{"data":{"id":"1412","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1412,"topgoose_id":233,"tms_id":1412,"display_name":"Charles White","sort_name":"White Charles","display_date":"1918–1979","begin_date":"1918","end_date":"1979","biography":"\u003cp\u003eCharles White’s paintings, drawings,\nand prints are characterized by an\nunwavering dedication to representing the\nhistory and experience of African\nAmericans. Among his best-known works is\na mural commission he created in Chicago\nin 1939–40 for the Works Progress\nAdministration. He remained committed\nto a social realist style of figurative painting\ninto the postwar era, when abstraction\ndominated the mainstream art world.\nWhite’s socially conscious portraits portray\nboth celebrated civil rights activists, such\nas Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass,\nand archetypal everyday community\nfigures, including mothers and laborers,\nas venerable, valiant subjects.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhite began his \u003cem\u003eWanted Poster\nSeries\u003c/em\u003e in the late 1960s, after coming across\nreproductions of pre–Civil War posters\nthat advertised slave auctions or economic\nrewards for the return of runaway slaves,\nthereby assigning a specific monetary\nvalue to their lives. Against an abstract,\nsepia-toned background recalling\ncreased and timeworn parchment, \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/3309\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWanted\nPoster Series #4\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e presents a cropped\nimage of a contemporary girl; the letters\nstenciled near the top of her picture\nidentify her as “Sarah,” while the sum printed\nbelow it, “$3600,” indifferently assesses\nher worth as if she were a slave. As White\nexplained: “During the past decade the\nblack people of this country have waged\na heroic militant struggle for their\nfundamental rights. As a result they have\non numerous occasions been jailed or\nin some instances become fugitives. I see\nmany parallels between the period of\nslavery and now. Thus in a series of works,\nstill continuing, I made this point.”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500115749","wikidata_id":"Q5083521","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:34:26.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-09T07:02:25.480-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1412/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1412/exhibitions"}}}}