Blackburn's exceptional talent as a printmaker became evident when he was just a teenager, taking classes at the Harlem Community Art Center and at Charles Alston's Harlem studio known as "306." People in a Boat exemplifies his work at the time, showing his mastery of light and shadow, and his ability to imbue figures and compositions with heroic properties. The subject and inspiration for this work are complex. In one sense, it reflects the Depression-era's concern with the lives of working people and their struggles for daily survival. Blackburn has said that the picture refers to the mass exodus of Blacks from the South as they sought to escape prejudice and persecution. Visually, however, the image recalls Raphael's design for a tapestry depicting the biblical story of the Miraculous Draught of Fishes. In that parable Christ proves his divine powers to a group of hungry, wary fishermen by miraculously increasing their catch of fish.
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Artwork Details
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Title:People in a Boat
Artist:Robert Blackburn (American, Summit, New Jersey 1920–2003 New York)
Date:1938
Medium:Lithograph
Dimensions:15 1/4 × 19 3/4 in. (38.7 × 50.2 cm)
Classification:Prints
Credit Line:Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999
Accession Number:1999.529.9
Inscription: Inscribed (lower left below image, in graphite): "People in a Boat" - Artist Proof; signed (lower right below image, in graphite): Blackburn
Riva Helfond, New York (probably by 1977–until 1989); [Sragow Gallery, New York, 1989; sold on April 1, 1989 to Williams]; Reba and Dave Williams, New York (1989–99; their gift to MMA)
New York. Studio Museum in Harlem. "New York/Chicago: WPA and the Black Artist," November 13, 1977–January 8, 1978, unnumbered cat. (dated ca. 1939, lent by Riva Helfond) [probably this work].
Chicago Public Library Cultural Center Exhibit Hall. "WPA and the Black Artist, Chicago and New York," March 22–April 23, 1978, unnumbered cat. (dated 1939, lent by Riva Helfond) [probably this work].
Bronx. Lehman College Art Gallery of The City University of New York. "Black Printmakers and the W.P.A.," February 23–June 6, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 13; artist proof, undated, lent by Riva Helfond) [possibly this edition].
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
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. 5.
Hamilton, N. Y. Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University. "Life Impressions: 20th-Century African American Prints from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 10–November 4, 2001, no. 4.
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. 26.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s," September 5–December 10, 2023, unnumbered cat. (pl. 18).
Leslie King-Hammond. Black Printmakers and the W.P.A. Exh. cat., Lehman College Art Gallery. Bronx, 1989, pp. 8, 31, ill. p. 13 (possibly this edition).
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. 27, 43, no. 5, fig. 18, date it about 1939.
Leslie King-Hammond 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. 16.
Michele Stepto. African-American Voices. Brookfield, Conn., 1995, ill. p. 124, dates it 1939.
Sharon F. Patton. African-American Art. Oxford, 1998, p. 147, fig. 65, dates it 1939.
Richard J. Powell and Jock Reynolds. To Conserve a Legacy: American Art from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Exh. cat., Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. Andover, Mass., 1999, p. 178, no. 42, ill. (not this edition, Collection of North Carolina Central University Art Museum), call it "Refugees".
Mary Ann Calo inLife Impressions: 20th-Century African American Prints from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Dewey F. Mosby. Exh. cat., Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University. Hamilton, N. Y., 2001, p. 11.
Dewey F. Mosby and Jane Seney inLife Impressions: 20th-Century African American Prints from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Dewey F. Mosby. Exh. cat., Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University. Hamilton, N. Y., 2001, pp. 28–29, 47, 60–61, no. 4, fig. 8.
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. 31, 55, 72, no. 26, 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. 51.
Joyce Henri Robinson. "Front and (Almost) Center: Some Recent Collections Shows." International Review of African American Art 19, no. 2 (2003), p. 52, ill.
Dave H. Williams. Small Victories: One Couple's Surprising Adventures Building an Unrivaled Collection of American Prints. Boston, 2015, p. 105, fig. 3 (color).
Allison Rudnick. Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, pp. 15, 194, colorpl. 18.
Karen Wilkin. "Yesterday's Tomorrow." New Criterion 42 (December 2023), p. 32.
Robert Blackburn (American, Summit, New Jersey 1920–2003 New York)
ca. 1937–39
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