Coming Home

Portfolio TitleSelections from the Atlanta Period

Artist Hale Woodruff (American, 1900 - 1980)

Printer Robert Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop (American)

Date1931-1940; printed 1996

MediumLinocut on lana royal bright white thai mulberry chin colle paper

DimensionsImage: 9 7/8 × 7 15/16 inches (25.08 × 20.16 cm)
Sheet: 19 × 14 7/8 inches (48.26 × 37.78 cm)
Framed: 21 1/4 × 16 inches (53.98 × 40.64 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the generosity of The Print Society in honor of Dr. Leo Goertz and gift of Auldlyn Higgins Williams and E.T. Williams Jr. of Sag Harbor, N.Y.

Object number2018.4.2

SignedA blind stamp of the Blackburn emblem at the bottom left edge. The artist's blind stamp at the bottom right edge, "(C) Hale Woodruff"

Inscribed"13/75" in pencil at the bottom left corner

On View

Not on view

Collections

American Art

Terms

DescriptionThe vertically oriented black-and-white print Coming Home depicts a row of five dilapidated houses. They lean precariously on thin, rickety beams. Boards are missing from the walls of these houses and shingles missing from their roofs while storm clouds swirl above them. A lone woman, dressed in a hat and high-heeled shoes, climbs the steps of the house closest to the foreground at the left side of the compositions. As she climbs, the steps seem to sag under her weight.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

Hale Aspacio Woodruff frequently addressed the plight of African Americans in the segregated South. In Coming Home, a woman in a hat and high-heels climbs the stairs of a dilapidated house. The steps sag under her weight, perhaps suggesting both her personal burdens and a more universal struggle. The woman’s solid presence, however, implies resilience in the face of adversity.

Provenance

Auldlyn Higgins Williams and E.T. Williams, Jr., Sag Harbor, NY, 1996–2018;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 2018.

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