Robert Savon Pious achieved celebrity status among African Americans for his lively illustrations, which appeared in magazines and books nationwide. He was also an accomplished painter whose portraits garnered him prestigious awards and accolades.  Born in Meridian, Mississippi, and trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he left early to work professionally as a commercial artist creating portraits of Chicago’s elite.  A pen-and-ink portrait of tenor Roland Hayes earned him the Harmon Foundation’s Spingarn Black-and-White Prize in 1929 and a scholarship to the National Academy of Design. In New York, Pious spent time with the Harlem Artists’ Guild, becoming acquainted with artists such as Augusta Savage, Romare Bearden, and Charles Alston.  He also met Charles Seifert, a noted African American historian and scholar, who converted the basement of his school into an artist’s studio.  Pious created paintings for Seifert to display in his school, which was converted to a library in 1939. 

Pious continued to exhibit through the 1930’s with the Harmon Foundation, while working as a WPA muralist and teaching at the Harlem YMCA.   His 1940 American Negro Exposition poster—an icon of the period—won first prize and remains one of his most recognized images.

Today his work is represented in major institutions, including the National Portrait Gallery, which holds his 1951 portrait of Harriet Tubman.

Selected Exhibitions

Exhibit of Fine Arts by American Negro Artists; Harmon Foundation / International House, NY, 1930

Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists presented by the Harmon Foundation at the Art Center; NY, 1931

Exhibition of productions by Negro artists: presented by the Harmon Foundation at the Art Center; NY, 1933

Texas Centennial Exposition: Exhibition of Fine Art Productions by American Negroes; Hall of Negro Life, Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas, TX, 1936

Exhibition of the Art of the American Negro (1851-1940); Tanner Art Galleries, Chicago, IL, 1940

Exhibition of Paintings by Negro Artists of America (First Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculptures and Prints by Negro Artists); Atlanta University, GA, 1942

The Evolution of Afro-American Artists; 1800-1950; City College, CUNY, NY

New York WPA Art, Then 1934-1943 and Now 1960-1977; Parsons School of Design, Brooklyn, NY, 1977

Black Artists / South; Huntsville Museum of Art, AL, 1979

Unbroken Circle: Exhibition of African American Artists of the 1930's and 1940's; Kenkeleba House, NY, 1986

Augusta Savage and the Art Schools of Harlem; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NY, 1989