the washington school

BLACK ART AUCTION June 4, 2022 at 12pm EST

the washington school

the washington To be clear, there is no such thing as The Washington School. Most of the artists one might think of in association with the city were not even born there, and few were formally connected throughout their careers. It might be more accurate to call them The Washington Crowd, as in there were many-and they existed there for a purpose-- but while they (at times) worked in close proximity and communicated with each other on occasion, they were every bit as diverse as they were related. Nonetheless, when thought of as a group of artists who worked and thrived in a particular city, they present a singular truth that the black art scene in Washington during the mid to late 20th century (and beyond) was rich.

In the preface to the exhibition catalog written by Keith Morrison for the Washington Project for the Arts, Art in Washington and Its Afro-American Presence: 1940-1970, Executive Director, Jock Reynolds, writes: “The history of the Washington art community has always been an elusive one. Its diverse and often contradictory nature makes definitive analysis a most difficult task.

Washington’s innately transient population and the over-bearing presence of the Federal City have only compounded the problem. It remains however, that the seminal influences in the arts have been born and nurtured in Washington. Well-known among these is the Washington Color School. Less wellknown, though more historically complex and intriguing, are the contributions made by black artists and institutions.”

The dominant influences of the art scene in Washington, D.C. in the 1940s were the Howard University Gallery of Art and the Barnett-Aden Gallery, along with the ideas of James A. Porter, Alain Locke, and James Herring. Herring became the first director of the Howard University Gallery of Art in 1928. The first student to graduate from the art department was Alma Thomas (class of 1924). Porter was the second (1927), and he came back to join the faculty.

Locke was also a Howard graduate.

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Many artists who would later become important influences were working and exhibiting there, such as Lois Mailou Jones, Richard Dempsey, James Wells, Elizabeth Catlett and Romare Bearden, but they were only still locally recognized. The Washington Workshop Center for the Arts was created in 1947, and many African American artists studied there, including Delilah Pierce and Alma Thomas. The same year saw the creation of the Institute of Contemporary Art, and while only lasting five years, its draw of important artists was significant. Morris Louis, Anne Truitt, and Kenneth Nolan all studied there, and Josef Albers was loosely associated with the institution. Another important aspect of the Institute was that it was racially mixed. The art departments of American University and Catholic University became destinations for study as well as exhibition for black artists in the 1940s-1950s. Private galleries, such as G. Place Gallery and Whyte Galleries saw success with exhibitions featuring black and white artists. Other important galleries showing black artists were Jefferson Place Gallery, Gallery K, and of course the revitalized Corcoran Gallery.

Sam Gilliam arrived in the city from Louisville, KY in 1962, and soon after came the emergence of the Color School. Other artists who were associated with the Color School are Kenneth Young and Carroll Sockwell.

The artists included in this feature either studied at one of the previously mentioned schools, exhibited at one of the galleries or institutions, or some combination of both. As always, we present the work of artists who are very well known and others who are less familiar. It sometimes gives us, the viewers, an insight into an artist and their art to associate them with other artists who were working at some of the same places—and not even necessarily at the same exact time, because influences can easily originate from the past.

Here are some brief biographical sketches for some of the artists who worked in Washington, D.C. for a time.

the washington KENNETH VICTOR YOUNG (1933-2017) Kenneth Young was born in Louisville, KY in 1933. He studied physics initially at the University of Louisville, KY but graduated with a degree in fine arts in 1962. While in Louisville, he joined Gallery Enterprise, a black artist’s group that counted Bob Thompson and Sam Gilliam among its members.

Young moved to Washington DC in 1964 and took a job at the Smithsonian Institution, where he served as an exhibition designer. He also worked for the United States Information Agency as a design specialist, making frequent trips to Egypt and other African nations to consult with curators on their exhibition design.

While pursuing his career, Young continued to paint and became acquainted with the Washington Color School artists.

He received his first one man show at Franz Bader Gallery in 1968. Other important solo exhibitions were held at Fisk University in 1973 and the Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC, in 1974.

