James E Dupree

James E. Dupree is a fine artist, educator, activist, and gallery owner based in both Philadelphia PA and Bucks County PA. He received a BFA (1972) from the Columbus College of Art and Design, and his MFA (1977) from the University of Pennsylvania. He attended The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and was an early resident at the Studio Museum in Harlem.

With a rich and multifaceted background in painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture, Dupree has created, curated, and taught for over 50 years. As a trailblazer in the art world, Dupree has continued to use cutting-edge techniques and materials, underscored by progressive concepts. What lies beyond the viewer's initial aesthetic impression of his dense and vibrant work, are poignant messages on race, class, and power, all based in his experience as an African American man and Artist.

Dupree’s work is represented within the collections of institutions including The Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia PA, The Schomburg Center for Arts in New York, NY, and Kunsthal Charlottenborg Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. Notable solo exhibitions include Music and Visual Art (The Kimmel Center), Transitions (The University City Science Center of Philadelphia), James Dupree (The National Museum in Cardiff Whales).

James Dupree's work has been extensively documented across a range of academic and non-academic publications, including exhibition catalogs, art books, scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers. Dupree has been featured in several publications including, Shifting Time: African American Artists 2020-2021 (Petrucci Family Foundation, 2022), We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s (Woodmere Art Museum, 2015), and is currently the artist featured for this year’s issues of Rutgers University’s Academic Journal Raritan Quarterly (2023- 2024).

Education
1974-1977 MFA, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1973-1974 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1973 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, New York, NY
1968-1972 BFA, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH

Organizations
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia PA
The Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia PA
The African American Museum, Philadelphia PA
The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, Philadelphia PA Prints in Progress, Philadelphia PA

Solo Exhibitions
2024 “James E. Dupree: Stained Glass Series” Cosmopolitan Club, Philadelphia, PA
2024 “Stolen Dreams: The Artistic Resistance of James E. Dupree in Philadelphia Eminent Domain Struggle” Parkway Central Library, Philadelphia, PA
2023 “James E. Dupree: Dragonfly Series” Lambertville Public Library, Lambertville, NJ
2022 “Love Me Some New Hope” New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA
2021 “James E. Dupree: Bermuda Series” Bermuda National Gallery, Bermuda
2019 “Totems” Art on the Avenue Gallery Spiral Q, Philadelphia, PA
2018 “White Art for Black HIS-Story Month” Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
2018 “Manatee of Mantua” University City Science Center, Philadelphia PA
2016 “James Dupree” Democratic National Convention and University of Pennsylvania Alumni Assn. Philadelphia, PA
2016 “Stolen Dreams from the Promised Zone” Montgomery County Community College, Blue Bell,PA
2012 “Mixed Media Paintings” Portland Airport, Portland, OR
2011 “Music and Visual Art” The Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA
2010 “James E. Dupree: Evolving Elements Installation” Philadelphia Airport, Terminal E, Philadelphia, PA
2009 “James E. Dupree” Dubois Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1989 “James E. Dupree: New Work” National Museum of Cardiff Wales, United Kingdom

Group Exhibitions
2023 “Chameleon” The Story Factory Art Space, Philadelphia, PA
2023 “Ellerslie Open” Trenton Museum, , prize winning, Philadelphia, PA
2023 “Our His-Story Month” Dupree Gallery, Lambertville, NJ
2022 “PAFA Fellowship Exhibition” Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2022 “Metaphor + Metaphysics” Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, PA “Dumpster Divers: 50 Years” Dupree Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2021 “Alchemy Illuminated: The Art of Crafting from Trash” Neon Museum of Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA
2020 My Eyes Art Gallery, New Hope, PA
2017 “25 Years Later: Race Riots and Reform” Gallery 38, Los Angeles, CA
2016 “Complete Set” Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2012 “Full Spectrum: Prints from the Brandywine Workshop” Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2011-2012 “Philagrafika: Selected Invitational Portfolio Prints, 2001-2010” Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
2011 Wynwood Lofts Gallery, Art Basel, Miami, FL
2011 “Red Dot Exhibition” Projects Gallery, Art Basel, Miami, FL
2010-2011 “Artful Intentions” The African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2010-2011 Nexus Foundation for Today's Art, Philadelphia, PA
2009 University of the Arts, faculty exhibition, Philadelphia, PA
2006-2008 “Philagrafika” William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia PA
2005 “3x10, Three Works x Ten Artists” Les Yeux du Monde Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
2004 “Three Decades of American Printmaking” Brandywine Workshop and Philadelphia Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2000 “Millennium Flashback: Artists Deserving Wider Exposure” Hammonds House Museum, Atlanta, GA
1999 “Locating the Spirit: Religion and Spirituality in African American Art” Smithsonian Institution Anacostia Museum, Washington, DC
1996 “11th Annual Philadelphia Art Expo” October Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1990 “African American Works from the Collection” Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia PA
1989 “African American Abstraction in Printmaking” African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
1988 “Recherche” Fundacao Gregoria de Natis Bahia, Brazil
1987 “Recherche” Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1983 “Masks” Arabesque Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1982 “Four Philadelphia Artists” Cinque Gallery, New York, NY
1979 “Expressions: Earth Art III” Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center, Philadelphia, PA

2020-2022 Artist-in-Resident, Fitler Club, Philadelphia, PA
2017 Commission, City Hall Court Yard, ‘Ralphstravaganza’, Installation and performance with Raphael Xavier and Cirque du Soleil, Philadelphia, PA
2016 Grant, Bloomberg Foundation, Dupree Studios in Mantua Summer Internship program, Philadelphia PA
2011 Grant, Fleisher Art Memorial/William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia, PA 2011 Commission, David Haas, William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
2010 Award, ‘Living Legend’ University of Pennsylvania Alumni Assn., Philadelphia, PA
2010 Award, Philadelphia Airport, Terminal E, ‘Evolving Elements’, solo installation, Philadelphia, PA
2008 Award, "Totems" installation purchase, Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2007 Award, Mummers Fancy Brigade, 1st Place Set Design, Philadelphia, PA
2005 Grant, Fleisher Art Memorial Faculty Grant, Philadelphia, PA
2003 Commission, Philadelphia Library Main Building, Indoor Mural, Philadelphia, PA
2002 Commission, Tower Records, Installation, Opreville Mall, Nashville, TN
2000 Fellowship, Independence Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
1999 Commission, Tower Records Mural Project, Broad and Chestnut, Philadelphia, PA
1997 Seagram's Award, Artist-in-Residence, African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA
1995 Award, Philadelphia Museum of Art Purchase Award, Philadelphia, PA
1992 Commission, Mother Bethel Church Mural Project, Philadelphia, PA
1991 Fellowship, Pioneer Arts Organization, Guest Artist, Cardiff, Wales, UK
1989 Artist-in-Residence, National Museum, Cardiff, Wales, UK
1984 Artist-in-Residence, Brandywine Graphics Studio, Philadelphia, PA
1984 Fellowship Grant, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1983 Fellowship Grant, Artist-in-Residence, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York,

African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia PA
Cheyney University Collection, Glen Mills, PA
Columbus Museum of Fine Arts, Columbus, OH
Hammonds House Museum, Atlanta, GA
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Kunsthal Charlottenborg Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff, Wales
New York Public Library, New York, NY
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Petrucci Family Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI
Schomburg Center for Arts, New York, NY
Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia,

Atlanta Life Insurance Company, Altanta, GA
Smithkline Beecham, Philadelphia, PA
Sony Corporation, New York, NY
Urban League of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA