Images of Family from the Atlanta University Annuals Collection
Title
Images of Family from the Atlanta University Annuals Collection
Date Modified
2025-09-12
Description
The Atlanta University Annuals, originally known as the Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Negro Artists in America, was an annual juried art competition designed for Black diasporic artists, held at Atlanta University from 1942 to 1970. The winning pieces from the Annuals competition were accessioned into the art collection of Atlanta University and comprise the foundation of the CAU Art Museum's permanent collection. One of the primary pillars of Black social life is the family, and several artists from the annuals reflected on family from a variety of perspectives in their work. The collection Images of Family from the Atlanta University Annuals compiles paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures that won a prize award during the Annuals that depict images of family.
John T. Biggers was an educator, painter, and muralist from Gastonia, NC. Young Mother depicts a woman breastfeeding her baby. The seated woman is wearing a nightgown and kerchief while caring for the baby. The baby wears a onesie as he feeds from his mother. Various people are outside the windows of the wooden homes.
James Watkins was an artist from Akron, OH. Widow Woman is a portrait of an elderly Black woman wearing a long white dress, a light blue shawl, a pink headwrap, and small golden earrings. She looks straight ahead in solitude, her hands folded over one another.
Charles White was a painter, printmaker, muralist, and educator known for his stylistic approach to African American subjects from Chicago, IL Two Alone is a painting of a man embracing a woman as they stand in front of a window. The woman stands, arms crossed, leaning into the man who looks into the distance and above her head.
Howard E. Lewis was an Art professor and Korean War veteran from Columbus, OH. The Family is a freestanding Plaster sculpture of a family in an embrace. The father towers over his wife and child, looking down at them as his wife leans into his chest and their son into hers.
Born in Ohio, Vernon Winslow studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Sharecropper’s Migration is a watercolor painting of a family with gestural features. With a muted red skin tone, the father rests his hand on his son’s shoulder to reassure him. The family wears a sad but hopeful expression as they ride on a horse carriage.
Robert Blackburn was a notable printmaker from Summit, NJ who grew up in Harlem, NY. Negro Mother depicts a Black woman with a sorrowful expression. Balckburn uses geometric shapes to emphasize her features adn the details of the background.
Irene V. Clark was a diasporic folklore artist from Washington, D.C. My Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather's Cousin is a cubist portrait of a Black string musician wearing a cape and turban. Clark creates a symmetrical arch framing the subject and a perched hummingbird.
John N. Robinson, born in Washington, D.C., was a self-taught painter. Mr. and Mrs. Barton is an oil painting of an elderly black couple inside their home. The husband is standing in a suit, while the wife is sitting in a sweater and gray dress. Behind them are two framed portraits, a vanity, and the doorway to the kitchen.
John T. Biggers was an educator, painter, and muralist from Gastonia, NC. Mother and Children depicts a woman sitting with her legs crossed and a baby in her lap. The baby’s face is hidden as they are turned downward in the woman’s lap. The woman hunches over the baby, folding her arms while looking down.
Marion Perkins was a sculptor from Marche, AK. Mother and Child is a limestone bust of its namesake. The mother is placed behind the child as she holds his head. The mother looks toward the viewer as the child looks away.
John Woodrow Wilson was a famous painter known for his creative portraits and stylistic approach to social justice. Mother and Child is a black-and-white depiction of a mother embracing their child. The mother has a solemn expression as she looks away from the viewer; her child is tucked into her arms, facing the viewer.
Herman "Kofi" Bailey was an artist from Chicago, IL. Mother and Child is a sepia-toned depiction of a Black mother holding her child in her lap. The mother looks down at the child as a blanket covers them.
John Woodrow Wilson was a famous painter known for his creative portraits and stylistic approach to social justice. Mother and Child is a black-and-white depiction of a mother embracing their child. The mother has a solemn expression as she looks away from the viewer; her child is tucked into her arms, facing the viewer.
John Woodrow Wilson was a famous painter known for his creative portraits and stylistic approach to social justice. Father and Child is a black-and-white print of a seemingly nude father holding his equally nude son. The piece embodies the intimacy between parent and child.
John Woodrow Wilson was a sculptor, painter, and printmaker from Roxbury, MA. Child With Father shows a baby wrapped in cloth as large shadowy hands are folded around the baby, making a round, square-like shape.
John Woodrow Wilson was a sculptor, painter, printmaker, and educator from Roxbury, MA. Black Soldier depicts a soldier leaving his family to go to war. The woman and child are holding each other in front of a red brick house under a dark sky; the soldier walks away toward the Statue of Liberty while looking back at his family.
Samella Sanders Lewis was a printmaker, painter, sculptor, and art historian from New Orleans, LA. Barrier is a drawing that depicts the physical and social barriers between groups of people. In the foreground, three women and a boy suspiciously look at a group of townspeople who return their stare from the other side of a barbed wire fence.
Romeyn van Vleck Lippman was a 19th-century painter and educator. Baptismal (I Give This Child to Baptism) depicts a religious scene of a woman preparing to baptize a girl. Both female subjects are dark-skinned and standing in water, dressed in white, under a dark sky. The woman is wearing a red kerchief, and the girl's is white.
John Payne was an artist from New Orleans, LA. Awaiting the Welfare Agents is a mixed-media depiction of a traditional family with pensive expressions. They are sitting together preparing for a visit from a representative of the Department of Human Services.
William Artis was a sculptor from Washington, NC. A Mother's Love is a limestone sculpture of a mother holding her daughter in her lap. The mother looks down affectionately as she cradles the child's head.
Elizabeth Catlett was an artist and educator from Washington, D.C., who repatriated to Mexico. Black is Beautiful: Mother and Son depicts a profile view of a Black woman and her child. Catlett captures the mother's grace and her son's curiosity as they look away from the viewer.
