A. B. Jackson

A. B. Jackson (April 18, 1925 – March 23, 1981) was an American painter.

Alexander Brooks Jackson was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of a black father and an English mother who was born in Manchester, England. and earned both BFA and MFA degrees from Yale University, studying with Josef Albers in the mid-1950s. Before entering the teaching field, he worked for three years in the Watson-Manning Advertising Agency in Stratford, Connecticut, as a designer.

He worked briefly as an instructor at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1955, before moving to Norfolk, Virginia, in 1956. In 1967, after teaching 10 years at Norfolk State, he joined Old Dominion University (ODU) as a full professor, becoming its first black faculty member.

During the years he taught, Jackson also exhibited his art in shows in many local and neighboring areas. Having been denied entry to the Virginia Beach Boardwalk Art show in 1962 because of his race, he won best-in-show in 1966. Jackson received significant attention in 1968, after several of his drawings were included in a Smithsonian Institution traveling art exhibition. Influenced by Rembrandt, Jackson worked in a range of materials, including watercolors, pastels, charcoal and acrylic. His series of paintings entitled "The Porch People" depicts anonymous sitters on their porches in Ghent, the district of Norfolk, Virginia, where he lived. His book, As I See Ghent: A Visual Essay, was published in 1979.

Jackson died in 1981, at the age of 55.

Jackson is represented in the permanent collections of:

• Mint Museum of Art
• University of Virginia
• Yale University
• Harvard University
• Dartmouth College Museum
• Howard University
• North Carolina State University
• Old Dominion University
• Longwood College
• Louisiana Arts & Sciences Museum
• Muscarelle Museum of Art
• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
• Chrysler Museum of Art
• Smithsonian Institution

Passerby: An A.B. Jackson Retrospectiveshowed at The Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, ODU, from May 23, 2015 until August 2, 2015.

Jackson is the maternal grandfather of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.