Teaching After teaching for several years at
Talladega College in Alabama, Driskell went on to earn a
Master of Fine Arts degree from
Catholic University in 1962. In 1966 he joined the faculty of
Fisk University in
Nashville, as professor of art and chairman of the department. During his time at Fisk, Driskell curated a number of shows highlighting black artists including
Aaron Douglas,
William T. Williams and
Ellis Wilson. He was a rigorous scholar and due to his careful cataloging of African-American works he began creating the archive and context for research into black art. After ten years at Fisk, he moved to the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1976. Driskell retired from the University of Maryland in 1998. In 2001, he was honored with the naming of the
David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, which presents exhibitions on African-American art and holds the Driskell archive . Driskell has been recognized as a mentor for developing art collectors for works by African-American artists, as well as advocating for "younger, up-and-coming artists".
David C. Driskell: Artist and Scholar by Julie L. McGee, a book detailing Driskell's life and work, was published in 2006. Driskell died in
Washington, D.C., on April 1, 2020, of complications from
COVID-19 during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C. Curatorial work During his seven-decade career as an art historian and curator, Driskell made contributions that are considered foundational to the field of African-American Art. He curated more than 35 exhibitions of work by black artists, including
Jacob Lawrence,
Romare Bearden, and
Elizabeth Catlett. This landmark exhibition later traveled to the
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, the
High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the
Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition featured more than 200 works by 63 artists as well as anonymous crafts workers and cemented the essential contributions of Black artists to American Visual culture. He also selected works that appeared on
The Cosby Show. He later wrote a book about the Cosby's collection,
The Other Side of Color: The African American Collection of Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr. In 1996, Driskell advised the
White House on its purchase of
Sand Dunes at Sunset: Atlantic City (1885) by
Henry Ossawa Tanner, which became the first artwork in the White House's collection by a Black artist. The exhibition was planned to include more than 60 artworks, gathered from museums, private collections, and Driskell's estate, and representing his studio work from the 1950s to the 2000s. Julie McGee, author of a 2006 monograph about Driskell, guest-curated the retrospective. Driskell's work was included in the 2025 exhibition
Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985 at the
National Gallery of Art.
Solo exhibitions • 2021:
Celebrating Creative Genius: The Life, Art and Legacy of David Driskell,
Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, Buckhead, Georgia • 2019:
David Driskell: Resonance, Paintings 1965-2002, DC Moore Gallery, New York, New York • 2006:
David Driskell: Painting Across the Decade 1996-2006, DC Moore Gallery, New York, New York
Group exhibitions • 2025:
David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration, and Friendship, Frist Art Museum • 2020:
Tell Me Your Story, Kunsthal Kade, Amersfoort, Netherlands • 2020:
Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition, The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C. • 2019:
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,
Tate Modern, London, UK;
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas;
The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York;
The Broad, Los Angeles, California == Honors, awards, and legacy ==