Chicago artist Kathleen Blackshear portrayed this young field worker named Alligator amid a rhythmic, stylized landscape that reflects her interest in modernist form. Blackshear was born in rural Navasota, Texas, and continued to spend summers there after she moved north. She defied the racial constraints still prevalent in Texas by befriending African American workers on nearby cotton farms and brought forth their individuality through her progressive approach to portraiture. Although cotton cultivation in the region was marked by the brutal legacy of enslavement and ongoing injustices, Blackshear here centers Alligator—a name or nickname that itself evokes a terrible history of violence against black children—as a laborer whose skills helped cultivate this lush landscape.
In Chicago, Blackshear was an influential teacher at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1926 to 1961, and an important mentor to young artists including Margaret Burroughs and Eldzier Cortor.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Carole Tormollan, A Tribute to Kathleen Blackshear, exh. cat. (School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Betty Rymer Gallery, 1990), 16, ill. fig. 4, 17.
Patricia Trenton, ed., Independent Spirits: Women Painters of the American West, 1890–1945, exh. cat. (Autry Museum of Western Heritage in association with the University of California Press, 1995), 201, ill. pl. 200.
Elizabeth Kennedy, ed., Chicago Modern, 1893–1945: Pursuit of the New, exh. cat. (Terra Museum of American Art and Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2004), 92 (ill.).
Chicago, Increase Robinson Studio Gallery, Diana Court, Michigan Square, The Chicago Society of Artists Autumn Exhibition, Nov. 1–22, 1930, cat. 9, as Alligator.
Chicago, The Palmer House Exhibition Hall, Chicago Artists Exhibition in Connection with Jubilee Week, May 11–20, 1931, cat. 95, as Alligator.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Betty Rymer Gallery, A Tribute to Kathleen Blackshear, Dec. 7, 1990–Jan. 9, 1991, cat. 3, fig. 3, 16–17.
Evanston, IL, Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, Thinking Modern: Painting in Chicago, 1910–1940, Jan. 18–Apr. 5, 1992, cat. 32
Los Angeles, CA, Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Independent Spirits: Women Painters of the American West, 1890–1945, Oct. 14, 1995–Jan. 28, 1996, pl. 200, pp. 196, 201; Tulsa, OK, Gilcrease Museum, Mar. 2–May 26, 1996; Santa Fe, Museum of New Mexico, Museum of Fine Arts, June 29–Sept. 22, 1996; Utah, Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Oct. 26, 1996–Jan. 19, 1997.
Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago Modern, 1893–1945: Pursuit of the New, July 17–Oct. 31, 2004, cat. 13, 92 (ill.).
Mr. and Mrs. William J. Terrell, Sr., Navasota, Tex., given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1991.
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