Chicago welcomes home one of its own this fall. Charles White Across Media: A Visual Archive opens at the Logan Center Gallery, inside the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago in Hyde Park, with an opening reception on Friday, November 6, from 6 to 8 p.m.
The exhibition gathers album covers, book jackets, magazines, film stills, photographs, prints and other ephemera featuring the work of Charles White (1918–1979), tracing how his images traveled far beyond the studio and the museum wall. White, who worked fluidly across drawing, painting, printmaking and mural-making, described his goal as creating “powerful images of dignity,” centering everyday African American life and history.
It is a fitting homecoming: White was born and raised in Chicago, fell in love with reading at the Chicago Public Library and earned a scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1937. The show is curated by his son, artist Ian White, chief executive of the Charles White Archives, and is presented by Logan Center Exhibitions together with the South Side Community Art Center.
Opening weekend brings two extra reasons to visit: a curator-led tour with Ian White on Saturday, November 7, at 10 a.m., and a Family Saturday program, “Grandpa and the Library: How Charles White Learned to Paint,” that same day at 3 p.m. in the gallery. The exhibition runs through January 31, 2027, at 915 E. 60th St.; the gallery closes November 28–29 and December 12–January 2 for the holidays.
Photo: Charter6281 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
