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Robert Gwathmey Art

American, 1903-1988

Robert Gwathmey became an artist known for his Social Realist depictions of life in the rural South. He was one of the first white artists to create dignified images of African-American people and did so in a style that was Modernist with many geometric forms and bold coloration. Although he lived intermittently in Pennsylvania and in the South, he spent most of his 45-year career in New York City, where his studio was at 1 West 68th Street. Frequently, he returned to the South, where he became concerned about the problems dividing blacks and whites.

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Artist: Robert Gwathmey
"Girl with Guitar" Robert Gwathmey, Music, Southern Social Commentary, Modernism
By Robert Gwathmey
Located in New York, NY
Robert Gwathmey Girl with Guitar, 1965 Signed upper right Oil on canvas 16 x 20 inches Provenance: The artist ACA Galleries, New York Mr. Moses Asch, New York Terry Dintenfass Galle...
Category

1960s American Modern Robert Gwathmey Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Migrant
By Robert Gwathmey
Located in Long Island City, NY
Born in Richmond, Virginia, Robert Gwathmey became an artist known for his Social Realist depictions of life in the rural South. He was one of the first white artists to create digni...
Category

1970s American Modern Robert Gwathmey Art

Materials

Screen

Vintage Lithograph Poster Robert Gwathmey Terry Dintenfass Gallery NYC
By Robert Gwathmey
Located in Surfside, FL
Robert Gwathmey (January 24, 1903 – September 21, 1988) was an American social realist painter. His wife was photographer Rosalie Gwathmey (September 15, 1908 – February 12, 2001) and his son was architect Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – August 3, 2009). Robert was born to Robert Gwathmey Sr. (1866-1902) and Eva Mortimer Harrison (1868-1941). His half sisters were Kathrine and Ida Carrington. Robert Sr. was killed at work by an explosion and his wife was killed in a vehicular accident. Gwathmey attended North Carolina State College in Raleigh, studying business from 1922-1923. He did not think this path would take him anywhere so he got a job on a freighter and later studied a year at the Maryland Institute of Design in Baltimore. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia is where he completed his education of the arts; he spent four years there. In 1929 and 1930, Gwathmey was the winner of the Cresson Traveling Scholarship, which allowed him the opportunity to study abroad in the summers. He traveled to Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Venice, Vienna, Munich, and London. Throughout his studies, Robert Gwathmey was influenced by many artists including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, and Rufino Tamayo from the European modernists, French satirist Honoré Daumier, realist painter Jean-François Millet along with Daumier and Degas. Gwathmey is known for simplifying compositions and using symbolic abstraction to create his messages. His style is recognized by the color, shapes, and figures he uses in his artwork. When asked about being a "social artist" this was his reply: "I'm a social being and I don't see how you can be an artist and be separate....Artists have eyes...You go home. You see things that are almost forgotten. It's always shocking." After finishing school, Robert Gwathmey was a professor at several colleges: Temple University in Philadelphia (1930-1932), Beaver College in Glenside, PA (1930-1937), Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, PA (1939-1942), the Cooper Union School of Art, New York City (1942-1968), New School for Social Research, New York (1946-1949), and Boston University (1968-1969). He was an instructor to artists Faith Ringgold[8] and Alvin Carl Hollingsworth...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Robert Gwathmey Art

Materials

Lithograph

NON-FICTION
By Robert Gwathmey
Located in Portland, ME
Gwathmey, Robert. NON-FICTION. Color screenprint, 1941 (Williams, 5). Signed "Gwathmey" in ink within the image, lower left. Edition size not known. 16 7/8 x 13 1/2 inches, 427 x 34...
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1940s Robert Gwathmey Art

Materials

Screen

MIGRANT
By Robert Gwathmey
Located in Portland, ME
Gwathmey, Robert (American 1903-1988). MIGRANT. Screenprint, 1978. An Artist's Proof aside from the edition of 100. Signed in pencil and inscribed "A/P.". 27 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (ima...
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1970s Robert Gwathmey Art

Materials

Screen

END OF THE DAY
By Robert Gwathmey
Located in Portland, ME
Gwathmey, Robert (American, 1903-1988). END OF THE DAY. Williams 4. Screenprint in colors, 1944. Edition size not known. Signed in ink, lower right, within the image. 12 1/4 x 14 ...
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1940s Robert Gwathmey Art

