This print is a wood engraving, a type of woodcut that is carved from a particularly hard piece of end-grain wood. The hardness of the block makes it possible for the artist to produce very sharp, crisp lines, as one sees in the fine details of these figures and their clothing. It is also a medium that lends itself to strong chiaroscuro effects of light and dark, conducive to night scenes or dark interiors. Here, a group of men listen to the fiery rhetoric of a union organizer who gesticulates above them from a raised platform. His words, like a preacher's, hold their rapt attention, save for the man in the foreground who turns away to light a cigarette. As African Americans from the South migrated North in search of work, they joined the labor unions in large numbers, adding to their burgeoning power.
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Inscription: Inscribed (lower left, in graphite): Harangue; inscribed (lower center, in graphite): 4/15; signed and dated (lower right, in graphite): Wilmer Jennings 42
[Kenkeleba House, New York, until 1992; sold on April 1, 1992 to Williams]; Reba and Dave Williams, New York (1992–99; their gift to MMA)
Hamilton, N. Y. Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University. "Life Impressions: 20th-Century African American Prints from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 10–November 4, 2001, no. 18.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "African-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 15–May 4, 2003, extended to July 6, 2003, no. 23.
Hale A. Woodruff in Lawrence F. Sykes. Four from Providence: Bannister, Prophet, Alston, Jennings. Black Artists in the Rhode Island Social Landscape. Exh. cat., Rhode Island College Art Center, Edward M. Bannister Gallery. Providence, 1978, unpaginated, no. 2 (unknown edition).
Claude L. Elliott. Pressing On: The Graphic Art of Wilmer Jennings. Exh. cat., Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. Providence, 2000, pp. 27–28, 44, 47, ill. p. 29 (not this edition, courtesy of Kenkeleba Gallery, New York).
Mary Ann Calo inLife Impressions: 20th-Century African American Prints from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Dewey F. Mosby. Exh. cat., Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University. Hamilton, N. Y., 2001, p. 10.
Dewey F. Mosby and Jane Seney inLife Impressions: 20th-Century African American Prints from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Dewey F. Mosby. Exh. cat., Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University. Hamilton, N. Y., 2001, pp. 53–55, 64, no. 18, fig. 34.
Lisa Gail Collins inAfrican-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2003, pp. 23, 50, no. 23, ill.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inAfrican-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2003, p. 43.
Rachel Mustalish inAfrican-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2003, p. 85.
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