Art, literature & historyBarber Shop Politics
1939
- Dating
- Exact year
- Held at
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Medium
- Graphite on cream wove paper
- Dimensions
- 46 × 30.5 cm (18 1/8 × 12 1/16 in.)
- Collection no.
- 1975.40
- Attribution
- By the artist
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
About this artwork
Barber Shop Politics — Allan Rohan Crite. 1939.
Medium: Graphite on cream wove paper. Dimensions: 46 × 30.5 cm (18 1/8 × 12 1/16 in.).
Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
A lifelong resident and observer of Boston’s South End, Allan Rohan Crite explained that he “used the black figure to tell the story of man” in his spontaneous, unconstrained drawings. Avoiding what he felt were African American clichés, he recorded—with precision and emotion—modern 1930s middle-class people going about their ordinary lives in his urban neighborhood.
Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.