Palmer Hayden

Palmer was born on january 15, 1890.  Palmers birthname was Peyton Cole Hedgeman but his more famously known name Palmer Hayden was given to him by his commanding sergeant during World War I.  In the beggining of World War I, Palmer decided to enlist in the U.S. Army, and fought in both West Point and in the Philippines.  Palmer grew up in wide water, virginia and was a "self trained" artist that studied at cooper union in new york city, he also attened independent studies at Boothbay Art Colony in Maine.  Palmer was one of the first painters in america to include africans in his paintings. palmer won two of the respectable Harmon Foundation’s Gold Award and shortly after was granted money to go study in france. In 1934 to 1938 Palmer did art projects for U.S. Treasury Department and WPA.

i think that Palmers work is infuenctial largely because he was the first person in america to depict african subjects in their art work, and i think that, that was a HUGE step in history because i feel it was some type of racial wall that kept people from doing that.  i feel that a lot of people didnt do it because they felt their art work would not be accepted since in the 1920's america was very racist.  I also think that his art work is influencial because in this painting right here i feel as if he is showing the black american community as out and having a great time with their heads up full of pride even with the racism of that time, so i feel as if he was influencing them to live life and be happy and ignore the racism.