Sale 2649 - Lot 22

CHARLES L. SALLÉE, JR. (1911 - 2006)

Cabaret Scene.

Soft-ground etching printed in black and gray on cream wove paper, circa 1936-41. 168x133 mm; 6x5 inches, full margins. Signed and titled in pencil, lower margin. Printed by the artist. Published by the Federal Art Project, WPA, Cleveland.

An impression of this scarce WPA etching is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 1934, Charles Sallée was the first African American student admitted to the Cleveland School (now Institute) of Art. During this time, Sallée also took classes and taught at the Playhouse Settlement which become the Karamu House, where he befriended artists Hughie Lee-Smith and Elmer Brown. He then worked in the Ohio WPA for both its mural painting and printmaking divisions during 1936 -1941, while graduating from the Cleveland School in 1938.