Sterling Johnson

Long an admirer of the visual arts, Sterling began collecting in the early 1990s, with his first two acquisitions being watercolors—one by Joe Barker, the noted painter and father of hip-hop artist DMX, and the other by artist-illustrator Sylvia Walker. Influenced by his great-uncle (Charles Louis Smith) who was an artist working in Philadelphia during the 1930s and 1940s, Sterling has since focused his collection on artists associated with the WPA era, as well as those connected to the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

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Serving as Vice Chair of the Board at The Print Center in the early 2000s, Sterling continues to be a dedicated supporter of the arts. He is currently Vice Chair of the Board at Theatre Exile, reflecting his ongoing commitment to the arts in general.