BIOGRAPHY
A painter, printmaker, and teacher, Hale Woodruff was a leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance, having studied at the John Herron Institute, Indianapolis, the school of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and the Académie Scandinave and the Académie Moderne, Paris. He also worked with Henry Ossawa Tanner in Paris (1931) and studied mural painting with Diego Rivera in Mexico City (1936). From the European schools, Woodruff learned strong composition and narrative power. He was concerned with amplifying the problems of Black Americans, and his murals (influenced by Rivera) carry sharp commentaries on subjects such as the poor social conditions of his compatriots and forebears in Georgia, and the Amistad slave uprising. In the South, Woodruff discovered and taught several talented artists including Frederick Flemister, Robert Neal, and Albert Wells, all of whose work bore the mark of Woodruff’s bold style and methods. While a faculty member at Atlanta University (1931–45), he launched the launched the ‘Art Annuals’, a series of exhibitions for African American artists from which a collection of art for the university (later Clark Atlanta University) was begun. After moving to New York, he taught at the Harlem Community Art Center, and at New York University (1945–68).
Woodruff’s work as a painter was equaled by his many wood engravings, which exhibited his knowledge of French Cubism and Expressionism, evoking images of protest against racism (e.g. By Parties Unknown and Giddap). From the 1950s, Woodruff's work became increasingly abstract as he absorbed the influence of the New York Abstract Expressionists (e.g. Ancestral Memory and Celestial Gate).
A painter, printmaker, and teacher, Hale Woodruff was a leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance, having studied at the John Herron Institute, Indianapolis, the school of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and the Académie Scandinave and the Académie Moderne, Paris. He also worked with Henry Ossawa Tanner in Paris (1931) and studied mural painting with Diego Rivera in Mexico City (1936). From the European schools, Woodruff learned strong composition and narrative power. He was concerned with amplifying the problems of Black Americans, and his murals (influenced by Rivera) carry sharp commentaries on subjects such as the poor social conditions of his compatriots and forebears in Georgia, and the Amistad slave uprising. In the South, Woodruff discovered and taught several talented artists including Frederick Flemister, Robert Neal, and Albert Wells, all of whose work bore the mark of Woodruff’s bold style and methods. While a faculty member at Atlanta University (1931–45), he launched the launched the ‘Art Annuals’, a series of exhibitions for African American artists from which a collection of art for the university (later Clark Atlanta University) was begun. After moving to New York, he taught at the Harlem Community Art Center, and at New York University (1945–68).
Woodruff’s work as a painter was equaled by his many wood engravings, which exhibited his knowledge of French Cubism and Expressionism, evoking images of protest against racism (e.g. By Parties Unknown and Giddap). From the 1950s, Woodruff's work became increasingly abstract as he absorbed the influence of the New York Abstract Expressionists (e.g. Ancestral Memory and Celestial Gate).
RESOURCES
1. Three portraits of Countee Cullen
2. Works of art by Hale Woodruff in the Crystal Bridges Museum collection: Untitled
1. Three portraits of Countee Cullen
2. Works of art by Hale Woodruff in the Crystal Bridges Museum collection: Untitled
REFERENCES
Biography adapted from "Woodruff, Hale." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web.<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T092209>
Artwork behind title: Woodruff's Untitled (detail), Crystal Bridges Museum
Biography adapted from "Woodruff, Hale." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web.<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T092209>
Artwork behind title: Woodruff's Untitled (detail), Crystal Bridges Museum
