Paul Robeson as Emperor Jones
by Mabel Dwight (1870-1955)
ca. 1930
Color lithograph
14 3/4" x 13"
Mabel Dwight was one of Ruth Starr Rose’s earliest mentors, as well as a close friend and teacher at the Art Students League in New York City. Rose and her New York circle of friends strongly supported the principles of the civil rights movement and were directly involved in it from its infancy. Clear evidence of this is found in the artist’s own collection. Dwight gave Rose her color lithograph, Paul Robeson as “The Emperor Jones,” inscribing it, “To Ruth Starr Rose with love from Mabel Dwight, 1930.”