Ashley Bryan Archive

Born in 1923, Ashley was raised in the Bronx, NY. At seventeen, he entered the tuition-free Cooper Union School of Art and Engineering, having been denied entry elsewhere because of his race.

Drafted out of art school into the segregated US army at age nineteen, Ashley preserved his humanity throughout World War II by drawing, stowing supplies in his gas mask when necessary. After returning from war, Ashley completed his Cooper Union degree and studied philosophy and literature at Columbia University (1946-50). He returned to France in 1950-53 to study art in Aix-en-Province. In 1950, renowned cellist Pablo Casals agreed to break the vow of silence he had taken after Franco came to power in his native Spain. Ashley was permitted to draw Casals and his fellow musicians during rehearsals in Prades, France, where Casals was in exile. Through the power of Casals’ music sessions, something “broke free” for Ashley: “I found the rhythm in my hand.” He traveled to Germany in 1956 on a Fulbright scholarship, seeking to understand why humans choose war.

After returning to the United States, Ashley taught art at several schools and universities, retiring in the 1980s to Maine’s Cranberry Isles as professor emeritus of Dartmouth College.

Ashley has published more than fifty books.

[adapted from a longer profile available at the Ashley Bryan Center website]