Detroit Institute of Arts (Friday Night Live!)

Famous Detroiters

Famous people tied to this place 27

Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.

• Frida Kahlo 1907–1954 · painter

  Related place

  The museum where Rivera painted the Detroit Industry murals while Kahlo lived nearby; it staged the 2015 exhibition on the couple's Detroit year.

• Robert S. Duncanson 1821–1872 · landscape and portrait painter

  Related place

  Holds several Duncanson paintings, including Uncle Tom and Little Eva (1853), Drunkard's Plight and At the Foot of the Cross.

• James Carter born 1969 · jazz saxophonist, multi-reedist

  Performed here

  Detroit's great art museum, where on May 31, 1988 he sat in with Lester Bowie, the concert that took him to New York.

• Ray Johnson 1927–1995 · collage and mail artist

  Studied here

  Where he took weekly art classes as a teenager.

• Jerry Uelsmann 1934–2022 · photographer

  Related place

  Where he saw the Van Gogh self-portrait that stayed with him; the museum holds his work.

• Allee Willis 1947–2019 · songwriter, artist, art director

  Related place

  Where she premiered “The D”, her song for Detroit, on September 28, 2017.

• Paul Philippe Cret 1876–1945 · architect

  Worked here

  The marble museum building he designed with Zantzinger, Borie and Medary; later wings wrap around his original core.

• Ruth Laredo 1937–2005 · classical pianist

  Performed here

  Laredo gave her first solo recital at the museum at age eleven.

• Thomas W. Palmer 1830–1913 · lumberman, U.S. senator, philanthropist

  Founded

  He co-founded and first presided over its forerunner, the Detroit Museum of Art; the present museum building stands on the site of his former home.

• Alexander Girard 1907–1993 · architect, interior and textile designer

  Related place

  Where he staged An Exhibition for Modern Living, a milestone show of mid-century American design.

• Charles McGee 1924–2021 · painter, sculptor, teacher

  Worked here

  The museum holds his large relief work Noah's Ark: Genesis (1984).

• Faruq Z. Bey 1942–2012 · jazz saxophonist, composer, poet

  Recorded here

  The museum where Griot Galaxy recorded its album Live at the DIA.

• James E. Scripps 1835–1906 · newspaper publisher, founder of The Detroit News, art patron

  Founded

  Successor of the Detroit Museum of Art he helped found; his old-master paintings formed an early core of its collection.

• William Valentiner 1880–1958 · art historian, museum director

  Worked here

  The museum he directed for two decades and where he commissioned Rivera's murals.

• Todd Webb 1905–2000 · photographer

  Related place

  Holds his photographs in its collection.

• Gerald Rosen born 1951 · trial lawyer, federal judge, bankruptcy mediator

  Related place

  The museum whose collection his 'grand bargain' shielded from sale during the bankruptcy.

• Dexter M. Ferry 1833–1907 · seed merchant, founder of D. M. Ferry & Co.

  Related place

  Successor of the Detroit Museum of Art, of which he was a founding subscriber.

• Tyree Guyton born 1955 · artist

  Related place

  The museum his grandfather took him to as a child; it holds a permanent installation of his work.

• Hughie Lee-Smith 1915–1999 · painter, teacher

  Related place

  Awarded him painting prizes and holds his work.

• Bess Bonnier 1928–2011 · jazz pianist, composer, educator

  Performed here

  The city's art museum, one of the venues where Bonnier performed regularly.

• Eleanor Clay Ford 1896–1976 · philanthropist, art patron, Ford Motor Company shareholder

  Related place

  She funded the museum for decades and gave it much of the Ford collection.

• Bill Rauhauser 1918–2017 · photographer, educator

  Worked here

  Where Steichen picked his photograph in 1951 and where he later volunteered to help build the photography collection.

• Shirley Woodson born 1936 · painter, art educator

  Studied here

  Where she took Saturday art classes as a girl, debuted in 1960 and had her first solo museum show in 2021–2022.

• Paul McPharlin 1903–1948 · puppeteer, puppet maker, historian of puppetry

  Memorial

  The museum's puppetry holdings include McPharlin's work, on permanent display.

• Robert Hudson Tannahill 1893–1969 · art collector, benefactor

  Related place

  The museum he enriched with hundreds of gifts and a major bequest.

• Cary Loren born 1955 · guitarist, filmmaker, photographer, bookseller

  Related place

  The band's installation Strange Früt: Rock Apocrypha, about Detroit culture, was shown here in the 2001 exhibition Artists Take On Detroit.

• George Pierrot 1898–1980 · travel-film host, editor, lecture impresario

  Worked here

  The museum where Pierrot presented the World Adventure Series travel-film lectures for decades.