Dox Thrash Drawings
One of Dox Thrash’s earliest triumphs came in 1937 with praise and national recognition for his WPA print making invention, the carborundum mezzotint. Celebration of the new technique established his reputation as a visionary artist and his invention is an important contribution to the history of American art.
In 1939, the Baltimore Museum of Art presented one of the first major exhibitions to survey works by African American artists. Renowned critic and philosopher Alain Locke wrote in the exhibition brochure that the exhibition, Contemporary Negro Art, served “as a declaration of principles as to what art should be in a democracy and as a gauge of how far in this particular province we have gone and may need to go…,”. The milestone exhibition included the first work by a Black artist to enter the Museum’s collection, Dox Thrash’s large watercolor, Griffin Hills. (thanks to the BMA website).
Thrash’s legacy continues to flourish and recognition for his unique works grows. Acquisitions of drawings and watercolors by prestigious institutions include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Art Gallery of Ontario. We are deeply honored to share this selection of unique works on paper. We’ve included images of corresponding prints and additional images of related works for further context. Several works included are recent re-discoveries. These revelations tells us more about Dox Thrash and his point of view. His uncommon genius continues to inspire us.
Ron Rumford Margo Dolan Jon Eckel Dolan/Maxwell
Study for Old Barn 1948
ink, graphite & gouache
image/sheet 8 1/2 x 11 3/4”
related work:
Old Barn 1948, Ittmann #53
aquatint, image 8 15/16 x 11 7/8”
courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Afternoon Chat c. 1939-4o
graphite, incised for transfer
image/sheet 1o 1/2 x 8 3/8”
Afternoon Chat c. 1939-4o
Ittmann 14o
color carborundum relief etching
image 9 7/8 7 7/8”
Abstraction c. 1945
pen and ink with wash image/sheet 7 1/4 x 5 7/8”
verso: Farm Scene with Pigs
Thrash took part in workshops at the Philadelphia Print Club with Stanley William Hayter in the 194os. This composition would indicate a familiarity with Hayter’s work, also evidenced in the surrealists prints Thrash produced in Hayter’s workshop. Related abstractions are known in two versions: Ittmann 133 a carborundum mezzotint; & Ittmann 186, a block print.
Morley’s Court c. 1939 graphite, incised for transfer
image 7 3/4 x6 1/8”, sheet 8 x 7 3/8”
Morley’s Court c. 1939 Ittmann 24 etching image 7 3/4 x 6 1/8”
Vacant Lot, Street Scene c. 194o ink with gouache image/sheet 7 x 8 7/8” with Nude, verso
Thrash was a keen observer of his surroundings and Philadelphia was a source of constant inspiration. Here, the peaked wall in shadow indicates the interior of an adjacent row house that’s been demolished, leaving evidence of stairs and rooms. The vacant lot remains and provides open views through what was a dense neighborhood of row houses.
City View c. 195o
watercolor & graphite on white envelope paper image/sheet 9 1/4 x 5 3/4”
Thrash and his wife Edna moved to 1220 N Broad Street after selling their house on Columbia Avenue in 1959. He began making drawings and painting from the south-facing windows. With views of Center City, the Philadelphia skyline became a favorite subject.
Row Houses c. 195o
watercolor
image/sheet 13 1/4 x 15 3/4”
related work:
Blighted Homes aka Laundry Day c. 1944-48
Ittmann 66, aquatint, image 7 7/8 x 9 7/8”
courtesy of McIntosh Rollins Foundation
Philadelphia Street Scene c. 195o ink
image/sheet 11 x 7 3/8”
Television antennae help date this spatially compressed drawing of a Philadelphia neighborhood.
Coming
Home c. 1945
graphite on paper image/sheet 7 1/16 x 8 13/16”
Thrash addressed World War II events in several works. The tenderness expressed here must have resonated with his own homecoming from France and World War I. Thrash was a Buffalo Soldier with the 365th Infantry Regiment, 183rd Brigade. He received the Purple Heart after being injured.
