Laura Wheeler Waring

American artist and educator

Laura Wheeler Waring (May 26, 1887 – February 3, 1948) was an American artist and educator, most renowned for her realistic portraits, landscapes, still life, She was one of the few African American artists in France, a turning point of her career and profession where she attained widespread attention, exhibited in Paris, won awards,

Laura Wheeler was born on May 26, 1887, in Hartford, Connecticut, the fourth child of six, to Mary (née Freeman) and Reverend Robert Foster Wheeler. Her mother was a daughter of Amos Noë Freeman, a Presbyterian minister, and Christiana Williams Freeman, who had been prominent in anti slavery activities, including the Underground Railroad in Portland, Maine and Brooklyn, New York. Her father was the pastor of Talcott Street Congregational Church, the first all black church in Connecticut. Wheeler Waring planned on traveling more to Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, but her trip was cut short when war was declared in Europe. After being in Europe for three months, she was required to return to the United States. Waring's trip at the time had very little effect on her career, but it has been remarked as a major influence on her and her work as an artist. Receiving the scholarship gave her the time to evolve as an artist and, as the award was highly regarded, she also gained publicity by it. For approximately four months, Waring lived in France, absorbing French culture and lifestyle. She began to paint many portraits, and in October enrolled to study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiére, where she studied painting. She was commissioned by the Harmon Foundation to do portraits of prominent African Americans and chose some associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She currently has portraits in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. In 1931, Waring's illustration appeared in The Crisis; a black and white drawing of a nativity scene with a black Magus admiring the birth of Christ. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2024 exhibit, The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, reintroduced Waring's work to a new audience. The show displayed nine of Waring's paintings, a number of which had been in the collections of family members. Waring's painting, Girl with Pomegranate, is used as the cover image for the exhibit's catalogue edited by Denise Murrell. As the publisher describes, "this publication also includes works by lesser known contributors, including Laura Wheeler Waring and Samuel Joseph Brown, Jr., who took a more classical approach to depicting Black subjects with dignity, interiority, and gravitas."

Laura Wheeler married Walter Waring on June 23, 1927. He was from Philadelphia and worked in the public school system as a teacher. When they first married, money was scarce, so they delayed their honeymoon for two years. In 1929, the newlyweds traveled to France, spending more than two months there. They had no children. A year later, Howard University Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. held an exhibition of art in her honor. Waring's work was included in the 2015 exhibition rip to her We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s 1970s at the Woodmere Art Museum.

W. E. B. Du BoisJames Weldon JohnsonAnna Washington DerryAlice Dunbar Nelson

+"Once We Exchange Adieu." 1925. Drawing after Peter Paul Rubens's
Adoration of the Magi (1626 1627). 1931.