About this Item
Group of nine posters featuring the artwork of Black Muslim artist George 8X Stewart, sold as a lot. Each 25" x 20" or slightly smaller; minor wear including a few short tears in margins. Poster of Malcolm X shows some horizontal creases, curling. Rare in commerce. George 8X Stewart was born circa 1937 as George E. Stewart. He was raised in Washington and became entangled in drugs, spending much of his early life in reformatories and prisons. While serving a 20-month sentence in the District of Columbia Jail on a narcotics charge, he discovered a talent for drawing. After his August 1967 release, he began drawing portraits of people in his neighborhood, and then in May 1968 joined the caravan of the Poor People's Campaign as its official portrait artist. See the Pittsburgh Courier, 1 June 1968. All but one of the posters in this group are credited "Copyright 1971 George Stewart. . . . E.B. Wash Art Gallery, 3220 Georgia Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20010. Phone RA 6-5106." Some offer a Mrs. Minor as an alternate contact, and two name Mrs. Isabelle Stewart. The artwork shows the printed signature of either George E. Stewart or George 8X Stewart, in 1968 or 1971. Included are: 1.A variant printing of Stewart's best-known image, showing Angela Davis in the center, surrounded by various other figures in the black power struggle: Huey Newton, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and more, together with a quote from the Declaration of Independence and a quote from Che Guevara. Later variants of the poster include one issued without a title or publication credit ; and one titled "Endurance," printed in Huntsville, AL and New York by Blackness Incorporated, circa 1975. The present version is untitled, printed in sepia tones, and measures 22 1/2" x 17 1/4", with the 1971 copyright statement. 2. Untitled portrait of a woman wearing a Poor People's Campaign pin with a portrait of Elijah Muhammad in the background, 25" x 19", 1971. 3. Untitled white-on-black portrait of Malcolm X, 23 3/4" x 19 3/4", 1971. 4. "Kwame Nkrumah," 22 1/2" x 17 1/4", 1971. 5. Portrait of unidentified bearded man in African garb, 25" x 20", 1971. 6. "Harry Belafonte," 22 1/2" x 17 1/4", 1971. 7. "They Need Our Help Now! We Stand Tall When We Stoop to Help a Child," 22 1/2" x 17 1/4", 1971. 8. Untitled portrait of a woman in African garb, 25" x 20", undated with no credit line. 9. Untitled portrait of a nursing mother, 22 1/2" x 17 1/4", 1971.
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