Hale Woodruff

Hale Woodruff

Hale Aspacio Woodruff (August 26, 1900 - September, 1980) was an African American artist known for his murals, paintings, and prints. One example of his work, the three-panel Amistad Mutiny murals (1938), can be found at Talladega College in Talladega County, Alabama. The murals, commissioned and painted during the Great Depression, are entitled: The Revolt, The Court Scene, and Back to Africa, portraying events related to the slave revolt on the Amistad. Located in Savery Library, they depict events on the ship, the U.S. Supreme Court trial, and the Mende people's return to Africa.

The library also has a portrayal of the ship as part of the lobby floor. Local tradition at the college prohibits walking "on" the ship, despite its central location. In addition, the library has other Woodruff murals depicting other events from African-American history, including student registration at the college after the American Civil War.

Born in Cairo, Illinois, he studied at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis and at Harvard University.

References

• David C Driskell; Leonard Simon; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Two centuries of Black American Art, (Los Angeles County Museum of Art ; New York : Knopf : distributed by Random House, 1976) ISBN 0875870708: 9780875870700
• Hale Woodruff 50 Years of His Art, (New York : The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1979) OCLC: 17813325
• Samella Lewis, African American Art and Artists, (Berkeley : University of California Press, 1990) ISBN 0520087887: 9780520087880 0520085329 : 9780520085329
• Kenkeleba Gallery (New York, N.Y.), The search for freedom : African American abstract painting 1945-1975, (New York:Kenkeleba House, ©1991) OCLC: 30743648
• Marika Herskovic, American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s: An Illustrated Survey, (New York School Press, 2003.) ISBN 0-9677994-1-4. pp. 358–361.

External links

• "Amistad Murals", Talladega College