The Eviction

Artist: Eldzier Cortor, American, 1916–2015
Associated: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Washington, D.C., active 1935–1943
Date: about 1939-40
Material: Oil on canvas
made in: Chicago, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
Classification: Paintings
Collection: American Art
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 30 1/8 × 24 1/4 in. (76.5 × 61.6 cm)
framed: 34 1/2 × 28 5/8 × 1 5/8 in. (87.6 × 72.7 × 4.1 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 353:1943

NOTES

Isolated against a backdrop of abstract skyscrapers, Eldzier Cortor’s African American woman stands confidently, even though she is now displaced. Cortor used the basic elements of art—the woman’s organic, upright form in contrast to the angular, jagged forms of the city, for instance—to evoke the resolve of African Americans facing social and economic challenges. This painting is typical of the artist’s early work, which centered on daily life in his Chicago neighborhood. In 1941, Cortor helped establish the South Side Community Art Center, an organization that offered the first significant opportunity for black artists to exhibit in Chicago.

Provenance

- 1943
Federal Works Agency, Works Projects Administration, Chicago, IL

1943 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by the Federal Works Agency, Works Projects Administration [1]

Notes:
[1] In 1943, the Works Projects Administration was terminated, and works made under the project between 1935 and 1943 were distributed to public institutions throughout the United States. The Chicago branch of the WPA allocated a number of works to the Saint Louis Art Museum [receipt for allocation of works of art from the Federal Works Agency, Works Projects Administration, dated April 12, 1943, SLAM document files].

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