18
●
FLOYD W. COLEMAN (1939 - )
Contemplating the African Past
.
Oil on cotton canvas, 1968. 965x800 mm; 38x31
1
/
2
inches. Signed and dated in oil, lower right
recto.Titled in ink, upper left verso on the stretcher bar.
Provenance: Richard A. Long, Atlanta; thence by descent to his estate.
Dr. Floyd Coleman is known for his long, distinguished career as both a painter and an educator.
According to Samella Lewis, this early color and graphic style of his painting turned more towards
abstraction and the use of African symbolism after a visit to Africa in 1971. Born in Sawyerville,
Alabama, Floyd Coleman earned a BA Degree in 1960 from Alabama State University where he
studied with Hayward Oubre. In 1962, he earned an MS from the University of Wisconsin, and in
1975, a PhD from the University of Georgia. He has been a professor of Art at Clark University in
Atlanta, at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Jackson State University and most recently
at Howard University, where he was the department of fine arts chairman from 1987 - 1998. He
started the James A. Porter Colloquium in 1990 at Howard University which has become today the
leading academic forum on African-American fine art.We believe this is the first artwork of Floyd
Coleman to come to auction. Lewis p. 153.
[3,000/5,000]
