People Figurative Prints
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Art Subject: People
'Drop of Life' — from 'Solitude' for Henry David Thoreau's 'Walden'
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Naoko Matsubara, 'Drop of Life' for the portfolio 'Solitude', color woodcut, 1971. A fine impression with fresh, vivid colors, on cream laid Japan paper, the full sheet with margins,...
Category
1970s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Woodcut
The Winged Horse Pegasus - Vintage Offset Print by Giorgio de Chirico - 1962
Located in Roma, IT
Vintage offset print realized after a watercolor by Giorgio de Chirico in 1962.
From the rare portfolio "Greek Mythology" realized for IRI and printed by Stab Salomone.
Excellent c...
Category
1960s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Materials
Offset
Matisse, Mademoiselle M.A. I, Portraits par Henri Matisse (after)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Medium: Collotype, héliogravure, recto and verso, on grand vélin Renage filigrané paper, as issued
Year: 1954
Paper Size: 12 x 9.25 inches; image size: 9.05 x 6.3 inches
Inscription:...
Category
1950s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$716 Sale Price
20% Off
Composition, Hiroshima, Jacob Lawrence
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Silkscreen in eleven colors on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.81 x 9.375 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, Hiroshima, 1983. Published by Th...
Category
1980s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
$2,796 Sale Price
20% Off
M-Maybe, from Art of the 60s - Pop Art Screenprint Poster
Located in Long Island City, NY
M-Maybe, from Art of the Sixties
after Roy Lichtenstein, American (1923–1997)
Date: 1979 (after 1965 painting)
Screenprint Poster, unsigned
Image Size: 34 x 34 inches
Size: 55 in. x ...
Category
1970s Pop Art Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
Brass Section (Gelburd/Rosenberg 70-77), Jazz Series
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin d’Arches paper. Inscription: hand signed and numbered, 110/175, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the Jazz Series, 1979. Published by London Arts Group, Detr...
Category
1970s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$6,000 Sale Price
20% Off
Picasso, Composition (Cramer 148), Le Goût du Bonheur (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph and silkscreen with grease crayon, lithographic tusche, lead pencil, charcoal on vélin d'Arches paper. Paper size: 12.8 x 9.84 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered...
Category
1970s Cubist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$796 Sale Price
20% Off
Allegory of Love : Woman surrounded by Angels and Doves - Etching
Located in Paris, IDF
Francois BOUCHER
Allegory of Love : Woman surrounded by Angels and Doves
Etching
Unsigned
On Vellum 38 x 50 cm (c. 15 x 20 in)
Probably edited c. 1950
Excellent condition
Category
20th Century Mannerist Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Night Shadows
By Edward Hopper
Located in Storrs, CT
Night Shadows. 1921. Etching. Levin 82. 7 x 8 3/8 (sheet 10 x 13 7 1/16).s Series: Six American Etchings: The New Republic Portfolio, 1924. Edition approximately 500-600. Illustrate...
Category
1920s American Modern Landscape Prints
Materials
Etching
$48,000 Sale Price
20% Off
Composition, Hiroshima, Jacob Lawrence
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Silkscreen in eleven colors on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.81 x 9.375 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, Hiroshima, 1983. Published by Th...
Category
1980s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
$2,796 Sale Price
20% Off
Téléphone-homard cybernétique (M/L 822-831; Field 75-13)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph, silkscreen, drypoint, and collage on vélin de Rives BFK paper. Inscription: hand signed and numbered, I-70/250, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, Imaginat...
Category
1970s Surrealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$22,800 Sale Price
20% Off
Illeana, John Kacere
By John Kacere
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin paper. Paper size: 22 x 31 inches. Inscription: Hand signed and unnumbered A.P., as issued. Notes: Published and printed by Galerie La Vigne, Paris, in an edition...
