Vivian Schuyler Key
Vivian Schuyler-Key, was an American painter, sculptor, printmaker, designer, and illustrator. She was active starting in the 1920s, working within the Harlem Renaissance. Her painted works consisted of oil painting 'still life' of flowers, landscapes, and portraits. She focused mainly on figurative realism.
Early life and education
Vivian Schuyler was born on November 3, 1905, to Black parents Henry Foster Schuyler, and Jessie Valentine Schuyler. Her father worked as a coachmen and her was a domestic worker. She was born in Hempstead, New York, and attended Hempstead High School where she was the art editor for her high school's yearbook. She graduated with her diploma in 1923 and proceeded to win a New York State scholarship, that same year.Using that New York State scholarship, Schuyler-Key attended Pratt Institute School of Fine Arts from 1923 to 1926. Around 20 years later, in 1947, Schuyler-Key finished and graduated with her degree from Pratt Institute School of Fine Art. She was the first Black woman to graduate from Pratt Institute.
Career
After graduation Schuyler Key exhibited her artwork, noted group exhibitions include at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia; Howard University art gallery in Washington, D.C.; Skylight Gallery in Brooklyn; Soapstone Gallery in Decatur, Georgia; and Hammonds House Museum in Atlanta, Georgia.She taught stone carving to artist Otto Neals.
Schuyler Key also had worked as a director of Verina Morton Jones and Mary White Ovington's Lincoln Settlement House at 105 Fleet Place in Brooklyn; and director at Glen Cove Settlement House in Long Island.