Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Painter and Civil Rights Activist, Dies at 84
Mary Lovelace O’Neal, a renowned painter, educator, and civil rights advocate, passed away at the age of 84 on May 10 in Mérida, Mexico. She is survived by her husband, artist Patricio Moreno Toro, and divided her time between Mérida and Oakland, California. Born in 1942 in Jackson, Mississippi, she spent her childhood in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. O’Neal obtained her BFA from Howard University in 1964 and was involved in the Civil Rights movement alongside Stokely Carmichael. She later received a graduate degree from Columbia University and married playwright John O’Neal in 1965. Among her significant contributions are the Lampblack paintings, and in 1985, she became the first Black woman to achieve tenure at UC Berkeley. Recently, she was recognized with a spot in the 2024 Whitney Biennial.
Key facts
- Mary Lovelace O’Neal died on May 10 at age 84 in Mérida, Mexico.
- Her galleries are Jenkins Johnson and Marianne Boesky.
- She was married to Chilean-American artist Patricio Moreno Toro.
- She was born in 1942 in Jackson, Mississippi, and grew up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
- She earned a BFA from Howard University in 1964, studying with Lois Mailou Jones and David Driskell.
- She was active in the Civil Rights movement, working with Stokely Carmichael.
- She was a founding member of Howard University's Nonviolent Action Group and participated in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
- In 1985, she became the first Black woman to receive tenure in UC Berkeley's Department of Art Practice.
- Her work was included in the 2024 Whitney Biennial.
- Her paintings were acquired by the de Young Museum, National Museum of African American History and Culture, and VMFA.
- She received the Anonymous Was A Woman Award, the 2025 Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award, and was a 2022 On the Edge Honoree.
Entities
Artists
- Mary Lovelace O’Neal
- Patricio Moreno Toro
- Lois Mailou Jones
- David Driskell
- Stokely Carmichael
- John O’Neal
- Amiri Baraka
- Mildred Howard
- Valerie Cassel Oliver
- Robert Blackburn
- Allan M. Gordon
- Katy Siegel
- Stephen Greene
- Frank Stella
- Donald Judd
- Folasade Ologundudu
- James Baldwin
Institutions
- Jenkins Johnson Gallery
- Marianne Boesky Gallery
- Howard University
- Columbia University
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- University of California, Berkeley
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Centre Pompidou
- de Young Museum
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
- Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting
- Jackson State University
- Arkansas State University
- Tougaloo College
- Nonviolent Action Group
- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
- Black Arts Movement
- Hyperallergic
- Jenkins Johnson
- Marianne Boesky
- Artnet News
- University of Arkansas
- San Francisco Art Institute
- California College of the Arts
- Humboldt State University
- Mnuchin Gallery
- Museum of the African Diaspora
- Whitney Biennial
- Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
- New York Times
- Black Panthers
- Bomb magazine
Locations
- Mérida
- Mexico
- Oakland
- California
- Jackson
- Mississippi
- Pine Bluff
- Arkansas
- Chicago
- Illinois
- Gary
- Indiana
- Washington, DC
- New York
- Maine
- Morocco
- Egypt
- Chile
- Atacama Desert
- Sahara
- San Francisco
- Richmond
- Virginia
- Lower Manhattan
- Bay Area
- Washington D.C.
- Jackson, Mississippi
- Pine Bluff, Arkansas
- Washington DC
- Oakland, California
- Mérida, Mexico
- Yucatán
- New York City