In the catalog essay for the exhibition, The Language of Abstraction, Ed Clark, Richard W. Franklin, and Kenneth Young (2018), Dr. Jennifer Cohen writes, During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, Young pushed the formal boundaries of color painting while invoking a wide range of sources and allusions. His works referred to beauty found in nature, the history of art, and the politics of the civil rights era. He used diluted acrylic pigments on raw canvas to explore, as he put it, beginnings and endings, probing the boundaries between vibrant colors with complex bleeds and blurs. Working on the floor or a table, Young would introduce

pigments to a selectively dampened canvas with a brush. Then, with a sponge and spray bottle at hand, he would control the bleeds by alternately dampening and drying areas of the composition.

Young’s painting, Red Dance (1970) is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art. The painting first gained attention when it was featured in Black Art in America, a 1970 article written by Barbara Rose for the publication, Art in America.

His work has been included in numerous exhibitions including: Washington: 20 Years, Baltimore Museum of Art, MD, 1970; Black American Artists/ 71, Illinois Arts Council, 1971; Art in Washington and Its Afro-American Presence 19401970, Washington Project for the Arts, 1985; African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, 2012; and most recently, Kenneth Victor Young: Continuum, held at American University museum in 2019.

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n school Untitled, c. 1980 acrylic on paper 30 x 22 inches unsigned, artist's label verso and Gallery K label verso $6,000-8,000

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the washington LOIS MAILOU JONES (1905-1998) Lois Mailou Jones’ career spanned seven decades, and her paintings represented a variety of artistic techniques and themes as her style evolved. Her work remained consistent in her thoughtful use of color and strong sense of design, both of which were instilled in her through her extensive education at institutions such as the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, the Boston Normal Art School, and the Designer’s Art School of Boston.

At the beginning of her career, Jones submitted textile designs through a white classmate that were used by major textile firms. She went to work at Palmer Memorial Institute in North Carolina, helping to establish an art department. Professor James Herring was so impressed with her work, that he asked her to join the faculty at Howard University. Jones held a position here for the next 47 years. A number of her students went on to have extremely successful careers in art, including Elizabeth Catlett and David Driskell.

In 1937, Jones went to Paris for a years sabbatical. She attended the Academie Julian and began painting plein air. She would continue to return to Paris throughout her life; like other African American artists of the time, she felt a freedom there that was profound.

Jones found another spiritual home in Haiti. In 1954, she was invited to visit and paint the country’s landscape and the people. The works she produced in this

period are her most widely known works.

Jones was equally at home painting French landscapes and figure studies. Her work is found in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Metropolitan Museum, NY; and the National Palace, Haiti.

The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, organized the exhibition Lois Mailou Jones: A Life in Vibrant Color in 2011. In 2013, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston held a show of 30 paintings and drawings showing her versatility and mastery of techinique. Her work was also included in the exhibition, I, Too, Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100, held at the Columbus Museum of Art, OH, in 2018.

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n school Healing Scene/Harbor Scene, 1943 double-sided work watercolor on paper 17-1/2 x 21-1/2 inches signed and dated $5,000-7,000

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the washington DELILAH PIERCE (1904-1992) Inspired by nature and the world around us, colors, patterns, forms, shapes and spaces … my paintings have been an exploration of developing a visual language to communicate what I see and feel.

As a painter, art educator, and activist, Delilah Pierce played an active role in the arts community of Washington DC. Born and raised in DC, she attended Howard University where she was taught by Lois Mailou Jones. Along with Alma Thomas, the group would make trips to Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard to paint.

In 2015, the exhibition Delilah W. Pierce: Natural Perspective was presented by the University of Maryland University Arts College Program. Floyd Coleman, in his accompanying essay states: In distinctive gestural abstract expressionist paintings such as Gay Head Cliffs, Martha’s Vineyard, Pierce investigates scenes of water, sand and shore, rocks, land, and sky, captured with broad brush strokes loaded with paint and colors that are expressive and also achieve spatial and structural unity and balance.

In the tradition of Cezanne and Georgia O’Keefe, Pierce is able to transform pedestrian still life subject matter into visual poetry.

Her work has been featured in exhibitions at the Society of Washington Artists Annual Exhibition, 1959-1964; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 1959, 1961; New Vistas in American Art, Howard University, 1961; Forever Free: Art by African American Women, 1862-1980, Hampton University, 1980; and Unbroken Circle: Exhibition of African American Artists of the 1930’s and 1940’s, Kenkeleba House, NY, 1986.

Pierce’s work is found in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; Georgetown University, Washington DC; Hampton Museum of Art, VA; Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Smithsonian Museum of American Art, among others.

