Humbert Howard spent his life living and working in Philadelphia. An athletic scholarship took him to Howard University and it was there that he switched his focus from sports to the fine arts, studying under the artist, James A. Porter. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania where he continued his studies but did not graduate. He was briefly involved with the Pennsylvania WPA Federal Art Project and in 1939, one of his landscapes was included in the New York World’s Fair. From 1940 to 1958, he was the appointed chair of the annual invitational art exhibition at the Pyramid Club, an African American social organization founded in 1937 by Dr. Walter F. Jerrick. In this post he conducted studio visits along the East Coast—primarily in Philadelphia and New York—and selected work for inclusion in the annual exhibitions. He continued his studies at the Barnes Foundation from 1959 to 1961. In 1962, Howard became involved with the John A. Lee Memorial Adult Cultural Center. In 1967, his work was included in the exhibition, The Evolution of Afro-American Artists, organized by Romare Bearden and Carroll Greene, Jr., for the City College of New York. His later paintings from the late 1960s and early 1970s incorporate collage—pieces of cut fabric are applied to the surface to create another layer of patterning and texture.
