Book, Native Son

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Caitlin Condell as part of Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

Richard Wright’s novel follows a young African American man caught in a deadly downward spiral in 1930s Chicago. Rather than interpreting a scene from Native Son for the cover, Kauffer copied his unpublished illustration for the final scene of Carl Van Vechten’s 1926 novel. The image he repurposed shows an African American man undone by murder. Kauffer rendered a faceless figure slumped over a chair, placing a brick—a murder weapon—at the character’s knees.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.