Who was William Edouard Scott?

William Edouard Scott

Have you ever heard of William Edouard Scott?

Neither had I, until last week when my son, Sam, asked if we could go to the Indianapolis Art Museum to check out an artist he was discussing in his First Year Scholars Class, Paris Noir. I have been fascinated by talking to Sam about this class which focuses on African American visual, literary,

and performing artists who journeyed to Paris to find what they could not in the United States due to America’s systemic racism. In sharing with his professor that we lived in Indianapolis, she recommended that Sam look into Indianapolis native, William Edouard Scott.

Scott was born in Indianapolis in 1884. He attended Elementary School #23 and graduated from Emmerich Manual Training High School (Shortridge High School, today) in 1903, and studied under Indianapolis impressionist artist Otto Stark, who is known as one of the five Hoosier Group Artists along with T.C. Steele, Richard Gruelle, William Foresyth, and J. Ottis Adams. Under Otto Stark, Scott was invited to assist him in teaching freshmen drawing instruction making Scott the first Black person to teach in a public school in Indianapolis. He went on to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he became a well-known muralist. Scott painted many murals in schools both in Chicago and in Indianapolis.

Rainy Night, Estaples (1912) by Wm. Edouard Scott

Last Friday, Sam and I went in search of the one painting, Rainy Night, Estaples (1912) by Wm. Edouard Scott on display at the IMA. In the back of the American Art section flanked by a T.C. Steele painting on the left and a John Singer Sargent on the right, we found Scott’s painting. Almost hidden in plain sight, this black Hoosier still seemed struggling to be seen among the many white artists of his day.

As an artist of the Negro Renaissance, Scott was aptly characterized in a 1970 exhibition catalogue as:

“A painter who came out of the American tradition of Eakins and Homer, Scott nevertheless often devoted his skills to express his pride and dignity as a Negro. His pride and self-identification were as great as that of any contemporary Black absorbed into the mainstream and might have built a personal reputation; he chose however, to commit himself to the establishment of pride, dignity and self-realization for all Negroes. He strove to stir the Black community from resignation to awareness.”

My hope is that we will continue William Edouard Scott’s legacy and commitment to creating awareness of the accomplishments of the Black community - not just during Black History Month, but throughout the year. We must remember that the impact African Americans have made on our city and country is part of our collective consciousness, and contemplating Black history draws us, from all of our diverse backgrounds, into the greater story that God is writing with our lives. And as we learn this truth, we will begin to see racial and ethnic diversity as a true expression of God’s manifold beauty.