UC Berkeley Art Practice
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Visiting Artist Talk: Contextualizing Emory Douglas

The UC Berkeley Department of Art Practice invites you to join us for: Contextualizing Emory Douglas, a talk by legendary artist and activist Emory Douglas. Friday, February 26, 12-1 p.m.

Preregistration is required for this event. After you preregister, you will be sent an email with a link to the Zoom meeting:

Emory Douglas (b. 1943, Grand Rapids, MI) is an American graphic designer who worked as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 until the Party disbanded in the 1980s. As the art director, designer, and main illustrator for The Black Panther, Douglas created images that became icons, representing Black American struggles during the 1960s and 1970s. Indeed, Douglas's visualization of contemporary social and political struggles are many of the most imitated and impactful of 20th century graphic art.

Emory Douglas, AfroAmerican Solidarity Poster, ca. 1970

Emory Douglas, AfroAmerican Solidarity Poster, ca. 1970

Douglas continues to work as an artist, lecturer and educator. His work has been the subject of many major exhibitions, awards and publications, including the the monograph Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas (Rizzoli, 2007), which accompanied a Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) exhibition of the same name. In 2015, AIGA, the Professional Association for Design, awarded Emory a medal recognizing โ€œhis fearless and powerful use of graphic design in the Black Panther partyโ€™s struggle for civil rights and against racism, oppression, and social injustice.โ€ Recent exhibitions include Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions' 2018 Emory Douglas: Bold Visual Language, and the Denison Museum's Emory Douglas: Revolutionary Artist of the Black Panthers. In April 2019, Douglas was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute, the highest honor bestowed by the institution."