For work that spans portraiture, oil painting and bronze sculpture, the Canadian artist Artis Lane draws from the spiritual and emotional aspects of human existence. Lane is a trailblazer: She was the first Black woman to be admitted to Cranbrook Academy of Art — a legendary institution within art, design and architecture — and her bronze bust of Sojourner Truth was the first statue of an African-American woman in the United States Capitol.
Lane was born in North Buxton, Ontario, in a town predominantly inhabited by the descendants of slaves who arrived in Canada by way of the Underground Railroad. As her artistic career developed, so did her interest in people of African descent as well as her ideas about the physical world and our bodies being vessels, capable of eventually taking on godly characteristics.
“Lane promotes the primacy of corporeal experience with sculptures that speak to Africa as the beginning of human life,” noted the University of Oklahoma’s Journal of Museum Studies in 2008. Her unique approach to depicting the journey between the physical and spiritual worlds has been to work outside the constraints of the traditional bronze finishing process, leaving the ceramic casing, wire and tubing used to cast it intact as part of the finished piece, whereby the wire is symbolic of bondage to the physical form.
Lane attended what was then called the Ontario College of Art (today, it’s the Ontario College of Art and Design University) on the Edith Chapman scholarship before studying painting at Cranbrook. She took an active role in the artistic communities in the various cities she lived in over the years. In New York and Los Angeles, she befriended actors Cary Grant and Diahann Carroll, and in Detroit, she painted commissioned portraits of auto industry executives to pay the bills. She would go on to paint portraits of many esteemed figures such as President John F. Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jordan and Aretha Franklin. Today, a sculpture Lane created of Rosa Parks is on display at the National Portrait Gallery.
Lane received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the California African American Museum and an honorary degree from her alma mater, Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Find a collection of Artis Lane art on 1stDibs.
Price Upon Request
"Desmond Tutu", Acrylic on Canvas, Historical Portrait
By Artis Lane
Located in Detroit, MI
This portrait of Desmond Tutu is from the seminal artist Artis Lane and is one of the many exquisite portraits done of historical figures and celebrities she has met and painted duri...
Canvas, Acrylic
Price Upon Request
"Female", Acrylic on Canvas
By Artis Lane
Located in Detroit, MI
This acrylic on canvas from the seminal artist Artis Lane is one of the many model paintings from her long and illustrious career. The subject is a female nude in pose, holding a flo...
Canvas, Acrylic
Price Upon Request
"Eva Gabor" Female Portrait, Golden Colors, Movie Star
By Artis Lane
Located in Detroit, MI
This portrait from the seminal artist Artis Lane is one of the many unique portraits she has painted of notable people she has known in her long and illustrious career. The subject is Eva Gabor...
Canvas, Oil
Price Upon Request
"Baby Jane Holzer" Female Portrait, Golden & Green Colors, Celebrity, Intimate
By Artis Lane
Located in Detroit, MI
This portrait from the seminal artist Artis Lane is one of the many unique portraits she has painted of notable people she has known in her long and illustrious career. The subject is "Baby Jane" Holzer, a member of Andy Warhol superstars and an art collector and film producer in her own right. She appeared in several Andry Warhol...
Canvas, Oil
$1,070
H 15.75 in W 11.82 in D 1.19 in
Interior with Five Children - Oil Painting on Canvas - 19th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Interior with Five Children is an original oil painting on canvas applied on panel. This painting has been realized between the end of the 19th century ...
Canvas, Oil
$13,836Sale Price|20% Off
H 32 in W 45 in D 4 in
Nude Painting by Andre Belichenko (Russian).
By Andre Belichenko
Located in Uppingham, GB
Nude with Silks by Andre Belichenko ( Russian) Andrei Belichenko was born in 1974 in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. He is a graduate of the Republican Art Schoo (1990). Andrei studied in t...
Acrylic
$4,500
H 38 in W 26.5 in D 0.5 in
'Woman in Blue', Danish Royal Academy, Brooklyn Museum, Kolding
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Initialed lower left, 'A.S.' for Anton Schroder (Danish, 1893-1965) and dated 1953. A substantial, modernist oil painting of a young woman, shown seated and gazing to her left with ...
Canvas, Oil
$1,600
H 25.6 in W 20.87 in D 1.19 in
Korean Contemporary Art by Shin Seung-Hun - Beyond Adventure - Meeting of Chunja
By Shin Seung-Hun
Located in Paris, IDF
Acrylic on canvas Shin Seung-Hun is a South-Korean artist born in 1979 who lives & works in Jeju Island, Korea. He is considered by critics as the new Korean Takashi Murakami. ...
Canvas, Acrylic
$6,500
H 32 in W 32 in D 2.75 in
"The Champ, 1942" Joe Louis "Brown Bomber" Boxer Portrait Ex-Museum Oil Signed
Located in Yardley, PA
“The Champ, 1942” by Theodore Fried (1902-1980) This important portrait by Hungarian-American artist Theodore Fried depicts the legendary boxer Joe Louis aka “The Brown Bomber” and ...
Canvas, Oil, Board
$2,500
H 31.5 in W 27.5 in
Sephardic Jewish Men Vibrant Judaica Vintage Oil Painting Israeli Artist Goldman
By Albert Goldman
Located in Surfside, FL
This depicts Middle Eastern jewish men of Sefardic descent. At least one appears to be a Rabbi. ALBERT GOLDMAN Born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1922, Albert Goldman started drawing and ...
Canvas, Oil
$4,200
H 29.5 in W 23.5 in D 1 in
Young Swimmer (Modern, Academic Style Portrait Painting in Antique Gold Frame)
By Mark Beard
Located in Hudson, NY
Figurative oil on canvas painting of a young athletic male 24 x 20 inches, 29.5 x 23.5 inches vintage gold painted wood frame signed B. Sargeant in red in upper right hand corner T...
Oil, Canvas
$1,800
H 19 in W 21 in D 2 in
A Cheerful 1950s Mid-Century Modern, Portrait of a Young Woman Seated at a Table
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A cheerful1950s Mid-Century Modern portrait of a young woman seated at a table by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Great color palette and expressive, contempla...
Canvas, Oil
$19,837
H 63.78 in W 51.19 in D 1.58 in
Orange-Toned Figurative Painting on Canvas, 2024 - 'Pugna 053'
Located in Bruxelles, BE
Chidy Wayne (b. 1981, Spain) is an artist based in Barcelona. Over the years, he has established himself as a recognized figure in the art world, developing a personal artistic langu...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Gesso, Acrylic
"Crystal Hunt, " Acrylic Paint on Canvas
Located in Chicago, IL
Starring Donnie Yen, "The Bruce Lee of the 90s," "Crystal Hunt" was a martial arts film from Hong Kong made in 1991. Frequently, theaters in Ghana were unable to import official post...
Acrylic, Canvas
$3,800
H 51.19 in W 63.78 in D 1.58 in
French Contemporary Art by Karine Bartoli - Zone Blanche
By Karine Bartoli
Located in Paris, IDF
Acrylic on canvas Karine Bartoli was born in 1971 in Ajaccio. She enrolled at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Marseille where she graduated in 1997. Since then she ...
Canvas, Acrylic
Study of a Nude Man
By Helena Adele Dunlap
Located in Sheffield, MA
Helena Adele Dunlap American, 1876-1955 Study of a Nude Man Oil on canvas 16 X 12 in. w/ frame 19 ½ X 15 ⅝ in. Signed lower left Helena Dunlap was best known for her involvement in...
Oil, Canvas