Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson began drawing at the age of three, displaying artistic acumen before he could write or spell. “I have always been an artist,” Nelson explains. “It’s part of my DNA.” At age 11, Nelson became an apprentice to his uncle Michael Morris, an artist and art instructor. “My uncle gave me my foundation in art,” says the artist. Nelson experimented with several different media and later began painting in oils at age 16 under the encouragement and tutelage of his uncle and his high school art teacher. He began entering his paintings in art competitions and ultimately won an art scholarship to study at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Upon graduating with honors, Nelson began his professional career as an artist, publishing his work and receiving commissions from publishers and production studios such as Dreamworks, Sports Illustrated, Coca-Cola, The New York Times, and Major League Baseball, among others.

Nelson’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country and abroad, including the Museum of Tolerance at the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles; The Museum of African American History in Detroit; the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C.; and the Society of Illustrators and the Studio Museum in Harlem, NY. Other exhibits have been mounted at The Bristol Museum in England, The Citizen's Gallery of Yokohama, Japan, and the Center for Culture of Tijuana in Mexico. His designs for the Postal Service include the Richard Wright and Anna Julia Cooper stamps, both issued in 2009, and the 2010 Negro Leagues Baseball stamps.