This annotated bibliography is the result of a collaboration between the Providence Art Club and historian-teacher (and owner of the blog "Historia Magistra"), Michael McGuigan. What started out as a simple partnership to prepare some teacher resources about the Bannisters and the time period they lived in, ended with, not only teacher resources, but this detailed and constantly-growing bibliography.
You can access the bibliography on Providence Art Club's beloved founder and his wife here.
Join Keith Stokes in this video presentation as he delves into the history of black artists during the Gilded Age of Newport, Rhode Island. Presented in part by the Newport Art Museum, Stokes covers the African Heritage experience from 1865 to 1930 that occurred right in our very own backyards. The images that you see in this video have been collected by the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, Newport Historical Society, state archives, and private families who have donated their efforts and time in digitizing these historic images and documents.
The video presentation is accessible indefinitely to the public for your viewing pleasure.
Edward Mitchell Bannister was a nineteenth-century African-American artist whose paintings focused on the landscapes of rural Rhode Island and the Narragansett Bay shore. One of the founders of the Providence Art Club, Bannister was a leader in the Rhode Island art world.
It has been said of Edward Bannister by his colleagues, "Mr. Bannister possesses genius... and he is daily gaining admirers of his talent and taste... It is indeed commendable in Mr. Bannister, that he has thus far overcome the many obstacles thrown in his way by his color, and made himself an honor to his race".
You can read about Providence Art Club's founder, his inspirations, and legacy more in depth here.
Edward M. Bannister: An American Artist, is a documentary feature film in the making; combining extensive archival material, paintings, sketches, re-created scenes, still photos, and exterior scenes of Rhode Island today. The story is narrated by Edward Bannister's greatest believer, his wife, Christiana Carteaux Bannister. As of Fall 2009, project director Diane Heller has collected the field research needed on Christiana Bannister, which informs the entire screenplay through her role as narrator. This research came from input from RI historians, genealogists, archives and museums: all original research. The film has been accepted into the Fiscal Sponsorship Program of the International Documentary Association. This allows the filmmakers to seek grants and tax deductible donations that are available only in association with a nonprofit organization.
While the framework is in place, further research continues through Spring 2010, along with fund raising for the film, via the IDA Fiscal Sponsorship Program.
You can read more about the film and its progress here.
Join Nancy Whipple Grinnell in this video presentation as she dives into the history of Edward Bannister and his influences. Heavily involved in the arts and history thereof, Nancy served as the Curator for the Newport Art Museum for 18 years. During that time she oversaw all curatorial affairs and produced over 200 historical and contemporary exhibitions. Since 2017, Grinnell's projects have included co-curating exhibitions at the Providence Art Club, and organizing exhibitions on Edward Bannister and George Whittaker for the Gilbert Stuart Museum in Southern Rhode Island.
In 1886, Edward Mitchell Bannister delivered a talk from a manuscript entitled 'The Artist and His Critics', the only known surviving document stating the artists philosophy. For this presentation, the title that was chosen is 'The Artist and His Influences', in order to discuss the multifaceted life and art of this important and talented 19th century painter, who was a black man during times of extreme racial prejudice.
“A Rhode Island Historical Society Publication” Vol. 59, No. 4
By Traci Lee Costa Roger Williams University
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