Fine watercolor of African American woman reading by Alfred Kappes(American 19th/20th century),signed by the artist and dated 1884.
Sight to mat: 9 inches x 13.75 inches
Dimensions including frame: 17.5 inches x 22.5 inches

Davids notes: This watercolor is unusual for many reasons.The subject of African Americans in the late 19th century was extremely rare, but several artists did specialize in their depiction.Harry Roseland, William Aiken Walker and others earned a living showing slaves and African Americans on plantations working and living in deplorable conditions.This work is unusual in that it depicts an African American woman reading, which was extremely rare in the 1880s.Most African Americans in 1884 were denied an education in the American schools, and even if they were self taught or managed to learn to read English, it would not be the subject of a watercolor.Most artists in the 19th century that depicted African Americans, either as slaves or household help, would typically show them as working in a field or socializing with the other slaves or servants in a poverty stricken setting, never indicating intellectual prowness.----------------------------------Alfred Kappes was a white American artist but he painted and drew African Americans with particular sensitivity.He actually lived amongst the African American community in a tenement, and his paintings and watercolors often show simple aspects of their lives, as eating dinner, paying rent and relaxing.This watercolor, of a woman reading a letter or examining a document crosses over an invisible line,moving away from just depicting his neighbors as unemployed or unproductive, and showing that their intelligence and education is worthy of the subject of art.-----------------------------------------------------------------

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