WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Charles White

Charles White

Artist

PrintmakingHarlem RenaissanceStreet ArtRealism

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Movements

• Harlem Renaissance
• Street Art
• Realism
• Social Realism

Related Artists

No edges recorded

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

About

Why this artist matters now

Charles White was an American figurative artist working primarily in charcoal, ink, and lithography. His monumental drawings of African American workers and families, executed with meticulous technique and formal restraint, combined social realism with a modernist sensibility. Active from the 1940s onward, White's work addressed labor, dignity, and racial identity during the postwar period through large-scale portraiture and narrative compositions. His graphic works demonstrated both technical mastery and a commitment to accessible public art.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Harlem Renaissance

Medium

Printmaking

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern ArtNew York Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (78)

Sound of Silence

1979 · Lithograph in warm and cool black on tan wove paper

Image/sheet: 63 × 86.5 cm (24 13/16 × 34 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled (Head of a Woman III)

1979 · Etching in brown on white wove paper

Image/plate: 22.4 × 30.3 cm (8 7/8 × 11 15/16 in.); Sheet: 56.5 × 55.4 cm (22 1/4 × 21 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled (Head of a Man in Profile)

1979 · Etching in brown on white wove paper

226 × 304 (image/plate); 567 × 554 (sheet)

Art Institute of Chicago

Sound of Silence

1978 · Lithograph in warm and cool black on gray wove paper

Image/sheet: 63.8 × 87.9 cm (25 1/8 × 34 5/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Sound of Silence

1978 · Color lithograph on gray wove paper

Image: 62.3 × 84 cm (24 9/16 × 33 1/8 in.); Sheet: 63.5 × 89.5 cm (25 × 35 1/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Sound of Silence

1978 · Color lithograph on gray wove paper

Image/sheet: 63.7 × 89.7 cm (25 1/8 × 35 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Sound of Silence

1978 · Lithograph in black on tan wove paper

Image: 62.8 × 61.9 cm (24 3/4 × 24 3/8 in.); Sheet: 68.6 × 91.5 cm (27 1/16 × 36 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Sound of Silence

1978 · Lithograph in black on white wove paper

Image: 62.9 × 62 cm (24 13/16 × 24 7/16 in.); Sheet: 69 × 91.5 cm (27 3/16 × 36 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 78 artworks →

Record

Images

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

Related artists

Adjacent in the graph

Record

Movements and affiliations

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Auction house

Christie's

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

No exhibitions or timeline entries yet