Lot 482
Ellis Wilson (American/Kentucky, 1899-1977), "Grinding, Workers: New Jersey Defense Plant", oil on plywood, signed lower left, 16 in. x 20 in. E25000-35000 Provenance: Gift of the artist, to his close friend James Ligon, New York City, to the consignor. Painting listed in Albert Sperath catalogue raisonn‚ The Art of Ellis Wilson, University of Kentucky Press, 2000, "Unlocated Works", p. 75. Note: Born into a working class family, Ellis Wilson was raised in the Bottom, a close knit African American community in Mayfield, Kentucky. In 1918, Wilson left Mayfield to study applied arts at the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the few schools that accepted African-American students at the time. After working part time as a commercial artist and janitor, Wilson left Chicago and moved to Harlem, a thriving cultural enclave for African Americans at the time. As an artist, Wilson earned critical acclaim and his paintings were exhibited with the prestigious Harmon Foundation, as part of "Negro in Art" week organized by The Chicago Art League, and he was selected to work for the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). On the basis of the strength of the New Jersey Defense Plant series of paintings, Ellis Wilson earned the esteemed Guggenheim Fellowship in 1944, and a subsequent renewal.
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