Gus Nall (1919–1995) was an American painter during the mid-20th century in Chicago,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, and

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Born in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, Nall’s most known work is his painting "Lincoln Speaks to Freedmen on the Steps of the Capital at Richmond" (1963), which was commissioned by the state of Illinois in honor of the 100th anniversary of the

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...

Life

Gus Nall was an African-American painter born in Chicago, Illinois in 1919. He was married to Thelma Nall at the age of twenty-one. Nall was a notable artist during the 1950s and 60s, known for his modernist representation of African Americans. He studied at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

and as well as in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. During his life, he was featured in '' Art Gallery Magazine'' (1968, "The Afro-American Issue") as well as Carol Myers' Black Power in the Arts.

Work

Nall’s work consisted of elongated human figures influenced by

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

and

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

styles of painting, and African art. His art most often portrays representations of African Americans. He was influenced by

Archibald Motley Archibald John Motley, Jr. (October 7, 1891 – January 16, 1981), was an American visual artist. Motley is most famous for his colorful chronicling of the African-American experience in Chicago during the 1920s through 1940s, and is considered o ...

and

Eldzier Cortor Eldzier Cortor (January 10, 1916 – November 26, 2015) was an African-American artist and printmaker. His work typically features elongated nude figures in intimate settings, influenced by both traditional African art and European surrealism. ...

, who were fellow artists from Chicago. Nall’s work allowed him to become a role model to fellow painters as well as those interested in his life as an artist. Nall had an inspiring effect on the life of fellow artist and writer

Clarence Major Clarence Major (born December 31, 1936) is an American poet, painter, and novelist; and winner of the 2015 "Lifetime Achievement Award in the Fine Arts", presented by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. He was awarded the 2016 PEN Oakla ...

who looked up to him. His painting "Lincoln Speaks to Freedmen on the Steps of the Capital at Richmond" (1963) is on permanent exhibit in the

DuSable Museum of African American History The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, formerly the DuSable Museum of African American History, is a museum in Chicago that is dedicated to the study and conservation of African-American history, culture, and art named after Je ...

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nall, Gus 1919 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century African-American painters