Charles Alston
Harlem Renaissance painter, sculptor, and first African-American supervisor for the WPA Federal Art Project — no relation to Prince or the Minneapolis scene.
Charles Henry "Spinky" Alston (November 28, 1907 – April 27, 1977) was an American painter, sculptor, illustrator, muralist and teacher who lived and worked in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. He was active in the Harlem Renaissance and was the first African-American supervisor for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project.
Quick Facts
- Role
- Artist
- educator
- and Harlem Renaissance figure
- Affiliation
- Harlem, New York City art scene; Works Progress Administration
- Status
- No connection to Prince or the Minneapolis music scene
Lore & Background
Alston was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Reverend Primus Priss Alston and Anna Elizabeth Miller. His father had been born into slavery and later became a prominent minister. Alston was nicknamed "Spinky" by his father. After his father's death in 1910, his mother married Harry Bearden, making Charles and Romare Bearden cousins. The family moved to New York in 1915 during the Great Migration. Alston graduated from Columbia University in 1929 and earned a Master's from Teachers College in 1931. He married Myra Adele Logan, a surgical intern, on April 8, 1944. He died of cancer on April 27, 1977 — years before Prince's career began.
Reader's Guide
Alston designed and painted murals at the Harlem Hospital and the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building. He taught at the Harlem Community Art Center and influenced the young Jacob Lawrence. In 1950 he became the first African-American instructor at the Art Students League, and in 1956 the first African-American instructor at the Museum of Modern Art. He co-founded the Spiral collective in 1963 with Romare Bearden and Hale Woodruff. His bust of Martin Luther King Jr. became the first image of an African American displayed at the White House in 1990.
Did You Know?
- Alston's father was described as the "Booker T. Washington of Charlotte."
- Alston created illustrations for Fortune, The New Yorker, and album covers for Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins.
- He was awarded a grant from and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1958.
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