Artwork Detail

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Madame Bilbrew

Artist: Middlebrook, Willie

Object Date: 1974

Medium: Oil on canvas

Department(s): Public Library

Supervisorial District: 2

About the Artwork:

Portrait of Madame A.C. Bilbrew for whom the library is named. Bilbrew was a community leader, poet, musician and Los Angeles County deputy. She was also a pioneer in radio and the first African American person to have her own radio show in the United States.

About the Artist:

Artist Willie Middlebrook has been working as a professional artist/photographer for over 20 years. He has participated in over 200 solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Mexico including exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Studio Museum of Harlem, and the Watts Towers Arts Center. Middlebrook has received several awards and fellowships for his work in the arts. In 2009 he was awarded the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship (COLA) award granted by the Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition to his gallery experience Middlebrook was commissioned in 2008 by Metro Transportation Authority (MTA) to complete artwork for the Crenshaw Expo Line Station, scheduled for completion in 2010. “Art is about communication,” Middlebrook states. “My work is based on collaboration between the subjects I select to photography and myself …we have an understanding of each other, an understanding, focused towards a single goal; to speak to and about our people, our communities.”