Urania P. Cummings

Urania Prince Cummings (1889 - March 18, 1978) was an American painter born in the Danish island of Saint Thomas. She is documented as being an early West Indian pioneer settler in San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay Area. She was an artist, painter, ceramist, lecturer, poet, civic leader, and educator for decades.

Before studying art and becoming an artist Cummings raised her three children and grandchildren.

Biography Urania Prince Cummings was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands in 1899. She was a student at Nisky School in Saint Thomas.

During World War I, she moved to New York.

Career Cummings studied art, public speaking, and started painting after raising her children at the age of 65. In 1970, she became a member of the Oakland Art Association. It was noted that in a 1972 and in 1974, in the news that Cummings was the Bay Area's oldest practicing Black painter. January 20, 1975, at the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., Urania Cummings granddaughter, Sharelle Cummings, hosted an exhibit of four of her paintings.

In 1999, Urania Cummings work was part of "One Hundred Years of Artists" exhibit in Berkeley, California.

Her paintings depict daily life that she experienced growing up in St Thomas, Virgin Islands; cooking, eating, washing under palm trees. She did ceramics and crocheted.

Quotes "Berkeley used to be like a big family," Mrs. Cummings recalled. "Everybody seemed to get along nicely together because I think everybody owned something and we—and we had pride in what we owned.

Memberships California State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs African Cultural Society of San Francisco (teacher-painting and crafts) Berkeley Coop Art Association in Berkeley African American Historical and Cultural Society Arts West Association in Berkeley