The History and Significance of African American Angel Art

Nov 11, 2025 0

African American angel art is a powerful and evocative genre that reflects the unique cultural and historical experiences of Black artists. This art form often blends elements of African heritage, Christian theology, and personal narratives to create compelling visual representations of angels.

Henry Ossawa Tanner - The Annunciation

In honor of Black History Month, Artsy has featured the work of 28 Black artists who are not as widely known or celebrated as some of their historical or contemporary peers. This list is meant to shine a light on artists who have prominence within institutions, but are often excluded from mainstream conversations meant to amplify overlooked Black artists or canonize them as leading figures of art history.

Key Figures and Their Contributions

Several artists have made significant contributions to African American angel art, each bringing their distinct style and perspective.

David C. Driskell

One of the world's leading authorities on the subject of African American Art, Prof. David C. Driskell is highly regarded as an artist and a scholar.

Read also: Legends of African American Angels

Born in 1931 in Eatonton, GA, and grew up in North Carolina, David C. Driskell completed the art program in 1953 at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine. He received an undergraduate degree in art from Howard University in 1955 and an M.F.A. from Catholic University of America in 1962. He then pursued post-graduate study in art history at The Netherlands Institute for the History of Art in The Hague.

Trained as a painter and art historian, Driskell works primarily in collage and mixed media, and printmaking. Prof. Driskell began his teaching career at Talladega College in 1955. He taught at Howard and Fisk Universities and served as Visiting Professor of Art at Bowdoin College, The University of Michigan, Queens College, and Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He joined the faculty of the Department of Art at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1977, and served as its Chairperson from 1978-1983. In 1995, he was named Distinguished University Professor of Art and taught until his retirement in 1998. In 2001, the University of Maryland established the David C. Driskell Center to honor Prof.

"Dancing Angel" by David C. Driskell resonates with allusions to ancient, classical, and African art, and to personal history. The angel’s body is crafted with oil paint, fabric, and clippings from a 1969 Look magazine article entitled “The Blacks and the Whites: Can We Bridge the Gap?” The striped Benin cloth alludes to banded quilts made by Driskell’s mother, and the angel herself refers to Driskell’s father, a Baptist minister who often talked about angels in his sermons. The angel’s face-half modern, half reminiscent of Ife masks-signals the dual nature of Driskell’s own African American heritage.

Angels Appearing before the Shepherds by Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner, Angels Appearing before the Shepherds, c. Henry Ossawa Tanner’s evocative Angels Appearing before the Shepherds compels us to ask larger questions: what is the purpose of art that depicts religious subjects? Can the visual arts dramatize the Biblical word in a way that text cannot?

Tanner grappled with these questions in a painting depicting a scene from the New Testament when angels appeared before the shepherds in Bethlehem to announce the birth of Jesus. Henry Ossawa Tanner was the first African-American painter to gain critical recognition outside of the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century. Though Tanner painted his most well-known works, The Banjo Lesson (1893) and The Thankful Poor (1894), in a more naturalistic style, he painted Angels Appearing before the Shepherds in a more abstract, Symbolist style. The painting reflects his lifelong fascination with Christianity and the stories of the Bible. Tanner completed this painting a few years after traveling to the Middle East in 1897.

His first major biblical paintings, Daniel in the Lions’ Den (1896) and The Resurrection of Lazarus (1897) gained critical acclaim in the Paris Salon (the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts). The art critic Rodman Wanamaker funded a trip for Tanner to visit the Middle East claiming that any serious artist who wanted to paint biblical scenes with conviction should familiarize himself with the Holy Land.

Tanner’s painting of the angel and shepherds is a familiar subject for many artists like Rembrandt, Castiglione, and Thomas Cole. He depicts the pivotal scene of revelation, but renders it in a more lush and atmospheric tone than seen in the work of previous painters. Tanner’s exposure to the work of the post-Impressionists and the Symbolists in Paris in the 1890s seems to influence his hazy melding of color and line.

Looking closely at the painting, we have to ask ourselves what was the artist thinking in choosing to paint this dramatic scene in blue. Around the time Tanner painted this, the work of the Symbolist painters was at the vanguard of new intellectual thought in art in Paris, a group which included Paul Gauguin, Odilon Redon, and Gustave Moreau. The Symbolists were influenced by the color theories of German artist Franz von Stück, who was in turn influenced by Johan Wolfgang von Goethe’s important theory of color published in 1810. According to Goethe, colors, in addition to their inherent optical and scientific qualities, possessed psychological qualities as well. Stück explained that blue exuded mystery, eternity and calm.

By situating our point-of-view from behind the angels, we look down at the distant figures of the shepherds below. This painting is emblematic of Tanner’s evolving style in the middle part of his unique career. The critical acclaim of The Banjo Lesson made him wary that he might be restricted to painting tender scenes of rural life among Black Americans, which would have been limiting to a man of his diverse interests and cosmopolitan background. The influence of the nineteenth-century Romantic painters is also a palpable influence. In the cool blue glow of light along the Judean hills, Tanner evokes the moon paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, whose work inspired other American artists like Childe Hassam and Frederic Remington.

