Konrad Cramer

Colored Drawing No. 6 (Reclining Woman)

1931

Robert Blackburn, Untitled (Reclining Nude), brush and ink, c. 1948, unsigned. A fine, spontaneous work, on cream wove paper. Slight toning to the sheet edges; otherwise in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 18 3/4 x 23 1/2 inches (476 x 597 mm). Provenance: Adrienne E. Wheeler Collection, acquired from the artist. ABOUT THE ARTIST Robert Blackburn (1920 - 2003) participated in the rich mix of art programs and creative groups available in Harlem as he grew up, including Charles Alston's Harlem Arts Workshop, the Harlem YMCA, and later the Harlem Artist's Guild. In 1937 he joined the WPA at the Harlem Community Art Center, the largest New York center for instruction in the arts. There he was exposed to Harlem's most prominent artists, Aaron Douglas, William Henry Johnson...

Ann Graves Tanksley, Untitled (Seated Nude), oil and marker, 1984. Signed and dated, lower right. A fine, expressionist rendering, with fresh colors, on cream wove paper, painted to the sheet edges, in excellent condition. Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size/sheet size: 24 1/16 x 18 inches (611 x 457 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST “Her work reflects the influence of her travels, the residential colors, the simple work habits, the loneliness, and the love and devotion to one’s spiritual beliefs. There is a oneness of artist and concept. Her love of life, despite social barriers and frustrations, is promoted in her work for audiences to witness and accept... Her paintings evoke a spiritual awakening. One is drawn to the intensity of color that prevails and identifies the moods of feasts and celebrations. ...Life is full of anticipation and dedication, of acceptance and hope, of faith and survival. These are all present in the works of Ann Tanksley.” —Robert Henke, The Art of Black American Women: Works of Twenty-Four Artists of the Century, McFarland & Company, Inc., 1993. Ann Graves was born in 1934 and raised in the Homewood community in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Drawn to art at an early age, Tanksley graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1956 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Following graduation from college, she married fellow Homewood native John Tanksley, and the couple moved to Brooklyn, New York. He worked as a photo retoucher in the advertising industry. Tanksley devoted herself to raising her daughters while working as an art instructor before fully pursuing her artistic pursuits. She was an art instructor at Queens Youth Center for the Arts from 1959-62, the Arts Center of Northern New Jersey in 1963, and a substitute art instructor at Malvern Public Schools in 1971. She also served as an adjunct art instructor at Suffolk County Community College from 1973-1975. Tanksley continued her art education with studies at the Arts League of New York, The New School, the Paulette Singer Workshop in Great Neck, and the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, where she learned monotype printmaking. In addition to Blackburn and Singer, Tanksley studied with several renowned artists throughout her career, including Norman Lewis (artist), Balcomb Greene, and Samuel Rosenberg (artist). Tanksley was one of the first members of Where We At: Black Women Artists, Inc., a New York-based women’s art collective founded by artists Kay Brown...

A 1933 watercolor of a reclining woman in a red dress, by Malvin Marr Albright (Zsissily), the identical twin of artist Ivan Albright and son of artist Adam Le Lorraine Albright. Im...

Reclining Female Nude Charcoal and colored chalks with white highlights on tan laid paper, c. 1948 Signed and monogrammed by the artist lower right (see photo) A masterpiece dr...