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Thursday, April 30th, 2026

Black-American PIONEERS

PIONEERS on display at Galerie Laurent Rigail (detail)
© Pierre-Olivier Balu
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

I had the good fortune to be able to visit Galerie Laurent Rigail last Saturday, which was the last day of a remarkable exhibition called Ceux Que Nous Sommes (Those That We Are).

The show was organized by the recently deceased, award-winning contemporary artist, Fabien Verschaere.

Press image for Ceux Que Nous Sommes exhibition
Courtesy of Galerie Laurent Rigail

Verschaere organized this exhibition as a showcase for his work as well as the work of nineteen artist friends. Among them was Pierre-Olivier Balu, creator of a series of paintings called PIONEERS.

Balu's subjects are famous and not-so-famous-yet-accomplished African Americans of the 19th and 20th centuries.

More precisely, his subjects are photographs of these people.

Nine paintings from his series were included in Verschaere's show.

PIONEERS and art by Fabien Verschaere
© Entrée to Black Paris

After watching a fascinating interview with Balu and seeing his work in person, I contacted him to ask for an interview. He graciously took precious time from his preparation for Fashion Week to grant ETBP an exclusive and extensive interview about the PIONEERS series and the passion that drove him to create it.

ETBP: During the Icon Icon interview, you said, “All emotion comes through in portraits.” Do you feel that the emotion evoked by a photographic portrait differs from that of a painted portrait? If so, how?

Balu: In one case, one can doubt the original; in the other, not—what is visible is indeed what was. I show photographic portraits, but what we see is painting, that is to say, interpretation. It wasn't simply a matter of saying, "These people were here," but rather of asking the viewer to seriously consider their importance in our history.

The emotion evoked by a painted portrait goes beyond a simple photographic observation; it requires a commitment from the viewer to grasp the significance of what these women and men accomplished. At the same time, I wanted to be as faithful as possible to the original photographs in order to be as close as possible to what they were.

Florence Mills
© Pierre-Olivier Balu
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: In 2014—the first year you went to the U.S.—you visited NYC and went to “all the museums.” During that visit, did you see works that depicted Black people?

Balu: No, it wasn't until 2016, during my third trip to the United States, that I saw representations of Black people at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Just ten years ago, the only Black artist represented in museums was Jean-Michel Basquiat. But that's changing.

With the increasing presence of Black artists in museums, the representation of Black people is finally being addressed in many museums. I am thinking particularly of the work of artists such as Kehinde Wiley, Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas, or Henry Taylor.

ETBP: For how long did you stay in the U.S. during that first visit?

Balu: I only stayed two weeks, but that was enough to immediately fall in love with the United States, and its freedom which allows for an extraordinary cultural openness.

ETBP: When you decided to return, why did you decide to visit cities other than NYC?

Balu: During my second stay, I visited Chicago because my wife, Virginie, who does voice acting, wanted to see the Chicago hospital from Chicago Med. For my part, I wanted to discover the city where the first skyscrapers were built and Lake Michigan, see its museums, and of course, visit the DuSable Museum, named after a mixed-race man of French and Haitian descent who traded furs and who was the founder of Chicago.

PIONEERS
© Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: How many times have you visited the U.S. since that first visit?

Balu: Since my first stay, I have returned to the United States every year except during the Covid years.

ETBP: What caused you to select the specific additional cities you visited? The interview mentions Chicago, SF, Oakland, Detroit, Charleston, and Atlanta.

Balu: After Chicago, I went to Oakland to see the city of the Black Panthers, where Jack London lived, where Bruce Lee founded his first dojo, where Clint Eastwood played in a piano bar to earn a living before becoming an actor, and where the East Bay Dragon, the first African American motorcycle club, was founded.

From there, visiting San Francisco was a no-brainer: the city of Flower Power, Silicon Valley, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Gold Rush, Alcatraz, and Wells Fargo.

Detroit was all about Motown, Eminem, Motor City, and its industrial landscape.

My wife wanted to visit Charleston after we saw on Arte Journal that the International African American Museum had just opened on the site of the most important slave-trading port.

And finally, Atlanta, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, since it's where Martin Luther King Jr. was born and educated.

PIONEERS - L to R: Jackie Robinson, Aïda Overton Walker, and Doris (Dorie) Miller
© Pierre-Olivier Balu
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: You spoke about visiting an exhibition on the Black Panthers. Did you happen to see Revolutionary Grain: Celebrating the Spirit of the Black Panthers in Portraits and Stories? It was displayed at the California Museum in Sacramento from June 14 – December 14, 2025.

Balu: No, unfortunately, I missed that exhibition, but I was able to visit the incredible Oakland Museum of California which traces the entire history of California with a permanent exhibition hall entirely devoted to the Black Panthers.

ETBP: Did you discover the Black Panthers through the exhibition you saw or in some other way?

Balu: Through rap, and particularly through the stage productions of Public Enemy, even before I knew anything about the Black Panthers, their imagery was already familiar to me. Then, after my first trip to NYC in 2014, my interest in African-American culture, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis led me to truly study the historical and cultural contributions of this movement, so, going to Oakland was really important to me.

ETBP: Where did you find the portraits of the people you painted?

Balu: During a visit to the African-American Museum in Philadelphia, I discovered James Hemings, an African American who was Jefferson's personal chef, active at the end of the 18th century, and who revolutionized the art of dining in Philadelphia.

