A Chronicle of Dignity: The Life and Art of Robert Riggs Robert Riggs, a name resonating with quiet power in the landscape of contemporary figurative painting, has dedicated his career to portraying the beauty, resilience, and complexity of African-American life. Born in 1935 in St. Louis, Missouri, Riggs’s artistic journey began not as a pursuit of formal training but as an intrinsic response to the world around him—a world steeped in both struggle and vibrant cultural expression. His early experiences growing up during the Jim Crow era profoundly shaped his perspective, instilling within h…