Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948), African American painter, is best known for her portraits of bl... more Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948), African American painter, is best known for her portraits of black elites of the first half of the 20th century. Yet perhaps her most celebrated work is the portrait of Anna Washington Derry, a working class woman Waring met during the artist's nearly 40 year tenure as an instructor at one the nation's oldest HBCUs. This paper details how the lives of artist and sitter intersected, and how the portrait--now part of the Smithsonian's permanent collection--brought acclaim to Waring far beyond the confines of rural Pennsylvania where Derry spent her entire life.
Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948), African American painter, is best known for her portraits of bl... more Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948), African American painter, is best known for her portraits of black elites of the first half of the 20th century. Yet perhaps her most celebrated work is the portrait of Anna Washington Derry, a working class woman Waring met during the artist's nearly 40 year tenure as an instructor at one the nation's oldest HBCUs. This paper details how the lives of artist and sitter intersected, and how the portrait--now part of the Smithsonian's permanent collection--brought acclaim to Waring far beyond the confines of rural Pennsylvania where Derry spent her entire life.
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Papers by Valerie Harris