Cover image: Joseph Langley pointing to one of his works
Screenshot from YouTube video

In 2011, Entrée to Black Paris featured Joseph Jeremiah Langley for the first time in a blog post that was incorporated into our book entitled Black Paris Profiles. 

A prolific visual artist, poet, and musician, he has been part of the Black Paris scene for well over 30 years.  

Langley has been incredibly generous with his time and talent for as long as we've known him, and his recent gift of numerous framed pastel works on paper to Hôpital Jean Verdier is the latest evidence of his philanthropy.

In May 2025, Langley contacted Entrée to Black Paris to inform us that he had proposed to donate 60 framed pastels for auction for the benefit of the hospital. 

Thumbnails of works to be donated
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

But the sale became too difficult for the hospital to organize, so Langley proposed to decorate the walls of the maternity unit with his work.

The pediatric ward heard about his proposal and asked to receive works as well.  They sent a representative to Langley's home gallery and selected 22 pastels for their walls.

In the end, Langley donated a total of 37 works to the hospital.

The "unveiling" of these works, which hang throughout Hôpital Jean Verdier in children's wards, doctors' and nurses' offices, and consultation rooms, took place on Friday, January 16, 2026.

Joseph Langley and two of his works in the Salle des Adolescents
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

Below are images of a few of them.

Army of Chickens
(2021) Pastel on paper
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

Portrait of My Cat
(2023-2024) Pastel on paper
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

 When the Saints Go Marching in
(2022) Pastel on paper
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

Watch a walk-through of the hospital with Langley and Céline Percevaux, Health Care Executive of Pediatric Emergency and Consultation Services HERE.

L to R: Joseph Langley, pediatric nurse, and Céline Percevaux
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

This was followed by a simple collation with hospital staff.

Hôpital Jean Verdier has invited Langley to return in the future to paint with the children and eventually donate more work in anticipation of its planned relocation.

Langley recently returned from Pristina, Kosovo, where a well attended monographic exhibition of his work was shown at Galeria Quahili.