Although she was adept at straightforward figural and landscape works, Pierce shines in the exploration of nature and the myriad ways light and form interact with it.

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n school Seaside Symphony #1, c. 1970 acrylic on canvas 20 x 16 inches signed; signed, titled and dated verso $6,000-8,000

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CHARLES YOUNG (1931-2005)

the washington “Functionalism” as I define it for my works, is that creative work which has meaning, substance, life quality and truth for the creator as well as the beholder, whether Black or white. My definition I believe, is strengthened mainly by my interest and study of African art.

I think it is necessary that the BLACK ARTIST relate experiences which he himself has experienced in order to create symbols that are a part of his existence.

Those experiences which are ugly and grotesque, as well as those which are warm and beautiful, must be created by the artist in visual terms.

Charles Young was born in 1930 in New York City and attended Hampton University, VA where he received a B.A. in art education and social science. He went on to attend New York University where he trained with Hale Woodruff. From there, he studied painting and printmaking at Catholic University, Washington DC. Young was an educator in New Jersey public schools, and taught art at several institutions, including Federal City College, Washington D.C. where he was chairman of the art department.

His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at North Carolina State University, Fayetteville, NC, 1960, 1962; A & I State University, Nashville, TN, 1964; Agra Gallery, Washington DC, 1972; and Smith-Mason Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 1969.

He often participated in exhibitions with Alma Thomas, Sam Gilliam, and Kenneth Young in the Washington DC area and was featured additionally in Black Artists/South, Huntsville Museum of Art, AL, 1979; and shows at Emory University, GA; and the Richmond Museum of Art, VA.

Photo: Black Artists on Art, v. 2, Lewis/ Waddy, p.8 Charles Young’s work has been categorized by critics as expressionistic but it is also poetic, reflecting the rhythm that one sees in nature. There are times when he seems to revive the power and concrete meaning found in the work of de Steel and Hoffman. But his sensitivity to subtle color and the power of expression in simple shapes…remove him from the category of an ardent follower of either. It is here that he makes personal statements about the world he observes.

Charles Young like every artist of purpose reveals a definition of form that adds to our visual enjoyment and understanding of the world in which we live. For such an enlightening visual experience we are all much richer.

---David Driskell, Chairman, Art Department Fisk University The work of Charles Young was recently included in the exhibition, Afro-American Images 1971, The Vision of Percy Ricks, held October 2021-January 2022 at the Delaware Art Museum.

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n school Playing Checkers, 1969 acrylic on canvas 42 x 50-1/4 inches signed and dated verso Provenance: the artist to (fellow artist) Yvonne Pickering-Carter $15,000-25,000

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the washington CARROLL SOCKWELL (1943-1992) Untitled, 1970 acrylic on canvas 48 x 48 inches private owner’s label verso

In 1948, Carroll’s mother, diagnosed with schizophrenia, was hospitalized for a period of 15 years, and his aunt became his caregiver.

Exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art (1973) and AM i THE BeST: Paintings, Assemblages, Drawings at the Washington Arts Museum, 1973, illustrated page 5 of the catalog, 2004 (curated by Sam Gilliam with an essay by Walter Hopps).

He attended public schools, but as a child was also hospitalized briefly with schizophrenic tendencies. With the support of social workers, young Sockwell became interested in the arts—first the theater and music, and eventually painting.

At 14, he entered the Corcoran School of Art. Once again he was hospitalized for psychiatric treatment at St. Elizabeth’s, and it was here he met Elinor Ulman, a pioneer in the field of art therapy.

$40,000-60,000 In recent work, I aim, to produce paintings which will dominate yet enhance their surroundings.

Arrangements of rectangular forms are brought into intimate relationship with architectural structure. Working with varied tonalities of a single hue, I use linear extension to give a sense of limitless space.

—Carroll Sockwell Carroll Sockwell grew up in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington DC. His mother, Annie, worked as a maid and his father, Luther, although infrequently present, worked as a laborer. Sockwell’s maternal grandmother lived in the home, and also his aunt, uncle and four brothers.

