quilt.
CHILDHOOD INTERESTS
As a child, MB’s first foray into the art world was the usual beginning point for children – crayons. When his parents could trust him to use small brushes carefully to avoid spilling paint from cans, MB was able to progress from working on small pieces of paper to creating images on larger surfaces, of what he saw, known in the art world as ‘realism.’.
EDUCATION
Following graduation from a large public high school, MB’s collection (“folio”) of his early paintings helped him to be admitted to an arts academy, from which he earned a certificate of arts proficiency, followed by a Bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from a highly regarded School of Art.
MILITARY EXPERIENCE SPARKS A CAREER INTEREST
Growing up as the son of a minister, often attending funerals over which his father presided, MB’s eyes associated funerals with dark, somber clothing. But while stationed on active duty within the U.S. Army in Korea, MB encountered a typical Korean funeral cart “highly decorated with bright colors – reds, oranges, purples, greens, yellows. “I saw those colors and suddenly my eyes were opened,” said MB.
The bright colors he saw in Korea reminded MB of his grandmother’s quilt-making and that, in turn, led to his unusual use of color, an echo of his grandmother’s use of different colors from different scraps of cloth.
CAREER AS AN ARTIST
There is truth behind the phrase “starvin’ artist.” The career experience of most artists is that they need to support themselves with non-artist jobs until their artwork is sufficiently noticed and appreciated by enough members of the public who are motivated to purchase the artist’s work.
As noted in an article within the NY Times (by Travis Diehl, published 3/10/23), Before You Make It Big, You’ve Got to Pay the Bills, “Most artists, even most great ones, also have day jobs.” During the 1950s and early ‘60s, employees at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (“MOMA”) included later famous painters then working as either guards, a “page” in the museum library, hosting at the front desk or operating the elevator.
To support himself while at the same time using his free time to produce artwork, MB found employment as an art teacher. He continued this line of work even after becoming known nationally for his extraordinary use of color in abstract compositions.
MB transitioned his painting focus from realism to abstraction, thanks to the influence of another painter, who told MB that “Abstraction is simply taking the elements that you use and using them perhaps in a unique way.” Said MB later, “That is what I’ve always believed.”
MB’s love of classical and jazz music – he always played music as he painted – eased his transition into abstraction, as did his adventurous sense of color.
MB believed that art was a necessary ingredient of public life, so he was generous with his time, serving as the chairman of the Philadelphia Art Commission for nearly a decade.
Editor – The Philadelphia Art Commission is a city-charter-mandated panel that reviews virtually all changes and additions to the streetscape, including signage and must approve projects and street furniture within 100 feet of certain main streets and buildings.
MB was known for making his Art Commission decisions based on what is really important for the creative health of the city; what makes the city better for artists and everyday citizens.
CHALLENGED AND COPING WITH RACISM
In the beginning of his career as an artist, it was difficult to find respected places for MB to exhibit his work. An artist friend described the problem: “As a Black man in the 1960s, MB had trouble breaking into the city’s mostly White gallery scene. Those in charge of the galleries felt at the time that if Black people were showing, White people wouldn’t come.”
The solution for MB and other Black artists was to join together, showing their work in Europe and South America as well as in New York and elsewhere in the United States until public attendance and art purchase figures proved that art created by Black artists, exhibited together or individually, was a legitimate source of business profitability within the world of art, including Philadelphia.
CAREER AS AN EDUCATOR
As an educator, MB taught at many institutions, eventually chairing the art department of one of the country’s most prestigious art schools. Most important to MB, he was beloved by his students.
Recalled a later famous filmmaker, “MB changed my life after encountering him on a school’s campus. (MB) would look at my work and give me feedback and after several months, I asked him if he knew of any good art schools. He encouraged me to enroll in art school.”
The student said, “I remember the first day of art class. I was so embarrassed at how bad I was, compared to what I thought was the brilliance of the other art students, that I would cover up my drawing during breaks.” In a state of despair, the student turned to MB for advice about his future as an artist. “(MB) said ‘First of all, the other students that you think are so good, are not good at all yet.’ And then he said, ‘If you already knew how to do this, there really wouldn’t be much point in going to art school, would there?’ And it just hit me like one of the 10 Commandments. That was like absolutely true. And he essentially told me, ‘Put your ego in check and just try to learn how to do this.’ “
CAREER SATISFACTION
MB received many awards during his lifetime, including the 2014 Philadelphia Sketch Club Medal, the 2011 Legacy Award from the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the 2010 Hazlett Memorial Award for Artist of the Year, and a lifetime achievement award from the Fabric Workshop.
MB’s artwork can be found in numerous public collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
