{"id":9196,"date":"2021-03-01T18:24:29","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T18:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=9196"},"modified":"2021-03-01T18:24:48","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T18:24:48","slug":"baia-bits-palmer-hayden-the-janitor-who-paints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=9196","title":{"rendered":"BAIA BITS: Palmer Hayden, The Janitor Who Paints"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAIA BITS: The Janitor Who Paints, Palmer Hayden<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/i><\/h3>\n

Little Moments Where Knowledge Meets Art<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n

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The Janitor Who Paints, ca. 1930, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.57.28<\/p><\/div>\n

The Janitor Who Paints<\/span><\/i> is a 1930 oil on canvas painting by Palmer Hayden.<\/span> In this subtle yet poignant piece, an African American artist paints on a partially hidden canvas what is presumably the profile of a lady and baby sitting nearby. The surrounding quarters are cramped; the artist is flanked <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>by a trash can, feather duster, and broom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hayden\u2019s compelling painting, for decades, raised questions.\u00a0 Is\u00a0 the subject an amateur painting portraits of his family and friends in his spare time at home? Or, more likely, is he a professional artist forced to support himself as a janitor, with Hayden posing a social critique of the relative lack of value placed upon human creativity? Or, even more likely, the relative lack of value placed upon <\/span>Black <\/span><\/i>creativity?<\/span><\/p>\n

The latter makes sense given Hayden was known for his paintings of African American life, particularly his narrative scenes of New York\u2019s urbanity and the rural South. He captured everyday people in their daily routines, often when the subjects were unguarded or in humorous or somewhat compromised positions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Born Peyton Cole Hedgeman on January 15, 1890 in Widewater, Virginia, Hayden later changed his name to Palmer Hayden, the signature on all of his works. Though he began drawing as a child, his first formal training did not come until he enrolled in a drawing course while enlisted in the army during World War I. After attending West Point and spending time in the Philippines, Hayden was discharged and moved to New York where he worked part-time while studying art at the Cooper Union School of Art.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1925, Hayden traveled to Maine to study painting at the Boothbay Art Colony upon winning a fellowship. The pieces he produced there, mostly of boats and marine subjects,<\/span> were exhibited a year later back in New York at the Civic Club, winning two Harmon Foundation top awards. With his prize money and help from a patron, Hayden traveled to Paris in 1927 to study at the \u00c9cole des Beaux Arts and exhibit his paintings of<\/span> African-American life. Five years later, he<\/span> returned to work on the United States Treasury Art Project and the Works Progress Administration Art Project, producing scenes of the New York waterfront and local citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 1940s and 50s, Hayden produced the <\/span>Ballad of John Henry<\/span><\/i> series, a well-received group of 12 paintings depicting the life of the African-American folk hero. He would continue to exhibit his portrayals of African-American life at a variety of venues in New York and beyond until his death in 1973.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But four years prior to his passing, in a 1969 interview, Hayden answered decades of questions by characterizing his 1930 work,<\/span> The Janitor Who Paints<\/span><\/i>, as \u200b\u201ca sort of protest painting\u201d regarding both his own situation as a struggling artist and that of his African Americans peers. He acknowledged that a friend and fellow artist, Cloyd Boykin, had supported himself as a janitor and further inspired the piece. \u200b<\/span><\/p>\n

Hayden explained it in the following fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI painted it because no one called Boykin \u2018the artist.\u2019 They called him \u2018the janitor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"Stephanie Robinson, Esq.<\/strong> is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, a national media figure, author, former Chief Counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and former President and CEO of The Jamestown Project, a national think tank focusing on democracy. Ms. Robinson hosted her own national radio show, Roundtable with Stephanie Robinson<\/em>, a popular weekly 30-minute, talk-radio program focused on culture, politics, and relationships that aired on TSN. For over half a decade, Ms. Robinson was Political and Social Commentator for the Tom Joyner Morning Show<\/em> where she spoke to between 9 and 10 million people weekly, offering her perspective on the day\u2019s most pressing social and political issues.<\/p>\n

Robinson is co-author of Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise<\/u>, (Atria Books, 2009). She is a nationally recognized expert on issues relating to social policy, women, race, family, and electoral politics. She was featured as one of the 30 Young Leaders of the Future in Ebony Magazine and was profiled in the book As I Am: Young African American Women in a Critical Age<\/u>, by Julian Okwu. Robinson is a frequent speaker expressing her views in countless media outlets including the Associated Press, The Washington Post, C-Span, Fox News, NewsOne <\/em>and NPR<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Stephanie was a Member of President Clinton\u2019s first Mission to Africa regarding children orphaned by AIDS. Robinson, a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Maryland and the Harvard Law School, is a native of Steubenville, Ohio. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.<\/p>\n

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