Lucille Malkia Roberts (1917-2004)
Lucille “Malkia” Roberts was an American painter and educator best known for her expressionistic, African-inspired compositions and her longstanding contributions to arts education in Washington, D.C. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Howard University and later completed an MFA at the University of Michigan’s Institute of Fine Arts. Roberts continued her studies in Mexico and at New York University, where she worked with Hale Woodruff, further shaping her artistic direction.
Roberts taught for many years in the D.C. Public School system, including at Shaw Junior High School, where she was a colleague of Alma Thomas. In addition to her teaching, she lectured on art and art history at numerous institutions throughout the Washington area, playing a vital role in fostering artistic engagement within the community.
Her work centers on the representation and interpretation of women of color, drawing inspiration from her extensive travels and interactions with diverse cultures. A pivotal moment in her artistic development came with a trip to Senegal in 1968, which marked a shift in both technique and visual language. Influenced by the vibrancy and energy of her surroundings, Roberts began working with a palette knife, embracing a more tactile and dynamic approach to painting. Her compositions became increasingly abstract, with figures and environments articulated through flattened planes of color that convey movement, rhythm, and structural clarity.
Roberts’ paintings invite close looking, encouraging viewers to engage with layered surfaces and evolving forms. Her work reflects a synthesis of personal experience, cultural exchange, and formal experimentation, resulting in a body of work that is both visually compelling and deeply rooted in lived experience.
The name Malkia derives from the Swahili word meaning queen or female ruler.
Interview with Malkia Roberts which originally aired on the program, Voices in the Wind on May 28, 1978. .
untitled, Women Carrying Baskets, n.d.
oil on canvas
24 x 36 inches
signed
“As a Black artist and a Black teacher, I have been gripped by the threads of an elemental and pervasive spirituality in the art of the so‐called “Third World”. As a Black woman, I feel strongly about my painting as a thread in that tapestry. I see it as an instrument of nourishment and strength for black people. Not political propaganda, not “anti‐art”, but a source of positive imagery to negate subtle distorted stereotypes of the past, and to undergird our growing sense of identity, pride, and direction”
Paris City Scene, 1962
oil on linen
22 x 13 inches
signed; dated and titled verso
Selected Exhibitions
West Virginia State College, 1968
Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1971
Smith-Mason Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1971
Acts of Art Gallery, NY, 1972
W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1978
Art in Washington and Its Afro-American Presence 1940-1970; Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC, 1985
Gathered Visions: Selected Works by African American Women Artists; Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture, Washington, DC, 1992
Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African-American Women Artists; Spelman College Museum, Atlanta, GA, 1996 (Traveled to: Tuskegee University Art Gallery, Tuskegee, AL; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN; St. Paul Museum, St. Paul, MN; Museum of African- American Culture, Fort Worth, TX; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.)
Holding Our Own: Selections from the Collectors Club of Washington DC.; University of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park, MD, 2007