Ernest Crichlow

Born in Brooklyn, Crichlow was the second child in a family of nine children to parents who immigrated to the States from Barbados. He studied at the School of Commercial Illustrating and Advertising Art in Manhattan. Crichlow supplemented his income as an artist by working as an instructor, an illustrator for children’s books and as a consultant for the Board of Education of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Crichlow was a strong advocate for Black art and artists and in 1969, he cofounded the Cinque Gallery with Romare Bearden and Norman Lewis. The gallery remained in operation until 2004.

During a 1968 Oral History with the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Crichlow stated that he wanted to portray an inner strength within his painted figures:

“a purple, black strength that is almost like wood, like ebony, that has a tremendous beauty and strength and at the same time almost looks fragile.”

Title: Waiters
Artist: Ernest Crichlow (1914 – 2005)
Date: 1969-1970
Medium: silver gelatin on paper
Dimensions: Image size: 35 ¾ x 23 ¾ inches; Framed: 36 ¼ x 24 ½ inches
Accession Number: H77.22

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