Like Friedrich, who brings his spectator into a hushed communion with his cloaked subjects and the otherwordly eminence of nature and God, in Angels Appearing before the Shepherds, Tanner represents a time, tone, and scene conducive to a mood of spiritual reflection. Henry Tanner hoped to redefine religious painting in the twentieth century and to prove that an American-a Black American-could create incisive and moving religious art on par with the work of the European Masters.

Imo Nse Imeh

Imo Nse Imeh, Ph.D., Westfield State University associate professor of art and art history, has had his artwork added to the prominent Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art. The New Jersey-based foundation purchased Imeh’s most recent painting, Feeding the Veins of the Earth (Grounded Angel), which is part of his Benediction series. This group of paintings envisions angels sent to Earth to be bonded to the skins of Black men and boys to bear witness to their traumas, triumphs, and lived experiences.

Completed in 2020, Feeding the Veins was created using oil paint, India ink, acrylic ink, and charcoal on unstretched canvas, measuring 100 x 84 inches.

“As stewards of African American art, we look for work that is technically skillful, intellectually engaging, and deeply moving,” said Claudia Volpe, director of the Petrucci Family Foundation. “Dr. Imo Nse Imeh ticks every box in his practice. His Benediction series, in particular, caught our eye. We were struck by Imo’s decision to depict Black men as angels and as God’s direct witnesses to the gravity of living as a Black man in America during a time when it feels as though the struggles that Black Americans face are willfully ignored. Feeding the Veins of the Earth (Grounded Angel) elegantly captures the crushing weight of bearing witness to tragedy, as well as the critical need for these national wounds to be seen and recognized.

Imeh noted how he was admittedly humbled and overwhelmed by the acquisition. “I am thrilled that my work is part of this prestigious collection,” said Imeh. “It joins the company of works by a host of illustrious and widely celebrated African and African Diaspora visual artists including Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and Titus Kaphar, to name a few.”

Furthermore, Imeh will contribute an essay about his work to an upcoming book about African American Diaspora. Titled Shifting Time, the publication is anticipated to be published in Fall 2022.

Other Notable Black Artists

While contemporary artists like Kerry James Marshall, Betye Saar, and Faith Ringgold are the founding leaders of contemporary figurative painting and printmaking, the contributions of artists like Malcolm Bailey, Charles Alston, and Camille Billops may not be as widely discussed. We hope this will serve as an introduction to, rather than a comprehensive list of, Black artists whose legacies deserve to be cemented in art history and public consciousness.

Charles Alston: Known for his abstract approach to figurative portraits and narrative paintings, Charles Alston was instrumental to shaping the Harlem Renaissance.
Malcolm Bailey: Bailey’s graphic paintings use form and color to unpack the history and suffering of the transatlantic slave trade.
Camille Billops: Known for her extensive work archiving Black arts and culture from the 20th century, Camille Billops was also a formidable sculptor, printmaker, and filmmaker.
Betty Blayton: Most commonly known as a founding member of the Studio Museum in Harlem, Betty Blayton was also an accomplished abstract painter.
Hilda Wilkinson Brown: Hilda Wilkinson Brown’s richly vibrant paintings capture the individuals and scenic landscapes of her community in the Ledroit Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and in Martha’s Vineyard.
Lilian Thomas Burwell: Burwell creates Abstract Expressionist works and sculptural paintings inspired by nature.
Zoe Charlton: Mixed-media artist Zoe Charlton uses collage and video to untangle the legacy of slavery and segregation on the contemporary lives of Black Americans.
Deborah Dancy: Deborah Dancy works across photography, printmaking, sculpture, and photography. Her awe-inspiring abstractions uncover the sinister accounts of violence related to American history.
Heitor dos Prazeres: Heitor dos Prazeres was a Brazilian composer, singer, and painter. While the artist’s samba music continues to live on after his death, less remembered are his figurative paintings.
Minnie Evans: Minnie Evans’s psychedelic paintings and drawings were all crafted from hallucinogenic dreams.
Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller: Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller helped pioneer the incorporation of African heritage and cultural motifs among Black American artists of her generation.
Marguerite Harris: Marguerite Harris works with film to create her expansive cinema installations.
Palmer Hayden: Palmer Hayden rose to prominence as an artist of the Harlem Renaissance.
Janet Henry: Incorporating sculpture, collage, design, beadwork, photography, and dolls, Janet Henry’s mixed-media installations darkly satirize the ins and outs of the art world.
Sargent Claude Johnson: Sargent Claude Johnson’s sculptures and prints heavily evoke the bulbous and shapely forms found across analytical and synthetic Cubism, which allowed him to create both abstracted and grounded representations of Black life.

