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REX GORELEIGH (1902 - 1986)
Untitled (North Carolina Landscape)
.
Watercolor on cream wove paper, 1939. 508x356 mm; 20x14 inches. Signed and dated twice,
“Goreleigh ‘39” and “Goreleigh ‘40” in watercolor, lower right.
Provenance: acquired directly from the artist in Greensboro, North Carolina; thence by descent to
the current owner, private collection, North Carolina.
This landscape by Rex Goreleigh is his first artwork from the WPA-era to come to auction. In
1938, Rex Goreleigh and Norman Lewis were both sent to Greensboro, North Carolina to teach
art at North Carolina A&T State University and Bennett College, and to set up a community art
center. The WPA sent out artists to schools without art teachers, and Goreleigh and Lewis had
volunteered. In the Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art, there is a 1938
oil painting from this North Carolina period entitled
Dean’s Alley
.
[3,000/5,000]