One of the preeminent Black artists of the nineteenth century, Edward Mitchell Bannister led a multi-faceted life. Barbizon painter, photographer, abolitionist, transcendentalist, spiritualist, sailor: Bannister was all of these and more during his life of seventy-three years. A member of the Providence, Rhode Island art community, Bannister also spent time in Newport.

Join Nancy Whipple Grinnell, Curator Emerita of the Newport Art Museum, for an illustrated talk as she explores Bannister’s evolution as an artist, his marriage to Christiana Carteaux and the challenges they faced as members of the Black middle class.