In 1959, Sockwell moved to New York, and by happenstance, met important abstract expressionist painters such as Barnett Newman and Willem de Kooning, by frequenting establishments such as the famous Cedar Bar to drink. Sockwell said later about the four years he was in New York: “I was almost the only black. It was hard to be accepted.” (Judith Weinraub (1992-06-13). “The Artist Who Should Be Famous; Carroll Sockwell’s Work Is Abstract But His Pain Is All Too Real”. The Washington Post). Walter Hopps, Director of the Washington Gallery of Modern Art, whom Sockwell met when he returned to D.C. in 1963, remarked that he (Sockwell) was poor, black, and gay, and struggled immensely to find support and succeed.

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the washington CARROLL SOCKWELL (1943-1992) Photos: Copyright Estate of Carroll Sockwell, courtesy of Micah Salb and Washington Color Gallery

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the washington CARROLL SOCKWELL (1943-1992) Artistically, he was tied to the Washington Color School, but gravitated to a later offshoot of the group that was more concerned with abstraction and direct painting. Sockwell also credits his formal discussions with Gene Davis and Howard Mehring (two members of the Washington Color School). His style might be said to lie at the intersection of Color Field painting, the New York School, and the constructivist rigor associated with Burgoyne Diller.

Large paintings such as the work included in this auction rarely come to the market, as the overall body of work by Sockwell is comprised primarily of drawings.

His paintings present a muted palette, emulating the subtle tonalities of graphite or charcoal.

He had briefly become curator of the Barnett-Aden Gallery in 1965-66. By the late sixties, Sockwell was showing prominently in the city. He organized shows with Walter Hopps and Gregory Battcock and was later included by Hopps in major traveling shows of “Art in Washington”. (REF: Art in Washington and Its Afro-American Presence: 1940-1970, Keith Morrison, Washington Project for the

Arts, 1985, p. 60; catalog accompanying the exhibition).

In 1969, he showed with artists such as Norman Lewis, Alma Thomas, Felrath Hines and Charles McGee at an exhibition sponsored by the NCAA at the Nordess Gallery in New York. In 1971, he received critical acclaim for a solo exhibition at the Jefferson Place Gallery from Jet Magazine and The Washington Post.

Sockwell was relatively productive from the late 1960s through the 1980s, enjoying critical and financial success. On June 4, 1992, a solo exhibition of his work opened at the Washington Project for the Arts. His artwork was highly praised, but personally, he was criticized for being difficult, temperamental, and drinking too much.

His excessive habits led him to squander his comfortable living and return to his destitute state, sleeping on a mattress in a friend’s framing business.

Sockwell committed suicide in 1992 by jumping from the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge in Foggy Bottom.

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SELECTED GROUP SHOWS 1963

Margaret Dickey Gallery

1964

Exhibition of Graphic Arts, Barnett Aden Gallery

1966

Mt. Pleasant Group Show, Fred C. Hays & Company (with Sam Gilliam, others)

1967

Esther Stuttman Gallery (represented)

1968

Washington 1968 New Painting: Structure, Corcoran Gallery of Art

1969

1969: Twelve Afro-American Artists, Lee Nordness Galleries, NYC and the Smithsonian Institution, sponsored by the NAACP (with Arthur Coppedge, Felrath Hines, Norman Lewis, Charles McGee, Noah Purifoy, Arthur Smith, James L. Tanner, Alma Thomas, Russ Thompson, Jack White, Walter Williams) The Washington Painters: 17 Artists from the Capital Area, Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida

1970

Washington: Twenty Years, Baltimore Museum of Art

Young Washington DC Artists, Hetzel Union Building Gallery, Pennsylvania State University (with six works by Sockwell) 1971

The Whitney Museum of Art, New York City Afro-American Images 1971, State Armory (Wilmington), DE

1972

The Deluxe Show, Deluxe Art Center, Houston Museum of Modern Art, New York City

1973

Washington Color School Paintings, Corcoran Gallery of Art

1975

The Barnett Aden Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art Drawings from the Studios of Washington Artists, Washington Project for the Arts

1978

Works on Paper: Washington, D.C. Artists, Chuck Levitan Gallery, New York City

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the washington CARROLL SOCKWELL (1943-1992) SELECTED GROUP SHOWS 1979

Washington Art on Paper: 19621978, Corcoran Gallery of Art

Carroll Sockwell, Corcoran Gallery of Art

1975

Sockwell 75: Classical Geometric Compositions, Middendorf Gallery, NYC

1985

Art in Washington and Its Afro American Presence: 1940-1970, Washington Project for the Arts

