Charles White called painting his weapon in fighting racism and poverty in the United States. His painting of a sharecropper from 1947-48 demonstrates the difficulty of that life and the resilience of the farmers. Part of an exhibition highlighting White’s last mural – a celebration of the achievements of educator and activist Mary McLeod Bethune – the work exhibits White’s commitment to representational art (when abstraction was becoming the new norm) in service of social change. (On view at David Zwirner Gallery through Feb 16th).
