Wilson's outspoken commentary on the unequal response to injustices at home and abroad is played out in this complex, mural-like composition. Divided into two halves, the artist juxtaposes scenes of the war in Europe and the Holocaust (at left) with the persecution and killing of Blacks in the United States (at right). Like many African Americans at the time, Wilson supported the government's war effort, but was angry that no reciprocal fight for freedom was being made on the homefront.
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Rights and Reproduction:Courtesy of the Estate of John Wilson
Inscription: Inscribed (lower left, in graphite): "Deliver Us From Evil"; (lower center, in graphite): artist's Proof; signed and dated (lower right, in graphite): John Wilson "43"
[Lyle Evan Gallery, Boston, until 1991; sold on September 1, 1991 to Williams]; Reba and Dave Williams, New York (1991–99; their gift to MMA)
Newark Museum, held jointly at the Equitable Gallery, New York. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," December 10, 1992–February 28, 1993, no. 99.
Long Beach Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," June 4–August 8, 1993, no. 99.
Cambridge, England. Fitzwilliam Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," October 5–December 19, 1993, no. 99.
Albany. New York State Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," January 5–March 13, 1994, no. 99.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," April 7–June 12, 1994, no. 99.
Louisville. Speed Art Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," July 12–September 4, 1994, no. 99.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," October 9–December 4, 1994, no. 99.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," January 4–February 26, 1995, no. 99.
Charleston. Gibbes Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," March 26–May 21, 1995, no. 99.
Miami Beach. Bass Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," June 18–August 13, 1995, no. 99.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," September 10–November 5, 1995, no. 99.
Mobile, Ala. Fine Arts Museum of the South. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," December 3, 1995–January 28, 1996, no. 99.
Brooklyn Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," February 25–April 22, 1996, no. 99.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," May 17–July 14, 1996, no. 99.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," August 9–October 6, 1996, no. 99.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," November 1, 1996–January 2, 1997, no. 99.
Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," January 31–March 30, 1997, no. 99.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "African-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 15–May 4, 2003, extended to July 6, 2003, no. 45.
Madrid. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. "From Posada to Isotype, from Kollwitz to Catlett: Exchanges of Political Print Culture. Germany–Mexico 1900–1968," March 23–August 29, 2022, unnumbered cat. (p. 370).
Richard J. Powell. "I, Too, Am America, Protest and Black Power: Philosophical Continuities in Prints by Black Americans." Black Art: An International Quarterly 2 (Spring 1978), p. 10, ill., dates it ca. 1945; illustration appears to be a preparatory drawing of this edition.
Gretchen Sullivan Sorin, with Beth Klopott, and Julie Reiss inBridges and Boundaries: African Americans and American Jews. Ed. Jack Salzman et al. Exh. cat., Jewish Museum. New York, 1992, p. 214, ill. (unknown edition, collection of the artist).
Reba and Dave Williams inAlone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–40s by African-American Artists; From the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams. Exh. cat., Newark Museum. New York, 1993, pp. 35–36, 58, no. 99, fig. 25.
Lowery Stokes Sims inAlone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–40s by African-American Artists; From the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams. Exh. cat., Newark Museum. New York, 1993, p. 6.
Shelley R. Langdale et al. Dialogue: John Wilson / Joseph Norman. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1995, p. 136, no. 3, ill. p. 53 (artist's proof, collection of the artist).
Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins and Shifra M. Goldman. In the Spirit of Resistance: African-American Modernists and the Mexican Muralist School. Exh. cat., Studio Museum in Harlem. New York, 1996, p. 159, no. 84, ill. (unknown edition, courtesy Sragow Gallery, New York).
Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins. "WIlson, John." St. James Guide to Black Artists. Ed. Thomas Riggs. Detroit, 1997, p. 582.
Lisa Gail Collins inAfrican-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2003, pp. 80–81, no. 45, ill.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inAfrican-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2003, p. 75.
John Wilson (American, Roxbury, Massachusetts 1922–2015 Brookline, Massachusetts)
1951
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