About Faith Ringgold
American · 1930–2024
a Harlem asthmatic whose great-grandmother made quilts on a plantation, painting Tar Beach on fabric after seeing Tibetan thangkas in Amsterdam
Museums7
Countries1
Most worksMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York City · 7 works
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Where to see Faith Ringgold
Ranked by works you can see in person.
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7 works
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York City, United States
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1 works
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Old Patent Office Building, United States
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1 works
Museum of Modern Art
Midtown Manhattan, United States
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1 works
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Upper East Side, United States
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1 works
Museo de Arte de Worcester
Worcester, United States
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1 works
National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C., United States
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I see Faith Ringgold's art?
Faith Ringgold's works can be seen at Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and 2 other museums worldwide.Who was Faith Ringgold inspired by?
Faith Ringgold was inspired by African art, employing it as her "classical" art form instead of looking to Greece. She also saw a collection of Tibetan thangkas, narrative paintings on fabric, hung from cloth borders, which influenced her quilting.How did Faith Ringgold make her quilts?
Faith Ringgold made story quilts with her mother, Willi Posey, which involved painted canvases bordered by quilted fabric, with stories written directly on the surface. In 1972, she saw a collection of Tibetan thangkas, narrative paintings on fabric, hung from cloth borders, which influenced her quilting.Why did Faith Ringgold become an artist?
Faith Ringgold decided to become an artist because she believed that she, a Black woman, could penetrate the art scene without sacrificing her Blackness, femaleness, or humanity.Was Faith Ringgold part of the harlem renaissance?
Ringgold grew up in Harlem during the Depression, but the provided texts do not specify if she was part of the Harlem Renaissance.When did Faith Ringgold start making art?
Faith Ringgold decided to become an artist and believed that she, a Black woman, could penetrate the art scene. Starting in the mid-1960s, she developed a hard-edged style with a flat, relatively unarticulated paint surface.Why did Faith Ringgold use quilts?
In 1972, Faith Ringgold visited Amsterdam and saw a collection of Tibetan thangkas, narrative paintings on fabric hung from cloth borders. This discovery solved a problem that she had been working on for years, and she began making story quilts with her mother.Did Faith Ringgold go to art school?
Faith Ringgold got a degree in fine arts from City College of New York in 1955, and an MA in 1959. She also employed African art as her "classical" art form.
Sources
Where to See guide aggregates verified holdings of Faith Ringgold's works across the following collections.
- [1] book guggenheim-museum00solo Used for: biography.
- [2] book Norma Broude, The Expanding Discourse Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-07-02. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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