"Birth of a Sharecropper" 1939 transparent and opaque watercolor, and graphite pencil on paper by James B. Turnbull (1909-1976) at @whitneymuseum the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Written near the painting: James Turnbull, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, was one of the Midwestern Regionalis painters who portrayed agrarian life during the Great Depression. In the late 1930s, Turnbull created a series focused on sharecroppers, farmers who worked fields owned by wealthy landlords and received as a payment a small portion of the harvest—creating a system of indebtedness that perpetuated some of the socioeconomic structures of slavery after abolition. This watercolor depicts a group of sharecroppers as they assist with a child's birth taking place outside the tent. Although Turnbull foregrounded the collaborative efforts of these men and women, he also conveyed the anxiety resulting from the constant risk of eviction and displacement, common occurrences in the late 1930s, especially among groups as economically marginalized as the sharecroppers. The work's title, along with the makeshift living quarters and foreboding sky, suggests that the next generation may not escape this life of harsh labor and dire poverty. #jamesturnbull #jamesbturnbull #regionalism #regionalist #sharecropper #watercolorpainting #workinart #workinartweek (at Whitney Museum of American Art)