American Art Collaborative

The little girl in this portrait holds a flyswatter, ready to wave away any insects from the baby in her charge. The scumbled yellow background emphasizes the child’s dark skin and focuses our attention on her stalwart pose and grave eyes. William H. Johnson returned to his hometown of Florence, South Carolina, in 1944 to reacquaint himself with his family and to paint scenes from the community he grew up in. The younger children did not know Johnson, however, and his unpredictable behavior and short temper may account for the girl’s uneasy but resolute expression