1978

1990

African American Contemporary Art, Gibellina Civic Museum of Contemporary Art, Palermo, Italy (with Sam Gilliam, Kenneth Victor Young, and others)

Carroll Sockwell, Fraser’s Stable Gallery

1980

Carroll Sockwell: New Works, Barbara Fiedler Gallery

1983

Carroll Sockwell, Lunn Gallery

2014

Unveiled: Works from the UMUC Art Collection, University of Maryland University College

1985

Carroll Sockwell: Drawings and Painted Reliefs, Graham Gallery, Houston

2018

Selections from the Artery Collection, American University

1987

Collages/Drawings, Pavilion of Fine Arts, Montgomery College

2019

Moves Like Walter: New Curators Open the Corcoran Legacy Collection

1992

Carroll Sockwell: Work From Five Decades, Washington Project for the Arts

2021

Afro-American Images 1971: The Vision of Percy Ricks, Delaware Art Museum (Sockwell’s work illustrated in the catalog)

1993

The Wrecking of the Berlin Wall, displayed as part of a reinstallation of a portion of its 1992 major Sockwell retrospective, Washington Project for the Arts

1999

Selections from the Estate of Carroll Sockwell, Mather Gallery, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland (curated by James F. Hilleary)

SELECTED SOLO SHOWS 1966

Tarot Gallery, New York City

1971

Carroll Sockwell at Jefferson Place Gallery (highlighting Sockwell’s Mirror Compositions)

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Carroll Sockwell: AM i THE BeST? By Washington Arts Museum at Edison Place Gallery (curated by Sam Gilliam)

2009

Carroll Sockwell, Marin-Price

2021

Carroll Sockwell: Grey Compositions, Buchanan Partners Gallery, George Mason University

The Menil Collection, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Whitney (gift promised)

MUSEUMS & IMPORTANT COLLECTIONS American Univesity Art Museums Brooklyn Museum (S & 11, gift of Christopher Middendorf) Bowie State University (The Wrecking of the Berlin Wall unveiled 2004) The Collection of art historian Carroll Greene Painting purchased for the collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1970 Delaware Art Museum The Federal Reserve Bank Collection The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg The Melvin Holmes Collection of AfricanAmerican Art, San Francisco, CA

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the washington BILL TAYLOR (1926-2009) Untitled, Crow, c. 1967 welded iron 15 x 7-1/2 x 15 inches

Provenance: The artist to Yvonne Pickering-Carter $3,000-5,000 Taylor, a sculptor trained in various media, studied at the Washington Institute of Contemporary Arts and Catholic University (both in Washington, DC). He was an artist-in-residence at Howard University from 1988-1989. He also worked as an instructor at the Sculptor’s Guild Studios in Washington, DC.

His work is in the collections of Larry and Brenda Thompson (Illus. Tradition Redefined, Driskell Center , p. 89); collection of Delilah Pierce (Illus. Art In Washington and Its Afro-American Presence, Washington Project for the Arts, p. 90). REF: Two Centuries of Black American Art, David Driskell, 1976; p. 204205).

Exhibitions: Howard University Gallery of Art Barnett-Aden Gallery Catholic University Atlanta University Fisk University Los Angeles County Museum

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the washington DAVID CLYDE DRISKELL (1931-2020) Artist, curator, scholar and distinguished professor emeritus David Driskell was born in Eatonton, GA in 1931. He completed the art program at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, in 1953.

He went on to attend Howard University and received his MFA from the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. Prof. Driskell explored post-graduate study in art history at the Netherlands Institute for the History of Art in The Hague.

He began his career as an educator at Talledega College in 1955. In 1977, he joined the faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he remained for the rest of his career. Upon his retirement, the David C. Driskell Center was established to honor his legacy and dedication to preserving the rich heritage of African American visual art and culture. In 1976, Prof. Driskell curated the important exhibition, Two Centuries of Black American Art: 1750- 1950, which was held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He has authored multiple exhibition catalogs throughout his career.

As an artist, he worked in collage and mixed media -oil paint, acrylic, egg tempera, gouache, ink, marker, and collage on paper and on canvas (stretched and unstretched). Prof. Driskell has worked with the Experimental Printmaking Institute of Lafayette college and Raven Editions.

