Sale 2487 - African-American Fine Art, October 4, 2018

148 c EMMA AMOS (1938 - ) Arched Swimmer . Acrylic with glitter and various fabric and threads on linen canvas, circa 1987. 762x813mm; 30x32 inches. Signed in acrylic, lower right. Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; private collection, New York (1988). This bold 1980s canvas by Emma Amos displays her technique of incorporating fabric within painting, and is part of her visual representation of feminism in paint and fabric. While attending New York University in the 1960s, Amos was the first female artist invited to join Spiral, the collective of African-American artists founded by Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, and Charles Alston. In the 1980s, Emma Amos made a series of images of African-American women swimming. She has long sought to deconstruct traditional representations of beauty, and has embraced experimental techniques as a painter, master printmaker and weaver. Her paintings have recently been acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum, and were included in the traveling museum exhibitions We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-1985 and Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. [10,000/15,000]