It’s hard to grasp the depth of the legacy Richard Singletary left, even while standing in the middle of it.
The iconic Portsmouth educator, linguist and humanitarian had a vast African art collection that filled every corner of his home, which doubled as a museum. Singletary died on June 27; he was 84.
A step inside the Singletary Gallery of African Art in the Cavalier Manor neighborhood reveals a chaos of treasures — hundreds of artifacts, paintings, pottery, tapestries, textiles, encased carvings and tribal garments filling every wall, overwhelming every nook. An unframed canvas rests against a plant in a whirlpool tub, directly inside stained glass double doors that lead to a tiny bathroom. The doors came from a Portsmouth church, just as his wooden front doors…