The exhibition, Evolution: Five Decades of Printmaking by David C. Driskell, held in 2009 at the High Museum of Art, GA was the first exhibition to highlight his printwork.

Prof. Driskell’s work has recently been included in David Driskell: Artist &

Scholar of the African American Experience, Oct. 2019 - Jan. 2020, Morris Museum of Art, GA; David Driskell: Resonance, Paintings 1965-2002, 2019, DC Moore Gallery, NY.

His work has also been featured in the following group exhibitions: Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition, Feb. 29 - May 24, 2020, Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.; Tell Me Your Story, Feb. 8 - May 17, 2020, Kunsthal Kade, Amsterdam; The Seasons, Nov. 16, 2019 - March 1, 2020, Nassau County Museum of Art, NY; and Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The University of Maryland’s David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and African Diaspora is dedicating this academic year to commemorating its namesake’s life and work—combining teaching, art history scholarship and writing, and curation and the practice of art.

Photo: David Hills, Down East magazine, March 2017

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African Sentinel, 1971 collage and gouache 26-1/2 x 20-1/8 inches signed and dated artist's label verso

Provenance: The artist to Earl Hooks, thence by descent. Driskell and Hooks were friends and worked together at Fisk University after the former invited the latter there in 1967 to teach (Hooks remained 30 years; Driskell arrived a year earlier, and remained 10 years).

$40,000-60,000

This is a remarkable image; an early and important work, influenced

by Romare Bearden in approach, but iconically Driskell in content.

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the washington DAVID CLYDE DRISKELL (1931-2020) Sun Pine, c. 1980 gouache on illustration board 9-1/2 x 7 inches signed; signed and titled verso $4,000-6,000

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the washington DAVID CLYDE DRISKELL (1931-2020) Untitled, n.d. mixed media on paper 8 x 5-1/2 inches signed lower right $5,000-7,000

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the washington DAVID CLYDE DRISKELL (1931-2020) Untitled, n.d. mixed media on paper 15 3/4 x 12 1/2 inches signed lower left $6,000-8,000

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the washington DAVID CLYDE DRISKELL (1931-2020) Her Hat is Her Halo, 2007 color woodcut print 17 inches diameter (image) 30 x 22 inches (sheet) signed, dated, titled

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the washington RICHARD DEMPSEY (1909-1987) Storm, Cape Hatteras, 1968-72 watercolor on paper 30 x 22 inches signed, inscribed, “North Carolina” stamped verso with label $1,800-2,800 Richard Dempsey was born in Ogden, Utah, and spent his youth in Oakland, California where he attended Sacramento Junior College (1929-31) as an art major.

He furthered his education at the California College of Arts and Crafts (1932-34) in Oakland, California, the Student Arts Center, and with Sargent Johnson. He later became an instructor himself at the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington DC).

In 1941, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work as an engineering draftsman with the Federal Power Commission, and remained to become an important part of the Washington DC art scene. In 1946, along with Elizabeth Catlett, he was awarded a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship for a series

of paintings of outstanding American Negroes. In 1951, he was awarded a Purchase Award in the Corcoran Gallery’s Tenth Annual Exhibition.

Dempsey was a prolific painter and worked on as many as six canvasses at one time, switching as his moods changed.

Photo: Dempsey painting at the Plaza, Washington DC, Richard Dempsey papers, 1929-1989, bulk 1960s-1980s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

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the washington SAM GILLIAM (b. 1933)

Untitled, c. 1990 acrylic and polypropylene on canvas mounted on a shaped panel construction diptych 61 x 24 x 5 inches (each panel)

The artwork is intended to have a small negative space between the panels, so the overall dimensions of the work are roughly 61 x 52 x 5 inches signed $50,000-100,000 Sam Gilliam was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1933. Shortly after his birth, the family (Gilliam was one of eight children) moved to Louisville, KY where he was raised. Gilliam attended college at the University of Louisville, receiving a BFA in 1955. That same year his first solo exhibition was held at the university. He went on to serve in the Army and upon his return, began working towards his MFA.

After graduation, he taught for a year in the Louisville public schools until he moved to Washington D.C., where he continues to live today. Gilliam continued to teach in the Washington public schools as well as the Maryland Institute College of Art, University of Maryland and Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh throughout his career.