Category
1990s Photorealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$1,596 Sale Price
20% Off
Warhol and Basquiat Paintings, 1985. Original 'Boxing' Exhibition Poster
Located in San Rafael, CA
Warhol and Basquiat Paintings, 1985 'Boxing Poster'
First edition original exhibition poster published by Tony Shafrazi / Bruno Bischoberger
Offset sheet printed in color
Photographe...
Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Materials
Offset
Chagall, Tribe of Issachar, Vitraux pour Jérusalem (after)
By Marc Chagall
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin paper. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the album, Chagall, Vitraux pour Jérusalem. Published by Musée des Arts Décora...
Category
1960s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$1,996 Sale Price
20% Off
Jill, John Kacere
By John Kacere
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on Saunders Waterford, St Cuthberts Mill paper. Paper size: 29.75 x 22.25 inches. Inscription: Hand signed and numbered 166/300, as issued. Notes: Published and printed by...
Category
1970s Photorealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$1,596 Sale Price
20% Off
Original 1982 Pink Floyd, The Wall - linen backed vintage movie poster
By Gerald Scarfe
Located in Spokane, WA
Original 1982 Pink Floyd, The Wall vintage movie poster. Archival linen backed International edition in the size of 27” x 41” ready to frame. Excellent condition. No restoration...
Category
1980s American Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Offset
L'Enfer XIX (Field 189-200; M/L 1039-1138), La Divine Comédie
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Woodcut in colors on vélin pur chiffon de Rives paper. Paper size: 13 x 10.375 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Catalogue raisonné reference: Michler & Löpsin...
Category
1960s Surrealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Woodcut
$796 Sale Price
20% Off
Renoir, Le chapeau épinglé, état en couleur, Les Lithographies de Renoir (after)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Medium: Lithograph on grand vélin Renage filigrané à la marque de l'éditeur paper.
Year: 1951
Paper Size: 12.5 x 9.5 inches; image size: 11.02 x 8.66 inches
Inscription: Signed in th...
Category
1950s Impressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$716 Sale Price
20% Off
Beggar man and woman coming from behind a bank – after Rembrandt van Rijn
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on cream laid paper laid down to a wove paper support, 4 x 2 5/8 inches (101 x 67 mm) (sheet). In good condition with scattered light areas of discoloration. Printed early 19...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Prints
Materials
Laid Paper, Etching
Picasso, Mother and Child (Orozco 95), Picasso (after)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Medium: Lithograph and stencil on vélin paper
Year: 1946
Paper Size: 18.75 x 12.625 inches
Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued
Catalogue raisonné reference: Or...
Category
1940s Cubist Landscape Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$3,996 Sale Price
20% Off
Cambridge Midsummer Fair
Located in Middletown, NY
A peaceful image by Britian's first official war artist.
Drypoint printed in brownish black ink on fibrous, laid Japon paper, 3 3/8 x 6 5/16 inches (85 x 161 mm), full margins. Sign...
Category
Early 20th Century Realist Landscape Prints
Materials
Handmade Paper, Drypoint
Cow (Feldman & Schellmann II.11), Andy Warhol
By Andy Warhol
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Silkscreen in colours on wallpaper. Inscription: printed, “Andy Warhol” in margin, as issued. Excellent condition. Notes: Published by Leo Castelli Gallery, New York; printed by Bill...
Category
1960s Pop Art Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
$47,996 Sale Price
20% Off
Margit Smiles
By Alex Katz
Located in New York, NY
signed and numbered lower image
edition 7/40
Catalogue raisonné 00269
Internationally recognized painter and printmaker Alex Katz was born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York. Over a thir...
Category
1990s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Materials
Aquatint
$30,000
Original 1966 unused poster Museo Picasso Palacio Aguilar Barcelona Spain
Located in Miami, FL
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (Spain, 1881-1973)
'Museo Picasso. Palacio Aguilar.', 1966
Four-color offset printing on paper
30 x 21.5 in. (76 x 54.5 cm.)
