Sharon F. Patton Papers, 1916-2003, n.d.
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
Sharon F. Patton was born in south side Chicago in 1944. As a child she realized that she had a talent for drawing. After high school she attended Roosevelt University in Chicago, earning in 1966 a B.A. magna cum laude in humanities with a concentration in studio art. She enrolled at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and received an M.A. in 1969, with a thesis on Georgione, a 16th century Italian Renaissance painter. She then enrolled at the University of Chicago and, in 1970, entered the doctoral program in Art History. In 1980 Patton received her Ph.D. in African Art History at Northwestern University. She studied Museum Management in the Museum Studies Program at the Smithsonian Institution (1988) and was part of the Management Development Program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education (1996).
Sharon Patton’s professional experience began in 1968 as an instructor in the Art Department at Mankato State College, Minnesota, where her specific interest in African-American Art began to grow and where she developed her conviction that it is difficult to separate art from the culture that produced it. Subsequently, she served on the faculties of Lake Forest College, Illinois (1971-72), the Virginia Commonwealth University, at Richmond (1972-73), and the Art Department and African-American Studies Program at the University of Houston, Texas (1976). She served as assistant professor in the Art Department at the University of Maryland from 1979 to 1985, becoming Director of Art Galleries at Monclair State College, New Jersey, in 1986 and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York in 1987. In 1991 she moved to the University of Michigan as an associate professor in the Art History Department and the Center for African-American and African Studies, becoming director of the latter in 1996. Two years later, in 1998, Patton was named the John G.W. Cowles Director of Oberlin College’s Allen Memorial Art Museum. In 2003 Patton moved to Washington, D.C. to become director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.
Patton has organized nearly 20 exhibitions, of which three, mounted in the Studio Museum in Harlem, received much critical acclaim: “Memory and Metaphor, the Art of Romare Bearden, 1940-1987”; “Home: Contemporary Urban Images by Black Photographers”; and “The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s.” Patton’s first book, Memory and Metaphor: The Art of Romare Bearden (Oxford University Press, 1991) grew out of the Bearden show; and her second book, African American Art (Oxford, 1998) garnered Choice’s Outstanding Academic Book of the Year Award.
Among the catalogues Patton has compiled are Traditional Forms and Modern Africa: West African Art at the University of Maryland (1983); Witches, Demons and Metamorphoses (1987); and Vincent C. Smith, Reding on a Blue Note (1990). She is a prolific writer of articles and essays relating to many aspects of art, and has delivered many papers, lectures, and presentations to a variety of groups, as well as serving as a consultant, juror, and evaluator. She has been the recipient of numerous grants, awards, and fellowships throughout her career, and has held membership in several professional organizations.
In 2003 Patton accepted the position as Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C.
Sources Consulted
Faculty and biographical files of Sharon Patton.
Author: May Tran Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative InformationAllen Memorial Art Museum Records (RG 9/3).
Faculty File, Sharon Patton, Alumni and Development Records (28/3).
The Sylvia Williams Papers (RG 30/359).
The papers of Sharon F. Patton primarily document her time as the John G.W. Cowles Director of Oberlin College's Allen Art Museum, 1998-2003, and her interest in African and African American Art.
Her interest in collecting popular artwork is represented by four of her prints, salt and pepper shaker figurines, and a cotton novelty ornament all based on the subject of African-American stereotype popular artwork.
Photographs given to Dr. Patton by Abe Goldsmith of his painting collection are included, as well as slides of works from the Ralph T. Coe Collection, prints of other artworks, and a digital portrait of Patton taken at Oberlin College. Audio and video recordings document interviews with Patton by news programs, and additional videos represent artists of interest to her. Also included are copies of Black Panther films.
Best documented in the papers is Patton’s work as an exhibition curator, including catalogues, clippings, brochures and installation photographs for shows organized before and during her time at Oberlin College.
It should be noted that this collection primarily concerns Sharon Patton's professional work, and personal correspondence is lacking.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series I. Biographical File, 1983-84, 1986-87, 1990, 1998-2003 (3f) - Restricted
The biographical file contains Dr. Patton's resume and bibliography, letter of application for director of the Allen Memorial Art Museum, and personal statement. Also included here are clippings of articles regarding her acceptance as director of the AMAM and, later, as director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art. Access to this series by permission of the Archivist.
Series II. Correspondence, 1999-2001, 2003 (2f)
The correspondence includes thank you notes, letters and cards of congratulation, invitations, and travel arrangements concerning her professional career.
Series III. Files Relating to Exhibitions, Symposia and Presentations, and Public
Art Projects, 1981, 1983-84, 1986-88, 1989-92, 1998-2002 (0.4 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Exhibition Files holds catalogues, clippings, brochures, and photographs related to exhibitions organized by Sharon Patton or hosted at a museum or gallery under her direction. Subseries 2. Symposia and Presentations comprises speech manuscripts and associated materials (travel arrangements, pamphlets). Subseries 3. Public Art Projects holds one booklet completed by the Arts in Transit Committee of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, Cleveland, Ohio.
Series IV. Instructional Files, 2002 (1f)
Sharon Patton's instructional file contains a syllabus of her ART 111-01 Spring 2002 module class "Introduction to African Art".
Series V. Writings, 1983-85, 1989, 1991-92, 1994-95, 2001 (3f)
The writings include nine (9) written by Sharon Patton, and two (2) written about her.
Series VI. Racial Stereotype Popular Artwork, 1916, 1921, 1939, 1991, 1995, n.d.
(8 items) ( 2.06 l.f.)
The artwork collected by Sharon Patton is based on the theme of African-American popular stereotypes from the first part of the 20th century. Included are two salt and pepper shaker figurines, a "cotton novelty" ornament, and four prints (three of Aunt Jemima advertisements, and one of a Gold Dust advertisement). The receipts of her purchases (1991,1995) are also included.
Series VII. Poster, 2001-02
Contains one poster for the Allen Memorial Art Museum’s exhibition, “Acquisitions in Contemporary Art,” 2001-02.
Series VIII. Photographs, 1998, 2003, n.d. (0.2 l.f.)
This series holds photographic reproductions of works of art, and a digital portrait of Sharon Patton taken in 2003 by Oberlin College. Included are nine color photographs given to Patton by Abe J. Goldsmith of Lake Forest, Illinois. These photos illustrate his art collection, which consists of paintings by African-American artists. Also in this series are sixty color slides of African art works in the Ralph T. Coe Collection, and six black and white prints of artworks not identified.
Series IX. Audiovisual Materials, 1968-72, 1980, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2003, n.d.
(0.4 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Videocassettes holds a mixture of copies of source materials on African culture and art, and television broadcasts with interviews with Sharon Patton related to her career. Subseries 2. Cassette Tape Recordings of Radio Shows covers the Romare Bearden Retrospective at the UCLA Wight Gallery by Southern California stations, including an interview with Patton, and an interview on Patton’s new position at the AMAM at Oberlin College by a Cleveland radio station.