Charles White: A Retrospective

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Charles White. _Oh, Mary, Don’t You Weep_. 1956. Graphite and pen and ink on board, 39 1/4 x 41 1/2" (99.7 x 102.9 cm). Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR. © The Charles White Archives/ Photo: Edward C. Robinson III

Charles White. Oh, Mary, Don’t You Weep. 1956

Charles White. Oh, Mary, Don’t You Weep. 1956. Graphite and pen and ink on board, 39 1/4 x 41 1/2" (99.7 x 102.9 cm). Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR. © The Charles White Archives/ Photo: Edward C. Robinson III

ESTHER ADLER: I just find this to be one of the most beautiful images of women in thought that I've seen. I feel like we've all had moments where we're thinking about the future, where we're processing things that have happened to us, or our fears for the future. And I just think these are such gorgeously captured moments of intensity and emotion in a moment of total stillness.

HARRY BELAFONTE: You look at Charlie White and you look at the faces of black people, there's a serenity. There's a hope. There's always a strength in his characters. If you look at the paintings that he does, the limbs of the black subject is always powerfully displayed. Strong arms. A lot of other art saw us as meager, as starving somehow. A Charlie White, you look at that and that was a place to be celebrated.