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Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
CHARLES MCGEE (1924 - 2021) Noah's Ark #10.
Mixed media and collage on masonite, 1984. 1219x1219 mm; 48x48 inches. Initialed, titled and dated in ink, verso. From the Noah's Ark series.
Provenance: acquired from G. R. N'Namdi Gallery, Detroit; private collection, Michigan.
Noah's Ark is a series of painted collages that express nature, joy and optimism. The androgynous flat black figures and disembodied abstract shapes, suspended in a flat plane, vibrate with rhythmic energy. They form repetitious biomorphic patterns that fill many of the spaces, emphasizing the flatness while invigorating the composition. A hybrid of painting, collaged fabric, and still-life objects, these works express McGee's belief in the, "interconnectedness of all things".
Beginning in 1947, Charles McGee was attending art classes part-time at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit (now the College for Creative Studies). In 1951, he studied oil painting with the director Sarkis Sarkisian and was a classmate of Hughie Lee-Smith. He exhibited in the landmark exhibit The Negro in American Art, UCLA Art Galleries, Los Angeles in 1966. He then curated Seven Black Artists at the Detroit Artists Market in 1969, which included himself, Lester Johnson, Henri Umbaji King, Robert Murray, James Lee, Allie McGhee, Harold Neal, and Robert J. Stull. This immediately led him to open the artists' collective Gallery 7 and the Charles McGee School of Art, which became a fixture in the Detroit art world. From this early academic beginning, McGee's work evolved into the large, vibrant and multi-media constructions that he is known for today. His works are now in many museum collections, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Howard University and Clark Atlanta University. In 2009, Dr. Julia R. Myers curated the first major retrospective of his work with the exhibition and catalogue Energy, Charles McGee at Eighty-Five at Eastern Michigan University. Myers pp. 6-7.
