Charles Wilbert White (1918 – 1979) “Paint is the only weapon I have with which to fight what I resent. If I could write, I would write about it. If I could talk, I would talk about it. Since I paint, I must paint about it.”
Charles Wilbert White (1918 – 1979) HHis drawings and paintings speak of the humanity and beauty of African American people and culture. BBorn and raised on the South Side of Chicago OOne of America's most renowned and recognized African-American artists.
Charles Wilbert White
Charles W White Charles White was born in Chicago in The son of an African-American domestic worker and a railroad dining car waiter of Native American ancestry, White grew up in extreme poverty. He showed an early interest in art, using found materials and an oil paint set that his mother bought him for his 7th birthday. Art became a refuge from the poverty and violence in his neighborhood and from the unhappiness in his home after his father died and then when his mother married a belligerent and often drunk steel mill worker. White would often spend hours alone at the public library or the Art Institute of Chicago, while his mother was working, fueling his imagination and expanding his public school education.
Charles W White When he was in the 7th grade, White won a scholarship to attend Saturday classes at the Art Institute Museum. At age 14, he worked as a sign painter, creating signs for theaters and local shops. He also joined the Arts and Crafts Guild of black artists, receiving further instruction in art and providing an opportunity for him to exhibit his work. Through the Guild, he began to meet other black artists and intellectuals. In 1936, while in high school, White won a scholarship to attend the Art Institute of Chicago. He began to address themes of the social injustices facing blacks and, in 1938, he began working on projects through the Works Progress Administration, including murals for auditoriums and exhibition halls. White moved to New York in 1942, studying for a short period of time at the Art Students League. The mural depicts Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, Marian Anderson and George Washington Carver.
Charles W White He continued to execute murals, studying and working for a time with Diego Rivera and other Mexican muralists in Mexico City. His travels through the south, where he personally experienced violence and racism, strengthened his resolve to battle social injustice through his art. During the 1960s, White executed a series of massive drawings and continued to receive numerous solo exhibitions and honors. In 1972, he became the second black after Henry O. Tanner to be elected to the National Academy of Design. White died of congestive heart failure on October 3, Besides being an artist of extraordinary ability, White was also a man of great integrity, honesty, and compassion.
Harvest Talk by Charles White What do you see? Describe the drawing. What does it mean? Interpret the drawing.
Charles Wilbert White depicted the dignity of rural labor with two powerful figures.
What is Value? Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. Using value can make drawings appear more 3-D and realistic.
How many different value shades do you see in Harvest Talk? Can you circle 5 different values and label them?
Mother and Child Charles Wilbert White In this artwork how does White use value? Does he shade the entire drawing? Which parts look more 3-D?
Charles Wilbert White Throughout his distinguished career, he combined outstanding technical skill as a painter and printmaker with a lifelong commitment to chronicling the hopes and struggles of the African American population. His artworks celebrated African American heroes as well as ordinary women and men struggling to maintain dignity in a racist society.