The setting in which Robert Blackburn is casually posed would have been very familiar to him and the artist, Ronald Joseph. It was the WPA-sponsored Harlem Community Art Center where many young Black artists developed their printmaking skills. Notice in the background the large worktable and various cans and buckets that were used to hold water, paint, and ink. This print shows Joseph's skill as a draftsman and portraitist. Particularly noteworthy is his uncanny ability to capture both the likeness and personality of his sitter through distinctive body language, facial expression, and even clothing.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Robert Blackburn
Artist:Ronald Joseph (American, born St. Kitts, West Indies 1910–1992 Brussels, Belgium)
Date:ca. 1937
Medium:Lithograph
Dimensions:19 3/4 × 14 1/2 in. (50.1 × 36.8 cm)
Classification:Prints
Credit Line:Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999
Object Number:1999.529.106
Inscription: Inscribed (lower left, in graphite): Inst Riva Helfond; signed (lower right, in graphite): R. Joseph; inscribed (lower left, in black pen and ink): collection R. Helfond
Riva Helfond, New York (until 1989); [Sragow Gallery, New York, 1989; sold on July 1, 1989 to Williams]; Reba and Dave Williams, New York (1989–99; their gift to MMA)
Bronx. Lehman College Art Gallery of The City University of New York. "Black Printmakers and the W.P.A.," February 23–June 6, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 32; as "Bob Blackburn," 1935–37, lent by Riva Helfond).
Newark Museum, held jointly at the Equitable Gallery, New York. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," December 10, 1992–February 28, 1993, no. 54 (as "Portrait of Bob Blackburn," ca. 1939).
Long Beach Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," June 4–August 8, 1993, no. 54.
Cambridge, England. Fitzwilliam Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," October 5–December 19, 1993, no. 54.
Albany. New York State Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," January 5–March 13, 1994, no. 54.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," April 7–June 12, 1994, no. 54.
Louisville. Speed Art Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," July 12–September 4, 1994, no. 54.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," October 9–December 4, 1994, no. 54.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," January 4–February 26, 1995, no. 54.
Charleston. Gibbes Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," March 26–May 21, 1995, no. 54.
Miami Beach. Bass Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," June 18–August 13, 1995, no. 54.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," September 10–November 5, 1995, no. 54.
Mobile, Ala. Fine Arts Museum of the South. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," December 3, 1995–January 28, 1996, no. 54.
Brooklyn Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," February 25–April 22, 1996, no. 54.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," May 17–July 14, 1996, no. 54.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," August 9–October 6, 1996, no. 54.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," November 1, 1996–January 2, 1997, no. 54.
Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," January 31–March 30, 1997, no. 54.
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. 22 (as "Bob Blackburn").
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. 8.
College Park, Md. David C. Driskell Center. "Robert Blackburn: Passages," September 18–December 19, 2014, unnumbered cat. (p. 33).
Alain Locke. Contemporary Negro Art. Exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore, 1939, unpaginated, no. 90, ill. (unknown edition, lent by the artist), calls it "Introspect".
Alain Locke. The Negro in Art: A Pictorial Record of the Negro Artist and of the Negro Theme in Art. Washington, D.C., 1940, p. 7, ill. p. 102 (unknown edition), calls it "Introspect" and dates it 1937.
Leslie King-Hammond. Black Printmakers and the W.P.A. Exh. cat., Lehman College Art Gallery. Bronx, 1989, pp. 8, 32 (lent by Riva Helfond).
Ellen Sragow. "Black Printmakers and the WPA: A Symposium." Tamarind Papers: A Journal of the Fine Print 13 (1990), ill. p. 76, calls it "Bob Blackburn" and dates it about 1935–37.
Lowery Stokes Sims inAlone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–40s by African-American Artists; From the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams. Exh. cat., Newark Museum. New York, 1993, pp. 5–6.
Leslie King-Hammond inAlone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–40s by African-American Artists; From the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams. Exh. cat., Newark Museum. New York, 1993, p. 16.
Vivien Raynor. "At Yale, Deliberate Images in Black and White." New York Times (May 29, 1994), p. CN14.
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. 45–46, 65–66, no. 22, fig. 25.
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, p. 31, no. 8, 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. 27.
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. 89.
"Inst." in the inscription stands for "instructor." Riva Helfond taught at the Harlem Art Center, where prints were made between 1937 and 1939.
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