Harry Roseland

Harry Herman Roseland was an American genre artist who focused his paintings on impoverished African-Americans in the early twentieth century. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1868, Harry Herman Roseland was largely self-taught though he did study briefly with J.B. Whittaker. He remained in New York throughout his life, despite the common practice of travelling to Europe as many artists did at that time. As Roseland’s talent grew, he began to create a story with his paintings, discovering his love for genre painting rather than his former landscapes and still-lifes. His late paintings focused mainly around Post-Civil War African-Americans in poverty.

Throughout his life, Harry Roseland participated in many exhibitions along the East Coast and won many awards. He passed away in New York in 1950