Art Class

William H. Johnson, Art Class, ca. 1939-1940, oil on plywood, 32 ⁷⁄₈ x 29 in. (83.5 x 73.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.579

Artwork Details

Title: Art Class
Artist: William H. Johnson
Date: ca. 1939-1940
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 32 ⁷⁄₈ x 29 in. (83.5 x 73.6 cm.)
Credit Line: Gift of the Harmon Foundation
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on plywood
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Figure group — female
African American
Occupation — education — student
Object — art tool — palette
Object — art tool — easel
Object Number: 1967.59.579
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1967.59.579

Artwork Description

In the late 1930s, William H. Johnson adopted a self-consciously “primitive” style that masked a sophisticated understanding of how to compose a picture. This image is carefully constructed so that all the parts of the painting spin off of the brilliant blue in the girl’s dress at the center of the canvas. The curved chairs, floorboards and diagonal lines of the easels create a two-dimensional pattern that Johnson filled with brilliant color. Art Class reflects Johnson’s experience teaching in a Harlem community center funded by New Deal initiatives such as the Works Progress Administration, which gave young African American artists far greater opportunities than Johnson had known just after World War I, when he was young and ambitious.