Charles White: The David C. Driskell Series of American Art: Volume 1 - Book Review

Black Issues Book Review, Nov-Dec, 2002 by Clarence V. Reynolds

by Andrea D. Barnwell Promegranate, October 2002, $35.00, ISBN 0-764-92129-0

Settle your eyes on a painting by Charles White, and it is easy to understand why he is hailed as a treasure. An artist of incredible talent, White's oeuvre testifies to the sentiment that reflects both the strength and suffering that characterize the African-American experience. White was, indeed, a painter committed to conveying truth in his work. In the opening pages of the new book Charles White by Andrea D. Barnwell, White is regarded as "one of the great voices among those black Americans who have been the real interpreters of the American Negro."

Throughout his career, White was a noble voice for his race. And in the book's foreword, renowned art curator and scholar David C. Driskell eloquently describes the importance of White's voice, his influence and the stature of his work within the art world.

Art historian Andrea D. Barnwell, director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, examines and relates the chapters of White's life with a quality similar to that in which the artist expressed his humanity. Her text introduces White in his youthful years in Chicago, where he began sketching and displayed artistic talent as early as age five. Barnwell illustrates White's life revealing the cultural, environmental and personal influences that stoked his passion. She recounts his affiliation with The Arts and Crafts Guild, his marriage to sculptor Elizabeth Catlett, his move to New York and later Los Angeles, his bouts with tuberculosis, and the impact of the Civil Rights struggle on his work.

While the tone of Barnwell's narrative is both amiable and edifying, it is the careful selection of White's artwork that adds weight to the book. Through the numerous drawings and paintings, which are beautifully reproduced here, it is clear that White's foremost desire was to celebrate his family and friends, and uplift his race.

In Five Great American Negroes, which is reminiscent of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, and Kitchenette Debutantes (at left), White displays his bold use of color to reflect the power embodied in his subjects. In his charcoal drawing J'Accuse, he chooses to show the quiet inner strength of a young woman, toting a basket on her back. No matter the medium, with his unique style of realism, the faces in White's portraits possess a dignity about them; their burdens and the weight of their worlds appear evident.

Charles White is the first artist profiled in an upcoming series that will be overseen by Driskell. In documenting the life and work of such a seminal artist, it gives readers, particularly those interested in black artists, plenty to anticipate.