Streetscape c. 195o
ink
image/sheet 9 3/8 x 1o 13/16”
The neighborhoods of North Philadelphia were great inspiration to Thrash. A cacophony of architectural details thrown into high relief by strong light and shadows enlivens this ink wash drawing. Figures at lower right speak to the scale in this work.
Riveter c. 1945 graphite image/sheet 8 1/4 x 6 3/8”
verso: Landscape with Figures ink & graphite
Worker Pulling a Cart c. 1945
graphite
image/sheet 7 3/4 x 8 1/2”
“The heightened social consciousness of the 193os and 1940s, fostered by the Depression, inspired many American artists to speak for the voiceless by making the plight of the working classes a common theme in their work. The new focus on rural and urban laborers naturally called for a group of subjects that was racially diverse, and both black and white artists turned frequently to black subjects. Yet despite these efforts, the battle for a positive black identity continued against persistent stereotypes in popular culture.
Thrash’s own use of a racial idiom in the works he created in Philadelphia during the middle decades of the twentieth century held as much significance as did its use by his African American artist contemporaries in cultural centers like Harlem and Chicago”.
Kimberly N Pinder, “Racial Idiom in the Work of Dox Thrash”, Dox Thrash An African American Master Print Maker Rediscovered, Washington University Press, page 66.
Seamstresses c. 194o ink & graphite image/sheet 7 1/8 x 9 13/16”
Drawing for Workers c. 1938
graphite & crayon
image/sheet 11 x 8 5/8”
One of several preparatory works made for the carborundum mezzotint, Workers, Ittmann 8o.
Dock Workers c. 1945
graphite
image/sheet 5 3/8 x 7 3/8”
The WPA/Federal Art Project was ended with the start of WWII. Thrash sought employment at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and was turned away due to his race.
In 1943 and under pressure to build more ships, the US Defense Department contracted Sun Shipbuilding to set up a dry dock exclusively for African American workers. Thrash was hired and made many drawings of Drydock No 4, where 54 ships were built for the War effort.
The subject of this work is unique for Thrash as a kind of political cartoon. Thrash served in France with the Buffalo Soldiers in WWI.
Carborundum
Mezzotint Illustration
c. 194o ink & graphite image/sheet 11 3/4 x 8 7/8”
Photo: Thrash turning the star wheel of an etching press at the WPA Printmaking shop in Philadelphia c. 1940s. Thrash produced a manuscript for an unpublished book about his invention, the carborundum mezzotint. The drawing is one of several illustrations intended for his book.
Artist c. 194o graphite on paper image/sheet 11 1/8 x 7 7/8”
Pictures within pictures and the strange juxtaposition of the figure above makes this spatially complex work all the more compelling.
Ironing c. 194o graphite image/sheet 7 x 6 1/4”
related work:
Nellie Scott c 194o Ittmann 142 carborundum mezzotint image 9 x 7/16”
Help Wanted c. 1935
graphite on tracing paper
image/sheet 6 3/8 x 7 1/2”
related work:
Two Women c. 1935
graphite & ink
image/sheet 5 3/4 x 6 3/4”
courtesy of McIntosh Rollins Foundation
watercolor image/sheet 15 1/2 x 11 1/4”, stamp signature
Woman with a Green Hat c. 194o
watercolor
image 16 x 12 3/4”, signed recto
“Thrash is deservedly well known for the striking portrait heads he made, which bestow individuality and dignity on his sitters. He would have been aware of the need to counteract the negative representations of African Americans.”
Kimberly N Pinder, “Racial Idiom in the Work of Dox Thrash”, Dox Thrash An African American Master Print Maker Rediscovered, Washington University Press, page 65.
