Alice Taylor Gafford (1886-1981)

Alice Taylor Gafford forged a remarkable artistic career that began later in life, emerging as a central figure in the development of Los Angeles’s Black art community. Born in the United States, Gafford worked for many years as a nurse before turning to art at the age of forty-nine, a decision that marked the beginning of a prolific and widely recognized second career.

She quickly gained attention for her work, earning second prize in a juried exhibition at the Stendahl Art Gallery in Los Angeles in 1935. Gafford pursued formal training at the Otis Art Institute in 1937 and later at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received her teaching credentials. Her work continued to garner recognition, and in 1968, she was among a select group of artists included in the Sixth Annual Southern California Exhibition, organized by the influential New York critic Clement Greenberg.

Beyond her own practice, Gafford played a vital role in building artistic infrastructure for Black artists in Southern California. She was instrumental in the formation of the Los Angeles Negro Art Association, the Val Verde Art and Hobby Show, and Eleven Associated Artists, Inc., an organization that established one of the first interracial galleries in Los Angeles in 1950. Through these efforts, she helped create critical platforms for visibility and exchange at a time when such opportunities were limited.

Gafford’s work remained rooted in traditional genres throughout her career, including still lifes, florals, and landscapes, rendered with a sensitivity to color and composition. Over the course of her life, she received more than twenty-five awards and citations, earning the distinction of being regarded as the “dean of Black artists in Los Angeles.”

Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Long Beach Museum of Art, Howard University, Atwater Kent Museum, Tuskegee Institute, and the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company. Today, her legacy endures not only through her paintings but through her lasting contributions to the cultural life of Los Angeles.

Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection, UCLA Library

Selected Exhibitions

Selected Pieces from the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. Afro-American Art Collection; Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1969

Painting and Sculpture in Los Angeles, 1900-1945; Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, CA, 1980

Place of Validation: Art and Progression; California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA, 2012