Learn More About Artist Carole Byard's "Rent Series"

By Candice Frederick
February 19, 2015
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
 Artwork from Carole Byard's

Photo credit: Artwork from Carole Byard's "Rent Series," courtesy of Alexis De Veaux

To many, Carole Byard is the beloved children's book illustrator of such classics as the Coretta Scott King Award-winning Cornrows (1980), and created some of the most memorable drawings of all time for African-American young readers. To Alexis De Veaux, she is known simply as a friend and mentor, who just so happened to create the influential "Rent Series," a vintage collection of artwork beginning in the 1980s for which she compiled old rent receipts her late father kept in his lifelong efforts to provide housing for their family. As we prepare to celebrate Byard's "Rent Series" with our upcoming March program, De Veaux discusses the importance of Byard's work, her inspiration, and how this very personal piece, which speaks to the emotional struggle of real estate among black families, still resonates today. 

Can you tell us more about the Rent Series and how it was inspired?

Alexis De Veaux: According to Carole, several years after her father passed away she found shoe boxes of rent receipts he'd saved from places they'd lived. She was deeply moved by this discovery, and by the knowledge of her father's struggles to provide for her, her older brother and her grandmother. The "Rent Series" became a way for Carole to articulate her father's determination, as well as black struggles for survival and self-preservation. 

What can people expect from next month's program, Carole Byard, the Rent Series and Beyond?

People should expect to leave with an understanding that Carole Byard is a major black female figure in not only the world of visual art but of black Diasporic visual art. 

There isn't a whole lot of available information about this series online. Why do you think that is?

There might be several reasons for that. The "Rent Series" emerged out of a deeply personal narrative for Carole beginning in the 1980s. She was not the type of artist who used the Internet to promote herself or her work. Also, the "Rent Series" has just not been promoted as  a commodity, which has led to issues related to the preservation and legacy of her work.

How does this series speak to the emotional struggle of real estate for black families?

I think it speaks deeply to that issue, both then (in the 1980s when Carole began this work) and now. Throughout her whole life, Carole saw her father laboring, paying rent, and never owning anything. When we think of the historic realities for black families in this country, we still have to think about the numbers of families that lose land, have homes foreclosed because mortgage payments cannot be met, are homeless because they simply do not have money to pay rent consistently.

Carole is also a well-known book illustrator. How is that style reflected in the "Rent Series?"

Carole was always interested in revealing aspects of the human spirit. In her childrens' book illustrations, she wanted to give black children an opportunity to see themselves as positive, life-affirming models. In the "Rent Series," Carole wanted to show similar aspects of black lives, even when those lives are challenged.

What would you like people to take away from this program?

I would like people to come away with a deeper appreciation for and knowledge of the lives of female visual artists, especially those who are women of color, as well as a renewed sense of how significant Carole Byard is to black visual studies. I would also like people to understand why it's important to buy and collect the work of black female visual artists, and to think about how they can help senior artists catalog, archive and preserve their legacies. 

Share your thoughts on Carole Byard's work in the comments section below, and join us on March 12 for a lively discussion about the artist