Woman’s Head (Charlotte) c. 1939 graphite image/sheet 5 1/8 x 4 3/4”
related work:
Charlotte c. 1938-39 Ittmann 85 carborundum mezzotint
image 8 15/16 x 6 15/16"
Jenny c. 194o-41
charcoal & ink, incised for transfer
image/sheet 15 x 12 1/2”
Preparatory drawing for the 1938 WPA lithograph, Jenny, image 11 7/16 x 8 1/8”
Ittmann 168
courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Seated Nude Holding Mirror c. 194os-5os
watercolor
image/sheet 11 3/4 x 8 3/4”, stamp signature
*illustrated page 78, Ittmann
“The virtual absence of the black nude in American art before the 1970s makes Thrash’s work extremely important. His repertoire of nudes is great than those of the few other African American artists who dared to tackle the exposed black body.”
Kimberly N Pinder, “Racial Idiom in the Work of Dox Thrash”, Dox Thrash An African American Master Print Maker Rediscovered, Washington University Press, page 81.
Seated Nude c. 1945
watercolor & ink
image 11 7/8 x 9 1/2”, sheet 12 x 11 1/2”
exhibited Pyramid Club 1946, documented in John W Mosley’s photograph, held at the Blockson Collections, Temple University, photograph is illustrated in Ittmann page 61.
related works:
Nude Model Seated c. 1944-45
Ittmann 118 carborundum mezzotint, image 6 15/16 x 4 13/16”
Woman in Blue, aka Waiting c. 194o watercolor, image/sheet 17 3/4 x 11 7/8”
Saturday Night 1944-45 Ittmann 149 carborundum relief etching
image/sheet 8 3/4 x 7 3/8”
Baptism aka Spiritual c. 1940
watercolor & ink, image/sheet 7 x 9 1/16”
related work:
Glory Be! c. 1944-45 Ittmann 113 carborundum mezzotint & etching, image 7 3/8 x 9 15/16”
courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
Still Life, Tamborine & Bones c. 1935
watercolor & graphite, image/sheet 15 1/4 x 22 1/4”
“I always wanted to be an artist, even when I was touring the plantation circuit in a dance-and-patter act with a fellow named Whistling Rufus”.
Bones served as rhythm instruments and were also made of bars of ivory, wood, or bone clicked together—were an instrument associated with African American minstrels. We are pleased to share William Sidney Mount’s, 1848, oil, The Bone Player, 1848, Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Sanctifying Their Souls c. 193o watercolor & graphite, image 12 x 9”
related work:
Fanaticism 1933, aka Prayer Meeting Ittmann 7 etching image 4 15/16 x 4”
Man Standing Tall c. 1955 ink, graphite & gouache on paper board, image/sheet 28 x 22”, signed recto
A middle-age man stands tall with legs spread to allow a view of a cluster of figures in the distance. Cezanne’s Bathers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art comes to mind. A work listed in a Pyramid Club checklist, Pillar of Strength, might be Thrash’s title for this very work.
Dox Thrash born 1893, Griffin Georgia; died 1965, Philadelphia, PA
recent exhibitions: 2o24
Imprint: Dox Thrash Black Life, and American Culture African American Museum Philadelphia Made in PA on Paper, Palmer Museum of Art
Dox to Light: The Life and Work of Dox Thrash, Fleisher Art Memorial 2o23
Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 193os, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Artist’s Mother: Whistler and Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art 2o21
Our Good Earth: Rural Life and American Art, High Museum of Art 2o2o
Dox Thrash: Black Life and the Carborundum Mezzotint, The Hyde Collection 2o19
Dox Thrash: The Hopeful Gaze, Ft Wayne Museum of Art 2o18
Dox Thrash: Black Life and the Carborundum Mezzotint, Palmer Museum of Art; also traveled to Syracuse University Museum of Art 1939: Exhibiting Black Art at the BMA, Baltimore Museum of Art Modern Times: American Art 191o-195o, Philadelphia Museum of Art 2o15
Represent: 200 Years of African American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art 2o14
Dox Thrash: An American Journey, High Museum of Art, Asheville Art Museum, and, Georgia College of Art Museum