Elton Fax

Throughout the years of 1936 to 1940, Fax taught art at the Harlem Art Center and took jobs as an illustrator, illustrating a weekly feature on influential Black people in history. Fax traveled throughout the globe to present his “chalk-talks:” a series of interactive lectures wherein he would sketch live while simultaneously lecturing on a topic, most often revolved around issues pertaining to Civil Rights.

In 1960, Fax published West Africa Vignettes, a series of drawings and narratives he produced while traveling around West Africa. Marketplace #1 Accra was created in the same style as his West Africa Vignettes, depicting a woman holding a baby as she shops around the marketplace in Accra, Ghana. In his art, Fax hoped to dismantle stereotypical and racist perceptions of Africans by portraying strength and pride within the people he depicts. 

Title: Market Place #1 Accra
Artist: Elton Fax (1909 – 1993)
Date: 1963
Medium: crayon and ink on paper 
Dimensions: Image size: 30 x 20  inches; Framed: 36 ½ x 26 ½ inches
Accession Number: H77.28

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