Charles White: A Retrospective

A revelatory reassessment of one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century 

Charles White (1918–1979) is best known for bold, large-scale paintings and drawings of African Americans, meticulously executed works that depict human relationships and socioeconomic struggles with a remarkable sensitivity. This comprehensive study offers a much-needed reexamination of the artist’s career and legacy. With handsome reproductions of White’s finest paintings, drawings, and prints, the volume introduces his work to contemporary audiences, reclaims his place in the art-historical narrative, and stresses the continuing relevance of his insistent dedication to producing positive social change through art.
 
Tracing White’s career from his emergence in Chicago to his mature practice as an artist, activist, and educator in New York and Los Angeles, leading experts provide insights into White’s creative process, his work as a photographer, his political activism and interest in history, the relationship between his art and his teaching, and the importance of feminism in his work. A preface by Kerry James Marshall addresses White’s significance as a mentor to an entire generation of practitioners and underlines the importance of this largely overlooked artist.  

• Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power
• Charles White 2019 Wall Calendar
• Charles White: Black Pope
• Fired Up! Ready to Go!: Finding Beauty, Demanding Equity: An African American Life in Art. The Collections of Peggy Cooper Cafritz
• Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future
• Jack Whitten: Odyssey: Sculpture 1963–2017
• Delacroix
• Charles White (David C. Driskell Series of African American Art)
• Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today
• John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age