Charles Henry Alston
1907–1977
An influential painter, printmaker, sculptor, teacher, and activist, Charles Henry Alston was a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Moving with his family to Harlem in 1915, Alston began painting and sculpting as an adolescent before pursuing formal art studies at Columbia University in 1925. During college and after receiving his MA in 1931, Alston taught art at two important Harlem community centers: the Utopia Children’s House, where he trained a young Jacob Lawrence, and the Harlem Art Workshop. The experiences led him to establish his own studio workshop in 1934, which quickly became a hub for artists and intellectuals, including Romare Bearden, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Knight, and Augusta Savage. This deep engagement with his community is reflected in Alston’s art, from the Social Realist scenes of his Harlem Hospital murals to the more painterly compositions of his canvases, both figurative and abstract.
The Family is a portrait of four figures, rendered through bold blocks of color and defined by thin lines created with a palette knife. Calling the family “a recurring theme in my painting,” Alston wrote that the work was “an attempt to express the security, stability and human fulfillment which the ideal family represents.” His artistic challenge, he explained, was “to find the painterly equivalents for these qualities, as well as [to] tell the story”; he found the solution in “a compact, well-organized design with subtle harmonies and discords and a certain solid, monumental quality.”
Introduction
Charles Henry "Spinky" Alston (November 28, 1907 – April 27, 1977) was an American painter, sculptor, illustrator, muralist and teacher who lived and worked in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. Alston was active in the Harlem Renaissance; Alston was the first African-American supervisor for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. Alston designed and painted murals at the Harlem Hospital and the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building. In 1990, Alston's bust of Martin Luther King Jr. became the first image of an African American displayed at the White House.
Wikidata identifier
Q1906150
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed May 8, 2025.
Introduction
An African-American painter, Alston lived and worked in New York City. He received his B.A. from Columbia and his M.A. from New York University. He became known for murals depicting the African-American experience.
Country of birth
United States
Roles
Artist, cartoonist, graphic artist, illustrator, muralist, painter, photographer, sculptor, teacher
ULAN identifier
500089734
Names
Charles Henry Alston
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed May 8, 2025.
