Charles White Retrospective at Art Institute a Reflection on Excellence

Two years following the stunning Kerry James Marshall exhibit at the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Institute of Chicago has brought a spectacular retrospective of another world acclaimed black artist who also happens to be a Chicago native son, Charles H. White.  Marking the centennial of White’s birth, the exhibit is currently enjoying a run that will carry it through early September when it will then travel to the Museum of Modern Art in New York before heading to L.A.’s County Museum of Art.

As is so often true of the phenomenally gifted, White’s artistic skills were evident very early.  Born in 1918, the self-portrait he created when he was 17 reflects the work of an artist who is not only tremendously accomplished but who is also capable of arresting depth.   Charles White:  A Retrospective takes you on a chronological journey through the artist’s extraordinary career and allows us to see how his sensibilities as a man matured and merged with his growth as an artist.

White’s abilities as a draftsman receive near constant mention.  When referring to a creative artist, the term sounds as if it might carry negative connotations.  In White’s case, it is the ultimate compliment.  The same was said of Matisse and simply refers to their seemingly boundless technical skills and incredible precision.  White uses both to tell the world how he sees and feels about it through various artistic mediums.

Although the exhibit includes pieces that extends to work White completed just prior to his death in 1979, most of the retrospective focuses on the three decades of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s and is, aesthetically, richly beautiful.  Many of the works predate a cohesive self-affirming black consciousness that would spread through the United States in the 60’s. Other pieces parallel the “Black is Beautiful” movement that eventually prevailed.  The work White did during that time carried the artist’s unique and insightful perspective and were executed with the deftness of greatness.

One characteristic that threads through all of White’s art is the sense of physical strength he gives his subjects.  1940’s America was a cruel place for blacks.  Segregation was imbedded in the code of law as well as the everyday fabric of life.  Defying caricature, White saw the people with whom he shared a culture as much more than marginalized and dimensionless.  He saw them as they were; complex, nuanced and conscious of the who they are and how they were treated.  As shown in Four Workers, completed in 1940, that doesn’t mean they look or feel defeated.  White has given them something beyond dignity.  You may see fatigue in their faces, but what you see even more clearly is the strength shining through their eyes.  White matches that inner strength with muscular bodies that exude a complementary power.

White mastered the ability to distill the twin messages of strength and purpose and apply them to the human face as we see in Gideon (1951).  Intended to portray the likeness of an archetype, a model of what an ideal leader would look like, the image; like many of White’s portraits, is mesmerizing for its realism and the success of its emotive reach.  The entire piece is exquisitely drawn but it’s again the eyes that give Gideon so much expressive life.

That realism may be why White’s son says that he’s seen people shed tears while looking at his father’s work.  Its authenticity can be completely disarming.  Whether presented in something as resplendently confident as Our Land, a reinterpreted vision of Grant Woods American Gothic, with its lovely demeanor that says “I Got This”; or the individual poignancy found in each face of his 1966 Negro Women, the humanity captured in White’s images invites you to take your time and get to know these people through his representations of them.

Revisiting ideas, subjects and themes, he’d often over time paint multiple images of work he’d done before.  Historical figures are common subjects and receive near reverential treatment.  His depictions of John Brown and Abraham Lincoln are remarkably fresh perspectives that cause you to see these figures more deeply and with perhaps even with genuine compassion.

White said during his career that he sees a common good in people.  But he also saw and felt the inequities in life.  Having found a number of pre-Civil War posters advertising slave auctions and reward posters for runaway slaves, he completed a series of that is now known as the Wanted Poster Series.  In them, the indictment of man’s inhumanity to man comes through as clearly as the meticulous beauty exuding from each image.

By bringing together 80 of White’s finest works, the Art Institute is allowing us to fully absorb and appreciate not only White’s brilliant art, but also the man and his matchless vision.

Charles White: A Retrospective

Through September 3, 2018

Art Institute of Chicago

111 S. Michigan Ave.

Chicago, IL    60603

www.artic.org