Charles White
American
(Chicago, Illinois, 1918 - 1979, Los Angeles, California)
As an exceptionally gifted draftsman, Charles White pursued the graphic media as his primary means of artistic expression. He worked in the classical, academic tradition, using crayon, charcoal, ink, and oil to create large compositions with centrally placed human figures. He was unapologetic about the fact that he only portrayed black people in his art. “I like to think that my work has universality to it,” he once said. “I deal with love, hope, courage, freedom, dignity—the full gamut of human spirit. When I work though, I think of my own people. That’s only natural…. I do have a special concern for my own people—their history, their culture, their struggle to survive in this racist country. And I’m proud of being black.” (1) As an artist and a black American, White experienced his share of prejudice and hardship. He grew up in Chicago, where his mother had migrated from Mississippi. White was eight years old when his father, a railroad worker of Creek ancestry, died, and he was raised primarily by his mother. He won a scholarship to attend the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, but was denied entrance because of his race. This happened a second time, at another art academy, before White was finally accepted at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago at age nineteen. After graduating, he worked for the WPA art project, first in the easel division and then in the mural division, where he could pursue his interest in the themes and techniques pioneered by the Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. In 1943 White executed a large mural titled The Contribution of the Negro to Democracy in America for Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. Shortly thereafter, while serving in the U.S. Army, White contracted tuberculosis, and from that time onward, he sought to live in warmer climates and to avoid harsh chemicals such as oil paint. In 1946 he accompanied his wife, the artist Elizabeth Catlett, to Mexico, where she was supported by a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship. He worked at the Taller de Gráfica Popular, a graphics workshop promoting art that would be accessible and appealing to the working classes. After this experience, he wrote, “I saw artists working to create an art about and for people. That had the strongest influence on my whole approach. It clarified the direction in which I wanted to move.” (2)
White spent most of his career working in Chicago and Los Angeles. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Columbia University, New York, in 1969; he died in 1979.
(1) C. Gerald Fraser, “Charles W. White, a Black Artist with Works in 49 Museums, Dies,” The New York Times, 6 October 1979.
(2) Charles White, quoted in Andrea D Barnwell, Charles White, The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art, vol. I (San Francisco: The Charles White Archives and Pomegranate Communications Inc., 2002), p. 39.
American
(Chicago, Illinois, 1918 - 1979, Los Angeles, California)
As an exceptionally gifted draftsman, Charles White pursued the graphic media as his primary means of artistic expression. He worked in the classical, academic tradition, using crayon, charcoal, ink, and oil to create large compositions with centrally placed human figures. He was unapologetic about the fact that he only portrayed black people in his art. “I like to think that my work has universality to it,” he once said. “I deal with love, hope, courage, freedom, dignity—the full gamut of human spirit. When I work though, I think of my own people. That’s only natural…. I do have a special concern for my own people—their history, their culture, their struggle to survive in this racist country. And I’m proud of being black.” (1) As an artist and a black American, White experienced his share of prejudice and hardship. He grew up in Chicago, where his mother had migrated from Mississippi. White was eight years old when his father, a railroad worker of Creek ancestry, died, and he was raised primarily by his mother. He won a scholarship to attend the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, but was denied entrance because of his race. This happened a second time, at another art academy, before White was finally accepted at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago at age nineteen. After graduating, he worked for the WPA art project, first in the easel division and then in the mural division, where he could pursue his interest in the themes and techniques pioneered by the Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. In 1943 White executed a large mural titled The Contribution of the Negro to Democracy in America for Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. Shortly thereafter, while serving in the U.S. Army, White contracted tuberculosis, and from that time onward, he sought to live in warmer climates and to avoid harsh chemicals such as oil paint. In 1946 he accompanied his wife, the artist Elizabeth Catlett, to Mexico, where she was supported by a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship. He worked at the Taller de Gráfica Popular, a graphics workshop promoting art that would be accessible and appealing to the working classes. After this experience, he wrote, “I saw artists working to create an art about and for people. That had the strongest influence on my whole approach. It clarified the direction in which I wanted to move.” (2)
White spent most of his career working in Chicago and Los Angeles. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Columbia University, New York, in 1969; he died in 1979.
(1) C. Gerald Fraser, “Charles W. White, a Black Artist with Works in 49 Museums, Dies,” The New York Times, 6 October 1979.
(2) Charles White, quoted in Andrea D Barnwell, Charles White, The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art, vol. I (San Francisco: The Charles White Archives and Pomegranate Communications Inc., 2002), p. 39.
Artist Objects
