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Custodian, 1963 by Robert Gwathmey (1903-1988) Oil on canvas Gwathmey was raised in Virginia, but it was not until his return to the South after years of art schooling in New York that he began to empathize with the African-American experience. He commented, "As a youth I was conscious of harsh inequalities in my community . . . When I got back home, I was shocked by the poverty. The most shocking thing was the Negroes, the oppressed segment. If I had never gone back home, perhaps I would never have painted the Negro." |