Lot 309
Benny Andrews (American/Georgia, b. 1930), "Sign of the Cross (The Revival Series)", oil and collage on paper, unsigned, artist's label en verso, 29 3/4 in. x 22 3/4 in., attractively matted and framed. E8000-12000 Provenances: Bill Hodges Gallery, New York City, 1998. Note: One of ten children, the African-American artist Benny Andrews grew up on a tenant farm in rural Georgia. Despite their poverty, the Andrews family was loving and creative. His father, George, was a self taught artist and his mother, Viola, a writer. After serving in the U. S. Air Force, Benny Andrews used the G.I. Bill to studied at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1954. Rejecting the prevailing Abstract Expressionist movement, he developed a figural expressionistic style. Upon graduating, Andrews moved to New York City and established a nationally renowned career as artist, teacher, writer and advocate of the arts. Early in his career as artist, Andrews started working with collage. Andrews found that oil painting tended to be too academic and sophisticated and he found the textural quality of collage appealing. In "Sign of the Cross" Andrews effectively applied fabric with lace work to the paper surface for the white dress. Andrews also tends to prefer working in series, this piece being from his "Revival Series" which related to his religious upbringing and the African-American church life in the Deep South.
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