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DAVID C. DRISKELL (1931 - )
Black Crucifixion
.
Oil on cotton canvas, 1964. 1448x768 mm; 57x30
1
/
4
inches. Signed and
dated in oil, lower right.
Provenance: private collection, Nashville,Tennessee.
This large oil painting is a significant figurative work by the artist from the
1960s.This powerful subject shows the influence of his summer that year in
Europe, in particular his time in the Netherlands where he studied
Rembrandt and the Old Masters at the Rijksmuseum on visits to
Amsterdam.This type of iconic subject matter painted in expressive brush
strokes and in a centralized composition is seen in other works, such as
Greek
Tree
, 1964, made upon his return. Other Biblical subjects from the 1960s
include
Gabriel
, 1965, and
Jonah and the Whale
, 1967. Driskell was both a
professor in the Department of Art at Howard University and director of
the Barnett Aden Gallery in Washington, DC in 1964 - his tenure there
lasted from 1962 to 1966.
Black Crucifixion
is the first of his large figurative
works from the 1960s to come to auction. McGee pp. 62 - 66.
[35,000/50,000]