Hale Woodruff was born August 26th, 1900. He was born in Cairo, Illinois, and considered one of the leading artists during the Harlem Renaissance. He studied at several art schools, including the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis and the Académies Scandinave and Moderne in Paris. As a beginner artist in Paris, he painted landscapes. He then painted pictures depicting black poverty and lynchings. Later on in life, he would abandon his representational style of art for abstract expressionism.
Hale Woodruff was the only child of George and Augustin Woodruff. Woodruff’s father died shortly after birth, thus unable to be a major part of his life. In the early 1900s, Hale and his mother moved to Nashville, Tennessee. His mother instructed Hale to copy pictures out of the family Bible while she was at work, in order for Hale to be occupied throughout the day. This led to Woodruff’s interest in art and eventually, he would spend his days copying pictures of whatever he could find. His interest in art would later lead him to become the cartoonist for his high school newspaper.
In 1920, Woodruff began attending the Herron Art School in Indianapolis. He took up a job as the political cartoonist for the school paper, The Indianapolis Ledger. After leaving college and moving around, Woodruff found himself back in Indianapolis in 1923. He developed one of the country’s most successful black branches of the YMCA while continuing to paint. His work became increasingly popular as he entered and won local art competitions, as well as having his work being featured in exhibit displays.
In 1928, Woodruff travelled to Paris, France with the help of two scholarships he received from supporters in Indianapolis. He attended the Académies Scandinave and Moderne, where he studied under a leading contemporary black artist by the name of Henry Ossawa Tanner. He explored the impact of African art on modern art in order to help him develop his style.
Woodruff lived in France until...
