Apr 04, 2019 - Sale 2504

Sale 2504 - Lot 55

Price Realized: $ 3,900
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
SAM MIDDLETON (1927 - 2015)
Untitled (Mexican Bullfight).

Collage of various papers and mixed media, mounted on masonite, 1957. 330x1220 mm; 13x48 inches. Signed and dated in ink, lower right.

Provenance: private collection, California.

This work from Mexico is one of the earliest collages of Sam Middleton to come to auction. Like many other Americans funded by the G.I. Bill, Middleton moved to Mexico in 1955 after his military service in the Merchant Marine. Inspired by the example of Elizabeth Catlett, he studied at the Instituto de Allende in San Miguel de Allende in 1957. He also exhibited in San Miguel, and had his first one man exhibition at Galeria Excelsior in Mexico City that year.