Sculptor Gage Prentiss wasn’t the only smiling face Thursday morning when his stunning statue honoring Black landscape artist Edward Bannister was lowered into place on the river side of the Market House building downtown. The general consensus of those gathered was that this was a work of genius and it had been perfectly situated. (When …
Artist Gage Prentiss has done it again. A stunning bust of noted Black landscape painter, one of the founding members of the Providence Art Club, Edward M. Bannister, now casts a gimlet eye on the gallery below, sizing it up. Meticulously researched and executed — and loaded with personality and confidence — this face just …
The one-block street formerly known as Magee is now officially called Bannister Street, renamed to honor the 19th-century African-American couple, artist Edward Bannister and entrepreneur Christiana Bannister who made Providence their home. William Fairchild Magee was a slave trader and opium merchant. Following the dedication ceremony last October, the representative from the Department of Public …
A movement is afoot to honor a pair of Providence’s most illustrious citizens, Christiana and Edward Bannister, by naming a street in their honor, and we support this effort. City Councillor Sam Zurier has introduced a resolution to rename Magee Street (currently named for William Fairchild Magee, a slave trader and opium merchant) to honor …