Johanne Bryant-Reid is passionate about the arts and about being a collector of art. She is a woman whose lucid, dark eyes sparkle with delight, whose resonant voice magnifies with intensity as we tour her art collection. It includes paintings, prints, and drawings by Elizabeth Catlett, Roy Crosse, Jacob Lawrence, Carole Byard, Charles White, Norman Lewis, Charles Alston, Thornton Dial and Romare Bearden, among others. Throughout the tour, we occasionally pause for Johanne to share stories about specific works. Her humor and sense of personal discovery are intermixed as she tells how she unearthed these artworks and became so enamored with particular artists that their relationship developed into lifelong friendships.

For Johanne, art is not purchased to decorate a home. Art becomes, to quote Wassily Kandinsky, “. . . an inner necessity.” Artists need collectors like Johanne to complete and expand the life of their inventions: a conversation and collaboration intrinsic to the cycle of creation.

Johanne Bryant-Reid retired as a First Vice President of Merrill  Lynch where she directed their human resources department at a time when the company was looking to diversify and be more inclusive in their hiring practices. Through Merrill Lynch, she supported artists by setting up art exhibits, exposing her colleagues to a range of African American, Hispanic and women artists. Today, she is the co-director of The Romare Bearden Foundation. She’s also served on the boards of institutions such as National Council of Negro Women, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, Manhattan Community College and Artists Space.

In the early 1980s, the trajectory of  Johanne’s  life changed when a friend invited her to visit the artist Romare Bearden in his  studio in the (then) “industrial wilderness” of Long Island City, New York. Bearden was generous with his time and spent an entire afternoon with them. Johanne described this experience as pivotal. “He was the first one to open my eyes to art . . . there is nothing like being in a Romare Bearden studio while he is working on a piece, and explaining it to you . . .” she recalls.

The artist’s hospitality was also peppered with a directness that made Johanne re-evaluate her priorities. She was wearing what she characterized as “fancy-dancy” shoes. Turning to her, Bearden asked, “Do you collect? In life, you need to do something besides buying shoes.” Johanne  interpreted this to mean she should invest in objects that have real value.

Johanne Bryant Reid with a print by Jacob Lawrence from his “John Brown Series, 1970s.”

Johanne Bryant-Reid was born and raised in a coal mining community in West Virginia called  “Number 9” by its inhabitants — the official name was Consolidated Coal Company #9,  also known as Farmington, West Virginia. At the time, towns were referred to by the coal company number — an indication of the overwhelming  influence that coal manufacturing wielded in the area. Tragically, her father was killed in a coal mining accident when she was thirteen years old. For Johanne, that loss was akin to “taking the heart out of a family with four kids . . . [which left her] walking through life without a father figure . . .” Yet his memory and powerful presence had a striking influence on Johanne’s own choices. Her father was the first black man working in a coal mine to become treasurer of its union. It demonstrated his call to civic involvement, which Johanne has also committed to throughout the course of her life. Interested in electronics and a consummate craftsman, Johanne’s father built storage units, swinging shelves, furniture, and constructed his own radio — instilling in his daughter an eye for the aesthetic elegance of handmade, custom built objects. The familial influence also extended to her mother who was an accomplished cook and caterer.