Sale 2528 - African-American Fine Art, January 30, 2020

66 c DOUGLAS R. WILLIAMS (1938 - 2019) Snail Bird . Welded metal/brass assemblage, with a copper patina, circa 1970. Approximately 33- inches high (not including the base). Provenance: the Johnson Publishing Company, Inc., Chicago. Chicago native, sculptor, painter, community arts organizer and art educator Douglas R. Williams was very involved in the South Side Community Art Center. Williams was a longtime board member and served as the executive director of the center. There he had three solo exhibitions, was included in many group exhibitions and mentored many young artists. His own mentor Margaret Burroughs encouraged him to pursue a bachelor’s degree in fine art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he focused on sculpture. Interrupted by military service in Southeast Asia, Williams returned to the Art Institute to complete work for his degree. He took part in the creation of the mural “The Wall of Respect.” He also helped start Gallery 37 Center for the Arts and what is now the annual Black Creativity program at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Two of his sculptures were included in the recent 2018 exhibition The Time Is Now! Art Worlds of Chicago’s South Side 1960 - 1980 at the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago. Zorach/Baker p. 259. [400/600]