Woodruff was born in Cairo, Illinois, on August 26, 1900.^[1] He grew up in a black family in Nashville, Tennessee,^[2] where he attended the local segregated schools. He studied at the Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, Art Institute of Chicago, and the Harvard Fogg Art Museum.

Woodruff won an award from the Harmon Foundation in 1926,^[3] which enabled him to spend four "crucial years studying in Paris from 1927–31."^[4] He studied at the Académie Scandinave [sv] and the Académie Moderne.^[5] He learned in the city's museums as well, while getting to know other expatriates, including Henry Ossawa Tanner, the leading African-American artist. Woodruff met leading figures of the French avant-garde and began collecting African art, which was a source of inspiration for many other modernists, including Pablo Picasso.^[6]

He returned to the U.S. in 1931 and married Theresa Ada Baker that year. They had one son, Roy.^[7]

Woodruff painted two other surviving murals, though these were not frescoes but oil on canvas of monumental size. The Negro in California History--Settlement and Development (1949), was one of two panels commissioned by the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company in Los Angeles; the other panel was created by Charles Alston. Woodruff also completed six panels around 1950-1951 called Art of the Negro, now at the Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries.^[14]

In 1942, even with World War II raging, Woodruff initiated the Atlanta University Art Annuals, an exhibit and competition that was conducted until 1970. These 29 national art exhibitions were a key venue for black artists.^[14]

In 1946, Woodruff joined the faculty at New York University in Manhattan. He taught there for more than 20 years before retiring in 1968. Malkia Roberts was among his many New York students.^[15]

During the 1950s Woodruff had three solo exhibition at the Bertha Schaefer Gallery.^[16]

Woodruff died in New York City on September 6, 1980.^[1]

Reference Artworks: