Jun 09, 2022 - Sale 2608

Sale 2608 - Lot 101

Price Realized: $ 3,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

JAY PAUL JACKSON (1905-1954)

Etta Moten Barnett singing.

Illustration created for the American Negro Exposition, circa 1940. Watercolor on paper. 317x240 mm; 12 1/2x9 1/2. Signed "Jay Jackson" in pencil, lower right corner. Archivally float-mounted, matted, and framed to 18x14 inches.
Jackson was a prolific artist and cartoonist whose work appeared in the Chicago Defender, a Black newspaper, in the 1940s. Battling racism in the industry, Jackson formed his own feature syndicate in the 1950s to distribute his "Home Folks" cartoon, a humorous, bird's-eye view of the Black experience in the United States.
Etta Moten Barnett (1901-2004) was a pioneering singer and actress who expanded roles for African-American women on stage and screen. She was best known for her celebrated role as "Bess" in the musical "Porgy and Bess" and was invited to perform at the White House. In addition to her career, she was a political delegate, civic activist and philanthropist.