Object Details
Artist
Earle Richardson, born New York City 1912-died New York City 1935
Gallery Label
A group of Black farmers works barefoot in a Southern cotton field. The monumental figures stand with a quiet pride that transcends their identity as manual laborers. Their forms take up the foreground, confronting the viewers as equals.
Artist Earle Richardson was one of only about ten Black artists listed among the thousands of artists employed by the Public Works of Art Project. A native New Yorker, he set this painting in the South to make a statement about his race.
Richardson and fellow artist Malvin Gray Johnson planned to express more about Black history and promise in a mural series called Negro Achievement, but neither young man lived long enough to complete the project.
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor
Date
1934
Object number
1964.1.183
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
48 x 32 1/8 in. (121.8 x 81.6 cm.)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
On View
Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1st Floor, South Wing
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Figure group
Occupation\farm\harvesting
Landscape\farm
African American
Landscape\plant\cotton
New Deal\Public Works of Art Project\New York State
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_1964.1.183