The Children

Charles White, The Children, 1950, ink and graphite on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Julie Seitzman and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2009.13
Copied Charles White, The Children, 1950, ink and graphite on paper, sheet: 29 3⁄4 x 20 in. (75.6 x 50.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Julie Seitzman and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2009.13

Artwork Details

Title
The Children
Artist
Date
1950
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 29 3⁄4 x 20 in. (75.6 x 50.8 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Julie Seitzman and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
ink and graphite on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Architecture Exterior — detail — window
  • African American
  • Children
Object Number
2009.13
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2009.13

Artwork Description

Two figures stare out a narrow window. The young girl cradles a large doll in her arms, protecting the doll’s chest with her hand. The doll is missing a head, arms, and feet. The larger, second figure is possibly an older brother, or perhaps her mother. The cramped space of this composition, made even more confined by the two horizontal planks across the window frame, creates a feeling of tension and claustrophobia. This powerful drawing distills the anxieties that many African Americans felt in pre-civil rights days.

Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009
New Acquisition Label

Charles White is one of the leading African American artists of the twentieth century. He is best known for the masterful drawings he created throughout his career. In this very intense composition, two figures stare out of a narrow window. The young girl cradles a large doll in her arms. The doll is missing its head, arms, and feet. The larger second figure is possibly an older brother, or perhaps her mother. The cramped space of this composition, made even more confined by the two horizontal planks across the window frame, creates a feeling of tension and claustrophobia.

This drawing is charged with ambiguities and possibilities. What are the figures looking at? What is their relationship? Are they both even looking at the same thing? Why is the doll missing parts of her body? Does her truncated body suggest the limited opportunities the little girl will face? Do the two boards across the window simply confine the figures, or do they also represent how the lives of these two figures are barred from full development by restrictions imposed on people of their race? This powerful composition expresses the anxieties of African American people in pre-civil rights days without reference to a specific incident.

White's bold composition and intensity of expression in this drawing make it one of his most memorable images. His mastery of line to suggest the distinct textures of skin, hair, cloth, and wood, reveal his stature as one of the leading draftsmen of the twentieth century.

Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009