Hewitt exhibit opens at
Museum of the African Diaspora

By Tuseda A. Graggs

If every piece of art has a story, veteran art collector Vivian Hewitt remembers at least 54 stories — one to accompany each piece African American art currently on display at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco.
   From 1949 to 1998, John and Vivian Hewitt visited galleries, artist studios and shows to purchase hundreds of paintings, etchings and sketches. Today, Vivian talks with familiarity of world-renowned African American artists like Romare Bearden, Hale Woodruff, Ellis Wilson, Elizabeth Catlett and Jacob Lawrence because many of them became her friends during her 50-year history of collecting.
    The Hewitt exhibit will be on display at MoAD until Jan. 11, 2009. This is the last stop on the collection’s 23-city national tour before it is housed permanently at the Harvey B. Gant Center for African American Arts in Charlotte, North Carolina.
    Vivian discussed her love of art, and shared the stories behind many of her collected works during a series of opening weekend events held last Friday at MoAD.
    “Art enriches life. Art enlarges life. It expands life. Art is to enjoy and savor,” she said.
    At age 88, Vivian is vivacious and full of life. Her eyes sparkled as she led media representatives and studio devotees through the gallery of paintings. She discussed the artists, their works and her collecting strategy.
    “John and I were a collection team immediately. We would go to a gallery and he would go one way and I would go another and often we would end up settling on the same piece. Both of us brought different perspectives but a strong love of art,” she said.
    Though of modest means — Vivian was a Carnegie Melloneducated librarian, and John worked as a medical journalist — they purchased art for birthdays, Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, sometimes even taking out loans to buy art.
    They were given art from some of the artists who held shows at their New York City home, including Alvin C. Hollingsworth and J. Eugene Grigsby, Vivian’s cousin.
    The couple’s collection was purchased by Bank of America in 1998. John Hewitt died in 2000.
    Vivian said she is thrilled that hundreds of thousands of people, particularly children and young adults, are able to enjoy the art that she and her husband spent so many years collecting.
    “Most of our paintings are of families and things that we love to look at. It’s truly a blessing to have children enjoy these too,” she said.
    The Museum of the African Diaspora is located at 685 Mission St. (at Third Street) in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.moadsf.org.