Community Help - Negro League Baseball Folk Art?

[Steve42]

I picked up this nice pen and ink color drawing at an estate sale a few years back, but have been unable to identify anything about the history or the artist. It reads "Walt from Howard, Nov. 6 - 1940" and "Colored Ball Game" but does not have an artist signature. It's professionally framed, so I have not attempted to remove the frame to look for a signature. The paper is approximately 14x22.

I'm assuming "Howard" refers to Howard University, but I could not find a 1940 Yearbook to help research the baseball team. Also, the game does not have the look of an organized game so it does not appear to have any connection to the formal Negro Leagues.

I'm hoping that someone out there might recognize the style and could help with further identification. Thank you.

Steve

[todeen]

Originally Posted by Steve42

I picked up this nice pen and ink color drawing at an estate sale a few years back, but have been unable to identify anything about the history or the artist. It reads "Walt from Howard, Nov. 6 - 1940" and "Colored Ball Game" but does not have an artist signature. It's professionally framed, so I have not attempted to remove the frame to look for a signature. The paper is approximately 14x22.



I'm assuming "Howard" refers to Howard University, but I could not find a 1940 Yearbook to help research the baseball team. Also, the game does not have the look of an organized game so it does not appear to have any connection to the formal Negro Leagues.



I'm hoping that someone out there might recognize the style and could help with further identification. Thank you.



Steve

I can't help a lot, but to me it seems like something that might have come out of the Depression era Federal Art Project / WPA efforts. They paid artists for pretty much anything, and they didn't do a great job of inventorying items. Officials did want artists using the style known as American Scene painting, and this pen and ink kinda has that feel to me. American Scene was supposed to present/create nostalgia for themes and ideas that promoted good feelings of America. In California some artists took it as an avenue to produce resistance art, but for the most part artists painted what officials wanted. I would start investigating here because the time periods of the two overlap (Negro league ball, and American scene).

I would also go out on a limb and suggest Walt from Howard is the artist signature.

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[Steve42]

Originally Posted by todeen

I can't help a lot, but to me it seems like something that might have come out of the Depression era Federal Art Project / WPA efforts. They paid artists for pretty much anything, and they didn't do a great job of inventorying items. Officials did want artists using the style known as American Scene painting, and this pen and ink kinda has that feel to me. American Scene was supposed to present/create nostalgia for themes and ideas that promoted good feelings of America. In California some artists took it as an avenue to produce resistance art, but for the most part artists painted what officials wanted. I would start investigating here because the time periods of the two overlap (Negro league ball, and American scene).

I would also go out on a limb and suggest Walt from Howard is the artist signature.

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Thanks so much for the information. Interesting idea about the signature. I never thought of that.

Steve