Painting and Sculpture

Charles W. White

Charles Wilbert White Jr. (April 2, 1918 – October 3, 1979) was a prominent American Social Realist in the visual arts who emerged from Chicago’s Black Renaissance of the 1930s. He worked in painting, drawing, lithography, and murals to chronicle the African American experience, including its struggles and triumphs, through representational art. His lifelong commitment to using his art to defend Black dignity, humanity, and freedom solidified his place as one of the most well-known artists in African American art history. He was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1972. Following his death in 1979, White's work has been included in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, The Newark Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. White's best known work is The Contribution of the Negro to American Democracy, a mural at Hampton University. In 2018, the centenary year of his birth, the first major retrospective exhibition of his work was organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art.

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See also

• ▸Jean Lambert-Rucki
• ▸Clarksburg, Maryland
• ▸Joan of Arc Imprisoned in Rouen

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