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THELMA JOHNSON STREAT (1911 - 1959)
The Negro In Professional Life (Mural Study FeaturingWomen In TheWorkplace)
.
Ink, crayon and watercolor on cardstock, 1945. 254x508 mm: 10x20 inches. Signed and dated in
pencil, lower right.
Provenance: private collection, Oregon.
Thelma Johnson Streat developed a number of studies and maquettes that were submitted designs
for mural projects after she left San Francisco.The artist’s estate also includes the large drawing or
mural cartoon
The Negro in Professional Life
that was entered to a juried contest at the South Side
Community Art Center in Chicago in 1944. Newspapers described a series of 12 more murals.
According to Judy Bullington, Streat’s work tied for first place. A 1945 article in
The Oregonian
newspaper sheds more light on this educational series and describes what Streat was planning:“Her
plan is simple.Through the medium of murals painted with a simplicity which will have appeal to
all children, regardless of race or creed, exactly what her people contribute to industry.” In addition
to a Chicago and New York mural, the article describes a Portland group “showing the Negro
woman in Industry.” Bullington pp. 97-99.
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