One of Dox Thrash’s earliest triumphs came in 1937 with praise and national recognition for his WPA print making invention, the carborundum mezzotint. Celebration of the new technique established his reputation as a visionary artist and his invention is an important contribution to the history of American art.
In 1939, the Baltimore Museum of Art presented one of the first major exhibitions to survey works by African American artists. Renowned critic and philosopher Alain Locke wrote in the exhibition brochure that the exhibition, Contemporary Negro Art, served “as a declaration of principles as to what art should be in a democracy and as a gauge of how far in this particular province we have gone and may need to go...,”. The milestone exhibition included the first work by a Black artist to enter the Museum’s collection, Dox Thrash’s large watercolor, Griffin Hills. (thanks to the BMA website).
Thrash’s legacy continues to flourish and recognition for his unique works grows. Acquisitions of drawings and watercolors by prestigious institutions include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Art Gallery of Ontario. We are deeply honored to share this selection of unique works on paper. We’ve included images of corresponding prints and additional images of related works for further context. Several works included are recent re-discoveries. These revelations tells us more about Dox Thrash and his point of view. His uncommon genius continues to inspire us.