Angels in Art: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

The use of winged angels in art spans several millennia and cuts across multiple cultures, with each culture associating these ethereal figures with various aspects. For instance, in the ancient Assyrian culture, there was a protective deity labelled lamassu. Ancient Greek mythology has been an integral part of art, serving as an inspiration to a large number of concepts in art. The Greek mythology associates Erotes with love and desire. The majority of ancient artwork portrayed Eros as being a slender yet well-built man wielding enormous sexual power. While Eros was not a popular figure in the classical period, the arrival of the Hellenistic period raised him back to prominence. The classical Erotes or Putto re-appeared in art during the Italian Renaissance in both religious and mythological art, and is often known in English as a cherub, the singular of cherubim, actually one of the higher ranks in the Christian angelic hierarchy. They normally appear in groups and are generally given wings in religious art, and are sometimes represented as just a winged head.

Muhammad advancing on Mecca, with the angels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and Azrail

Angels in Islamic Art

Angels in Islamic art often appear in illustrated manuscripts of Muhammad's life. The 13th-century book Ajā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt (The Wonders of Creation) by Zakariya al-Qazwini describes Islamic angelology, and is often illustrated with many images of angels. The angels are typically depicted with bright, vivid colors, giving them unusual liveliness and other-worldly translucence. While some angels are referred to as "Guardians of the Kingdom of God," others are associated with hell.

The Qur’an makes multiple references to angels. These angels take on both active and passive roles in Quranic stories. In the story of the creation of Adam, God announces to the angels that he intends to create man. The angels act as witnesses to this announcement and subsequent creation of Adam. Although there are many versions of the story, Islamic sources relate that God used the creation of Adam as a punishment or test for the angels. Therefore, the role of angels is often described as in opposition to man.

Another angel-like creature mentioned in the Qu’ran (4:97, 32:11) is the zabāniya. A zabāniya is a black angel of hell that brings souls of sinners down to hell to punish them and can be seen in illustrations of The Timurid Book of the Prophet Muhammad’s Ascension (c. 1436 A.D.). There are nineteen zabāniya, led by Mālik, an angel considered to be the master of fire or the gatekeeper of hell. Muhammad beside al-Buraq, which holds a closed book in its hands while its tail appears to transform into an angel wielding a shield and a sword, is approached by two angels, one of whom holds a gold cup on a platter from Jami' al-Tawarikh (The Compendium of Chronicles), c. Although depictions of Muhammad are often forbidden, the few that exist often include images of angels. Specifically, the Archangel Gabriel is frequently shown alongside Muhammad.

Angels in Jewish Art

Mainstream Rabbinic Judaism discourages focus from being placed on angels due to fears about idolatry and a desire to curtail any inclinations to polytheism. Sanoi, Sansoni, and Samanglif (also spelled Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof) are three angels that protect newborns. Depictions of them as small, non-human creatures occur on amulets and have had a small resurgence in popularity in recent years. Cherubim in their classic Jewish description are typically creatures with features of a human, lion, bird, and cattle in some combination. The variety of imagery here was common in the Ancient Near East, and draws on that of the lamassu.

6th century zodiac mosaic from the Beth Alpha Synagogue

The Depiction of Angels Through History

Specific ideas regarding how to portray angels began to develop in the early Church. The earliest known Christian image of an angel, in the Cubicolo dell'Annunziazione in the Catacomb of Priscilla, which is dated to the middle of the third century, is a depiction of the Annunciation in which Gabriel is portrayed without wings. The earliest known representation of angels with wings is on what is called the Prince's Sarcophagus, discovered at Sarigüzel, near Istanbul, in the 1930s, and attributed to the time of Theodosius I (379-395). Flying winged angels, very often in pairs flanking a central figure or subject, are derivations in visual terms from pairs of winged Victories in classical art.

From then on Christian art generally represented angels with wings, as in the cycle of mosaics in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (432-440). Multi-winged angels, often with only their face and wings showing, drawn from the higher grades of angels, especially cherubim and seraphim, are derived from Persian art and are usually shown only in heavenly contexts, as opposed to performing tasks on Earth. Angels appear in Byzantine art in mosaics and icons. Artists found some of their inspiration from winged Greek figures such as "Victory". They also drew from imperial iconography.

Medieval depictions of angels borrow from the Byzantine. In the French Hours of Anne of Brittany, Gabriel wears a dalmatic. In the later Middle Ages they often wear the vestments of a deacon, a cope over a dalmatic, especially Gabriel in Annunciation scenes - for example The Annunciation by Jan van Eyck. This indicated that, for all their powers, they could not perform the Eucharist, and were in this respect outranked by every priest, reinforcing the prestige of the clergy. In Early Christian art white robes were almost invariably adopted, sometimes bound with the "golden girdle" of Revelation. During the mediæval period senior angels were often clad in every brilliant colour, while junior ranks wore white.

In the late 19th century artists' model Jane Burden Morris came to embody an ideal of beauty for Pre-Raphaelite painters. With the use of her long dark hair and features made somewhat more androgynous, they created a prototype Victorian angel which would appear in paintings and stained glass windows. Angels continued to be depicted in the 20th century.

Conclusion

African American angel art is a vibrant and meaningful genre that continues to evolve. By exploring the works of key artists and understanding the cultural influences that shape their creations, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the rich tapestry of African American art history.