Jack White

Pioneering Artwork

Visual Artist Jack White, ’58 – A Tribute

Last winter, the Morgan family mourned the passing of one of its brightest stars. Visual artist and educator John Sidney (“Jack”) White, Class of 1958 — creator of paintings, prints, sculptures and drawings that touched people across the U.S. and beyond — came to the end of his long, productive, influential life on Jan. 28, 2023. He was 91 years old.

White was born in Benson, North Carolina, in 1931. After completing his secondary education in the area’s segregated public schools, he served four years in the U.S. Air Force then enrolled in Morgan, where he studied with Professor James E. Lewis, now namesake of Morgan’s James E. Lewis Museum of Art (JELMA). After graduation, he took his Bachelor of Science in Fine Art to upstate New York, where he began his work life as an art teacher.

White continued to teach throughout his adult life, inspiring students in public schools, in prisons and at several higher education institutions, including The Ohio State University, Cayuga Community College, Empire College of the State University of New York, and Syracuse University, where he cofounded the Community Folk Art Center, a cultural and artistic hub committed to the promotion and development of artists of the African Diaspora.

White had countless solo exhibitions of his work, which also appears in public collections in numerous venues, among them the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Tampa Museum of Art and JELMA. He and his wife, Valerie Bauhofer, traveled widely and spent five years together in Athens, Greece, where his work was also exhibited.

The art world will remember this outstanding Morgan alum for his adventurous vision, his pioneering work, his humility and modesty, and his generosity in sharing his gifts. May he rest in peace. n