Theadius McCall

Theadius McCall is a well-known African American portrait artist born in 1945. Reflecting on his childhood, he shared, “I was born and raised in Williamsburg, and my friends with whom I went to kindergarten were Jewish. I used to play with them and eat with them. We all said we were going to be artists. I spent a lot of time around Eastern European Jews. Yiddish was common, and Hebrew was common. Bagels were common.” – Theadius McCall interviewed in The Jewish Week by Susan Gilman.

Also a musician and gallery manager at a young age, McCall is a connoisseur of tradition when it comes to his art, which includes sketches of black sharecroppers, elderly farmers, rabbis, and yeshiva students. He draws the Jewish series in part as “a tribute to several people in my life who’ve been very important to my career” and because he admires Jewish history and tradition. Remarkably, McCall has never taken an art class, exhibited in local galleries, or been employed by an agent. Despite this, he has thrived as an artist, creating greeting cards and selling his work to companies and affluent collectors. Much of his success can be attributed to his business acumen, pivotal in his ability to market and sell his art.