Black Venus

Margaret Burroughs was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work centered on African American history, dignity, and cultural identity. Working primarily in oil, bronze, and lithography from the 1940s onward, she created figurative compositions and public monuments that asserted Black presence in postwar American visual culture. Burroughs was also a teacher and cultural organizer who founded the Ebony Museum of the South Side in Chicago, embedding her artistic practice within community institution-building.