Campesinos (Peasants)

Currently not on view

Campesinos (Peasants)

1952

John Wilson (American, 1922–2015)

African American artist John Woodrow Wilson was inspired by the work of Mexican modernists after seeing a 1942 group exhibition at Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum. He realized his dream of seeing the public murals of José Clemente Orozco (1883 - 1949), David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896 - 1974), and Diego Rivera (1886 - 1957) firsthand eight years later, when a John Hay Whitney Fellowship funded a trip to Mexico—where he would live for the next five years. Campesinos depicts a peasant family sitting on a third-class bus, and reveals the close connection that Wilson felt to the poor indigenous people of this country.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Campesinos (Peasants)

Date:

1952

Artist:

John Wilson (American, 1922–2015)

Medium:

Duco on Masonite

Dimensions:

23 1/2 x 30 inches (59.7 x 76.2 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Purchased with funds contributed by Marion Boulton Stroud, 2005

Accession Number:

2005-42-1

Geography:

Made in Mexico, North and Central America

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Currently not on view