Selma Burke

Sculptor Selma Burke, from Mooresville, NC, earned a BA from Winston-Salem State University, NC; an MFA from Columbia University, New York City; and a PhD from Livingstone College, Salisbury, NC.

Burke had solo exhibitions at Princeton University, NJ, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, among other venues. Her work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Burke taught at the Harlem Community Art Center and founded the Selma Burke Art School in New York City and the Selma Burke Art Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

In 1979, Burke received the Women’s Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award. A prolific artist during the Harlem Renaissance, Burke is renowned for being the original designer of the American dime after completing a relief portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She described herself as being “a people’s sculptor” and created many pieces of public art and portraits of prominent African Americans.
—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records

Artist Info


Born

1900

Mooresville, NC

Died

August 29, 1995

New Hope, PA

Gender

Female

Nationality

American

Heritage

African American

Collections Featuring this Artist