A genre and portrait painter, Platt Ryder was a long-time active and respected member of the New York art community where he was a member of the National Academy of Design and founder of the Brooklyn Academy of Design. He earned his reputation through genre painting and was one of a group of artists who regularly depicted African-American figures in his genre pieces.

In his treatment of them, he struck a middle ground between stirring pity for their plight and treating them heroically. He neither romanticized nor victimized but acknowledged the contributions they made through their labor.
Platt Ryder was born in Brooklyn to parents who ran a shoe store. When he was a child, his parents moved to New Orleans, and he took his first...