Image: Doyle, New York
Doyle’s Post-War & Contemporary Fine Art auction is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at 11 a.m., with an exhibition running from September 26 through 28. The sale will feature five works by Ernest Crichlow from the artist’s collection, as well as a drawing by Charles White.
Ernest Crichlow (1914–2005) was a central figure in 20th-century African American art, whose work evolved from the social realism of the Depression era to a broader exploration of Black American life. Born in Brooklyn to Barbadian parents, Crichlow studied commercial art in Manhattan and during the Depression worked with the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project.
His early work addressed the social realities of African American life, while his later paintings increasingly explored family, community, identity and everyday experience. Working across painting, printmaking and illustration, Crichlow developed a figurative language grounded in observation and expressive line and color.
Crichlow became part of a generation of Black artists that included Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis and Jacob Lawrence, with whom he maintained longstanding relationships. In 1969, he joined Bearden and Lewis in founding the Cinque Gallery in Manhattan, which provided exhibition opportunities for emerging African American artists.
His work reflects a sustained engagement with Black American life, balancing social commentary with a deeply human interest in his subjects.
