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Artwork

Training for War

William Henry Johnson

1901-1970

Training for War

Pochoir on paper

11 1/2 in x 16 1/2 in

Circa 1942

Label:

Throughout his early career—spent mostly abroad—William H. Johnson painted in a variety of expressive styles influenced by European masters. Fleeing Nazism, he returned stateside in 1938 and dramatically changed his art in conversation with other innovative Black artists in Harlem. The result is a distinctive body of work full of figures with African mask-like features and colorful patterns.

During this late period, he painted the world around him and recollections of his youth in Florence, South Carolina. Training for War has an implied political comment. During World War II, Black soldiers served in segregated units fighting for a freedom abroad which they did not enjoy at home. Johnson used the American flag three times to reinforce this point. The technique he used is called pochoir, the French term for “stencil”.

Now On View:

Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC

As Exhibited In:

A Soldier’s View, Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC, September 2–December 11, 2026

More Southern/Modern, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, November 6, 2024–January 25, 2025

Roots/Routes: Mobility and Displacement in Art of the American South, Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC, August 30–December 8, 2023

Excellence & Emancipation: African American Artists and the Harmon Foundation, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, January 20–March 19, 2021

Virtues & Vices, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, October 30, 2019–January 24, 2020

The Power of Our Own Spirit: Mental Health and Artists of the American South, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, May 16–August 2, 2019

To Teach is to Learn: Lessons in African American Art of the South, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, August 31, 2017–January 12, 2018

Picture of America: Art of the Southern Scene, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, March 9–April 21, 2017

William H. Johnson: New Beginnings, Florence County Museum, Florence, SC, October 14, 2014–October 5, 2015

Beyond the Harlem Renaissance, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, February 20–April 2, 2014

Behind the Lines: Artist-Soldiers in the Johnson Collection, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, July 10–September 10, 2014

Walkers with the Dawn: A Century of African-American Art in the South, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, May 13–July 21, 2011

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