By the time Gilliam arrived in Washington D.C. in 1962, the Washington Color School had been established and included Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Thomas Downing. Gilliam met and became friends with Downing. Soon, his works became

large, hard-edged abstractions. Everevolving, he continued to experiment with innovative methods - taping and pouring colors, folding and staining canvases. He created Beveled-edge paintings in which he stretched the canvas on a beveled frame, so that the painting appeared to emerge from the wall on which it was hung. In 1965, he abandoned the frame and stretcher altogether and began draping and suspending his paint stained canvases much like hanging laundry on the clothesline. Each work could be improvised and rearranged at will. The first of these was displayed at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1969. Gilliam received numerous public and private commissions for his draped canvases. One of the largest of these was Seahorses in 1975. This six part work involved several hundred feet of paint stained canvas installed along the exterior walls of two adjacent wings of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1972 he represented the US in the Venice Biennale.

By 1975, Gilliam began to create dynamic geometric collages influenced

by Miles Davis and John Coltrane. In

Sam Gilliam photographed on June 22, 2016 in Washington, D.C. (Marvin Joseph, Washington Post)

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the washington SAM GILLIAM (b. 1933)

1977, he produced similar collages in monochromatic black hues. Re-invention has been a consistent component in Gilliam’s work throughout his career - he has constantly innovated, disrupted, and improvised and he is still doing all of it at age 88. He is now being represented

by Pace Gallery in New York and David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles.

Gilliam’s work is found in the collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Tate Modern, London; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among many others.

Recent exhibitions include: Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983; Black: Color, Material, Concept, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, 2015; Surface Matters, Edward H. Linde Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2015; Affecting Presence and the Pursuit of Delicious Experiences, the Menil Collection, Houston, 2015.

A semi-permanent installation of Gilliam’s paintings is currently on view at Dia: Beacon, NY.

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the washington SAM GILLIAM (b. 1933) Concrete, 2007 color screen print with cement, constructed and stitched 22 x 38-1/2 inches (sheet) signed and dated in white ink Provenance: Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington DC to Collection of Norman and Diane Bernstein, Washington DC $8,000-12,000

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the washington SAM GILLIAM (b. 1933) Untitled, 1970 watercolor and dyes on folded paper 17 x 13-3/4 inches signed and dated $15,000-25,000

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the washington CHARLES SEBREE (1914-1985) The Toiler, c.1950 oil and wax on board 24 x 18 inches signed

Provenance: prominent private collection, Kansas City, MO $6,000-8,000

Charles Sebree was born and raised in Kentucky until the age of ten, when he and his mother moved north to Chicago. By the age of 14 he was carving out his own rough existence in the midst of the Great Depression. At this time, the Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago featured his drawing, Seated Boy on the cover of their magazine. He went on to train formally at the Chicago School of Design and the Art Institute of Chicago and used his interests in European modernism and African sculpture to forge his own individual style.

Between 1936 and 1938 Sebree worked for the WPA easel division, participated in the South Side Community Arts Center, and was involved with the Cube Theater.

He maintained a strong interest in the theater due to his friendship with Katherine Dunham. Guided by her influence, he explored set and costume design, theatrical production, writing, and dance, while continuing to paint.

The artist and scholar, James Porter, said this of Sebree’s work: (it was) conceived in a mood of contemplation and recall(ing)…Russian icon painting.”1 Byzantine art was characterized by a shift from the naturalistic character of classicism toward an “abstracted” depiction of the figure.

The influence of Georges Rouault’s work on Sebree is clearly evident, not only in imagery, but in philosophy and approach.

Both painters focused on human nature and their subjects, depicted in stark contrast, were spontaneous and communicated a high degree of emotionality. Similarly to Paul Klee, Sebree experimented with many, and sometimes unconventional, mediums. Klee experimented with Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism and his figurative subjects appeared fragile and child-like.

1 James A. Porter, “The New Horizons of Painting,” in Modern Negro Art (New York: Dryden Press, 1943) (New York: Arno Press, 1969), 122.

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the washington CHARLES SEBREE (1914-1985) Sebree’s subjects, vulnerable and reflective, invited the viewer to look deeper. The works are intentionally devoid of activity so that it would not pose a distraction to the humanity of the subject. Sebree’s subjects, similarly to Picasso’s, expressed a familiarity to the artist. Regardless if the subject were only a model or even a fictitious character, they were rendered as if they were someone known to the artist. Rouault went so far to say, “A tree against the sky possesses the same interest, the same character, the same expression as the figure of a human.”

