A small painting bought for $10 at a thrift store in Glenside, a small suburban town outside of Philadelphia, has turned out to be a one-of-a-kind treasure representing the height of Black wealth in late 19th-century America.
Andy Robbins spotted the watercolor in June 2023 at New Life Thrift, a charity shop associated with a nearby Presbyterian church. He bought it after searching the name of the artist online. The signature identified the painter as a “W.H. Dorsey” and dated it to 1864, which led Robbins to identify the painter as William Henry Dorsey.
The painting depicts a Black man fishing next to a church and an old mill in what he described to local public radio station WHYY as a “serene landscape.”
“I like the little guy that was sitting there fishing on the side of the river,” Robins told the radio station. “The tree right next to him was done in these very light brushstrokes that I thought was beautiful.”
Robbins shared his find on Instagram when he got home and was quickly contacted by researchers with 1838 Black Metropolis, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring the lost history of Philadelphia, which was a stronghold for free Blacks in the antebellum period.
“I cannot express how incredibly grateful I am to you for posting this… We love Dorsey because his father’s origin story is so incredible,” a representative for 1838 Black Metropolis commented on Dorsey’s post. “This piece is really unique in that it is very rare to find 19th Century art that beautifully portrays Black people. The peacefulness of the scene is also unusual. This man is calmly fishing by a stream unbothered.”
Watercolor landscape by William Henry Dorsey, dated 1864. Photo: Andy Robbins.
Dorsey was the son of Thomas Dorsey, who escaped slavery in Maryland with his two brothers in 1836 through the underground railroad before becoming extremely wealthy through his successful catering business. Because of his father’s financial success, Dorsey was able to pursue his interests in art and history.
Dorsey’s artistic endeavors were documented in an 1896 article in the Philadelphia Times, which called him “bright but odd” and said he possessed “a true artistic talent” and had produced “some watercolors that painters of wide repute would not be ashamed to subscribe their named to.”
Records at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts reveal that Dorsey exhibited at least 11 paintings at the institution between 1867 and 1868, including one he titled The Fisherman. The painting discovered by Robbins is theorized to possibly be that painting.
The younger Dorsey, who cofounded the American Negro Historical Society, was also an avid art collector who turned rooms of his house into an early museum dedicated to African American history and art.
“The fact that he was collecting work by Black and white artists speaks to the wealth his family had accumulated,” David Brigham, the director of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, told WHYY. “To be able to buy paintings by prominent artists was not available to most people, Black or white. The fact that he was filling his home with beautiful things and inviting people to come and see them speaks volumes.”
Robbins ultimately chose to give the work to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, where it is now displayed, WHYY reported. It is believed to be the only surviving painting by Dorsey.
“It’s the only one that I’ve been able to find in a museum collection,” Brigham said. “I also surveyed auction records, and I couldn’t find a single work by him.”