Linoleum cut, 1964. 1222x607 mm; 48 1/2x23 7/8 inches, full margins. Proof, from an edition of approximately 35. Signed, titled and inscribed "Ed. 35" in pencil, lower margin. A superb impression of this monumental and scarce print.
Provenance: Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, with the gallery label on the frame back; collection of Evelyn N. Boulware, New York.
Illustrated: Andrea D. Barnwell, Charles White. The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art: Volume I, plate 35, p. 82. Another impression is also illustrated in Benjamin Horowitz, Images of Dignity: The Drawings of Charles White, p. 94.
While the stated edition is 35, there are only several impressions known today. As with other large blocks from the 1960s, the artist often printed impressions on an individual basis. We have not found another impression at auction in the past 20 years.
Micah is the last of a series of monumental linoleum cuts of figures with spiritual or Biblical titles that Charles White made in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Andrea Barnwell has linked Charles White's dramatic depiction of this Old Testament prophet to the inspiration African-American ministers found during the Civil Rights struggle--particularly Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who often quoted verses from the book of Micah. Barnwell p. 80. Gedeon EB18.
