(ART) Coleman Felton E; artist Camp Meeting

Sale 2471 - Lot 78

Price Realized: $ 1,000

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(ART.) Coleman, Felton E.; artist. "Camp Meeting" (supplied title). Oil on artist's board, 16 x 20 inches; a couple of tiny chips, framed; signed "F. E. Coleman" in the lower right corner. Np, circa 1940s

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Additional Details

Felton E. Coleman (1911-2002) worked as a janitor for the art department of Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge from at least 1940 through 1948. During that time he developed a career as an artist, culminating with a one-man show at the Carl Ashby Gallery in New York in 1949. Coleman's work was discussed in at least two reviews: Elaine de Kooning, "Reviews and Previews: Felton Coleman," Art News 48 (April 1949), page 55; and Jo Gibbs, "Louisiana Primitive," Arts Magazine 23 (15 March 1949), page 15, where he was described as "a new Negro primitive with a certain freshness of vision and honesty of approach." Coleman's art career seems to have ended after his New York debut, though he went on to a long life. His obituary mentions 71 years of service at his Baptist church in East Baton Rouge, but nothing about his art career.