CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Untitled (Figure Composition).
Oil on linen canvas, circa 1974. 1016x1270 mm; 40x50 inches. Signed in oil, lower right.
Provenance: the estate of the artist; thence by descent to the current owner.
This colorful and striking painting is the largest work by Charles Alston to come to auction, and is an excellent example of his figure compositions. Here, Alston captures New York City's mid-1970s popular street culture. As a result of his many mural commissions, Alston excelled at compositions that included multiple figures--from his celebrated 1936 WPA Harlem Hospital and 1949 Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company murals to the lesser known 1957 Our Constitution at City College of New York. By 1976, Alston completed two mosaic murals, Equal Justice Under the Law and The Family of Man, for the Bronx County Family and Criminal Court buildings with much more abstract figures.
