Visit from the doctor--a serious case.

Abstract

tremely popular in the late 1 9th century. Largely forgotten dunng most of the first half of this century, when modernism prevailed, this style has seen a revival of interest in recent years. One of the most successful, prolific, and unusual genre painters was the Brooklynborn artist Harry Roseland. Roseland, who was born in 1 867, was largely self-taught, studying briefly in Brooklyn and then with the noted portrait artist J. Carroll Beckwith, in New York. He began to exhibit at the National Academy at the age of 16 and four years later, in 1 887, won a gold medal from the Brooklyn Art Association. For more than 20 years, spanning the end of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th, Roseland’s genre subjects were widely exhibited, earning him many prizes, until changing tastes left his paintings out of fashion in the years just before World War I. What is most unusual about Roseland is that this New Yorker, who never strayed far from his native Brooklyn, spent most of his career painting interior scenes of Afro-Americans. His early paintings, done while he was in his teens and early twenties, cover a wide range of conventional genre subjects. However, in his late twenties, Roseland began to devote himself almost entirely to subjects relating to poorer Afro-Americans. These colorful paintings portray his subjects sympathetically and present cheerful messages. Roseland’s paintings fall largely into two related categories. The best, most true to life, and most effective works are those that insightfully depict the interactions between blacks. Each painting skillfully demonstrates activities that largely occurred in or about the home and capture a way of life that has now vanished. The titles of these works, such as “The Rent Day-A Penny Short,” ‘An Interesting Game of Chess,’ “A Difference of Opinion,’ and “Wake Up, Dad,’ suggest the everyday stories told by Roseland’s paintings. The second category includes a large number of paintings that depict the interactions between poor blacks and elegantly dressed, young white women. These works, which primarily show palm readers, fortune tellers, or tea-leaf readings, are more stereotyped, less realistic, and less interesting. In 1 900, Roseland exhibited ‘Visit from the Doctor-A Serious Case’ at the National Academy of Design. This unusual and delightful painting is remarkable because the entire cast of the picture, the child patient, her mother or grandmother, and the doctor, are all AfroAmericans. The charming, seemingly happy child bridges the space