The Life and Art of Allan Rohan Crite

The Boston Public Library was one of three locations in the city of Boston to display the art work of longtime Bostonian and artist Allan Rohan Crite. Beginning in the fall of 2007 until February 3, 2008, the BPL, the Boston Athenaeum, and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists exhibited collected works of art from Crite’s storied career in The Life and Art of Allan Rohan Crite: 1910-2007. Funded in part by the Boston Public Library Foundation, the exhibit offered onlookers a view into Crite’s lengthy artistic career.
When I visited the exhibit on January 19, 2008, over fifty collages, drawings, paintings, and sketches adorned the Wiggins Gallery in the McKim Building of The Boston Public Library.
Crite was born on March 20, 1910, in Plainfield, New Jersey. In that same year, his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. Crite would later make Boston his home as an adult. Over the course of his distinguished career he promoted visual art as a lecturer, printer, printmaker, and writer.
Crite once said: “As a visual artist, I am in the communication business, as are all those in the disciplines of the arts: the performing arts of music and drama; the written arts from poems, sagas, and news items; to all the other various media, from talking drums to electronic messaging.”
Several of Crite’s works of art illustrate his deep religious faith. The artist had a particular interest in portraying people of color from around the world in his art.
One section of the exhibit was devoted to Crite’s artistic work depicting the South End of Boston. “An Artist’s Sketch book of the South End: A Walking Tour About Black People,” is a collection of color drawings created in 1977. There are elaborate drawings of tree lined streets and bow front houses of the South End where Crite once had an art studio. The sketch book also includes a drawing of the historic Union United Methodist Church on Columbus Avenue. In 1978, Crite created “Winter’s Workmen – A bit of Rehabilitation in the South End of Boston,” another drawing depicting his beloved city.
In “Adoration of the Magi,” a 1954 ink painting, Crite depicts another Boston setting while incorporating his religious ideology. This painting shows the Massachusetts State House in the background with a group of onlookers dressed in Biblical era clothing. The onlookers include shepherds who are looking intently at Mary, while she holds the baby Jesus.
There were several captivating images displayed in the Crite exhibit. “We Are Surrounded by Our Ancestors” is especially eye-catching. In this 1984 collage-drawing, Crite includes well-known Bostonians such as art-historian E. Barry Gaither and State Representative Byron Rushing.