Artis Lane

"Flowers in Pink Vase" Oil on Canvas, Still-Life Painting, Rich Pinks & Greens

1974

"Red Chair," though an interior scene, is arranged like a still-life with the furniture and objects slightly off-kilter in the creative manner of Marc Chagall's interiors, the Russian-French artist of Belarusian Jewish origin. These non-fixed objects lend a floating energetic atmosphere and the brilliant colors contribute to the liveliness of this warm inviting interior. Richard Jerzy was a well-known watercolor artist from the Detroit, Michigan area. His signature works were figures and still lives, and many famous Michigan families are collectors. "He was probably the most promising, successful, exciting artist in the state of Michigan," said Miriam Parel, a fellow artist and friend for more than 30 years. He grew up on Detroit's east side and developed an interest in painting as a teenager. He attended Detroit's Center (now College) for Creative Studies. Other well- known CCS faculty and graduates are Susan Aaron-Taylor, Harry Bertoia, Doug Chaing, Stephen Dinehart, Tyree Guyton...

"Squares and Things" painted by the eminent artist, Charles McGee, literally breaths his African American heritage and his extraordinary vibrant use of colors. Provenance is The Arwin Galleries on Grand River in Detroit, Michigan - label on verso. This early painting of McGee's shows his mastery in creating a painting in the style of the French Impressionist Edouard Manet, "Still Life with Melon and Peaches" located in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and in the style of Fauvist/Expressionist painter Henry Matisse, "Still Life with Blue Tablecloth", located in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia. McGee makes the well-known genre of still life his own creating an exciting marvelous work incorporating the homely quilt - the powerful symbol of the African American road to safety from slavery - as his main focus. Quilts symbolize warmth, comfort, and as shown by the collection of quilts gathered by the artists in Gee's Bend the designs on the quilts hung outdoors at locations along the Underground Railroad showed fugitives the road north and to safety. "Squares and Things" was first shown at The Arwin Galleries, Inc., Detroit, Michigan, one of the stops along the Underground Railroad. This piece is signed by the artist, Charles McGee, and is an extraordinary example of his early work before he moved into Abstract Expressionism and his many sculptural works now located throughout Michigan. Several of these works are: "Noah's Ark: Genesis, 1984," on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts, his brilliant 2005 "Progression" a 45-foot wide aluminum sculpture at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan, and his stunning 2016 "United We Stand" sculpture at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History . His genius can be seen in sculpture installments throughout the city of Detroit. . He was born into a family of sharecroppers. While helping his grandfather tend the land, "he observed firsthand the order and harmony that exists within nature." He had no formal schooling until moving to Detroit at age 10, where he found that "everything was on the move and it hasn’t slowed down yet." in 2017 he observed, "I learned something not being in school — because life is school . . .I learn something every time I move. Every time I go around a corner, something new is revealed to me.” McGee took advantage of the GI Bill to attend classes at the Society of Arts and Crafts, now the College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI. Other College for Creative Studies (formerly Center for Creative Studies) faculty and graduates include Richard Jerzy, Harry Bertoia, Doug Chaing (currently director of Lucas Film), Stephen Dinehart (game maker, writer, designer connected with The David Lynch Foundation), Tyree Guyton (international artist), Herb Babcock, Jerome Feretti, Kevin Siembieda (writer, designer and publisher of role-playing games), Renee Radell, and Philip Pearlstein. After retiring from the Corps of Engineers, McGee spent 1968 studying art in Barcelona. Despite not knowing the language at the outset, he immersed himself in the culture and opened himself to a whole new range of experience that would play out in his artwork. "If you free yourself, you have this kind of opportunity to have those experiences, horizons, and new vistas." (per interview with Nick Sousanis author of a book on Charles McGee.) He returned to Detroit and curated "Seven Black Artists" at the Detroit Artists Market in 1969, which along with McGee himself, included Lester Johnson, Henri Umbaji King, Robert Murray, James Lee, Allie McGhee...

Still Life Pink Flowers In A Vase Artist signed lower right corner and verso, canvas size 30x24, framed. Charlotte Igoe (Amar) was a self thought artist. Charlotte lived in London, England and had her apartment near Marble Arch and Park Lane, she was the first model in London to introduce photographic modeling, which was just starting in New York for magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Town and Country, Mayfair, etc. Charlotte was President and owner of the Fort William Times Journal and also President and owner of the James Murphy Coal and Oil Company. Charlotte financed and renovated the entire building of the Thunder Bay Historical Museum, she also financed and renovated the new library of the museum in honor of James Murphy her father-in-law, a well know pioneer at the Lakehead. Charlotte was well known at the Lakehead for her many charitable works, among them: Saint Joseph’s Orphanage, The Thunder Bay Historical Museum, McKellar Hospital, Port Arthur General Hospital, Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, and the Frank Murphy Recreational Centre….St. Patrick’s Cathedral has a beautiful, large stained glass window dedicated in loving memory of Frank X. Murphy and his family. In the early 1950’s, Charlotte was instrumental in having cerebral palsy children recognized and started a school for them which was in the Baptist Church at Brodie and Donald Streets...

Mid-Century oil still life painting of a vase featuring a medallion portrait filled with flowers in varying shades of red, white, and pink in a rect...