Apr 17, 2025
Yvette’s interview with Paul Jacques Keene and Lydia Williams,
son and daughter of Philadelphia born artist, Paul Farwell Keene
Jr. encourages investment in African American artist. Paul Farwell
Keene, Jr. (1920-2009) was an artist and an American icon in the
tradition of the African American community.
His art pulsates with vibrancy and with color explosion to
depict his view of urban life, and his art functions as an outward
expression of the genius of his inner world. He was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he began his art study and later
studied at the Académie Julien in Paris, France. In Paris, he was
nourished by the jazz music scene as well as the camaraderie of
American expatriates. His work began to reflect this new urban
setting, and his many paintings of street and jazz musicians have
been shown around the world.
Most recently, Paul Keene’s work is on exhibition at the
Pompidou Museum in Paris from March to June, 2025. The exhibition,
“Paris Noir,” traces 50 years of artistic expression in Paris of
the work of African American, African, and Carribbean artists and
explores the history of the civil rights movement in the United
States, African independence and the fight for equality in France
at the end of the 20th century.