"Charles Henry Alston"(November 28,1907-April 27,1977)

Was an African-American painter,sculptor,illustrator,muralist and teachers who lived and worked in Harlem.Charles was active in the Harlem Renaissance;he was the first African-American supervisor for the Works Progressive Administration's Federal Art Project.Known for his murals at the Harlem Hospital and the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building.In 1990 Alston's bust of Martin Luther King,Jr became the first image of an African-American displayed at the White House.Charles was born in Charlotte North Carolina to Rev.Primus Priss Alston and Anna Elizabeth Miller Alston,and was the youngest of five children Only three survived  past infancy:His sister Rousmaniere,and his brothers Wendell and Charles.His father was born into slavery in 1851 in Pittsboro,North Carolina;After the Civil War he graduated from St Augustine College and became a prominent minister and founder of St.Michael's Episcopal Church.He was described as a "race man"an African-American who dedicated his skills to the furtherance of the black race.Rev.Alston met his wife when she was a student at his school.Charles was nicknamed "Spinky"by his father,and kept the nickname as an adult.In 1910,when Charles was three,his father died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage.Locals described him admiration as the Booker T. Washington of Charlotte.In 1913 Anna married Harry Bearden.Through the marriage,the future artist Romare Bearden became Charles cousin.The two Bearden families lived across the street from each other,the friendship between Romare and Charles would last a lifetime.As a child Charles was inspired by his older brother Wendell's drawings of trains and cars,which the young artist copied.Charles also played with clay,creating a sculpture of North Carolina.As an adult he reflected on his memories of sculpting with clay as a child:"I'd get buckets of it and put through strainers and make things out of it.I think that's the first art experience i remember,making things.His mother was a gifted embroiderer and took up painting at the age of 75.His father was a gifted at drawing as well,wooing Charles mother with small sketches in the medians of letters he wrote.In 1915 the family moved to New York,as many African-American families during the Great Migration.Charles step-father,left before his wife and children to secure a job overseeing elevator operations and the newsstand staff at the Bretton Hotel in the Upper West Side.The family lived in Harlem and was considered Middle-Class.During the Great Depression,the people of Harlem suffered economically.The "stoic strength"seen within the community was later expressed in Charles' fine art.At Public School 179 in Manhattan,the boy's artistic abilities were recognized and he was asked to draw all of the school posters during his years there.He graduated from from Dewitt Clinton High School,where he was nominated for academic excellence and was art editor of the school's magazine,The Magpie.He was a member,of the Artista-National Honor Society and also studied drawing and anatomy at the Saturday School of the National Academy of Art.In high school he was given his first oil paints and learned his aunt Bessye Bearden's art saloon's which stars like Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes attended.After graduating in 1925,attended Columbia University,turning down a scholarship to the Yale School of Fine Arts.Charles also entered the fine arts program.During this time at Columbia he joined Alpha Phi Alpha,worked on the University's Columbia Daily Spectator and drew cartoons for the school's magazine Jester.He also hung out in Harlem Restaurants and Clubs,where his love for jazz would be be fostered.In 1929 he graduated and received a fellowship to study at Teachers College,where he obtained his Master's degree in 1931.For the years 1942-1943 Charles was stationed in the army at Fort Huachuca in Arizona.Upon returning to New York on April 8,1944,he married Dr.Myra Adele Logan,an intern at the Harlem Hospital.They met when he was working on a mural project at the hospital.Their home,including his studio,as on Edgecombe Avenue near Highbridge Park.They lived closed to family;at their frequent gatherings Charles enjoyed cooking and Myra played piano.During the 1940s he took occasional art classes studying under Alexander Kostellow.In January 1977 Myra died.Months later Charles died after a long bout with cancer.His memorial service was held at St.Martins Episcopal Church on May 21,1977 in New York City.While obtaining his master's degree,Charles was the boy's work director at the Utopia Children's House,started by James Lesene Wells.He also began teaching at the Harlem Arts Workshop,founded by Augusta Savage in the basement of what is now the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.Charles teaching style was influenced by the work of John Dewey,Arthur Wesley Dow,and Thomas Munro.During this period,he began to teach 10-year old Jacob Lawrence whom he strongly influenced.Charles was introduced to African Art by the poet Alain Locke.In the 1920s he joined Romare and other black artist who refused to exhibit in William E. Harmon Foundation shows,which featured all-black artists in their traveling exhibits.Charles and his friends though the exhibits were curated for a white audience,a form of segregation which the men protested.They did not want to be set aside but exhibit on the same level as art peers of every skin color.In 1938 the Rosewald Fund provided money for Charles to travel to the South,which was his first return since leaving as a child.His travel with Giles Hubert,an inspector for the Farm Security Administration,gave him access to certain situations and he photographed many aspects of rural life.These photographs serves as the basic for a series of genre portraits'depicting southern black life.In 1940 he completed Tobacco Farmer,the portrait of a young black farmer in white overalls and a blue shirt with a youthful yet serious look upon his face,sitting in front of the landscape and buildings he works on and in.The same year he received a second round of funding from the Reinwald Fund to travel South,and he spent extended time at Atlanta University.During the 1930s and early 1940's,Charles created illustrations for magazines such as Fortune,Mademoiselle,The New Yorker,Melody Maker and others.He also designed album covers for artists such as Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins.Charles also became staff artist at the Office of War information and Public Relations in 1940,creating drawings of notable African-Americans.These images were used in over 200 black newspapers across the country by the government to "foster goodwill with the citizenry.He left commerical work to focus on his own artwork.In 1950,he became the first African-American instructor at the Art Students League,where he remained until 1971.In 1950,his painting was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and artwork was one of few purchased by the museum.He landed his first solo exhibited in 1953 at the John Heller Gallery,who represented artists such as Roy Lichtenstein.He exhibited there five times from 1953-1958.In 1956,he became the first African-American instructor at the Museum of Modern Art,where he taught for a year before going to BBelgium on behalf of MOMA and the State Department.Charles coordinated the children's community center at Expo 58.In 1958 he was awarded a grant from and was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.In 1963,Charles co-founded Spiral with Romare Bearden and Hale Woodruff.Spiral served as collective of conversation and artistic exploration for a large group of artists who "addressed how black artists should relate to American society in a time of segregation."Artists arts supporters gathered for Spiral,such as Emma Amos,Perry Ferguson,and Merton Simpson.This group served as the 1960s version of 306,and Charles was described as an "intellectual activismts."In 1968,he spoke at Columbia about his activism and in the mid-1960s Spiral created an exhibition of black and white artworks.The exhibition was never officially sponsored by the group due to inner-group disagreement.In 1968 Charles received a presidential appointment from Lyndon Johnson to the National Council of Culture and the Arts.Mayor John Lindsay appointed him to the New York City Art Commission in 1969.Charles was made full professor at City College of New York in 1973 where he taught since 1968.In 1975 he was awarded the first Distinguished Alumni Award from Teachers College.The Art Student's League created a 21-year merit scholarship in 1977 under his name to commemorate each year of his tenure.