This, My Brother

Charles WhiteWW-1942-013528

1942·Oil on canvas·61 × 91.4 cm (24 × 36 in.)

<p>“Paint is the only weapon I have with which to fight what I resent,” Chicagoan Charles White observed, demonstrating his belief that art could be a force in promoting racial equality for African Americans. This painting of a man with outstretched hands emerging from a demolished structure draws its title from a 1936 novel about a rural white miner who experiences a political awakening and joins the proletarian struggle against capitalism. White transformed the protagonist into a black man who breaks free from a mountain of rubble, a hopeful image of the possibility of social change.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1942
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 61 × 91.4 cm (24 × 36 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Charles White

Artist

Charles White

Printmaking

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.

Chicago, IL, USA

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