African American artist Ashley Bryan was born in Harlem, NYC in 1923 to Antiguan immigrant parents. Bryan, the second of six children grew up during the depression in the Bronx. Both of Bryan’s parents encouraged him to pursue his dreams.
His father who adored birds specialized in printing greeting cards. At one point, Bryan counted at least 100 caged birds living amidst his family in his childhood home.
Growing up, his mother sang, and his father played the piano. Bryan and his siblings set up old crates and replenished them with library books.
Similarly, Bryan began drawing and painting at the age of six, using the art materials his father procured from his printing practice.
Every day, Bryan, seemingly, began his mornings inspired to nurture and honor art, in whatever way felt right. Bryan recognized art could be more than something you created and could become an integral part of your life.
Bryan spent his time illustrating his little piece of the world, including his birds, his siblings, and his neighbors. During the school year, Bryan’s teachers fostered his endeavors and upon graduation urged him to apply to various art schools.
Unfortunately, despite his impressive portfolio, Bryan was informed by the dean of admissions at one school that
“We can’t admit you because it would be a waste to give a scholarship to a Black person.”
Then with the aid of his teachers, Bryan applied to and was accepted at Cooper Union in New York. The Cooper Union utilized a color-blind admissions process based entirely on an applicant’s portfolio.
During his junior year, Bryan was drafted by the army to a segregated unit and found himself bound for combat in Europe.
His squadron included some of the first black soldiers to arrive on the shores of Omaha Beach on June 6th, 1944 also known as D-Day.
After the war, Bryan taught art at New York’s City’s Dalton School, Queens College, and, Dartmouth. As an educator, he continued to pursue painting and drawing. When asked about his work, Bryan commented
I love to celebrate the artistry of people around the world in whatever material or form they work.
-Ashley Bryan
Bryan’s dynamically cast collage and paper-cut illustrations embellished the pages of some 50 books, folktales, and poetry collections by highly esteemed writers such as Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, and Walter Dean Myers.
For years he vacationed on Islesford, one of the Cranberry Islands located off the coast of Maine. In the 1980’s he relocated there permanently. Today The Ashley Bryan Center spotlights his paintings, his fanciful sculptures of wood and sea glass, and vivid handmade puppets. The University of Pennsylvania has united with the Ashley Bryan Center to cherish his legacy. Ashley Bryan passed away on February 4th, 2022 at the home of his niece Vanessa Robinson in Sugar Land, Texas.
A beloved illustrator, Ashley Bryan was a May Hill Arbuthnot lecturer. Bryan was also named a Newbery Honoree for his picture book, Freedom Over Me. Bryan also received the Coretta Scott King—Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award; and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.