Sebree worked in various mediums early on, including oil and egg tempera. He soon discovered that oils were too toxic for him and caused a negative physical reaction, so he made a permanent switch to egg tempera and water-based paints, such as gouache and watercolor. He also executed large canvases earlier in his career (1930s-40s), but by the 1950s, when he was living in Washington, D.C., he was painting on his kitchen table and literally did not have the space to make large format works. 2

In 1947, Sebree went to Washington, D.C. to do set design and costumes for a play being produced at Howard University, and decided to remain there. He began painting immediately and found buyers very quickly. His method changed somewhat in the 1950s. His palette became more colorful, he started using ink and wiping it off to create negative spaces in his compositions. He also began using casein on textured paper. These materials lent themselves nicely to his new smallscale format. In the mid-1950s, Sebree devoted considerable energy to theatrical work. His play, Mrs. Patterson, ran off broadway from 1954-1955 and starred Eartha Kitt.

In the 1960s, Sebree participated in a writer’s group with the Howard University faculty, and was called upon to critique Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eye . Of Sebree, Morrison said, “he was the first person that made me think I could be a writer.”3 Sebree continued to use egg tempera, but introduced crayons and beeswax to his preferred media choices.

He worked on textured paper because it was economical and works could be done quickly. The Henri Gallery (Washington,

2 Ted Shine, “Charles Sebree Modernist,” Black American Literature Forum 19, no. 1 (Spring 1985): pages 6-8.

3 Quoted in Marshall and Kimbrough, “Above and Beyond,” 12-13.

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D.C.) presented a one-man show of his work in 1964. Jo Ann Lewis, in a review of an exhibition in which Sebree was included in 1982 writes, “Sebree reveals himself to be a gifted artist who somehow manages to cross Picasso and Paul Klee, but, in the end, produces intriguing little abstracts that are all his own.” 4 Sebree’s work has been featured in multiple exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and was also featured at Katharine Kuh Galleries, Chicago Artists Group Galleries, American Negro Exposition, South Side Community Art

Center, Howard University, Chicago Public Library, Kenkeleba House, and the Woodmere Art Museum.

His work is found in many prominent collections including Howard University, Smithsonian American Art Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, and University of Chicago.

4 JoAnn Lewis, “Opening the Curtain for Black Artists,” review of Six Black Giants, Gallery 1221, Washington D.C., Washington Post 11 Feb. 1982 This show also included two dozen small works by Alma Thomas, James Lesesne Wells, Lois Mailou Jones, Ernest Crichlow, and Norman Lewis.

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the washington EVANGELINE MONTGOMERY (B.1933 )

Summer’s Sun, 1991 epson ink dye-sub on polychiffon (stretched and backed with canvas on double-strength stretchers) 95 x 57 inches signed, titled and dated

Montgomery experimented with all sorts of print-making techniques and was a master of the medium. The chiffon base creates a softness to the ink which is fitting for the subject matter and lies in direct contrast to some of the over-sized contemporary works on glossy paper, that present in over-saturated, jewel-tones. $5,000-7,000 Evangeline Juliet, “EJ” Montgomery was born in New York. Her father was a Baptist minister and her mother a homemaker.

As a teenager, she discovered her affinity for creating art when she received a paint set as a gift. Montgomery graduated from Seward High School in New York City. In 1955, she moved to Los Angeles with her husband and studied at the Los Angeles City College (1955-58) and Cal Sate, Los Angeles (1958-62). Montgomery lived in Nigeria from 1962-1965. Upon her return, she earned a BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1969. She also studied at UC Berkeley (1968-70).

also a very important administrator and advocate of African American art. She worked as a curator at the Oakland Museum from 1968-1974, and organized the retrospective show on the work of Sargent Johnson. Montgomery was impressed with Johnson’s work in enamel and successfully executed works of her own in that medium.

Montgomery moved to Washington, D.C. in 1980 to work as a community affairs director for WHMM-TV. Shortly thereafter, in 1983, she began working with the United States Department of State as a program development officer for the Arts America Program, organizing overseas exhibitions for American artists—including African American artists.

EJ worked as an artist in several mediums, including printmaking, painting, sculpture, ceramics, and jewelry design. She was

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