Apr 07, 2016 - Sale 2409

Sale 2409 - Lot 3

Price Realized: $ 1,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
LOÏS MAILOU JONES (1915 - 2012)
Portrait of Richard B. Harrison (De Lawd).

Charcoal on illustration board, 1930. 597x464 mm; 23 1/2x18 1/4 inches. Signed and dated in charcoal, lower right.

Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; the collection of Professor John R. Willis and Anne Willis, Highstown, NJ.

Richard Berry Harrison (1864 - 1935) was a renowned actor, teacher, dramatic reader and lecturer. The son of fugitive slaves who had fled to Canada, Harrison was born in London, Ontario. At the peak of his career in 1935, he was featured on the cover of TIME. Harrison became extremely well known after playing "de Lawd" in more than 1,650 performances of Marc Connelly's play, The Green Pastures, which opened on Broadway on February 26, 1930. The show ran for 16 months, then went on tour, appearing in more than 200 cities and towns.