It was not my aim to paint about the Negro in America in terms of propaganda. It is to depict the life of my people as I know it, passionately and dispassionately as Brueghel.

The artist has to be something like a whale swimming with his mouth wide open, absorbing everything until he has what he really needs.

When I conjure these memories, they are of the present to me, because after all, the artist is a kind of enchanter in time.

Black art has always existed. It just hasn't been looked for in the right places.

It was not my aim to paint about the Negro in America in terms of propaganda. It is to depict the life of my people as I know it, passionately and dispassionately as Brueghel.

Sometimes the mind relives things very clearly for us...There are roads out of secret places within us along which we all must move as we go to touch others.

Practically all great artists accept the influence of others. But... the artist with vision sees his material, chooses, changes, and by integrating what he has learned with his own experiences, finally molds something distinctly personnel.