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Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
AVEL DE KNIGHT (1921-1996)
Saint Sebastian (Père Lachaise). Watercolor and ink on cream wove paper, 220x245 mm; 8<7/8>x9 7/8 inches. Signed in ink, lower right. 1991.
Provenance: gift from the artist to art historian, Karl Lunde; acquired by descent, private collection, NJ (2009).
Exhibition: Avel de Knight: Paysages Intimes, La Maison Française New York University, March 1-24, 1993.
Appearing as if a mirage, out of an apparition, Avel de Knight's Saint Sebastian (Père Lachaise) is a powerful symbol of the early Christian saint and martyr. Saint Sebastian was executed for converting his fellow Roman soldiers to Christianity. Then rehabilitated by a pious widow but faced the Roman Emperor and beaten to death.
Spiritual members of the queer community have come to view him as a queer icon and martyr due to his eroticized portrayals that began within late nineteenth-century gay circles. De Knight and many artists before him were inspired by the symbolism of the arrows penetrating his body, countenance of rapturous pain, and resilience in the face of persecution resonating with them. The location, Père Lachaise, acts as an ideal memorial and conjuring site for the martyr, which is in tune with De Knight's sense of myth and romanticism.
