Stud Poker
Charles Henry Alston American
Publisher WPA
Not on view
Alston’s family moved to New York from North Carolina during the Great Migration, when millions of Black Americans sought work in northern cities. As a muralist, sculptor, and illustrator, he participated in the Harlem Renaissance and established 306—named for his studio’s address at 306 West 141st Street—as a gathering place for artists, writers, and musicians. An influential artist and teacher, Alston received a 1938 fellowship to travel south and document Black culture; this monumentalized genre image of a poker game may be based on a photograph from that trip. The choice of lithography and subject matter echo prints commissioned by the Works Progress Administration, for which Alston worked as its first African-American supervisor.
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