Joe Pinckney, 75, painter of Gullah art

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) - Joe Pinckney, an artist known for his paintings of the Gullah culture, has died. He was 75.

Mr. Pinckney died Tuesday from kidney failure, his daughter, Ellice Lewis, said.

The Gullah descended from African slaves who settled on isolated sea islands and marshy areas from Jacksonville, Fla., to Wilmington, N.C., in the 19th century.

Mr. Pinckney painted his first Gullah piece in the late 1970s, after he became interested in the subject when he heard native islanders talk about how the isolated culture developed.

“I think it was an extraordinary kind of art, because Joe did such a great job in portraying the Gullah culture and all of the traditions of the Gullah culture,” said former Penn Center director Emory Campbell.

Mr. Pinckney was born in New York City. His father moved the family to South Carolina when Mr. Pinckney was 10. He returned to New York City and won two scholarships, allowing him to study at the New York School of Industrial Art and the Manhattan School of Printing.