Charles Alston 6932 226124210 2008-07-16T22:38:56Z Modernist 1653549 List of WPA artists [[Image:Ben banneker.jpg|thumb|260px|"A drawing of [[Benjamin Banneker]]."]] [[Image:alston africa.jpg|thumb|260px|"Again The Springboard Of Civilization", 1943 cartoon by Charles Alston featuring WWII African American soldier.]] '''Charles Henry Alston''' ([[November 28]], [[1907]] &ndash; [[April 27]], [[1977]]) was an [[African American]] [[artist]], [[muralist]], and [[teacher]]. Alston graduated from [[DeWitt Clinton High School]] in New York City, then attended [[Columbia College of Columbia University|Columbia College]] and [[Teachers College, Columbia University|Teachers College]] at [[Columbia University]] where he obtained his [[Master of Fine Arts]]. Alston began his art career while still a student, illustrating [[album cover]]s for jazz musician [[Duke Ellington]] and book covers for poet [[Langston Hughes]]. He was influenced by Mexican muralists, [[Diego Rivera]], in particular, who tied their murals into early twentieth century social movements. Alston painted murals throughout [[Harlem]], including [[Great Depression|depression]]-era murals as part of the [[Works Progress Administration]]'s [[Federal Art Project]]. The best known of his mural works is one of a series of murals created by Alston and other [[Harlem, New York|Harlem]] artists for the [[Harlem Hospital Center]]. They can be viewed online at <ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/cu/iraas/wpa/index.html Harlem Hospital WPA Murals<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The sketches proposed for the murals raised the objections of two of the hospital's leaders, [[Lawrence T. Dermody]] and [[S. S. Goldwater]], because of what they considered the excessive numbers of African Americans prominent in the murals. With financial assistance from [[Louis T. Wright]], the first African American physician to serve on the hospital's staff, the matter received enough publicity and support for the murals to allow the artists to go forward with production.<ref>{{cite web | title = Harlem Hospital WPA Murals| work = Institute for Research in African-American Studies Credits | publisher = Columbia University| date = 2006| url = http://www.columbia.edu/cu/iraas/wpa/index.html| accessdate = 2007-08-06}}</ref> Master artists who worked on murals included [[Georgette Seabrooke]], muralist [[Vertis Hayes]], Sicilian-American [[fresco]] painter [[Alfred Crimi]]; assistants included modernist painter [[Beauford Delaney]], and photographer [[Morgan Smith]]. Alston's artwork often incorporated features of African art. During the [[Great Depression]], he and sculptor [[Henry Bannarn]] directed the [[Harlem Art Workshop]] where Alston and Bannarn were mentors to African American painter [[Jacob Lawrence]], among others. Alston was the first African-American instructor at the [[Art Students League of New York]] (1950-1971) and the [[Museum of Modern Art]] (1956). He became a full professor at the [[City University of New York]] (CUNY) in 1973. In addition to the murals, some of his paintings, sculptures, and illustrations are held in the permanent collections of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], and the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]]. ==External links== *[http://posters-art.us/biography/Charles_Alston.html Charles Alston Biography] ==See also== *[[List of WPA artists]] ==References== {{reflist}} * Marika Herskovic, [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/50253062&tab=holdings ''American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s An Illustrated Survey,''] (New York School Press, 2003.) ISBN 0-9677994-1-4 {{DEFAULTSORT:Alston, Charles}} [[Category:1907 births]] [[Category:1977 deaths]] [[Category:American painters]] [[Category:Abstract expressionist artists]] [[Category:Modern painters]] [[Category:African American artists]] [[Category:Columbia University alumni]] [[Category:Muralists]] [[Category:Members of Art Students League of New York]] {{US-artist-stub}} {{US-painter-stub}} [[fr:Charles Alston (peintre)]] [[pt:Charles Alston]] [[tg:Чарлз Алстон]]