VVFA Modern | Artists | Charles Henry Alston (American, 1907 - 1977)
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Charles Henry Alston was a pioneering American black artist at the height of the civil rights movement. The first black instructor at the Art Students League and the Museum of Modern Art, and the first recipient of Columbia University’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Alston completed numerous works in oil, as well as public murals and mosaics, often in predominantly black neighborhoods. He was widely recognized as an influential artist and teacher whose students include Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence.
Sensitive to political events effecting blacks in America, Alston’s approach included looking to African forms for ways of expressing the African-American experience. Alston’s style was strongly influenced by African masks, but beyond imitating African motifs, he drew from their strong geometric orientation to create works that could participate in the latest developments in abstract modernism. Alston painted numerous portraits of figures from black history, such as Frederick Douglass and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as completing more personal themes, drawing on his experience of mid-century New York and expressing it in a highly expressive, abstract manner.
Alston worked at the Harlem Arts Workshop run by Augusta Savage at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library. When the school needed more space, Alston found additional room at 306 West 141 Street. Known as “306,” the school became a center for Harlem’s creative community. Alston, along with Augusta Savage and Arthur Schomburg, also became a founding member of the Harlem Artists Guild and of Spiral, a group of African-American artists who united to promote the cause of racial equality.
Exhibitions:
High Museum, Atlanta, GA Corcoran Gallery of Art Harmon Foundation, 1933-34 ACA Gallery, NYC, 1936 Museum of Modern Art, NY, 1936-70 (retrospective) Baltimore Museum of Art, 1937-39 American Negro Exhibition, 1940 Dillard University, New Orleans, 1941 Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1950 Whitney Museum of American Art, 1954-56 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, 1955-65 John Heller Gallery, NYC. 1956 Gallery of Modern Art, NYC, 1969 (retrospective) La Jolla Museum of Art Downtown Gallery, NYC
Collections:
Whitney Museum of American Art Metropolitan Museum of Art Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, OH Detroit Museum IBM Corporate Collection Atlanta University University of Nebraska Howard University, Washington DC Art Students League
Sensitive to political events effecting blacks in America, Alston’s approach included looking to African forms for ways of expressing the African-American experience. Alston’s style was strongly influenced by African masks, but beyond imitating African motifs, he drew from their strong geometric orientation to create works that could participate in the latest developments in abstract modernism. Alston painted numerous portraits of figures from black history, such as Frederick Douglass and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as completing more personal themes, drawing on his experience of mid-century New York and expressing it in a highly expressive, abstract manner.
Alston worked at the Harlem Arts Workshop run by Augusta Savage at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library. When the school needed more space, Alston found additional room at 306 West 141 Street. Known as “306,” the school became a center for Harlem’s creative community. Alston, along with Augusta Savage and Arthur Schomburg, also became a founding member of the Harlem Artists Guild and of Spiral, a group of African-American artists who united to promote the cause of racial equality.
Exhibitions:
High Museum, Atlanta, GA Corcoran Gallery of Art Harmon Foundation, 1933-34 ACA Gallery, NYC, 1936 Museum of Modern Art, NY, 1936-70 (retrospective) Baltimore Museum of Art, 1937-39 American Negro Exhibition, 1940 Dillard University, New Orleans, 1941 Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1950 Whitney Museum of American Art, 1954-56 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, 1955-65 John Heller Gallery, NYC. 1956 Gallery of Modern Art, NYC, 1969 (retrospective) La Jolla Museum of Art Downtown Gallery, NYC
Collections:
Whitney Museum of American Art Metropolitan Museum of Art Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, OH Detroit Museum IBM Corporate Collection Atlanta University University of Nebraska Howard University, Washington DC Art Students League