Unframed
Ref: PIC2001-P008
Conservatio...
Category
1960s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Offset
Original 1966 poster Harlequin Museo Picasso Palacio Aguilar Barcelona Spain
Located in Miami, FL
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (Spain, 1881-1973)
'Museo Picasso. Palacio Aguilar.', 1966
Four-color offset printing on paper
30 x 21.5 in. (76 x 54.5 cm.)
Unframed
Ref: PIC2001-P011
Conservatio...
Category
1960s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Offset
The Hunters
Located in Belgrade, MT
This piece is artist signed and numbered. Jacques Despierre was born in St. Etienne France, 1912-1995. He studied at the Academie Colarrossi and also at the Ecole des Beaux arts in P...
Category
Early 20th Century Cubist Figurative Prints
Materials
Paint, Lithograph
$240 Sale Price
52% Off
Comédie Humaine : The King's Muse - Lithograph (Mourlot)
Located in Paris, IDF
Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973)
Comédie Humaine, The King's Muse, 1954
Lithograph (Mourlot workshop)
Unsigned
On paper 26 .5 x 35.5 cm (c. 10,2 x 13.7 in)
INFORMATION : Created for port...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Picasso, Composition (Cramer 148), Le Goût du Bonheur (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph and silkscreen with grease crayon, lithographic tusche, lead pencil, charcoal on vélin d'Arches paper. Paper size: 12.8 x 9.84 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered...
Category
1970s Cubist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$796 Sale Price
20% Off
Soutine, Paysage à Cagnes, Soutine, Collection Pierre Lévy (after)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Medium: Lithograph on vélin d'Arches paper
Year: 1966
Paper Size: 20 x 26 inches
Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued
Notes: From the folio, Soutine, I, Collect...
Category
1960s Post-Impressionist Landscape Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$716 Sale Price
20% Off
Braque, Paysage a L'estaque, Fauves, Collection Pierre Lévy (after)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Medium: Lithograph on vélin d'Arches paper
Year: 1972
Paper Size: 20 x 26 inches
Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued
Notes: From the folio, Fauves, VII, Collec...
Category
1970s Fauvist Landscape Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$1,036 Sale Price
20% Off
Fin de Journée
Located in Middletown, NY
Paris: Sagot, 1889.
Wood engraving on cream laid Japon paper with full deckle edges, 8 3/8 x 5 3/4 (212 x 145 mm). Signed, numbered 9/35, and inscribed "1er Etat" in pencil in the l...
Category
Late 19th Century French School Landscape Prints
Materials
Handmade Paper, Woodcut
Purgatorio, Canto IX (Field 189-200; M/L. 1039-1138), La Divina Commedia
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Woodcut in colors on vélin pur chiffon de Rives paper. Paper size: 13 x 10.375 inches. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Catalogue raisonné reference: Michl...
Category
1960s Surrealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Woodcut
The Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias' Family - Etching by Rembrandt - 1641
Located in Roma, IT
The Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias' Family is an etching by Rembrandt executed in 1641. This etching is a proof of the 3rd state (of 4) before of the diagonals on the ground at the...
Category
1640s Old Masters Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Composition, Hiroshima, Jacob Lawrence
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Silkscreen in eleven colors on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.81 x 9.375 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, Hiroshima, 1983. Published by Th...
Category
1980s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
$2,796 Sale Price
20% Off
Inferno, Canto XXV (Field 189-200; M/L. 1039-1138), La Divina Commedia
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Woodcut in colors on vélin pur chiffon de Rives paper. Paper size: 13 x 10.375 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Catalogue raisonné reference: Michler & Löpsin...
Category
1960s Surrealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Woodcut
The Kiss - Lithograph by Jean Cocteau - 1957
By Jean Cocteau
Located in Roma, IT
Lithograph realized by Jean Cocteau in 1957.
Hand signed and dated in pencil.
