Overview
As a white Southern artist that grew up in Richmond, Virginia, Robert Gwathmey was one of the few that portrayed African Americans as people of dignity during a time of white supremacy and segregation: he saw art as a social responsibility. Gwathmey was heavily involved in activism and participated in the Civil Rights movement and the Anti-war movement. In the summers of 1926 through 1930, Gwathmey received Cresson Fellowships to study art in Europe which exposed him to European modernists as well as traditional European paintings and influenced his development as an artist. His art is most heavily influenced by his formative years in the South. The countryside landscapes and local shops within the nearby towns held elements that as seen Feedbag—Cotton Bag which includes a bag of chicken feed. His work is represented in major museums including the Brooklyn Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and more.