Postcard sent from William Edouard Scott to Esther ScottW. E. Scott, Correspondence, W.E. Scott to Esther Scott, March 21, 1931. William Edouard Scott Papers, Box 2, Folder 61, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, Chicago Public Library.
Steamship Ticket, Port-au-Prince, Haiti to New YorkSteamship Ticket, Port-au-Prince, Haiti to New York, January 26, 1932. William Edouard Scott Papers, Box 1, Folder 5, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, Chicago Public Library.
Haiti BW. E. Scott, “Haiti,” c. 1931-1933. William Edouard Scott Papers, Box 5, Photograph 62, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, Chicago Public Library.
Haitian FishermanW. E. Scott, “Haitian Fishermen,” c. 1931. William Edouard Scott Papers, Box 6, Painting Print 105, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, Chicago Public Library.
Fishing Board, HaitiW. E. Scott, “Fishing Boats, Haiti,” c. 1931-1933. William Edouard Scott Papers, Box 5, Photograph 64, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, Chicago Public Library.
A new archival exhibit featuring materials from Chicago Public Library’s Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection, Through "The Dean's" Lens: A Glimpse of 1930s Haitian Life in the Archives of William Edouard Scott, opened May 7 at the Haitian American Museum of Chicago. The exhibit is part of a series of activations related to Chicago Public Library’s “Magnitude and Bond: Linking and Building Relationships Across Chicago’s Black Visual Art Collections” initiative, a collaboration with the Getty Foundation to improve access to archival materials related to Black life in Chicago.
William Edouard Scott (1884-1964) is known for his WPA-era murals and paintings of Biblical and African American Historical scenes, but he was also one of the first painters to focus on the working-class people of Haiti as serious artistic subject matter. During his extended residency, Scott traversed the countryside, markets and piers of Haiti, painting the people he encountered and capturing the rhythms and patterns of their everyday life. Scott's subsequent works from this study was met with celebration in the Caribbean nation, where he has been recognized as a forebearer of the early folk and popular art movements that prioritized the island's working class, local style and indigenous art form of its culture. Through archival materials, prints and photographs, this exhibit shares a sliver of Haitian life and acknowledges Scott’s contributions to these developments in Haitian art history.
Through "The Dean's" Lens: A Glimpse of 1930s Haitian Life in the Archives of William Edouard Scott was created as part of the Chicago Public Library’s “Magnitude and Bond: Linking and Building Relationships Across Chicago’s Black Visual Art Collections” project. This exhibit is made possible with support from the Getty Foundation’s African American Visual Arts Archives Initiative. Through "The Dean's" Lens: A Glimpse of 1930s Haitian Life in the Archives of William Edouard Scott will be on display from May 7 to June 26, 2025 at the Haitian American Museum of Chicago, 4410 N Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60640.