26 Facts About Dox Thrash

Dox Thrash was an African-American artist who was famed as a skilled draftsman, master printmaker, and painter and as the co-inventor of the Carborundum printmaking process.

Dox Thrash was born on March 22,1893, in Griffin, Georgia.

Dox Thrash was the second of four children in his family.

Dox Thrash was part of the Great Migration looking for industrial work in the North.

The first job that Dox Thrash got was working with a circus and a Vaudeville act.

Dox Thrash got a job as an elevator operator during the day, and used this source of income to attend school.

In 1917, the United States declared war on Germany and entered World War I In September 1917, at the age of twenty-four, Thrash enlisted in the army.

Dox Thrash was placed in the 365th Infantry Regiment, 183rd Brigade, 92nd Division, known as the Buffalo Soldiers.

Dox Thrash used this as his primary medium for much of his career and created his greatest works with it.

In 1960, Dox Thrash participated in a show at the Pyramid Club, a social organization of Black professional men that held an annual art exhibit starting in 1941.

Dox Thrash spent the later years of his life mentoring young African American artists.

Dox Thrash died on April 19,1965, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dox Thrash was posthumously honored almost 40 years later in 2001 with a major retrospective, titled Dox Thrash: An African-American Master Printmaker Rediscovered, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Dox Thrash's work was included in the 2015 exhibition We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s at the Woodmere Art Museum.

Dox Thrash was referencing an experience common to thousands of black families in rural occupations at the turn of the 20th century, often forced into slavery-like tenant farming as their only means of livelihood in the racist South.

Dox Thrash symbolically depicted harsh realities for the African American at this transitional point in history while conferring a sensitive rendering of their humanity, akin to any other race, despite its utter denial by American society.

Dox Thrash makes it clear that this family has traveled a long way, but is not depleted; rather they are strong and preparing for further hard work and hopeful success ahead.

In fact it was the strength of his fellow African Americans that Dox Thrash often emphasized, amongst other positive characteristics in the face of adversity in personal portraits.

Dox Thrash's literacy is therefore inextricably interwoven with her personal and familial success.

Dox Thrash is the antithesis to Locke's idea of the caricature of blacks whose poses and exaggerated features were made to dehumanize and convey a diminished sense of intelligence and capability.

Dox Thrash acknowledged common cultural clashes and challenges faced by African Americans through his portraiture as well.

Dox Thrash is conforming to physical standards foisted upon her by the dominant white society where straight hair is a marker of beauty.

However, Dox Thrash's acknowledgement of the common practice, reflecting it back to the community, is a step towards progressing towards a more positive, independent state.

Dox Thrash addressed the issue by creating portraits of African-American subjects and ideal heads using his carborundum mezzotint method that defined typically black facial features in a more realistic manner.

Dox Thrash is not tainted or inferior as white society might try to imply.

Dox Thrash's extremely darkened eyes prevent the reader from identifying a precise woman, which enables the viewer to accept her as a symbol of the beauty of all African-American women.