?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 10,000 - $ 15,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Untitled (Abstract Figures).
Tempera, crayon, pen and ink on stiff wove card, circa 1949. 295x405 mm; 11 5/8x15 7/8 inches. Signed in ink, lower right.
Provenance: the artist; Judge and Mrs. Edward R. Dudley, New York; thence by descent to the current owner.
Alston's transformation into an abstract painter began with his return to art study in New York, funded by the G.I. Bill. Alston was introduced to European modernism at the Pratt Institute by instructors Charles Martin and Alexander Kostellow, a follower of Vaclav Vytlacil. He was so influenced by Vytlacil that "Alston dated everything in his life as having occurred either B.V. or A.V." In 1948, Alston took further graduate classes at New York University. By 1950, Alston had so successfully adopted abstraction that a painting of his entered in the national juried competition, "America Painting Today," was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as the first-place award. According to Harry Henderson, this launched his career as a full-time artist, allowing him to finally leave behind commercial work. Jennings p. 23.
