Every February, Black History Month celebrates the myriad achievements and contributions of African Americans in the spheres culture, science, business and society. In the visual arts, these influences have been both indelible and spectacularly varied — from the expressive landscapes of Henry Ossawa Tanner, the first African American painter to gain international acclaim in the late 19th century, to the impassioned and symbolic graffiti-scrawls of Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose Untitled, 1982, became the most expensive artwork by an American artist ever sold in 2017. In tribute to these innumerable creative visionaries, we’ve chosen 10 artists whose works have dynamically influenced American contemporary art — click ahead to learn more.
