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
"Jesse Owens - Long Jump Medalist", Mixed Media on Paper
By Artis Lane
Located in Detroit, MI
This mixed media on paper painting of Jesse Owens is from the seminal artist Artis Lane and is one of the many exquisite pieces done of historical figures ...
Paper, Mixed Media
Price Upon Request
"Ancient Man", Mixed Media on Paper
By Artis Lane
Located in Detroit, MI
This mixed media on paper from the seminal artist Artis Lane is one of the many model pictures from her long and illustrious career. The subject is an older man, whom is called "Anci...
Paper, Mixed Media
Price Upon Request
"Self Portrait" Frontal Female, Mixed Media on Paper, Subtle Colors
By Artis Lane
Located in Detroit, MI
"Self-Portrait" is a stunning mixed media piece showing the vibrancy of the figure through the use of bold lines and placement of the blue and orange colors. The figure appears to be...
Paper, Mixed Media
Price Upon Request
"Surreal Study" Male and Female Figures on a Branch, Colors, Mixed Media
By Artis Lane
Located in Detroit, MI
"Surreal Study: Male and Female Figures on a Branch" is a complex piece with figures both facing toward and away from the viewer sitting on a branch in a mammoth tree or a fallen tre...
Paper, Mixed Media
$600
H 14 in W 11 in
"Vintage Hawaii and Some Lady Legs", Contemporary, Blue, Mixed Media Print
By Patty deGrandpre
Located in Franklin, MA
Cropped and deconstructed images of clouds, palm trees, an abandoned Hawaiian hotel facade, a car, an Aloha Airlines vintage trademark, a beach chair and a vintage photo of the two ladies in skirts are represented on 14 x 11 inch Awagami Bamboo Japanese paper in Patty deGrandpre’s contemporary abstract monoprint titled “Vintage Hawaii and Some Lady Legs...
Paper, Ink, Color, Digital, Inkjet, Monoprint, Mixed Media
$4,600
H 20 in W 17 in
Original Guggenheim Museum Exhibited Jiri Kolar Collage Tower of Babel
By Jiri Kolar
Located in Surfside, FL
Jiri Kolar, Czech (1914-2002) Tower of Babel Paper Collage Hand signed with Initials Lower Right. Dimensions: Sight-11.25" x 9.5". Frame-20" x 17" Circa 1970's Provenance: bears l...
Mixed Media, Paper
WOP 2 - 00621
By Hiro Yokose
Located in Phoenix, AZ
mixed media on paper; unframed Neoromantic painter Hiro Yokose fuses multiple layers of wax and oil paint to create mysterious, veiled landscapes illuminated with flashes of light i...
Paint, Paper, Mixed Media, Archival Paper
$4,600
H 21 in W 17 in
Original Guggenheim Museum Exhibited Jiri Kolar Collage Art Abstract Music Notes
By Jiri Kolar
Located in Surfside, FL
Jiri Kolar, Czech (1914-2002) "Musical Notes" Paper Collage & Ink on Paper Hand signed with Initials Lower Right. Dimensions: Sight-7.5" x 11". Frame-17" x 21" Circa: 1960's-1...
Paper, Mixed Media
$240
H 14 in W 11 in
Muskrat Love - Figurative Abstract Original Gary John Artwork on Newspaper
By Gary John
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles street artist Gary John exploded onto the international art scene first during Art Basel Miami in 2013. John’s playfully bold work quickly gained attention and he was nam...
Mixed Media, Acrylic, Newsprint
Desiderio I
Located in Atlanta, GA
"My passion for the vestiges of aged surfaces that inspires my painting has been influenced by my travels in Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Russia, and Sweden." --...
Paper, Mixed Media
$635
H 28 in W 20 in
Skyscrapers - Architectural Colorful Still Life Mixed Media Collage on Paper
By Maria C. Bernhardsson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Maria C. Bernhardsson is a colorful artist who lives and paints in Sweden. Most of her works are influenced by the architecture and geometry of houses. Bernhardsson travels the world...
Paper, Mixed Media
$495
H 31 in W 22 in
The Red Cloth 92 - Abstract Mixed Media Painting, Ink on French Linen Paper
By Bettina Mauel
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Bettina Mauel expresses dynamism and sensuality in her paintings: “I paint what I experience,” she articulates. “This includes landscapes, flowers, and people in motion, capturing th...
Ink, Mixed Media, Paper
$205
H 11 in W 14 in
Dodger Stadium Almost Gametime 2 - Original Sports Photography Mixed Media Art
By Pete Kasprzak
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Pete Kasprzak’s passion for city life is expressed in his dynamic urban artworks. Kasprzak’s artworks express energy and life with animated brush strokes. He adds dynamic movement an...
Mixed Media, Acrylic, Photographic Paper
$635
H 28 in W 20 in
The Sun Always Shines on L.A. - Architectural Color Drenched Mixed Media Art
By Maria C. Bernhardsson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Maria C. Bernhardsson is a colorful artist who lives and paints in Sweden. Most of her works are influenced by the architecture and geometry of houses. Bernhardsson travels the world...
Paper, Mixed Media
$19,000
H 50 in W 40 in D 1.5 in
"Fragments" - Vibrant Mixed Media Contemporary Abstract in Warm Pastel Palette
By Steven H. Rehfeld
Located in Carmel, CA
Steven H. Rehfeld (American, born 1954) "Fragments", 2022 Oil paint, Newsprint, Ink, Mixed Media, Canvas, Stretcher Bars The artist signed the back of the painting. "Fragments" is a...
Canvas, Oil, Mixed Media, Ink, Newsprint, Stretcher Bars
$700
H 12 in W 8.5 in D 1 in
Monograph: Portraits in the Presence of Marina Abramovic (Hand signed)
By Marina Abramovic
Located in New York, NY
Marina Abramović Portraits in the Presence of Marina Abramovic (Hand signed by BOTH Marina Abramovic and photographer Marco Anelli), 2021 Hardback monograph with no dust jacket as is...
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Lithograph, Offset
Sold
H 30.5 in W 25.5 in
"Seated Man on Motorcycle" Mixed Media, Abstract, Duo-Toned, Nude, Primitive
By Artis Lane
Located in Detroit, MI
"Seated Man on Motorcycle" is an abstract study of a figure at ease on a motorcycle. By limiting the work to white paint on black paper, the images blend into one combined force of s...
Paper, Mixed Media