The estate of Faith Ringgold, who is known for textile works depicting the Civil Rights Movement, will be represented by Jack Shainman Gallery. Before Ringgold’s death in April 2024, ACA Galleries represented the artist exclusively since 1995. Shainman will stage its first exhibition of Ringgold’s work in November at its Tribeca gallery.
Jack Shainman Gallery will also represent the Anyone Can Fly Foundation, an organization established by Ringgold in 1999. The organization was created to champion artists of the African diaspora.
Ringgold is perhaps best known for her innovative “story quilt” artworks, which earned her widespread acclaim in the 1980s. The most well-known work in the series is Tar Beach 2 (1990), which portrays the artist’s childhood memories of Harlem, New York with fantastical touches. In 1992, she adapted the piece into her first children’s book, Tar Beach, featuring a young girl who soars over the George Washington Bridge.
“Faith Ringgold’s work touches on themes that continue to be relevant to our current social and political climates, perhaps more so now than they have since their creation, and I could not be more proud to have the opportunity to continue to give her and her work a platform,” said founder Jack Shainman.
Born in 1930 in Harlem, Ringgold studied at the City College of New York, where she earned a master’s degree in 1959. Over the years, her practice was varied, encompassing paintings, sculptures, prints, and quilts. In 1967, she gained attention for her 12-foot painting American People Series #20: Die (1967), which appeared in her first solo show at Spectrum Gallery in New York. This work depicts a massive, racially-charged fight scene in which white and Black participants alike are mortally wounded.
Ringgold started her art career while teaching in the New York City public school system, as well as at several colleges, including Pratt Institute in New York. In 1971, Ringgold co-founded Where We Art, an artist collective that included Kay Brown and Dindga McCannon. By 1973, she left teaching to dedicate herself fully to her art. She created her first quilt, Echoes of Harlem, in 1980 with the help of her mother, fashion designer Madame Willi Posey. Her first story quilt, Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima (1983), features the story of a fictional Black woman living in New Orleans.
ACA Galleries mounted Ringgold’s first solo exhibition with the gallery in 1995. In the decades following, her work became the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, presented by museums such as the New Museum in 1998, the Missoula Art Museum in 2007, and the Pérez Art Museum Miami in 2011.
In recent years, Ringgold’s work has been receiving extra attention, receiving a retrospective at the New Museum in 2022 and Serpentine Galleries in 2019. In June 2024, Dior incorporated the works of Faith Ringgold into its runway design, curated by creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri.
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