Materials

Screen

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By the time he was thirty years old, Lawrence had been labeled as the ​“foremost Negro artist,” and since that time his career has been a series of extraordinary accomplishments. Moreover, Lawrence is one of the few painters of his generation who grew up in a black community, was taught primarily by black artists, and was influenced by black people. Lawrence was born on September 7, 1917,* in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was the eldest child of Jacob and Rosa Lee Lawrence. The senior Lawrence worked as a railroad cook and in 1919 moved his family to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he sought work as a coal miner. Lawrence’s parents separated when he was seven, and in 1924 his mother moved her children first to Philadelphia and then to Harlem when Jacob was twelve years old. He enrolled in Public School 89 located at 135th Street and Lenox Avenue, and at the Utopia Children’s Center, a settlement house that provided an after school program in arts and crafts for Harlem children. The center was operated at that time by painter Charles Alston who immediately recognized young Lawrence’s talents. Shortly after he began attending classes at Utopia Children’s Center, Lawrence developed an interest in drawing simple geometric patterns and making diorama type paintings from corrugated cardboard boxes. Following his graduation from P.S. 89, Lawrence enrolled in Commerce High School on West 65th Street and painted intermittently on his own. As the Depression became more acute, Lawrence’s mother lost her job and the family had to go on welfare. Lawrence dropped out of high school before his junior year to find odd jobs to help support his family. He enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal jobs program, and was sent to upstate New York. There he planted trees, drained swamps, and built dams. When Lawrence returned to Harlem he became associated with the Harlem Community Art Center directed by sculptor Augusta Savage, and began painting his earliest Harlem scenes. Lawrence enjoyed playing pool at the Harlem Y.M.C.A., where he met ​“Professor” Seifert, a black, self styled lecturer and historian who had collected a large library of African and African American literature. Seifert encouraged Lawrence to visit the Schomburg Library in Harlem to read everything he could about African and African American culture. He also invited Lawrence to use his personal library, and to visit the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition of African art in 1935. As the Depression continued, circumstances remained financially difficult for Lawrence and his family. Through the persistence of Augusta Savage, Lawrence was assigned to an easel project with the W.P.A., and still under the influence of Seifert, Lawrence became interested in the life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, the black revolutionary and founder of the Republic of Haiti. Lawrence felt that a single painting would not depict L’Ouverture’s numerous achievements, and decided to produce a series of paintings on the general’s life. Lawrence is known primarily for his series of panels on the lives of important African Americans in history and scenes of African American life. His series of paintings include: The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, 1937, (forty one panels), The Life of Frederick Douglass, 1938, (forty panels), The Life of Harriet Tubman, 1939, (thirty one panels), The Migration of the Negro,1940 – 41, (sixty panels), The Life of John Brown, 1941, (twenty two panels), Harlem, 1942, (thirty panels), War, 1946 47, (fourteen panels), The South, 1947, (ten panels), Hospital, 1949 – 50, (eleven panels), Struggle: History of the American People, 1953 – 55, (thirty panels completed, sixty projected). Lawrence’s best known series is The Migration of the Negro, executed in 1940 and 1941. The panels portray the migration of over a million African Americans from the South to industrial cities in the North between 1910 and 1940. These panels, as well as others by Lawrence, are linked together by descriptive phrases, color, and design. In November 1941 Lawrence’s Migration series was exhibited at the prestigious Downtown Gallery in New York. This show received wide acclaim, and at the age of twenty four Lawrence became the first African American artist to be represented by a downtown ​“mainstream” gallery. During the same month Fortune magazine published a lengthy article about Lawrence, and illustrated twenty six of the series’ sixty panels. In 1943 the Downtown Gallery exhibited Lawrence’s Harlem series, which was lauded by some critics as being even more successful than the Migration panels. In 1937 Lawrence obtained a scholarship to the American Artists School in New York. At about the same time, he was also the recipient of a Rosenwald Grant for three consecutive years. In 1943 Lawrence joined the U.S. Coast Guard and was assigned to troop ships that sailed to Italy and India. After his discharge in 1945, Lawrence returned to painting the history of African American people. In the summer of 1947 Lawrence taught at the innovative Black Mountain College in North Carolina at the invitation of painter Josef Albers. During the late 1940s Lawrence was the most celebrated African American painter in America. Young, gifted, and personable, Lawrence presented the image of the black artist who had truly ​“arrived”. Lawrence was, however, somewhat overwhelmed by his own success, and deeply concerned that some of his equally talented black artist friends had not achieved a similar success. As a consequence, Lawrence became deeply depressed, and in July 1949 voluntarily entered Hillside Hospital in Queens, New York, to receive treatment. He completed the Hospital series while at Hillside. Following his discharge from the hospital in 1950, Lawrence resumed painting with renewed enthusiasm. In 1960 he was honored with a retrospective exhibition and monograph prepared by The American Federation of Arts. He also traveled to Africa twice during the 1960s and lived primarily in Nigeria. Lawrence taught for a number of years at the Art Students League in New York, and over the years has also served on the faculties of Brandeis University, the New School for Social Research, California State College at Hayward, the Pratt Institute, and the University of Washington, Seattle, where he is currently Professor Emeritus of Art. In 1974 the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York held a major retrospective of Lawrence’s work that toured nationally, and in December 1983 Lawrence was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The most recent retrospective of Lawrence’s paintings was organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2020, and was accompanied by a major catalogue. Lawrence met his wife Gwendolyn Knight...
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1970s American Modern Robert Gwathmey Art

Materials

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Previously Available Items
original lithograph
By Robert Gwathmey
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original lithograph. This lithograph was printed in 1958 for the "Improvisations" portfolio, published by the Artists Equity Association of New York on the occasion of the 19...
Category

1950s Robert Gwathmey Art

Materials

Lithograph

original lithograph
By Robert Gwathmey
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original lithograph. This lithograph was printed in 1957 for the "Improvisations" portfolio, published by the Artists Equity Association of New York on the occasion of the 19...
Category

1950s Robert Gwathmey Art

Materials

Lithograph

"Migrant" Robert Gwathmey, Baskets of Food Produce, American Realism, Farm Work
By Robert Gwathmey
Located in New York, NY
Robert Gwathmey (1903 - 1988) Migrant Color screenprint Sheet 28 x 18 1/2 inches Signed lower right and numbered "63/100" Provenance: Private Collection, Palm Beach, Florida Robert...
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1970s American Realist Robert Gwathmey Art

Materials

Paper, Screen

TOBACCO FARMERS
By Robert Gwathmey
Located in Portland, ME
Gwathmey, Robert (American, 1903-1988). TOBACCO FARMERS. Color serigraph, 1947. Edition of 300. Signed in ink within the image, lower left. 13 3/4 x 10 1/2 (image), 19 3/4 x 13 3/4 (...
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Robert Gwathmey art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Robert Gwathmey art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Robert Gwathmey in screen print, lithograph, canvas and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Robert Gwathmey art, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Clifford Isaac Addams, Marion Osborn Cunningham, and George Biddle. Robert Gwathmey art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $200 and tops out at $19,000, while the average work can sell for $3,500.

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