Faith Ringgold
Faith Ringgold was an American painter whose oil paintings and acrylic story quilts combine fabric, painted canvas, and Black American narratives.
Painter
Emma Amos
Emma Amos was an American painter whose oil and acrylic figures on canvas often incorporate handwoven textiles and African fabric borders in many works.
Emma Amos quick facts
Emma Amos's painting process brought oil and acrylic imagery together with woven fabric borders, unstretched canvas, photo transfers, and collage.
| Born | 1937 · Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
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| Died | 2020 · Bedford, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Movements | Spiral collective · Feminist art |
| Paint types | Oil paint (earlier paintings) · Acrylic paint |
| Painting surfaces | Canvas (linen and other canvas supports, often unstretched) |
| Painting methods | Painting figures in oil or acrylic; mounting or bordering acrylic-painted canvases with handwoven cloth, kente textiles, and fabric collage; selected photo transfers |
| Common subjects | Black women, family members, self-portraits, motion and falling figures, historical identity, race, and gender |
| Other materials | Handwoven fabric, kente cloth, collaged African textiles, and photo-transfer imagery |
| Notable works | Winning · Will You Forget Me? · Tightrope · Work Suit |
Sources: Smithsonian American Art Museum: weaving and painted unstretched canvases, Smithsonian: Winning, acrylic on linen with handwoven fabric, Smithsonian: Will You Forget Me?, acrylic with fabric collage, Philadelphia Museum of Art: Tightrope, Work Suit and early oils, Cleveland Museum: Sandy and Her Husband, oil on canvas, Smithsonian Archives: artist discusses unstretched canvas and textile borders, and Georgia Museum of Art: dates and painting practice.
Paint types used by Emma Amos
Amos moved between oil-painted figure studies and large acrylic works whose painted canvases could be joined to handwoven textiles or fabric collage.
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Oil paint
In Sandy and Her Husband, the Cleveland Museum of Art records oil on canvas, documenting Amos’s earlier figurative painting in this medium. The work differs from the acrylic and textile constructions she made later. The collection record establishes oil in her practice without treating it as the medium for every work.
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Acrylic paint
The Smithsonian records acrylic on linen in Winning (1983), with handwoven fabric as a separate attached material. In Will You Forget Me?, acrylic combines with fabric collage. These examples document acrylic as both a painted medium and one layer in her textile-based constructions.
Sources: Cleveland Museum of Art: Sandy and Her Husband, oil on canvas; Smithsonian American Art Museum: Winning, acrylic on linen with handwoven fabric; Smithsonian: Will You Forget Me?, acrylic with fabric collage.
Painting surfaces used by Emma Amos
Collection records document canvas and linen in Emma Amos’s practice, and each row links a support to a named object and its recorded materials.
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Canvas
Amos made large paintings on canvas, often unstretched so the textile could be worked directly and displayed without a conventional frame. Museum records document these flexible supports alongside her linen paintings. The unmounted canvas is a distinct working surface in her practice rather than a standard stretched picture.
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Linen
Amos painted on linen in the Smithsonian’s Winning, which combines acrylic on linen with handwoven fabric. The work documents the textile as an image-bearing support and distinguishes it from the attached collage material. This example reflects her use of fabric structure as part of the painting’s construction.
Sources: Smithsonian American Art Museum: weaving and painted unstretched canvases, Smithsonian: Winning, acrylic on linen with handwoven fabric, Smithsonian: Will You Forget Me?, acrylic with fabric collage, Philadelphia Museum of Art: Tightrope, Work Suit and early oils, Cleveland Museum: Sandy and Her Husband, oil on canvas.
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