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
"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
$1,413
H 16.15 in W 13.19 in D 0.04 in
A Young Oriental Woman Looking at the Mirror-Oil on Canvas - 19th Century
Located in Roma, IT
A young woman is an original modern artwork realized in Late 19th Century. Mixed colored oil on canvas. The artwork depicts a young woman with veil and mirror. Unreadible signatur...
Canvas, Oil
$1,048
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
$2,213
H 31 in W 22 in
Space Invaders Original Acrylic Painting on Canvas, Signed, 2013
Located in Aventura, FL
Original acrylic painting on canvas. Hand signed on front by Mr. Babes. Canvas is not stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included. All reasonable offers will be considered. About the Artist: James “Babes” Kopp (b.1983), professionally known as MR.BABES, is a Miami-based neo-pop artist whose vibrant paintings are exhibited and collected around the world. After receiving his BFA from The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Kopp found 15 years of notable success across South Florida as an investment art broker...
Canvas, Acrylic
$2,826
H 23.63 in W 19.69 in D 1.97 in
Ballerina - Oil Paint by Miroslava Vrbová-Štefková - mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Dancer is a beautiful oil on panel realized by Vrbová-Štefková in the mid-20th Century. Signed and framed, 60 x 50 cm. Good condition.
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
$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
$2,620Sale Price|40% Off
H 24.02 in W 24.02 in
Series of Four Portraits from a New York City Gay Underground Club
By Damien Smith
Located in London, GB
A series of four paintings - acrylic on stretched canvas - unframed, by Canadian artist Damien Smith (born 1969). This unique series depicts four characters in a New York City erotic gay bar...
Canvas, Acrylic
$55,000
H 67 in W 46 in
"Portrait of Kathleen Curry, the Artist's Wife" John Steuart Curry
By John Steuart Curry
Located in New York, NY
John Steuart Curry Portrait of Kathleen Curry, the Artist's Wife, 1938 Signed and titled "Kathleen" lower left Oil on canvas 55 x 34 inches Provenance The artist Kathleen Curry, the...
Canvas, Oil
$3,061
H 22.25 in W 18.12 in D 0.79 in
Portrait of Young Man with Mustache - 20th Century - Painting - Modern
Located in Roma, IT
Nice oval painting realized by an Italian master belonging to the Tuscan school at the end of 19th / beginning of 20th century. Not signed. In excellent conditions.
Canvas, Oil
Hidden Portraits XI
Located in London, GB
'Hidden Portraits XI', acrylic on canvas mounted on board, by P. Piccini, of the Florentine School (circa 1980s-90s). This gallery has acquired a number of paintings through an inter...
Board, Acrylic, Canvas
Sitzende Frau
By Fritz Schmidt
Located in Wien, 9
signed on the lower left The painting can be categorised in the tradition of New Objectivity. The picture shows a real scene, the woman depicted stares into space with a serious and...
Canvas, Oil
$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