The Card Players
Woodruff lived and worked in Paris from 1926 to 1930 with support from the Harmon Foundation, a Chicago-based organization which promoted aspiring Black American artists. The Card Players dynamically synthesizes the wide range of sources he encountered during this period, including Cubism, West and Central African art, and paintings by Paul Cézanne (1839–1906). Two figures with heads resembling Fang-Betsi sculptures play cards at a table in emulation of Cézanne’s famed series on the same theme. Angular forms pervade the composition, many of them accentuated with thick outlines akin to carved wood. Upon his return to the United States, Woodruff became a prolific printmaker and muralist whose work examined and celebrated Black American culture and history.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Card Players
- Artist: Hale Woodruff (American, Cairo, Illinois 1900–1980 New York)
- Date: 1930
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 23 1/2 × 29 3/8 in. (59.7 × 74.6 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: George A. Hearn Fund, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.223
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Estate of Hale Woodruff / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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Hale Woodruff
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Hale Woodruff
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Hale Woodruff
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Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop
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Hale Woodruff
Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop
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