Palmer C. Hayden

Palmer C. Hayden (January 15, 1890 – February 18, 1973) was an American painter who depicted African American life. He painted in both oils and watercolors, and was a prolific artist of his era.
Born on January 15, 1890, Hayden’s original name was Peyton Cole Hedgeman. He was given the name Palmer Hayden by his commanding sergeant during World War I. He grew up in the town of Wide Water, Virginia, and was a so-called self trained artist. Hayden was one of the first in America to depict African subjects in his paintings.

Nous Quatre à Paris, c. 1930 - watercolor and pencil on paper (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

As a young man, Hayden studied at the Cooper Union in New York City and also practiced independent studies at Boothbay Art Colony in Maine. 

Much of Hayden's influences came from the environment around him. He enjoyed painting, and used his time in Paris for inspiration. Over his next five years in Paris, Hayden was very productive, trying to capture elements of Parisian society. On his return to America, Hayden began working for the United States government.

Much of Hayden’s work after Paris focused on the African American experience. He tried to capture rural life as well as urban backgrounds in New York City. Many of these urban paintings were centered in Harlem.

Palmer C. Hayden (2)

I first published on artist Palmer C. Hayden four years ago (here), before I learned about the collection at the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles.

Disambiguation: not the California African American Museum in Exposition Park. The Museum of African American Art operates on a nano-budget in a Macy’s department store in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.

The artist’s widow, Miriam, bequeathed 40 Haydens, several iconic (Below, Midsummer Night in Harlem, 1938, and His Hammer in his Hand,1944-7.)

That was a vote of confidence to an institution founded in 1976 and so-far dependent on a retailer’s largesse. It must have also been a reflection on the disinterest of larger museums in art by blacks.

For the most part MAAA shows local artists. Its Haydens deserve to be better known.