Lot 1095
Ellis Wilson (American/Kentucky, 1899-1977), 'Cooling Cylinders, Cooling', oil on plywood, before 1943, signed lower right and left, 16in x 20 in., unframed E25000-35000 Provenance: Gift of the artist to James Ligon, New York City to current owner Painting listed in Albert Sperath catalogue raisonne The Art of Ellis Wilson, University of Kentucky Press, 2000, p.74. Note: The African-American artist Ellis Wilson left his rural hometown of Mayfield, Kentucky, to study at the Art Institute of Chicago In 1928, Wilson settled permanently in New York City and worked as a handyman while he pursued his ambitions to be an artist From 1935 to 1940, he was among the group of artists who participated in the Works Progress Administration Wilson became part of the New Negro Art Movement of the 1920s and 1930s by exhibiting with the Chicago Art League's Negro in Art Week, New Names in America and Harmon Foundation's traveling exhibitions In 1943, Wilson went to work for an airplane parts factory located in nearby New Jersey and became interested in painting his colleagues actively engaged in work The strength of the New Jersey airplane series earned the artist the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship The recently rediscovered painting 'Cooling Cylinders, Cooling' dramatically depicts a shirtless African American worker with his yellow-gloved arms raised as he labors in the factory.
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