The Sunny South

Like many African American artists, Georgia-born Walter Ellison migrated from the rural South to the urban, industrial North after World War I. In the 1930s, he studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and became involved with the South Side Community Arts Center. This lively monotype shows the artist’s playfulness with his materials, but it also suggests the feelings of nostalgia and loss experienced by the displaced participants of the Great Migration.