Wadsworth Aikens Jarrell is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker. Born in Albany, Georgia, he later moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduating, he became deeply involved in the local art scene. In his early work, he explored the working lives of African Americans in Chicago and drew on the visual and auditory influences of jazz music.

In 1968, Wadsworth Jarrell co-founded COBRA, the Coalition of Black Revolutionary Artists, with his wife, fashion designer Jae Jarrell, and artists Barbara Jones-Hogu, Jeff Donaldson and Gerald Williams. Women played central roles in this celebrated Black Arts Movement collective, later renamed AfriCOBRA, the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists, and were also iconic leaders of the Black Power movement. Here, Jarrell celebrates the prominent radical activist and intellectual Angela Y. Davis, who remains a global leader in the struggle for racial, gender and economic justice. Combining Davis's words, Black Power slogans and AfriCOBRA's signature vibrant colors, the portrait conveys the intensity and force of her activism.

Wadsworth Jarrell was one of the founders of AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), a group of Black artists from Chicago’s South Side who helped shape the image of the Black Arts Movement. His work was included in Tate Modern’s acclaimed touring exhibition “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” and the 2019 Venice Biennale. After serving as a company artist in the military during World War II, Jarrell attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earned his BFA in 1958. His work is characterized by vibrant “cool colors,” Black Power slogans, and affirmative representations of Black people. His iconic portrait of civil rights activist Angela Y. Davis, Revolutionary (1972), was based on a photograph taken during one of her speeches in 1970. In Jarrell’s depiction, Davis speaks into a microphone, while the words “love,” “Black,” and “revolution” seem to emanate from her mouth. In the painting, Davis appears to be wearing the vest from Revolutionary Suit (1969), a piece of wearable art designed by Jarrell’s wife, Jae Jarrell.