I am bereft to say that as an artist and art enthusiast, I had never heard of John Wilson. So I was curious when I received a press preview invite for, Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you can get there before it closes on February 8, 2026, I highly recommend a visit. It is a brilliant show highlighting Wilson’s technical mastery in drawing, printmaking, painting and sculpture. Raised in Boston, MA, he was keenly aware of the racial disparities and injustices experienced by his fellow African Americans in America, which crystalized as he lived abroad in Europe and Mexico in the post-World War II era. He studied with Fernand Léger in Paris, enriching his photographic realism style into a more graphic, stylized, and socially engaged practice. I was moved by the recurring themes of racial injustice over his oeuvre, and how it felt in 2025 (when I attended the press preview in September 2025) we were still facing so much the same. But his work sends out a clarion call for the ways in which we all deserve peace. The tender moments of a father reading with a child issued over and over in multiple media forms and the drawings for children’s books written with his wife, Julia Wilson, these are the pieces which stop us in our tracks and give flesh to the humanity so aptly named in the show’s title. I hope you can witness it, too!
Street Scene, 1942
Lithograph 61 x 46.7 cm (24 x 18 3/8 in.)
Sophie M. Friedman Fund, 2024.2729
My Brother, 1942
Oil on panel 12 x 10 5/8 in. (30.48 x 26.9875 cm)
Smith College Museum of Art, Purchased (SC1943.4.1) Courtesy of the Estate of John Wilson
Self Portrait, 1943
Oil on Canvas 61 x 50.8 cm (24 x 20 in.)
Museum purchase with funds donated by Patti and Jonathan Kraft, 2024.2191
Breadwinner, 1943
Lithograph 57.2 x 43.4 cm (22 1/2 x 17 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of the Print Research Foundation, 2008.115.556
Deliver Us from Evil, 1943
Lithograph 39.4 x 52.1 cm. (15 1/2 x 20 1/2 in.)
Gift of John Wilson’s family, 2022.91
Black Soldier, 1943
Oil on Masonite 67.3 x 39.4 cm (26 1/2 x 15 1/2 in.)
Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, Atlanta Art Annuals: John Hope Purchase Award, 1943.001
War Machine, 1944
Lithograph 16.1 x 21.6 cm (6 3/8 x 8 1/2 in.)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999, 1999.529.199
Girl in Mirror, 1945
Oil on paperboard 71.1 x 39.4 cm. (28 x 15 1/2 in.)
Streetcar Scene, 1945
Lithograph Image 11 1/4×14 3/4 in. (28.6×37.5 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999(1999.529.198) Courtesy of the Estate of John Wilson
Black Despair, 1945
Oil on Masonite 61 x 76.2 cm (24 x 30 in.)
Private Collection, New York
Self Portrait, 1946
Lithographic ink (tusche) and India ink on cameo paper
Private collection, courtesy of Mary Ryan Gallery, New York
Straphangers,1947
Lithograph 34.9 × 24.8 cm (13 3/4 × 9 3/4 in.)
Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999 Courtesy of the Estate of John Wilson
Paris Rooftops, 1949
Lithograph 47 x 38.1 cm (18 1/2 x 15 in.)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999, 1999.529.197
Le Métro, 1949
Gouache on paper 42.2 x 33.6 cm (16 5/8 x 13 1/4 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Avalon Fund, 2022.27.7
Study for the mural, “TheIncident,”1952
Opaque and transparent watercolor, ink, and graphite17 in. x 21 1/4 in. (43.2 x 54 cm)
Yale University Art Gallery, Janet and Simeon Braguin Fund, 2000.81.1 Courtesy of theEstate of John Woodrow Wilson / Licensed byVAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York John Wilson (American, 1922–2015)
Dialogue, 1955
Lithograph, 15 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999 (1999.529.188)
Steel Worker, 1959
Pastel and gouache on paper 24 × 18 in.(61 × 45.7 cm)
Princeton University Art Museum, Museum purchase Kathleen Compton Sherrerd Fund for Acquisitions in American Art, 2005-16 Image courtesy Princeton University Art Museum / ArtResource, NY
Father and Child, 1961
Charcoal
Private Collection
Study for Father and Child Reading, 1964
Black pastel
Private Collection
Maquette for Father and Child Reading, 1985
Bronze, Height 36.8 cm (14 1/2 in.)
Robert M. Rosenberg Family Fund and Lucy Scarborough Conant Fund, 2024.2192
Oracle, 1965
Ink, chalk, and collage on paper 39 3/4 × 26 3/8 in. (101 × 67 cm)
Yale University Art Gallery, Janet and Simeon Braguin Fund, 2007.151.1 Courtesy of theEstate of John Woodrow Wilson / Licensed byVAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Becky, 1969
Pastel on paper 114.3 x 88.9 cm (45 x 35 in.)
Courtesy of Bank of America Art Collection, 56.906
Roz No.9, 1972 Study for Eternal Presence
Pastel and charcoal on paper 48.3 x 61 cm (19 x 24 in.)
Virginia Herrick Deknatel Purchase Fund and Lee M. Friedmas Fund, 2022.1893
Father and Child, 1974
Bronze
Collection of Julia Wilson
Jimmy, 1956-83
Pastel and white gouache
Collection of Julia Wilson, courtesy of Martha Richardson Fine Art, Boston
Richie No. 1, 1981
Charcoal on paper 76.2 x 50.8 cm (30 x 20 in.)
Private Collection, Brookline, MA
Light in the Window from “The Richard Wright Suite,” 2001
Etching with aquatint 12 × 16 in. (30.5 × 40.6 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,New York, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2023(2023.264a) Courtesy of the Estate of John Wilson
Death of Mann from “The Richard Wright Suite,” 2001
Etching with aquatint 12 × 16 in. (30.5 × 40.6 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2023 (2023.264f) Courtesy of the Estate of John Wilson
Photography Beth Horta for Sweet Sabelle.