Similarly, at the Museum of the American Revolution, I learned that many African Americans had served in the military.

Back home, research on Frederick Douglass led me to the U.S. Postal Service website dedicated to all the great African American figures featured on stamps. It was there that I realized that the African American community had accomplished extraordinary things very early on and had never stopped. I was then inspired to create portraits to share my enthusiasm for these great figures.

I then searched for photographic portraits of these individuals online, which led me to discover many more.

PIONEERS - L to R: Florence Mills, Lena Horne, and Frederick Douglass
© Pierre-Olivier Balu
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: In your interview with Icon Icon, you spoke of using oil and paper for these works. I read and appreciated the symbolism in this deliberate choice. Please describe the difficulties artists experience when combining these two media.

Balu: It's very simple: the texture of the canvas allows the paint to adhere. Nothing like that with paper, on which the paint just slides off without ever blending. So, with each brushstroke, you have to find the right tone, which makes the work much more difficult.

ETBP: According to your Website, you originally planned to paint portraits of people who were born in 1925. What inspired you to reach farther back in history for subjects to paint?

Balu: In reality, I set my starting point at the oldest photograph of an important figure, that of Sojourner Truth.

To define a boundary among the most recent portraits, I chose Malcolm X's birth year, 1925, for two reasons. First, because he is one of the most important intellectuals of the 20th century, a fascinating figure driven by penetrating rhetoric. And second, because he marks a turning point in the fight against racism.

After his death, the struggle for African American rights, which became widespread and intensified, revealed strong opposing forces.

This is evident in the Black Lives Matter movement on one side and the election of Donald Trump on the other.

And ultimately, this will have summarized the work and actions of Malcolm X, who at the same time never ceased to assert the strength of African-American culture and always had to fight to confront his enemies.

ETBP: You have painted 38 portraits of African-American pioneers to date, all of which are presented in the booklet you produced for visitors to the show. You plan to create up to 50 portraits. Who will be the 12 remaining subjects of the series?

Balu: My initial choices include Charles Jackson French, Thurgood Marshall, Victor Hugo Green, Gordon Parks, Mamie Phipps Clark, Thomas Fountain Blue, and Hattie McDaniel, to name just a few. But I'm leaving myself some room to discover new personalities.

ETBP: I imagine that the person you painted during the Icon Icon video will be one of them. Who is he?

Balu: This is Charles Jackson French, a sailor who rescued 15 men from an American ship hit by the Japanese navy. To do so, he towed a raft with the survivors, swimming for eight hours in shark-infested waters.

ETBP: Virginie told me that you’ll take the exhibition to the islands, beginning with Guadeloupe. Will you take the entire series, or only the works shown at Laurent Rigail?

Balu: I am currently in contact with Patrick Adélaïde, a lawyer from Guadeloupe who saw my work at the gallery and would very much like to show it in Guadeloupe.

The more portraits there are, the more the diversity of personalities, eras, and fields fades, revealing a unity that gives an impression of strength and cohesion to all these individuals united by a common goal: to achieve fulfillment and exist despite obstacles.

PIONEERS in Pierre-Olivier Balu's studio
Courtesy of Pierre-Olivier Balu

ETBP: Do you plan to take this exhibition to the U.S.? If so, where would you like to have it shown?

Balu: The Laurent Rigail Gallery was the first to exhibit this work, now I obviously plan to show it in the United States where there are many places that aim to preserve and disseminate the African-American heritage.

I'm thinking in particular of Charleston, Oakland, Detroit, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Atlanta—cities where African American history, both past and present, is very much alive. But what's fantastic is that in every major American city, there's a place dedicated to the memory and current events of African American culture where I would love to show this work.

ETBP: Is it safe to presume that you are creating these works to share them primarily with French audiences?

Balu: The contributions of African American culture are so significant that I believe it's important to disseminate and share them wherever possible; that's the purpose of my work.

In France, African American culture is highly valued, but aside from Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, few people are aware of the richness of its past or appreciate its importance.

In contrast, in the United States, these figures are highly respected because they all contributed to the recognition of African American rights. This respect is further amplified by the fact that their actions are part of a struggle that continues to this day.

ETBP: Why do you think it is important that French people understand the richness and depth of African-American history?

Balu: If the French were more familiar with this culture and its many facets, they would be better able to appreciate its relevance today. Rap could then be seen more as a manifestation of a community's culture and history, rather than being reduced to a mere cult of success.

African American history offers us a lesson in humility, courage, perseverance, open-mindedness, self-confidence, and a thirst for justice—all keys to personal fulfillment.

While I firmly believe that the French would benefit from discovering this wonderful culture, the African Americans who maintain it are already able to appreciate its power, richness, depth and value.

This culture, born in suffering, must be preserved from the thorns that today try to stifle it.

ETBP: Do you have any final comments you’d like to share?

Balu: During the three years I spent making this series, I put my work at the service of these men and women because they taught me so much and gave so much in return, and that is what I would like to pass on.

Find Pierre-Olivier Balu on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pierreolivierbalu/.

Galerie Laurent Rigail
40 rue Volta
75003 Paris
Website: https://www/laurentrigail.com
Metro: Arts et Métiers (Line 11)
Telephone: 01.42.77.09.00 / 07.59.57.50.90