Sunlight and Shadow

Allan Rohan Crite, Sunlight and Shadow, 1941, oil on board, 25 ¹⁄₄ x 39 in. (64.2 x 99.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1977.45

Artwork Details

Title: Sunlight and Shadow
Artist: Allan Rohan Crite
Date: 1941
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 25 ¹⁄₄ x 39 in. (64.2 x 99.1 cm)
Credit Line: Museum purchase
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on board
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Landscape — park
Figure group — female
African American
Landscape — phenomenon — light
Architecture — vehicle — bicycle
Architecture Exterior — domestic — apartment
Object Number: 1977.45
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1977.45

Artwork Description

Allan Rohan Crite, a self-described artist-reporter, chronicled the seemingly insignificant moments of daily life in his Boston community throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. His paintings of playing children, church-going families, and friendly neighbors offer a glimpse into the lives of ordinary African Americans. In Sunlight and Shadow, three generations of neighbors gather in Madison Park in Boston's South End to spend a pleasant afternoon beneath the shady trees.