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This, My Brother

An oil painting of a large, male African American figure who looks left into the distance. He holds his hand out towards the dark blue sky, and he appears to break free from a pile of rubble in the background.
© The Charles White Archives

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  • An oil painting of a large, male African American figure who looks left into the distance. He holds his hand out towards the dark blue sky, and he appears to break free from a pile of rubble in the background.

Date:

1942

Artist:

Charles White
American, 1918–1979

About this artwork

“Paint is the only weapon I have with which to fight what I resent,” Chicagoan Charles White observed, demonstrating his belief that art could be a force in promoting racial equality for African Americans. This painting of a man with outstretched hands emerging from a demolished structure draws its title from a 1936 novel about a rural white miner who experiences a political awakening and joins the proletarian struggle against capitalism. White transformed the protagonist into a black man who breaks free from a mountain of rubble, a hopeful image of the possibility of social change.

Status

On View, Gallery 262

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Charles White

Title

This, My Brother

Place

Chicago (Object made in)

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.

1942

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Signed lower right: Charles White 42

Dimensions

61 × 91.4 cm (24 × 36 in.)

Credit Line

Pauline Palmer Prize Fund

Reference Number

1999.224

Copyright

© The Charles White Archives

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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