Joe Pinckney, 75; Artist Was Known for Paintings of the Sea Islands’ Gullah Culture

Joe Pinckney, 75, an artist nationally known for his paintings of the Gullah culture on eastern U.S. coastal islands, died Tuesday in Rock Hill, S.C., of kidney failure.

Pinckney began painting the Gullah in the 1970s when he became fascinated with their history of relative isolation and independence as island farmers. The Gullah (the word derives from Gola, a West African tribe) descended from African slaves who settled on the isolated Sea Islands off South Carolina and Georgia and in neighboring marshy areas in the 19th century.

Born in New York City, Pinckney moved to South Carolina’s coastal Lowcountry region with his family when he was 10. He later studied at the New York School of Industrial Art and the Manhattan School of Printing on scholarships.

After painting for several years in New York, he returned to the Lowcountry in 1970 and established a studio. He also taught art on Hilton Head Island.