Illustrating Dignity: The Life and art of Charles white

Mar 11

Charles White was an American artist and illustrator born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1918. He is best known for his drawings and paintings of Black American people and effectively captured moments in the Black American experience. He worked in various mediums throughout his career, including drawing, painting, lithography, and printmaking.

His upbringing heavily influenced white's art in the South Side of Chicago. He grew up surrounded by a very special culture and was heavily influenced by the Church of God in Christ and gospel music. His figurative works were expressive and displayed both the strength and beauty of Black people in America and opened the doors of inspiration to many artists in the generations that followed. I stand among those that were inspired by Charles White and his tremendous presentation.

White attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the American Artists School in New York. While in school, he was exposed to the works of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, which profoundly influenced his work. The works of European masters such as Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt also influenced him.

White was also a successful illustrator that worked for several magazines and newspapers and created illustrations for books by authors such as Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and Zora Neale Hurston. His illustrations often depicted Black Americans in a positive light in a time when depictions of Black people were largely negative and, in that regard, he was a trailblazer in challenging negative stereotypes.

There was always something special about the hands of the characters that struck me as special. So much power and strength in every finger, every crevasse displaying our agency to make things happen. Charles White was one of the many trailblazing artists that inspired me to become an artist. He thought that “commentary from artists was essential” in a civilized society and that type of thinking is as true now as it was when White was in his prime as an artist. Charles White was a phenomenal art teacher as well and his classes were considered legendary as his students would get a powerfully inspired education that was as much a sermon as it was teaching the technical aspects of the creative presentation. When we remember Charles White, we are truly remembering one of the masters!