Out of commerce proof, out of an edition of 90.
Includes a wooden frame cm 34.5x26
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
The Best Version Of Yourself by Jisbar (2023) Pop Art for Sale
Located in Winterswijk, NL
"The Best Version Of Yourself" by Jisbar/ Jean-Baptiste Launay is a pop-art, street style UV print on cardboard Dibond (0.3 cm) created in 2023. The artwork is hand signed, dated, a...
Category
2010s Street Art Portrait Prints
Materials
Paper, Color
Tauromachie
Located in Brooklyn, NY
In 1982, the Musée d'Art Moderne in Céret, France, hosted the exhibition "Picasso et la Tauromachie" (Picasso and Bullfighting), celebrating Pablo Picasso's profound connection to bu...
Category
Late 20th Century Cubist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Chagall, Tribe of Joseph, Vitraux pour Jérusalem (after)
By Marc Chagall
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin paper. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the album, Chagall, Vitraux pour Jérusalem. Published by Musée des Arts Décora...
Category
1960s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$1,996 Sale Price
20% Off
Picasso, étude pour la céramique, Céramiques de Picasso (Orozco 105) (after)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Medium: Collotype and lithograph on vélin gloss finish paper (to resemble the finish of ceramic), archivally hinged on vélin paper
Year: 1948
Paper Size: 15 x 11.25 inches
Catalogue ...
Category
1940s Cubist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$1,436 Sale Price
20% Off
View of Fountain Court, Middle Temple, City of London
Located in Middletown, NY
An 18th century view of the first permanent water fountain in London.
London: J.Boydell, 1753.
Engraving with hand coloring in watercolor on white laid paper, laid down to a modern...
Category
Mid-18th Century English School Figurative Prints
Materials
Watercolor, Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Engraving
Blackfeet Indians, Great Northern Railway 14 prints
By Winold Reiss
Located in Spokane, WA
A group of 14 Blackfeet Indians prints created by the artist Winold Reiss. The Great Northern Railway printed and released these prints in c. 1940. This is for the entire group...
Category
1940s American Realist Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Art Nouveau Woman in a Garden - Original lithograph, 1897
Located in Paris, IDF
Maurice REALIER DUMAS (1860-1928)
Art Nouveau Woman in a Garden (Corinne), 1897
Original lithograph (Imprimerie Champenois)
Signed in the plate
On vellum, 40 x 31 cm
INFORMATION: L...
Category
1890s Art Nouveau Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Surf Riders, Honolulu
Located in Harkstead, GB
An incredibly rare image of the very early days of surfing in Hawaii dating to around 1921. The striking contrasts and intricate technique immediately bring to mind Japanese woodblock art, in particular Katsushika Hokusai' s The Great Wave - such images had a profound influence on the artist's work. In very good condition with strong colour, ready to hang on the wall.
Charles William Bartlett...
Category
Early 20th Century Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper, Ink
Composition, Hiroshima, Jacob Lawrence
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Silkscreen in eleven colors on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.81 x 9.375 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, Hiroshima, 1983. Published by Th...
Category
1980s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
$2,796 Sale Price
20% Off
Olympia - Poster - Vintage Poster by Francesco Clemente - 1984
Located in Roma, IT
Olympia - Poster is a vintage poster realized by the italian artist Francesco Clemente (Naples, 1952) in occasion of the XIV Winter Olympics games in Sarajevo, in 1984.
Very good co...
Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Materials
Offset
Katherine Bernhardt - African Violets - Pink Panther, Pop
Located in London, GB
10-colour lithograph on Somerset Velvet White 300 gsm paper
23 3/5 × 29 9/10 in 60 × 76 cm - sheet size
Edition 48 of 200
hand-signed and numbered by the artist in the bottom right ...
Category
2010s Contemporary Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Light Up Pink
Located in New York, NY
ABOUT THIS ARTIST: Carla Sutera Sardo was born in Agrigento in 1983. She studied law and graduated in 2011. During her university career, she became interested in photography, thus s...
