Lewis and art entrepreneur Trevor Parham created The Legacy Exhibit, which featured three generations of black fine artists, including contemporary artists as well as some included in the original "Black Artists on Art." The show launched their recruitment efforts for 500 black American artists to participate in the updated volumes. Personal life and death Lewis married mathematician Paul Gad Lewis in 1948 and they had two sons. He died in 2013. She died from renal failure in a hospice in Torrance, California on May 27, 2022 at the age of 99. Exhibitions 1969: Samella Lewis and George Clack, Brockman Gallery, Los Angeles 1980: Solo Exhibition, University Union Gallery, California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, California 1980: Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition, United States and Canada 1981: Solo exhibition, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, California 1981: Solo exhibition, University of California, San Diego 1984: African American Art in Atlanta, Public and Corporate Collections, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia 1984: Solo exhibition, Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles, California 2011: Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California 2012: Samella Lewis and the African American Experience, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, California Awards and recognition 1962: Fulbright Fellowship to study Asian culture at First Institute of Chinese Civilization and Tung Mai University, Taiwan 1964-65: National Defense Education Act postdoctoral fellow at University of Southern California, studying Chinese language and Asian civilization 1993: Charles White lifetime Achievement Award 1995: UNICEF Award for the Visual Arts 1996-97: Named a Distinguished Scholar by the Getty Center for the History of Art and Humanities 2003: The History Maker Award 2004: Special Day Recognition Award for Outstanding Contributions from the City of New Orleans 2005: Alumni Association Award from the Ohio State University 2021: Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement from the College Art Association References Further reading Lewis, Samella S. African American art and artists (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990), ; ; ; Samella S. Lewis; Ruth G. Waddy. Black Artists on Art (Los Angeles, CA: Contemporary Crafts Publishers, 1969), External links University of Delaware: Paul R. Jones Collection African American Museum of Dallas Tilford Art Group Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Samella S. Lewis papers, 1930-2010 Louis Stern Fine Arts 1923 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American women artists American art historians American women printmakers Artists from Louisiana Artists from New Orleans