John T. Biggers was born on April 13th, 1924, on West Davidson Ave, in Gastonia’s Highland Community in a home built by his father, Paul Biggers. The youngest of seven children, Biggers’ earliest creative memories were formed in Gastonia. He would later study at Lincoln Academy, Hampton University and Pennsylvania State University before founding the art department at Texas Southern University. Despite his travels, Gastonia remained a prevailing theme in his artwork throughout his lifetime.
Follow along as we continue the management of this extraordinary collection of works of Dr. John T. Biggers.
Once accepted into the permanent collection, works undergo a thorough processing phase. This includes documentation, cataloguing, and recording essential information about condition and provenance. Each work is then assessed to determine its conservation and storage needs and professionally photographed to create a permanent visual record for the collection database and future use.
Once processed, museum staff conduct research on the artist, medium, subject matter, historical context, and connections to the region or broader cultural narratives. Research helps the museum develop accurate records, identify opportunities for interpretation and exhibition, and uncover new stories and perspectives within the collection.
Once researched, each work of art is evaluated to determine if conservation treatment is needed. Conservators assess the materials, structure, and condition of each work and recommend appropriate care, from routine preventive measures to specialized treatment. Conservation helps stabilize and preserve the artwork while maintaining its historical and artistic integrity for future generations.
Once researched, each work of art is evaluated to determine if conservation treatment is needed. Conservators assess the materials, structure, and condition of each work and recommend appropriate care, from routine preventive measures to specialized treatment. Conservation helps stabilize and preserve the artwork while maintaining its historical and artistic integrity for future generations.
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Follow along as we continue the management of this extraordinary collection of works of Dr. John T. Biggers.
This lithograph printed in black in red depicts an old man, struggling with a basket of cotton, while a woman in a red kerchief, peeks over his shoulder. Although he’s well known for his sketching, painting and mural work, Dr. Biggers was also adept at printmaking. The depth and breadth of the emotion indicated by the substantial application of black ink showcases his ability to communicate deep sorrow for the struggles of his ancestors.
The Holy Family is a recurring theme in Dr. Biggers’ work. This later version of the family depicts parents, grandparents, and a child with the addition of another child. The sketches, many of which were studies for murals completed around this time, explore concepts of family unity, ancestral knowledge, African expression and traditions, sacred geometry and creative forces.
This pencil drawing was likely a sketch for the print “Birmingham, Children of the Morning” or “Four Sisters”. Completed the year after the bombing of the Sixteenth Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, it is part of series in which Dr. Biggers was reflecting on events of the civil rights struggle, happening at that time. The church in the background may also be based on a church in his home neighborhood of Gastonia, Saint Stephens.
In 1957, John Biggers spent six months traveling to Ghana and other west African countries on a UNESCO fellowship. This trip was transformative for Dr. Biggers and his art. After this trip, his work increasing began to incorporate African themes and iconography. Sketches like these were ultimately the basis for his book Ananse: The Web of Life in Africa.
This large-scale sketch is an unfinished study for Shotgun, Third Ward #1, a painting by Dr. Biggers completed in 1966, currently held by the Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C. There are stark differences between the sketch and the finished painting. The sketch indicates the outline of a peaceful drawing of a neighborhood, with a complete row of shotgun houses in the background and neighborhood figures chatting in the foreground. In the completed painting, the row of houses is interrupted by a burning church, with children playing in the water in the street. This difference dramatically changes the tone of the scene but both reflect quiet strength in community, even in the face of loss.
From his childhood in Gastonia to a lifetime spent shaping American art and education, follow the milestones that defined John T. Biggers’ remarkable journey.
John T. Biggers was born on April 13th, 1924, on West Davidson Ave, in Gastonia’s Highland Community in a home built by his father, Paul Biggers. The youngest of seven children, Biggers’ earliest creative memories were formed in Gastonia. He recalled “at evening time, at fireside, the background behind the circle, around the fire, we’d be with the quilts… there behind us were the women quilting. So, you felt the color and the warmth of the cotton and the wool. You felt all this around you while the people still read, people told stories.”
