Tina Knowles On How Her Collection Of Black Art Influenced The Success Of Beyoncé and Solange

In an interview with Kimberly Drew, Tina Knowles-Lawson talks how her love for collecting Black art influenced her daughters’ success and creativity.

On a Friday afternoon, Mama Knowles sat down in her Hollywood home to discuss her love for Black art for a Vanities article. If you’re ever given the chance to visit her abode you’ll notice it is embellished with powerful images of Black culture and its people. This isn’t anything new; the Knowles home has always celebrated Blackness, which has helped shaped who her daughters are today. “I think it’s something to say that my introduction to art was black art,” Solange said in a January interview.

Tina said she made sure her children were exposed to the beauty of Blackness. “When my kids were growing up, it was really important to me that they saw images of African-Americans. I’m so happy that I did, because both of them are really aware of their culture, and I think a lot of that had to do with looking at those images every day, those strong images.”

Tina went on to say after seeing the Alvin Ailey dance company she was inspired to move out of her small Texas town and pursue her career as a makeup artist. “It made me want to get out of my little town and have a bigger world.” During her time in Los Angeles she made her first big art purchase – which was a $500 abstract painting from a furniture store.

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Later on, Tina and the reporter discussed how art brought her joy when much of her life was spent catering to her daughters’ success – especially after her separation from her first husband Matthew Knowles. “I was really depleted,” she says. “I remember Beyoncé saying to me, ‘Mama, what will make you laugh? What makes you happy?’” Finding ways to regain herself she started going out dancing, reading art books and rekindled her friendship with Monica Stewart. Three of Stewart’s paintings are hung on Knowles’ walls. One reminds her of Solange and Beyoncé. “It’s supposed to be my two girls looking up at me.”