Rose Piper

Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Rose Piper (1917-2005) studied at Hunter College, where she majored in art and minored in geometry. Post-1940 graduation, she began attending the Art Students League of New York from 1943-1946. During this time, poet Myron O’Higgins introduced her to Sterling Brown, who supported her growing love of blues music. In 1946, after receiving a Julius Rosenwald fellowship, Piper traveled through the American South studying blues music; her research inspiring a series of abstract, blues-themed paintings, often preferring to keep the human figure the center of her work. Read More