Adorned in their homemade wings, all four members of a family and their animals wait expectantly for deliverance to heaven. Strewn around them on the barren earth are their meager possessions, symbols of their poverty. Each prays in his or her own way—the mother prostrate to the ground, afraid to look upon the face of God, while the father, fervent in his belief, sees angels flying towards them in the sky. Steth's picture is both sympathetic and ironic. He understands that even though this family is poor in tangible goods, they are richened by their religious convictions, but he also acknowledges that religion alone will not alter the dire circumstances for African Americans living in the South at the time.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Heaven on a Mule
Artist:Raymond Steth (American, Norfolk, Virginia 1917–1997 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Date:ca. 1938–43
Medium:Lithograph
Edition:3/35
Dimensions:11 in. × 14 1/8 in. (27.9 × 35.8 cm)
Classification:Prints
Credit Line:Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999
Object Number:1999.529.155
Inscription: Inscribed (lower left, in graphite): HEAVEN ON A MULE 3/35 ; Signed (lower right, in graphite): RAYMOND STETH
[Sragow Gallery, New York, 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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 82.
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. 30.
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. 27.
Leslie King-Hammond. Black Printmakers and the W.P.A. Exh. cat., Lehman College Art Gallery. Bronx, 1989, pp. 7, 33 (not this edition, collection Free Library of Philadelphia, Print and Picture Department), lists it as undated.
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, 56, no. 82, fig. 1, date it 1944.
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. 1.
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. 14.
M. Stephen Doherty. "Rare Prints by African Americans Begin Tour." American Artist 57 (February 1993), ill. p. 67, dates it 1944.
Rolando Corpus. "A Selection of Works by African American Artists in the Philadelphia Museum of Art." Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 90 (Winter 1995), p. 14, ill. p. 15 (color, not this edition).
Alan G. Artner. "Rare Prints by African-Americans." Chicago Tribune (June 20, 1996), section 5, p. 2, ill.
Gabriel Tenabe. "Steth, Raymond." St. James Guide to Black Artists. Ed. Thomas Riggs. Detroit, 1997, p. 510, dates it 1944.
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, pp. 11–12.
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. 23–24, 68, no. 30, fig. 5, date it 1935–43 and state Sragow Gallery sold to Williams and.
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. 42, 56, 82, no. 27, 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.
Rachel Mustalish 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. 89, fig. 10 (detail), illustration detail shows "crisp white highlights [...] an effect achieved in the lithographic process".
David Minthorn. "Depression-Era Exhibit Showcases Black Artists." Herald-News (Passaic, NJ) (February 2, 2003), p. B6.
Dave H. Williams. Small Victories: One Couple's Surprising Adventures Building an Unrivaled Collection of American Prints. Boston, 2015, pp. 103–5, fig. 2 (color), states that no dealer owned Steth prints.
Raymond Steth (American, Norfolk, Virginia 1917–1997 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
1936
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