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Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
BLADE (NEEL BATE 1916-1989)
Untitled. Graphite on heavy paper, 1979. 559 x 356 mm; 22 x 14 inches. Signed and dated in lower right image.
Blade was an American underground gay erotic artist whose career began in the 1930s. He is best known for his 1948 series of drawings, entitled "The Barn." Like many erotic artists of the time, his work was initially distributed underground to bypass obscenity laws. His first one-man show was held at the Leslie-Lohman Gallery in SoHo in November of 1980. Its success launched him into greater popularity and his most artistically productive decade. Bate died on June 27, 1989, on the twentieth anniversary of the Stonewall riot.
