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Floyd Newsum (born 1955) is an American artist living in Houston, Texas. Since completing his education at Temple University in Pennsylvania, he has worked in abstraction and is best known for his primitive style, employing collage elements to construct narrative in his sculptures and works on canvas.

Life
Born in 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, Floyd Newsum did not grow up in an art-focused environment or even, being African American, one which encouraged freedom of expression. Despite this, he attended Memphis College of Art and attained his bachelor’s degree in painting in 1973. Memphis College of Art then lacked a graduate school, and Newsum attended Temple University to graduate with a master’s degree in painting in 1975. Shortly after graduation, he took a position as professor of art at the University of Houston. He has taught there since and lives in Houston with his wife, Janice.

Work
Newsum’s work consists primarily in painting, collage, and, to a lesser extent, sculpture. He draws extensively from impressionist, African tribal, American Indian, and Pacific island art to construct his highly narrative works. His influences include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Phillip Guston, Marc Chagal, and Henri Matisse. This work has become recognized and is distinguished by his use of ladders, fish, birds, and houses. He favors bright colors in his work, often using entirely pastel and primary colors for his compositions.

Exhibitions
2013 African American Art Since 1950: from the Perspective of the David C. Driskell Center

2013, traveling tour organized by the Center and SITE Smithsonian, Taft Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio

2006 Brandywine Workshop, “Houston: Contemporary Works on Paper”, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2006 Pennsylvania State University, group show, “Three Decades of American Printmaking”, University Park, Pennsylvania

2002 The University of Memphis Art Museum, “One Person Exhibition”, Memphis, Tennessee

2002 The Philadelphia Foundation, “30X30”, exhibition of prints, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2002 Center of Fine and Performing Arts, “One Person Exhibition: Fractured Landscapes”, the University of Florida, Pensacola, Florida

2002 African American Museum of Art, Dallas, “Three Centuries of African American Art”, Dallas, Texas

2001 Philadelphia Museum of Art, print gallery “An Exuberant Bounty: Prints and Drawings by African Americans”, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2000 O’Kane Gallery, “One Man Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings”, University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, Texas

1998 Brooks Museum of Art, “Invitational Artist, Memphis Arts Festival”, Memphis, Tennessee

1997 African American Museum of Art, Dallas, “18th Annual African American Art Exhibition”, Dallas, Texas

1994 Project Row Houses, “Tribal Markings”, Houston, Texas

1994 Museum of Fine Arts-Houston, “Speaking of Art: Words and Works from Houston”, Houston, Texas

1992 Brooks Art Museum, “Brooks Biennial Invitational”, Memphis, Tennessee

1990 Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, “Black Out”, Houston, Texas

1990 Blaffer Gallery, “The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism”, University of Houston, Houston, Texas

1988 Museum of African-American Life & culture, “Five Contemporary Artists”, Dallas, Texas

1976 Center of the Arts, Hartwick College, “16 Contemporary Artists”, Oneonta, New York

1976 Brown Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, “Floyd Newsum”, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Collections
2012 Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and History, Washington, DC, “Sirigu, Janie’s Apron” permanent collection, oil and acrylic on paper with mixed medium

2009 David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, “When We Reflect”, oil and acrylic with mixed medium on paper

2005 Mexic-Arte Museum, “Grey Foundation”, Austin, Texas, silkscreen

2005 Xavier University, “Just Because She Could, she Put the World on Its Side”, New Orleans, Louisiana, lithographic print

2005 Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame, “Grey Foundation”, Notre Dame, Indiana, silkscreen print

2003 Main Street Square, City of Houston, “Planter and Stems”, painted steel sculptures

2003 Metro Light Rail, Main Street at McGowen and Main at Berry, Houston, Texas, station Designs

2002 City of Houston, “Painting for Way Finding Project”, Houston, Texas

1999 Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Just Because”, “Blue Spirits”, “Madonna and Night Landscape”, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, litho prints

1999 Memphis Fire Museum, “You Can Count on Me”, Memphis Tennessee, painting

1998 African American Museum of Art, Dallas, “Just Because”, Dallas, Texas, litho print

1991 Museum of Fine Arts-Houston, “Josephine Sho’ Can Dance”, Houston, Texas, painting

1989 Midtown Art Center, Houston, Texas, mural

Literature
2008 “Studios and Workspaces of Black American Artist”, Dennis L. Forbes, Dennis L. Forbes

2004 “Three Decades of American Printmaking”, The Brandywine Workshop Collection, Hudson Hills Press, New York and Manchester

1999 “Texas 150: Works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston”, Alison de Lima Green, Harry N. Abrams

2000 “Private Show! A Juried Exhibition in Print”, The International Review of African American Art, v. 16, no.3

1999 “Response Time”, The Art Car Museum, Houston, Texas (catalog)

1999 “Texas Paper: Works on Paper by Texas Artists”, The Gallery at UT at Arlington (catalog)

1998 “A Place for All People”, Beth B. Schneider, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Texas

1998 “Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas”, Crown Publishers, New York

1996 “Texas National 96 Exhibition”, Stephen F. Austin State University (catalog)

1996 “The Language of Literature”, Arthur N. Applebee; Judith A. Langer, McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin Publishers

1993 “Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves”, Hudson-Weems, Clenora, Bedford Publishers, cover design

1991 “Floyd Newsum”, Performance Art Magazine, no. 1, Houston Visual, Literacy Magazine

1990 “African American Artists”, Samella Lewis, University of California Press

1990 “United States Foreign Policy Toward Southern Africa”, Ike Okafur Newsum, Macmillan Press, Ltd., cover design

1990 “Messages of the South”, Sewall Art Gallery, Rice University (catalog)