Jonathan Green

Jonathan Green studied at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The recorded working language is English and Gullah. The field of work recorded is painting and printmaking. Places of work recorded in the authority are Charleston and Naples. Work by Jonathan Green is recorded in the collections of Morris Museum of Art, African American Museum in Philadelphia, The Baker Museum and Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center.

• Name — Jonathan Green • Born — August 9, 1955 • Birthplace — Gardens Corner, South Carolina • Citizenship — American • Occupation — Visual artist • Known for — painting Gullah culture

Jonathan Green was born on August 9, 1955, in Gardens Corner, South Carolina, a Gullah community located near the South Carolina Sea Islands. He is of Gullah descent, a cultural group formed by the descendants of enslaved Africans who settled in the Lowcountry region spanning from northern Florida to North Carolina. Green was raised by his maternal grandmother, Eloise Stewart Johnson, and influenced by the traditions of Gullah culture, which were passed down through oral storytelling. Green attended Beaufort High School. After graduating, he joined the U.S. Air Force. He later pursued formal training in the visual arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in 1982. Since 1982, Green has participated in traveling exhibitions across the United States and has held solo exhibitions. His work is part of the permanent collections of institutions including the Morris Museum of Art in Georgia, African American Museum in Philadelphia, Naples Museum of Art in Florida, and IFCC Cultural Center in Oregon. His paintings have also been exhibited in museums and galleries across North America, Europe, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Japan. In 1996, Green was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of South Carolina, the same year his book Gullah Images: The Art of Jonathan Green was published. In 2009, he received the NAACP's Key of Life Award at the organization's 40th Image Awards in recognition of his achievements in the visual arts. His second book, Gullah Spirit: The Art of Jonathan Green, was published in 2021. Green was the life partner of art collector, historian and philanthropist Richard Weedman, who was also his studio manager. In 2021, the Gibbes Museum of Art awarded Weedman and Green the James Shoolbred Gibbes Philanthropy Award.

Source:

• King-Tisdell Cottage, Savannah, GA (1985) • Woodson Regional Library, Chicago, IL (1984, 1985) • Uptown Federal Building, Chicago, IL (1982)

• Emerging 1985, The Renaissance Society, State of Illinois Art Center, Chicago, IL (1985) • Five Plus Five: Ten Perspectives in Black Art, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL (1984) • Black Antecedence, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL (1983) • 1984 Black Creativity Exhibition, The Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago, IL (1983)