Black History Month 2026
Black History Month 2026
2026-02-07
Charles W. White (1918–1979) was an American painter, draftsman, and printmaker who was dedicated to creating powerful images of Black Americans and their communities. Born in Chicago, White sat in on painting classes held by the Art Institute of Chicago as a young boy and eventually became the house artist for the National Negro Congress in Chicago. White ultimately recieved a scholarship to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the 1940s, White taught at Dillard University in New Orleans where he met and married printmaker Elizabeth Catlett. The pair then lived in New York after he was discharged from the US Army and WWII. White went on to teach at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles and taught prominent artists such as David Hammons, Kerry James Marshall, and Alonzo Davis.
This print, handled by Kodner Gallery, depicts John Brown the radical abolitionist (American, 1800-1859). Brown was captured, tried, and executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia for inciting a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859.
Known for painting large scale historic murals and a figure in the Chicago Black Renaissance, White's work is featured in the collections of Atlanta University, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Oakland Museum among many other institutions.
In 2018, The Museum of Modern Art in New York held a retrospective of Charles White's artwork. Charles White: A Retrospective was the first major museum survey devoted to the artist in over 30 years. The exhibition charted White’s full career—from the 1930s through his premature death in 1979—with over 100 works, including drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, illustrated books, record covers and archival materials.
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