Hale Woodruff
| Hale Aspacio Woodruff | |
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Hale Woodruff in studio
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| Born | August 26, 1900 Cairo, Illinois |
| Died | September 6, 1980 (aged 80) |
| Education | Herron School of Art, Chicago Institute of Art |
| Known for | Murals |
| Notable work | Amistad Mutiny murals (1938-1942) |
| Spouse(s) | Theresa Ada Baker |
Hale Aspacio Woodruff (August 26, 1900 - September 6, 1980) was an African-American artist known for his murals, paintings, and prints. He sought to express his sense of heritage in abstract painting. His most highly esteemed work, the three-panel Amistad Mutiny murals (1938-1942), is held at Talladega College, about 50 miles east of Birmingham, Alabama.
Born in Cairo, Illinois in 1900, Hale Aspacio Woodruff grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, where he attended local segregated schools. He studied at the Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis and at the Chicago Institute of Art.
Woodruff won an award from the Harmon Foundation in 1926, which enabled him to spend four "crucial years studying in Paris from 1927-31." He enrolled at the Academie Scandinave and the Academie Moderne. He learned in the city's museums as well, while getting to know other expatriates including Henry Ossawa Tanner, the leading African-American artist. He met leading figures of the French avant-garde and began collecting African art, which was a source of inspiration for many other modernists, including Pablo Picasso. He returned to the U.S. and married Theresa Ada Baker in 1931. They had one son, Roy.
Returning to the U.S. in 1931, Woodruff established an art school at Atlanta University. This meant teaching classes at the university's Laboratory High School as well as for students at Morehouse and Spelman, a school for women. Then Woodruff went to Mexico in 1936 to study as an apprentice under the famed muralist Diego Rivera, learning his fresco technique and becoming interested in portrayal of figures. He returned to Atlanta and continued teaching. He began traveling to Talladega College in Alabama to teach and work on a commission for a series of murals .
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