A Boston Navy Yard worker, dressed in overalls and cap and carrying a metal lunch box, proudly wears his employee badge. Like many other African Americans he has grasped the opportunity to serve his country during the war by working in the newly desegregated defense industry. Yet, despite such progress in hiring practices, racial prejudice still affects his daily existence. Riding the public transportation system to work, surrounded by well-dressed ladies who eye him suspiciously, the man seems isolated but boldly defiant.
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Rights and Reproduction:Courtesy of the Estate of John Wilson
Inscription: Inscribed (in pencil, lower left): "Street Car Scene"; signed and dated (lower right): John Wilson 1945
[William P. Carl Fine Prints, Durham, N.C., until 1990; sold on June 1, 1990 to Williams]; Reba and Dave Williams, New York (1990–99; 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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 101.
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. 46 (as "Elevated Streetcar Scene").
William Grimes. "The Art of Black Printmakers: Making Life Real." New York Times (December 21, 1992), p. C16, ill. p. C11 (installation photo, the artist at "Alone in a Crowd" exhibition, the Equitable Center), notes that this work "expresses a mood of isolation that Mr. Wilson says he felt acutely as a black artist".
William Grimes. "The Art of Black Printmakers: Making Life Real." New York Times (December 21, 1992), p. C16.
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, frontispiece, pp. 33–35, 58, no. 101, fig. 23 and ill. front cover (detail).
M. Stephen Doherty 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. 2.
M. Stephen Doherty. "Rare Prints by African Americans Begin Tour." American Artist 57 (February 1993), ill. p. 66, calls it "Street Car Scene".
Gordon Cooke. "Alone in a Crowd." Print Quarterly 11 (September 1994), p. 309, calls it "Street Car Scene".
Shelley R. Langdale et al. Dialogue: John Wilson / Joseph Norman. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1995, p. 137, no. 9, ill. p. 56 (Collection Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).
Alan G. Artner. "Rare Prints by African-Americans." Chicago Tribune (June 20, 1996), section 5, p. 2, calls it "Street Car Scene".
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. 46, 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.
Joyce Henri Robinson. "Front and (Almost) Center: Some Recent Collections Shows." International Review of African American Art 19, no. 2 (2003), p. 52, ill., calls it "Elevated Streetcar Scene".
Dave H. Williams. Small Victories: One Couple's Surprising Adventures Building an Unrivaled Collection of American Prints. Boston, 2015, pp. 114–15, fig. 15 (color).
John Wilson (American, Roxbury, Massachusetts 1922–2015 Brookline, Massachusetts)
1944
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