Young Buck

Hale Woodruff

ca. 1938 · Woodcut · Modern and Contemporary Art

Among the most influential African American artists of the twentieth century, Woodruff created this print during his tenure as professor of art at Atlanta University. The confident and succinct lines that Woodruff executed to depict this young man’s handsome face evoke the direct carving of African wood sculpture. Simultaneously, the man’s full features and heroic proportions recall pre-Columbian—specifically Olmec—sculpture, which Woodruff knew from his time studying art in the mid-1930s in Mexico City.

Artist

Hale Woodruff

Date

ca. 1938

Medium

Woodcut

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999