Category
2010s Figurative Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
I Castelli Romani - Vintage Poster after Neal Slavin - 1983
By Neal Slavin
Located in Roma, IT
I Castelli Romani is a splendid poster realized by Neal Slavin, in 1983, for the exhibition held in Rondanini Gallery in Rome.
Offset print, in very good conditions.
Category
1980s Contemporary Landscape Prints
Materials
Paper, Offset
Composition, Hiroshima, Jacob Lawrence
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Silkscreen in eleven colors on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.81 x 9.375 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, Hiroshima, 1983. Published by Th...
Category
1980s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
$2,796 Sale Price
20% Off
Head of a Gaul, British Museum Roman Classical sculpture photogravure
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
'Head of a Gaul'
Photogravure from a collection of photogravures depicting Greek and Roman marbles and bronzes in the British museum. Plate number above top right corner of the imag...
Category
1910s Other Art Style Portrait Prints
Materials
Photogravure
Dufy, Notre maison de Montsaunès, Vacances forcées (after)
By Raoul Dufy
Located in Fairfield, CT
Medium: Lithograph on papier bouffant des Papeteries de Casteljoux paper
Year: 1970
Paper Size: 12 x 9.25 inches
Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued
Notes: From the folio...
Category
1970s Modern Landscape Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$716 Sale Price
20% Off
Seishi Ai-oi Genji – Set of 12 Shunga works together w/astrological commentary
Located in Middletown, NY
Set of 12 woodblock prints in colors on handmade, laid mulberry paper, 6 3/4 x 10 1/4 inches (170 x 258 mm), printed in Ka-ei 4 (1851). Each print with minor handling wear, otherwise in excellent condition with bright and fresh color, and with details printed in silver ink. The images themselves contain several illusive characters indicating the publisher which are obfuscated by figures, as intended. Presented loose, as issued. A fine set.
The astrological commentary print has a large and meandering blind stamp with a bird and palm frond motif. This print lists various phrases concerning the Twelve Zodiac Animals as historically counted in Japan, and appears to include erotic commentary on the traits of people born under each of the twelve signs.
These Shunga images were issued in books that paralleled (in an erotic fashion...
Category
Mid-19th Century Edo Nude Prints
Materials
Handmade Paper, Ink, Woodcut
Fly Fishing, Saranac Lake
Located in Storrs, CT
Fly Fishing, Saranac Lake. 1889. Etching, aquatint and burnishing. Goodrich 104. 14 1/4 x 20 5/8; sheet 18 1/2 x 24 1/2. Edition unknown but quite possibl...
Category
Late 19th Century American Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
$40,000 Sale Price
20% Off
Picasso, Composition (Cramer 148), Le Goût du Bonheur (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph and silkscreen with grease crayon, lithographic tusche, lead pencil, charcoal on vélin d'Arches paper. Paper size: 12.8 x 9.84 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered...
Category
1970s Cubist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$796 Sale Price
20% Off
'Unemployed Marchers' — American Modernism, WPA
By Leon Bibel
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Leon Bibel, 'Unemployed Marchers', 2-color lithograph, c. 1938, edition 25. Signed, titled, and numbered '2/25' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression on off-white, wove paper, w...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Composition, Hiroshima, Jacob Lawrence
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Silkscreen in eleven colors on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.81 x 9.375 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, Hiroshima, 1983. Published by Th...
Category
1980s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
$2,796 Sale Price
20% Off
Mid Century Chevaux et Cavalières La Nuit Lithograph
By Hoi Lebadang
Located in Soquel, CA
Mid Century Nocturnal Horses with Riders Under Moonlight Lithograph Limited Edition
Compelling nocturnal lithograph of two women on horseback by ...
Category
1960s Abstract Impressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper, Lithograph
May I Introduce You
By Josh Agle
Located in Norwich, GB
Josh Agle (born August 31, 1962) is an American artist, better known by the nickname Shag.
