This is an original handmade painting by Charles White, a prominent artist of the New Negro Movement in the Chicago Black Renaissance. Titled "African American Patriarch," it was produced in 1959 using ink, charcoal, and paper. The painting measures 9 1/2 inches in height and 10 inches in length. It is signed by the artist and is a tribute to African American culture. This Artist’s paintings have high auction prices of +$10,000 & will be a valuable addition to your fine art collection.

Charles Wilbert White was an artist of his people. He always insisted upon the dignity of the individual and respect for the human being. As a spiritual product of his race and environment, he reflected the fact that his grandfather was a slave in Mississippi and his mother had lived most of her life in the South, where little had changed from her father's day.

His respect for men, women and children was apparent in this search for the meaning of truth in terms of the daily life and the beauty that can be found through his drawings, paintings and prints. A warm understanding of the meaning of existence, man's aspirations and sorrows, his inner spirit, but above all his dignity, form the central core of Charles White's love affair with life. He is quoted as saying, "Paint is the only weapon that I have that which to fight what I resent. If I could write, I would write about it. If I could talk, I would talk about it. Since I paint, I must paint about it."

Charles White was born in 1918 in Chicago, where the family had migrated from the South. His parents were Ethel Gary and Charles White Sr., a Creek Indian. He lived and worked in his studio in Altadena, CA. for his last 20 years, until he died in Los Angeles in 1979.

His youth was spent in Chicago. His mother, a domestic worker, took young Charles to work with her. One day to keep him out of mischief she bought him a set of oil paints, which he then proceeded to use on the window shades. His earliest painting dates to when he was only seven years old.

His solace in a difficult life was the drawing board, and he continued to paint and draw as much as possible. He entered a nationwide high-school contest and won first prize. Later he applied for a scholarship at the Art Institute of Chicago and was granted scholarship for full-time study.

After his studies, Charles White was able to work professionally with other artists with the WPA. In 1939 under the auspices of the W.P.A. he painted the mural, "Five Great American Negroes" for the Cleveland Branch of the Chicago Public Library. This same years he exhibited at Howard University and received a commission from the Associate Negro Press to do the mural, "History of the Press" for the American Negro Exposition, Chicago.

Now the artist was able to speak about the Negro heroes of American history and their contribution to American life. As a W.P.A.painter, Charles White would show Booker T. Washington, educator; Frederick Douglass, statesman; George Washington Carver, scientist; and Marian Anderson, singer, on the same mural.

His works of art are found in museums throughout the United States, Germany, Africa and Japan. A partial list includes: Museum of Modern Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Howard University Museum; Atlanta University Museum; Oakland Museum; Tuskegee Institute.; American Federation of the Arts; Academy of Arts and Letters; Hirshhorn Museum, Taller de Grafica, Mexico City; Deutsche Academy der Künste, Berlin; Dresden Museum of Art.