Description:

Carrie Maxine Holtry Daniels
American/New Orleans, 1920-2018
"Head of a Negro Girl"
paint on plaster
1939-1940, unsigned.

Provenance: Gift of the artist to Dr. Margaret Davis Bowen, 1958; thence by descent.

Exh.: Atlanta University Seventeenth Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculptures, and Prints by Negro Artists, Mar. 30 - Apr. 27, 1958, awarded Honorable Mention.

Note: The bust of a girl offered here is exceptional on many levels. The woman who created it was a remarkable sculptor, teacher, civil rights activist and quintessential New Orleanian. The woman who nurtured the artist and to whom the bust was gifted was equally extraordinary. Both women are remembered for their intellect, fortitude and trailblazing in the face of many challenges. A moving and skilled work of art, this bust resides at the intersection of two powerhouses - artist Carrie Maxine Holtry Daniels and educator Dr. Margaret Davis Bowen - and was created during a crucial time in American history.

Carrie Maxine Holtry Daniels was the only child of James Addison (1885-1958) and Ellen Whit[t]ington (1893-) Holtry of New Orleans. The couple married on July 9, 1919, and the family lived at 3327 Baronne Street. James overcame humble beginnings to become a prominent insurance executive, and he founded the Good Citizens Life Insurance Company and associated Good Citizens Funeral Homes. James was known for supporting social and political causes and assisting many families in need. Holtry Daniels attended Virginia Barnes Thompson's Private School, Macarty Public School and Gilbert Academy, a premier preparatory school for African American high school students located at 5318 St. Charles Avenue. She graduated from the school in June of 1937 and later attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati as the private college's first African American full-time student and graduate.

Holtry Daniels graduated with honors from the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 1944 and returned to New Orleans to serve as an art instructor at her alma mater, Gilbert Academy, until its closing in 1949. She continued to teach in New Orleans public schools for the rest of her career, inspiring countless aspiring artists including a young Willie Birch. In 1954, Holtry married Dr. Lawler P. Daniels, a Baptist pastor and businessman. The couple were active within the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1957, and they were close friends with Dr. and Mrs. King throughout their lives. Holtry Daniels was also a member of the Young Women's Christian Association, Peoples' Defense League and a board member and vice president of her father's Good Citizens Insurance Company. The couple served as King and Queen Zulu in 1976. In 1995, she was one of five women celebrated and inducted into Louisiana's Women and Government Hall of Fame and also awarded the 1st Annual Mayor's Medal of Honor Award on May 21, 1995. In 1996, she received the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society Earl A. Amedee Human Rights Award.

In addition to the honors she earned for her activism, Holtry Daniels was recognized for her artistic achievements in the 1940s with the Louis Rebisso Scholarship, Crafters Scholarship (entitling the recipient to full sculpture tuition), Mollie Lena Prize and the President and Trustees of the Cincinnati Art Museum Association Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Work in Sculpture (first occasion of the award). Throughout her life, Holtry Daniels undertook additional study at the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University and Dillard University, where an exhibition of her work took place in association with Alpha Kappa Alpha, of which she was a member, on April 1, 1945. A brochure associated with the exhibition describes her thusly: "…as an artist she has made an enviable record as a student of sculpture. Her innate talent and keen intellect have enabled her to analyze her subjects, and to express in form, real emotion and character."

Despite her well-documented accolades, surviving works by Holtry Daniels remain exceedingly rare and never before offered at auction. This bust was a gift from Holtry Daniels to Dr. Margaret Davis Bowen, a woman she called in a letter dated March 7, 1958, a "…true friend. I always say there is no one like you. You are the most wonderful friend a person could have." Bowen was born in 1894 in Columbus, Georgia. She was the first African American to attend the National German-American Teachers' Seminary at the University of Wisconsin, where she studied German and was one of its first two African American graduates. She later earned a master's in education degree in 1935 from the University of Cincinnati and completed her doctorate in education in 1950 from the University of Cincinnati's Teachers College. She taught for the Cincinnati public schools for eighteen years before moving to New Orleans and accepting the position as the first president and principal of Gilbert Academy in 1940. She would stay in New Orleans until 1948, when she moved to Atlanta and taught for the public school system there. In 1950, Bowen received an honorary doctor of law degree from Bethune-Cookman College. She was married to John W.E. Bowen, Jr., the editor of the Christian Advocate and later a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church. From 1936 to 1939, she served as the president of Alpha Kappa Alpha, and she continued to be active in her community until her death in 1976.

Holtry Daniels and Bowen first crossed paths at Gilbert Academy, and Bowen must have recognized the talent and potential in her student – forging a lifelong mentorship and friendship with many intertwining threads. Holtry Daniels credited Bowen's efforts on her behalf for her admission as the first African American full-time student at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and continued to visit her throughout the 1950s in Atlanta. Due to Bowen's initiative, this bust was entered in the Atlanta University Seventeenth Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture and Prints by Negro Artists in 1958, where Holtry Daniels was awarded a rare Honorable Mention. It was described at the time as "sensitive, strong and somewhat imaginative." The bust has all those traits and signifies so much more. It serves as a remembrance of two generations of women whose strong-willed determination forged a path for many young girls to follow. The young woman depicted appears serious and resolute, her likeness an emblem of strength in the face of adversity, her youth a symbol for a new generation of powerful women and the paths they themselves will pioneer.

Ref.: "Obituary for Carrie Maxine Holtry Daniels." Apr. 15, 2018. www.legacy.com. Accessed Oct. 28, 2025; "Willie Birch: Paintings from 1998-2019 / In Conversation with Leslie King Hammond." May 24 – Sept. 4, 2021. Fort Gansevoort. www.forgansevoort.com. Accessed Oct. 28, 2025; Honora, Jari C. "Faces from the Album: Teresa Charles Wiltz; Estella Mae Charles; Maxine Holtry Daniels." CreoleGen. July 23, 2019. www.creolegen.org. Accessed Oct. 28, 2025; Atlanta Daily World. Aug. 13, 1952, p. 3; The Savannah Tribune. Sept. 9, 1943, volume LXI, number 48, p. 1; The Dallas Express. Mar. 18, 1944, p. 15.

  • Dimensions: 16 1/2 x 10 x 13 in. (41.9 x 25.4 x 33 cm.)
  • Medium: paint on plaster
  • Condition: Surface dirt; small loss to proper left ear; numerous surface losses with some discoloration throughout; small chips and pitting along lower edges and other raised surfaces.

Shipping Options

Invaluable Shipping

  • Expert Care packing and Shipping
  • Shipment Protection
  • Real-time tracking

Arrange your own

  • You will coordinate with us to arrange your own shipping

Local pickup

  • You will coordinate with us and arrange pick up time after payment.

Accepted Forms of Payment:

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer

November 21, 2025 11:00 AM CST
New Orleans, LA, US

Neal Auction Company

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $29,999 $1,000
$30,000 $49,999 $5,000
$50,000 $99,999 $10,000
$100,000 + $20,000