Untitled (KKK Lynching) - c. 1937-38, Lithograph.

Edition not stated. Signed in pencil.

Image size 9 1/8 x 12 1/16 inches (232 x 306 mm); sheet size 11 3/8 x 15 7/8 inches (349 x 403 mm).

A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1/2 to 2 1/8 inches). Traces of printing ink in the bottom right margin, well away from the image; otherwise in excellent condition. Very scarce.

Carl Hill, a relatively obscure African American artist, probably produced this lithograph as a teenager while he was taking classes at the Works Progress Administration's Harlem Community Art Center from fellow printmaker Riva Helfond. Hill jined the Merchant Marines during WWII and was killed in action in 1943 when a German torpedo sank his ship.

When Hill created this work the widespread poverty caused by the Great Depression had deepened resentment for African Americans by the whites who sought enforce racist Jim Crow laws. The Ku Klux Klan, a secret vigilante society that terrorized black communities, was responsible for thousands of lynchings in their ruthless pursuit of white supremacy.

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