“There was such a wonderful quality of family and community.” Director, Alexandrea Pizza says about John’s work, “We see these early memories reflected in Biggers’ artwork throughout his lifetime… they appear in the rich quilted patterns that adorn women’s clothing, the repetitive pattern of shotgun houses forming the landscape, and in themes of work, family, and community.”
Biggers studied at Lincoln Academy in Kings Mountain, at Hampton University, and received his PhD from Penn State University. He then founded the Art Department at Texas Southern University in 1949 and spent much of his life and career working in Houston, where he inspired a number of prominent 20th century artists such as Earlie Hudnall Jr. who says, “John Biggers introduced me to the world of African art. He’d say, ‘life is art’, and believed that the universality of the human spirit is what art is all about.” Hudnall said of Biggers’ time at Texas Southern University “John Biggers influenced numerous students. We all went on our own routes, but it was John T. Biggers who set us on our journey.”
Biggers was a mentor to many 20th and 21st artists including Nelllie Ashford who wrote “The significance of honoring Dr. John T. Biggers’ works in the Gaston County Museum of Art and History is a wonderful way to allow many people who will visit the museum to see the brilliant works of art by an awesome genius. It means so much to me, an honorable, priceless, and a more inspirational way for me as an artist to do as he said and instructed me, “paint, girl, paint!”
Despite his success, John T. Biggers faced enormous obstacles in his life as an artist in segregated America. Biggers’ won awards for his artwork at both the Dallas Museum of Art and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts but was unable to attend his own exhibition receptions due to segregationist policies at the time. “Imagine being awarded for your artwork, but not allowed to attend your awards reception because of the color of your skin… That was my Uncle John’s reality in 1950” said Biggers’ nieces Tania Byers, Tosha Byers and Deirdre Davis.
While in Houston, John T. Biggers received a UNESCO fellowship to travel to West Africa in 1957. It was during his trip to Africa that Biggers’ work took on new meaning and informed the remainder of his career. He wrote of his time in Africa, “the time has come for me to portray the fountain of African life… we went on to Kumasi… There I struggled for days to portray the African woman—“maame”, which means mother- in her golden glory.” Some of Biggers’ sketches from West Africa are included in the recent gift to the Gaston County Museum of Art & History, including “African Women, Ghana Market at Kumasi, 1957” which features several women facing each other, carrying baskets on proud heads, exemplifying the familiar theme in Biggers’ work of women as “the Great Mother”, the maternal spirit of all things.
Biggers felt a strong connection between the women he met in Africa and the women in he knew in Gastonia. Hudnall says, “Biggers’ journey began in Gastonia where he received his moral base and values from his family. Wherever he went on his journey he always carried Gastonia in his heart…His journey has found a final spot, and it’s Gastonia.” Many members of the Biggers’ family supported the recent gift to the Gaston County Museum of Art & History, including Dwaun and Audrey June, God children of Ina and the late James C. Biggers, Jr. who wrote “Home, sweet home is what comes to mind when we think of the treasures of world-renowned artist and Gastonia native John Biggers becoming part of a permanent collection at the Gaston County Museum of Art and History. Uncle John’s art communicated the importance of family, perseverance, and triumph over hardship. Uncle John’s collections will allow everyone to enjoy the depth of his work, while planting the seeds that we all can overcome and achieve.”
John T. Biggers’ artistic influence was on a national scale. In 1994, Biggers illustrated Maya Angelou’s poem, “Our Grandmothers”. Angelou said “John Biggers, one of America’s most important artists, leads us through his expressions into the discovery of ourselves at our most intimate level. Biggers sees our differences and celebrates them, and in doing so he allows the clans of the world to come together with deliberate respect and respectful appreciation.”
The Gaston County Museum of Art & History acquired the John T. Biggers collection gift on September 18th, 2023 and is working with the Conservation Center of Art & Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia to conserve the collection in preparation for exhibition.
John T. Biggers’ murals can be seen in North Carolina at Winston Salem State University, and at the North Carolina State Legislators building. His artwork is included in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Columbia Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and now the Gaston County Museum of Art & History, among many others.
