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

Alston was introduced to European modernism by instructors Charles Martin and Alexander Kostellow, a great follower of Vaclav Vytlacil. In addition to Vytlacil, Alston also began to incorporate the inf luences of Picasso and Léger into his painting - a clear departure from the realism of the Golden State murals which were completed in 1949. This painting is closely related to Alston’s other urban nocturne, Harlem at Night , oil on canvas, 1948, collection of the late Melvin Holmes. Both Alston and Norman Lewis shared a new vision of fragmented urban life against a dark, atmospheric ground. By 1950, Alston had completely adopted abstraction, and his Untitled , oil on canvas, 1950, entered in the national juried competition, America Painting Today , acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1951. Jennings p. 23. [50,000/75,000]