MARY FRANCES WHITFIELD

Self-taught artist Mary Whitfield was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1947. When she was a child, Whitfield's grandmother was a strong influence on her developing perceptions. She brought Whitfield to church and to civil rights meetings. She also told her many stories of slavery, black oppression, as well as of peaceful farm life. During her adolescence, Whitfield and her mother moved to Long Island. There, Whitfield would eventually meet her husband, David, a hardware salesman. Although she worked by trade as a supervisor of library services, she was inspired to translate her grandmother's vivid oral tradition into visual images. While her children were still young, Whitfield began expressing herself with old house paint and plywood. Later, in 1990, she moved to watercolors on canvas.

Whitfield focuses her rich paintings on the historical and modern plight of African-Americans, and the cruelty and injustice they have experienced. The powerful works contain little detail; the figures have no facial features. Instead, the drama of their gestures or body language conveys the feeling of the painting. Whitfield's work has been exhibited at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, at numerous galleries around the nation. It is also featured in the permanent collection at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Whitfield was recently commissioned to illustrate children's book about her husband's youth. She is also the subject of an article by a Birmingham, Alabama curator in Raw Vision magazine. Whitfield currently lives in Port Washington, near Long Island, and paints on her lap every night in bed.

*click image for larger view

	Burning Man watercolor on canvas board 16 x 20 inches *inquire for price		KKK Watercolor and gouache on canvas board 16 x 20 inches *inquire for price
	Graveyard for the Innocents watercolor and gouache on paper *inquire for price		Rainbow of Uneven Colors watercolor and gouache on paper *inquire for price
	Eating at Big Mama's and Papa's House watercolor and gouache on Arches paper 9.25 x 12.5 inches SOLD		We Love You Papa watercolor and gouache on paper 9 x 6 inches *inquire for price
	Fan Dance watercolor and gouache on canvas board SOLD		Fleeing Darfur watercolor and gouache on Arches paper 15.75 x 14.75 inches *inquire for price
	Hermie Mae watercolor and gouache on paper SOLD		I Know Why watercolor and gouache on Arches paper 15 x 9.25 inches SOLD
	Four Swans in Alabama watercolor on canvas 9.25 x 11.5 inches *inquire for price		Our Mother watercolor and acrylic on canvas board 11.5 x 15 inches *inquire for price
	Slave Auction watercolor on canvas board 16 x 20 inches *inquire for price		Truth, It Really Happened watercolor on Arches paper 7 x 4.75 inches *inquire for price
	Despair watercolor on canvas board 16 x 24 inches *inquire for price		Willie-Mae Cooking Water Corn Bread watercolor on paper 4.25 x 5.25 inches *inquire for price

	Hate, The Killings: Jerusalem Now, and the 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama Then Watercolor and gouache on paper SOLD
	Cotton Fields Watercolor and gouache on paper SOLD
	Narrative: Cherry Pie Watercolor and gouache on Arches paper 8 x 20.25 inches *inquire for price
	Women From Darfur Watercolor and gouache on Arches paper 9.5x 22.5 inches SOLD