Dox Thrash: A Harlem Renaissance Master

Dox Thrash - Life - 1939 - carbograph on paper - plate: 8 1/2 x 8 3/4 in. (21.6 x 22.2 cm) - Smithsonian American Art Museum (click photo for larger image)African American Harlem Renaissance painter and printmaker Dox Thrash (1893-1965) finished his education and worked odd jobs, moving from place to place and struggling to support himself. Finally settling in Philadelphia, he continued to pursue his art while working as a janitor. A poster he created for the 2nd Annual National Negro Music Festival earned him local recognition and opened the door for new artistic endeavors. 

Thrash is most widely known for his work on the Federal Art Project, from 1936 to 1939. While working on this project, he invented the process of carborundum mezzotint, a printmaking technique that uses a carbon-based abrasive to burnish copper plates, creating an image that can produce a print in tones ranging from pale gray to deep black. This became Thrash’s primary medium for much of his career, and he created his greatest works with it.

Thrash spent the later years of his life mentoring young African American artists. He died in 1965 and was posthumously honored—almost 40 years later—with a show called, Dox Thrash: An African-American Master Printmaker Rediscovered, mounted in Philadelphia. He is best known for his realistic depiction of African American life in the twentieth century.