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| Charles W. White, "Work," Drawing, 1953 |
Charles White created Work during the height of his New York career. The drawing is an excellent example of how, in the early 1950s, White gave a new beauty and dignity to his social realist subjects. White now depicted working men and women on a grand scale with an attention to natural gestures turning his subjects into heroic figures.
Charles White was featured in Ebony magazine's July 1967 issue in which Louie Robinson's story: Charles White: Portrayer of Black Dignity speaks to the artist's achievement and fame with works on black themes. Work was one of the featured images in that story; Robinson states that this drawing "typifies the way in which he captures underlying profundity embodied in the simple." Quoting White from the Ebony 1967 article, "My work strives to take shape around images and ideas centered within the vortex of a Negro's life experience." White further elaborates, "I have a total commitment to people, to art, and particularly my people. ...I take pride in the fact that being black gives me an identity and a source to draw upon. I'm never without something to say. I think it is because of the kind of relationship I have with people. My antennae are constantly out." To read the full Ebony article by Louie Robinson, visit Google Books.
A full list of auction highlights, including fine paintings by Charles Alston, Barkley Hendricks, Norman Lewis, Hughie Lee-Smith and Hale Woodruff, will be available later in July.
