Betsy Graves Reyneau | |
|---|---|
 Artist Betsy Graves Reyneau standing besides portrait of Dr. George Washington Carver, 1948 | |
| Born | 1888 |
| Died | 1964 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
| Known for | Portrait painting |
| Movement | Photorealism |
Betsy Graves Reyneau (1888–1964[1]) was an American painter, best known for a series of paintings of prominent African Americans for the exhibition “Portraits of Outstanding Americans of Negro Origin” that, with those by Laura Wheeler Waring and under the Harmon Foundation, toured the United States from 1944 to 1954. A granddaughter of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Benjamin F. Graves, Reyneau's sitters included Mary McLeod Bethune, George Washington Carver, Joe Louis, and Thurgood Marshall.[2] Reyneau's portrait of Carver, the most famous, was the first of an African American to enter a national American collection.
Most of the contributions to the "Portraits of Outstanding Americans" are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.
- ^ "BETSY REYNEAU, 76, A PAINTER, IS DEAD". The New York Times. 1964-10-21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
- ^ "Portrait of Thurgood Marshall by Betsy Graves Reyneau". npg.si.edu. 2010-03-03. Retrieved 2021-05-05.