A couple of weeks ago we went to Charles White’s exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition was titled Charles White: A Retrospective and it featured a whole floor of Charles White’s works ranging from paintings to drawings to print, all drawn with White’s unique style. When our guide took us through several of his most memorable works, she revealed some of the traits White commonly incorporates in the subjects of his pieces. One of the most obvious ones was the way White exaggerated the arms and hands of the people he painted. White specifically devoted himself to creating powerful images of American Americans, which were influenced by – and effectively expressed – their political, social, and historical struggles in America. The first work we stopped at was his 1939 mural “Five Great American Negroes,” featuring Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, and Marian Anderson. To the left, a trailing line of slaves are guided by Sojourner Truth to freedom while all the way at the right George Washington Carver looks through a microscope. As Professor Eversley elaborated, the mural shows the advances made throughout history as African Americans were able to open doors into the worlds of science and literature, which were out of reach in the confines of slavery and oppression.

One of the pieces Charles White created that I found the most compelling was the 1973 golden painting titled “Black Pope (Sandwich Board Man).” It took up its own wall in the center of the exhibition, much like how Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” was given its own spotlight in the floor above. Not many people know what the meaning of the piece is, revealed our guide, and Charles White never explicitly elaborated on its meaning or on whom it was inspired from. It features a black pope wearing sunglasses with a board hung around his neck doing the peace sign. The board has “NOW” stamped in the middle, and “Chicago” is written on what looks like a banner behind him. The piece could be representing a mixture of religious concepts, militarism, and the civil rights movement (after all, it was inspired by a 1960s photograph by Leonard Freed). In a sense, it captures the spirit of the civil rights movement. Despite all the advancements made throughout history, racial prejudice and discrimination are still prevalent today, which makes pieces from artists like Charles White all the more valuable for their messages and influence.