The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 10, 2026

A horizontally oriented charcoal drawing depicts a group of people with dark skin in heavy, dark hatches beneath a sky of swirling clouds and diagonal light rays. In the center, a figure stands with their back to us, reaching one hand toward the sky. To our left, two figures gaze upward. To our right, three figures stand together and one sits, their forms blending into the dramatic, tonal background.

Glory Be!

c. 1941–42

Dox Thrash

(American, 1892–1965)
America
mezzotint and etching
Image: 18.7 x 25.2 cm (7 3/8 x 9 15/16 in.); Sheet: 22.9 x 29.2 cm (9 x 11 1/2 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 2023.195.1
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The lighter parts of this print are the places where the artist burnished the plate (so that ink could not adhere), but he also wiped the plate selectively, leaving a film of ink in some areas to suggest a transition from dark to light.

Description

During the Great Depression, Dox Thrash worked in the Federal Art Project’s Fine Print Workshop in Philadelphia, where he developed an innovative printmaking technique that utilized the industrial material, carborundum, to roughen plates that were then burnished, much like mezzotint. The technique created dramatic effects of dark to light, as evident here. Thrash’s subject matter was almost exclusively memories of his childhood in the rural south and his community in Philadelphia, and he often portrayed Black spiritualism or religious practices. Here, a group of people gesture and react to the parting of clouds and rays of light above. In the arrangement of figures and gestures, Thrash referred to European models from the Renaissance such as images of mourners at Christ’s crucifixion. A drawing Thrash made as a final preparatory design for the print is also in the CMA’s collection (2023.195.2).
  • {{cite web|title=Glory Be!|url=false|author=Dox Thrash|year=c. 1941–42|access-date=10 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.195.1