Charcoal and pencil on wove paper, circa 1954. 495x470 mm; 19 1/2x18 1/2 inches. With the artist's estate ink stamp, lower right.
Provenance: Ex-collection the artist; Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles, with the label on the frame back; private New York collection.
William Caesar Warfield, the concert baritone, gained worldwide fame for his role in Porgy and Bess during a tour of Europe sponsored by the U.S. State Department. In this production he played opposite the opera star Leontyne Price, whom he soon married; they divorced in 1972.
Charles White demonstrates his skill in foreshortening with this portrait study. He used charcoal and an oval silhouette also in works such as General Moses and Sojourner in 1954. In the mid-1950s, Charles White enjoyed many successes including solo exhibitions at ACA Gallery, the Pyramid Club and the John Hay Whitney Fellowship. For health reasons, he moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1958. Charles White did many portraits of actors and singers in the 50s and 60s, including Bessie Smith, Harry Belafonte, Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis, Jr.
