. . . "She also studied lithography at the Art Students League of New York and received private instruction from Russian sculptor Ossip Zadkine .[3][8][11] Zadkine urged her to add abstract elements to her figurative work.[2] During her time in New York, she met intellectuals and artists such as Gwendolyn Bennet, W.E.B. Dubois, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Jacob Lawrence, Aaron Douglass and Paul Robes" . . . . . . . . .