?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
CHARLES ALSTON (1907 - 1977) Untitled (Man with Grim Reaper).
Pencil and crayon on tissue-thin vellum, laid down on board, circa 1930. 406x318 mm; 16x12 1/2 inches. Signed in pencil, lower right.
Provenance: private collection.
During the Harlem Renaissance, new artistic opportunities arose for African-American artists, who were able to get commissions for illustrated works and graphic design. Charles Alston drew this at a time when he was able to earn a living as an illustrator. In the 1930s and 1940s, he created illustrations for magazines such as Fortune and The New Yorker, as well as illustrated an album cover for Duke Ellington, and a book cover for Langston Hughes. By 1940, he was a staff artist at the Office of War Information and Public Relations.
