Radical Painter Raymond Saunders Dies at 90
The politically minded painter died just a week after his first major survey closed at Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, tracing his seven‑decade trajectory through art to speak on his own terms. Save to My Ocula
Raymond Saunders, the abstract painter who confronted politics of representation and insisted on the autonomy of Black artists in the art world, has died at the age of 90. His galleries—David Zwirner, Casemore, and Andrew Kreps—confirmed his passing on Monday.
Dealer David Zwirner said Saunders will be ‘dearly missed’ by family, friends and the community of the Bay Area. ‘His work, however, will continue to be seen and discovered by new audiences for many decades to come as he takes his rightful place in art history.’
Saunders’ first major survey had closed only a week prior at Carnegie Museum of Art in his native Pittsburgh, where 35 paintings traced his seven-decade trajectory through methods and movements—Dada, Expressionism, and more—in search of free expression.
‘I am not responsible for anyone’s entertainment,’ Saunders wrote in his famed 1967 essay ‘Black Is a Color’—an argument that Black artists should not be defined by their race alone or expected to create work based on their racial identity.
‘Can’t we get clear of these degrading limitations, and recognise the wider reality of art, where colour is the means and not the end?’ Saunders wrote.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1934, Saunders spent most of his life in Oakland, where he taught at California College of Art.
His assemblage-style paintings layer urban ephemera like doors and signage on annotated black backgrounds referencing classroom blackboards and the process of education.
His improvisational approach saw him receive a Rome Prize Fellowship (1964), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1976), and two National Endowment for the Arts Awards (1977, 1984).
His work is held in the collections of American institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. —[O]
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