A Black Artist Named White
July 23, 2018 7:39 AM   Subscribe

Four decades after his death, a son of Chicago’s Black Renaissance gets a well-deserved survey at the Art Institute. (YT) Non-video option: How Charles White Rewrote the Black Narrative. (Chicago Magazine)

White describes his own work in this clip from 1978. (YT)

For a deeper video dive into one of White's works, check out this ArtStop video from 2013.

The Art Institute of Chicago and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York present Charles White: A Retrospective running June 8-September 3 at the Art Institute before traveling to MoMA, where it will be on view from October 7, 2018 through January 13, 2019, followed by Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Spring 2019.
posted by DirtyOldTown (4 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Ah, cool to see this as museum lent a piece to the show. Good to see more stuff happening around it.
posted by PussKillian at 7:45 AM on July 23, 2018


I saw it this weekend and I have a lot of thoughts, but I'll just say this: at this particular moment in history, White's focus on black americans, socialism, poverty, struggle, and the dignity of overlooked people needed no explanation. It was not the kind of exhibit that needed a talking head to make sense. It was stunning.

I highly recommend seeing it in person, as there's just no way for video or internet images to do justice to the vibrancy of his color or the infinite gradations and depth in his black and white work.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:49 AM on July 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


I saw this in Chicago this summer, and was blown away by the whole collection. The large format lino cuts were especially impressive.
posted by rocket88 at 9:29 AM on July 23, 2018


I recommend watching that first video; it's less than two minutes long and a nice introduction. What must it be like to have great-aunts who had been slaves and talked to you about it? And what amazing images he created! Thanks for a fine post.
posted by languagehat at 12:07 PM on July 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


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