Dox Thrash's Visceral Portraits of African-Americans

Greetings to all my inked up comrades, and welcome to 2015! This year promises to bring you a lot of new articles on artists, exhibitions and books on our favorite subject - prints! I enjoy hearing your comments on these articles and welcome hearing from you about any new printshops, upcoming workshops, and retreats.

To start the year off, we will look at the work of Dox Thrash (1893-1965), an African-American printmaker originally from Griffin, Georgia, who migrated north as part of the Great Migration. He settled in Chicago and then Philadelphia, producing work on the subject of African-American life. His work is largely recognized as portraying a positive view of African-Americans,promoting the idea of strong characters and bold portraits.

Thrash left home at the age of fifteen in search of work up north as part of the Great Migration (African American). He initially got work with a circus, then he moved to Chicago, and got a job as an elevator operator. He studied art, first through correspondence courses and then at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he completed his studies in 1923. During WWI, Thrash joined the army and fought in the Buffalo Soldiers brigade, where he suffered shell shock, but did not suffer any permanent after affects. In 1925, he settled in Philadelphia and took a job working as a janitor. Once in Philadelphia, he decided to study printmaking at the Graphic Sketch Club, now the Fleisher Art Memorial. In his free time, he continued his art and gained recognition for a poster he designed for the 2nd Annual National Negro Music Festival. He also joined the Tra Club of Philadelphia. He was an important member of Philadelphia’s Fine Print Workshop, a division of the Work Projects Administration’s Federal Arts Project, from 1937-1942, and his career flourished with this support.

Thrash mentored many young African American artists. Forty years after his death, Thrash was posthumously honored in Philadelphia with an exhibition called, “Dox Thrash: An African-American Master Printmaker Rediscovered”.

Thrash' view of the south included old cabins with a nostalgic view of his youth. Families living, working and playing around the homestead. laundry onthe line, the family bound together out of survival and out of necessity to survive as a unit. Some of his work depicted the horrific lynching common in the south prior to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, but some also present a solemn, even romantic view of man communing with his environment. These prints have the feel of 19th century French paintings and the works of Corot.

Thrash focused on subjects from the city, memories of his early life in rural Georgia, and nudes and portraits. Narrative, sentiment and African-American experience are the key elements of Thrash’s work; his innovative techniques are important only in so far as they dramatically express his subjects.There are several prints showing scenes of rustic cabins in idyllic landscapes. One print, titled "Sunday Morning", shows a woman dressed up and striding along in profile. (The subject of this print has been theorized as being Thrash’s mother walking to church.)

It was the strength of his African Americans portraits that Thrash emphasized over and over, reflecting his African American audience back at themselves, hinting at the psychological expense of attempting to conform to pre-existing white norms while presenting a new vision of the group as strong, positive role models overcoming their past and adversities.

Thrash's style is soft, dark and evokes passion. His line is classically structural and his tones softly Romantic, but the depth of his passion for his fellow man is evident in every rough, coarsely drawn line. His body of prints, which number over 100, are worth a look and can be seen in Ittmann's book which is listed below.

Thrash working in his studio.

Ittmann, John. Dox Thrash: An African-American Master Printmaker Rediscovered. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 2001.

James Lesesne Wells: African-American Printmaking Pioneer

As a part of our on-going series, History of Influential Printmakers, I came across the work of James Lesesne Wells and I think you will agree, his legacy in printmaking helped to promote the work of hundreds of young artists and he furthered the field of printmaking, especially for the masses of African-Americans whose opportunity to see and purchase original works of art were limited. 

James L. Wells was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1902, and raised in Florida. Wells’ artistic childhood was influenced by his parents’ religious beliefs, and his interest in teaching started as he helped his other run a daycare fro children. As a child, Wells used to stencil designs on the prayer meeting room walls of his father’s Baptist church and this lead him to study art. He attended the Florida Normal and Industrial Institute,  Lincoln University, and eventually earned both his Bachelors and Masters degrees at  the Teachers College of New York's Columbia University. He also studied one year at Stanley William Hayter's famed Atelier 17 workshop in New York.

Wells became a prolific printmaker and made his living for a time illustrating books and journals for the Crisis and Opportunity; two of the day's important black magazines.  Wells forged friendships with black scholars, including philosopher Alain Locke and historian Carter G. Woodson. These connections also led him to book illustration. He moved to Washington D.C. in 1929 and began teaching art at Howard University, where he would remain for thirty nine years. 

The Works Progress Administration used prints to make art available to the masses, this it was at this point Wells dedicated himself entirely to printmaking and developing his craft. Wells credited the impact of seeing a first ever exhibition of African sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum of Art as changing the way he thought about art and how much it affected his style from that point on. Another major influence upon his work was a trip he took to West Africa after his retirement from Howard. the images he saw there emboldened his use of color and powerful images. He loved the raw power of German Expressionist woodcuts and Cubism's use of African sculpture and ceremonial masks toward abstraction. The themes of his work often revolved around  mythological, religious, social/political messages, violence, seduction, and civil rights.  

Wells' work addressed the history and experiences of African-Americans and the working class, and after Wells married Ophelia Davidson in 1933, he became active in anti-segregation protests in Washington D.C. because her brother,Eugene Davidson, was president of the local chapter of the NAACP. 

Wells enjoyed numerous exhibits in galleries and museums worldwide, including the Corcoran, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Baltimore art museums, the Society of American Graphics in New York, Fisk University, a 50 year retrospective at Howard University,The Washington Project for the Arts and the Harlem Studio Museum.

James Lesesne Wells left a mark on the art world that goes beyond his own work as a painter and printmaker. He was also one of the earliest American artists to concentrate his efforts on printmaking.

Awards

Harmon Foundation, Gold Medal, 1931

Smithsonian Institution, First prize, Religious Art Exhibition, 1958

Van Der Zee Award, Afro-American History and Cultural Museum, 1977 

Presidential citation by Jimmy Carter for lifelong contribution to American art, 1980

"James L. Wells Day" declared by Mayor Marion Barry, Washington DC, 1984

Living Legend Award, National Black Arts Festival, 1991