The New York Times marks the death of Varnette Honeywood, an African-American artist whose was featured on The Cosby Show and collected by Bill Cosby, among others:

Ms. Honeywood, whose bright colors and simplified forms were strongly influenced by narrative artists like Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence, developed a socially conscious style of genre painting that showed black Americans in familiar settings: interacting with family members, gathering at church, socializing on a front porch.

“You can depict segregation, starving and homelessness,” Mr. Cosby told The Washington Post in 1997. “But in Varnette’s work you can see teenagers doing homework, a family cooking a meal, girls doing their hair.”

Varnette Honeywood, Whose Art Appeared on ‘Cosby Show,’ Dies at 59 (New York Times)