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Charles White (1918 - 1979)
Painter, lithographer, and teacher Charles Wilbert White was born in Chicago. As a child he played the violin, but found he had a natural talent for drawing, studying at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York. He taught at the Otis Art Institute (now Otis/Parsons) in Los Angeles from 1965 until his death in 1979.
Employed with the Works Project Administration (WPA) during the depression, White completed several large-scale murals, a stunning example of which can be seen at the Chicago Public Library.
In speaking of his work, White said:
"A book that fascinated me and opened up new vistas was Dr. Alain Locke's The New Negro. I had never realized that Negro people had done so much in the world of culture, that they had contributed so much to the development of America. - . . it became a kind of secret life, a new world of facts and ideas," Charles White explored that world in his work, depicting the strength and dignity of the "New Negro" in America.
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