She was deeply affected by her visit the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and its collection of Tibetan thangka paintings in particular. New DirectionsĮarly into the 1970s, Ringgold’s art took a new direction. Ringgold's first solo gallery show in 1967 featured the American People series. Centered around themes from the civil rights movement, paintings such as Neighbors, Die and The Flag Is Bleeding all capture the racial tensions of the era. She married Burdette Ringgold on and also embarked on creating a series of paintings - American People - that today rank among her most important work. The early 1960s would prove to be a pivotal period for Ringgold. in art in 1959 and later toured Europe, visiting many of its finest museums. Ringgold began developing her own art, which at this time was fairly conventional. While looking after her children, she taught art in the public school system and also enrolled in a graduate studies program at City College. in Fine Art and Education in 1955, Ringgold spent the latter half of the decade juggling several different roles. Faith and Robert would divorce several years later, when he developed a heroin addiction that would eventually lead to his death.

In 1952, they had two daughters, one born in January and one born in December.

That same year, she married musician Robert Wallace. Enrolling at the City College of New York in 1950, she wound up studying art education when the liberal arts department denied her application.

Throughout her grammar and high school years, Ringgold also developed an interest in art, and by the time she graduated became intent on turning her interest into a career.

As she suffered from asthma as a young girl, Ringgold spent a great deal of time at home with her mother, a fashion designer who taught her to sew and work creatively with fabrics. She was the youngest of three children born to Andrew and Willi Jones, who raised their children during the Harlem Renaissance and exposed them to all of its cultural offerings. Renaissanceįaith Ringgold was born Faith Will Jones was born on October 8, 1930, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. During the 1980s, she began a series of quilts that are among her best-known works, and she later embarked on a successful career as a children's book author and illustrator. In the 1970s, she created African-style masks, painted political posters and actively sought the racial integration of the New York art world. While working as an art teacher in public schools, Faith Ringgold began a series of paintings called American People, which portrayed the civil rights movement from a female perspective.

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