By Philip Evergood
Located in Miami, FL
"Civil Rights." Evergood's early commentary on racial issues in the 1950s depicts four black men gagged, roped, and hanging from the "Tree of Life," which represents the unique interconnectedness of life. In the background, imprisoned blacks look on through a barbed-wire fence. Whites watch in horror but do nothing to help. Meanwhile, a two-legged, three-headed serpent wraps itself around the tree that both physically and symbolically separates the races. This is an important work in the history of American art. It may be one of the very earliest examples of a major American painter doing a major work that challenges racial segregation and injustice at a time when no one else would. The title of the work is inspired by a Historic Supreme Court decision on racial segregation. The Little Rock...
Category
1950s American Realist Edward Jones Paintings