Charles White | |
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Born | Charles Wilbert White, Jr. April 2, 1918 |
Died | October 3, 1979 Los Angeles, California, US | (aged 61)
Education | School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
Known for | painting; visual art |
Notable work | The Contribution of the Negro to American Democracy |
Movement | New Negro Movement (Chicago Black Renaissance) |
Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Catlett (m. 1941-1946; divorced) Frances Barrett (m. 1950-1979; his death)[1] |
Charles Wilbert White, Jr. (April 2, 1918 – October 3, 1979) was an American artist known for his chronicling of African American related subjects in paintings, drawings, lithographs, and murals. White's lifelong commitment to chronicling the triumphs and struggles of his community in representational form cemented him as one of the most well-known artists in African American art history.
Following his death in 1979, White's work has been included in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago,[2] Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art,[3] The Newark Museum, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.[4] 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.[5]