Agle's nickname is derived from the last two letters of his first name, and the first two ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
The House of Shango — African American artist
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Samella Sanders Lewis, 'The House of Shango', lithograph, 1992, edition 60. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered '31/60' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, on Arches cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (1 1/4 to 3 1/2 inches), in excellent condition. Image size 24 x 18 inches (610 x 457 mm); sheet size 30 inches x 22 1/4 inches (762 x 565 mm). Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed.
ABOUT THIS WORK
“The title of this piece is an unmistakable harkening to African roots. Shango is a religious practice with origins in Yoruba (Nigerian) belief, deifying a god of thunder by the same name. Shango has been adopted in the Caribbean, most notably in Trinidad and Tobago, a fact that underscores the importance of transnationalism to Samella Lewis’s piece. Her work often grapples with issues of race in the U.S., and The House of Shango is no exception. Through a reliance on the gradual transformation of Shango—one that took place across continents and time—Lewis’s piece forms a powerful link between black Americans and their African and Caribbean counterparts. The figure depicted in the piece appears to emerge, quite literally, from the house of Shango. Given the roots and transformative process of the religion, The House of Shango can draw attention to the historical intersections to which black American culture is indebted.” —Laura Woods, Scripps College, Ruth Chander Williamson Gallery, Collection Highlights, 2018
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Samella Lewis’ lifelong career as an artist, art historian, critic, curator, collector, and advocate of African American art has helped empower generations of artists in the United States and worldwide, earning her the designation “the Godmother of African American art.”
Born and raised in Jim Crow era New Orleans, Lewis began her art education at Dillard University in 1941, transferring to Hampton University in Virginia, where she earned her B. A. and master's degrees. She completed her master's and a doctorate in art history and cultural anthropology at Ohio State University in 1951, becoming the first female African American to earn a doctorate in fine art and art history.
Lewis taught art at Morgan State University while completing her doctorate. She became the first Chair of the Fine Arts Department at Florida A&M University in 1953. That same year Lewis also became the first African American to convene the National Conference of African American artists held at Florida A&M University. She was a professor at the State University of New York, California State University, Long Beach, and at Scripps College in Claremont, California. Lewis co-founded, with Bernie Casey, the Contemporary Crafts Gallery in Los Angeles in 1970. In 1973, she served on the selection committee for the exhibition BLACKS: USA: 1973 held at the New York Cultural Center.
Samella Lewis's 1969 catalog 'Black Artists on Art', featured accomplished black artists typically overlooked in mainstream art galleries. She said of the book, "I wanted to make a chronology of African American artists, and artists of African descent, to document our history. The historians weren't doing it. It was really about the movement."
From the 1960s through the 1970s, her work, which included lithographs, linocuts, and serigraphs, reflected her concerns with the values of human dignity, democracy, and freedom of expression. Between 1969 and 70, Lewis and E.J. Montgomery were consultants for a groundbreaking exhibition at the Oakland Public L designed to create greater awareness of African American history and art.
Lewis was the founder of the International Review of African American Art in 1975. In 1976, she founded the Museum of African-American Art with a group of artistic, academic, business, and community leaders in Los Angeles, California. Lewis, the museum’s senior curator, organized exhibitions and developed new ways of educating the public about African American art. She celebrated African American art as an 'art of experience’ inspired by the artists’ lives. And she espoused the concept of African American art as an 'art of tradition', urging museums to explore the African roots of African American art. In 1984, Lewis produced an extensive monograph on Elizabeth Catlett, her beloved mentor at Dillard University.
Lewis has been collecting art since 1942, focusing primarily on the WPA era and work created during the Harlem Renaissance. Pieces from her collection were acquired by the Hampton University Museum in Virginia, the world’s earliest collection of African American fine art...
Category
1990s Realist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph