Classification: Drawing
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Charles White (aka Charles Wilbert White)
American, 1918–1979
The large-scale drawings that form the bulk of Charles White’s later work are highly polished reassessments of the many styles he studied in art school and practiced as a muralist. The figures, monumental and imposing, suggest strength of body, mind, and character. In the late 1960s, White painted a series of works based on Civil War–era posters advertising runaway slaves. In these works, figures and text are superimposed over a faceted ground suggestive of crumpled paper that has been re-flattened and painted upon. "Children’s Games #1" is constructed in this way, with the three adolescent figures placed against a faceted background containing bits of text such as “no exit” and “god loves you.” Rather than literally playing a game, the three figures are juxtaposed to suggest the historic evolution from slave labor, represented by the bending foreground figure, to the “work of freedom,” symbolized by the child who swings from a trapeze.
American Paintings from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, cat. no. 95, p. 222.
American, 1918–1979
Children's Games #1
1975
Object Type:
Drawing
Creation Place:
North America, American, Illinois
Dimensions:
74 3/4 in. x 48 3/4 in. (189.87 cm x 123.83 cm)
Medium and Support:
Oil on paper
Accession Number:
1977.0618
Credit Line:
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Association Purchase
The large-scale drawings that form the bulk of Charles White’s later work are highly polished reassessments of the many styles he studied in art school and practiced as a muralist. The figures, monumental and imposing, suggest strength of body, mind, and character. In the late 1960s, White painted a series of works based on Civil War–era posters advertising runaway slaves. In these works, figures and text are superimposed over a faceted ground suggestive of crumpled paper that has been re-flattened and painted upon. "Children’s Games #1" is constructed in this way, with the three adolescent figures placed against a faceted background containing bits of text such as “no exit” and “god loves you.” Rather than literally playing a game, the three figures are juxtaposed to suggest the historic evolution from slave labor, represented by the bending foreground figure, to the “work of freedom,” symbolized by the child who swings from a trapeze.
American Paintings from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, cat. no. 95, p. 222.
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