Gregory Ridley

(1925-2004)

Gregory Ridley was born in Smyrna, Georgia. In 1936, his family moved to Nashville. After a stint in the Navy, he enrolled at Fisk University, where he studied under Aaron Douglas, and the two became lifelong friends. Ridley also earned an undergraduate degree from Tennessee State University and an MFA from the University of Louisville.

Ridley accepted a teaching position at Alabama State University the same year he received his master’s degree (1951). Before retiring, he had taught at several southern universities and City University New York.

Several works from Ridley’s Ngere Mask Series are displayed in the library at Fisk University. Adhering to the philosophy of Alain Locke, by exploring African heritage and designs in contemporary African American art, Ridley executed both paintings and metal repoussé sculptures in this aesthetic.

**Lot 195, Jump**

2002
brass repoussé
7-1/8 x 12 inches
initialed, dated, and titled in the image
Estimate: $1,000-2,000

“Gregory Ridley (1925-2004)...created metal relief sculptures and other works that show (Aaron) Douglas’s imprint, including ‘Nefertiti’ (1989). This hand-hammered brass relief suggests the kind of rhythmic narrative that Douglas so often used, as well as figures in profile and inspiration from ancient Egypt. Often traveling to New York with Douglas in the summers, Ridley said that Douglas explained different periods of art sequentially in his lecture classes and admired Greek and Renaissance art, including the concept of the golden section.”

— Susan Earle

Lot 194, Untitled Woman and Child

2002
brass repoussé
12 x 5-3/4 inches
initialed and dated
Estimate: $1,000-2,000

Today, a pair of Ridley’s copper repoussé sculpted panels decorate the entrance to the Carl Van Vechten Gallery of Fine Art at Fisk. In 1998, he was commissioned by the Nashville Public Library to create 80 copper panels depicting the history of Nashville. In 2003, the library held a retrospective exhibition of his work, Gregory Ridley: From the Hands of a Master.

REF: Earle, Susan. “Harlem, Modernism, and Beyond: Aaron Douglas and His Role in Art/History.” Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2007, pp. 45–46.