By Esther Adler

 

The Chicago-born artist Charles White (1918–79) was celebrated during his lifetime for depictions of African-Americans that acquired the description "images of dignity." His application of his extraordinary draftsmanship to address a lifetime of social and political concerns made him a vital influence on both his contemporaries and later generations; visually compelling and intellectually ambitious, his art engages audiences on many levels.

 

Beginning with his early days in Chicago, moving through his time in New York in the late 1940s and '50s, and closing with his final decades as a revered artist and teacher in Los Angeles, Charles White: Black Pope offers a detailed exploration of his practice, focusing in particular on his late masterwork Black Pope (Sandwich Board Man), in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art. 64 pp.; 35 illus.