Paul Farwell Keene Jr: An Artist's Legacy on Exhibition - Pompidou Museum in Paris - March-June 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.