Jun 08, 2006 - Sale 2082

Sale 2082 - Lot 9

Price Realized: $ 2,300
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
ERNEST HAMLIN BAKER
Three studies for Mithrana and the 1939 World's Fair.

Each pencil on thin wove paper, 2 mounted to cream wove paper, circa 1939. Two signed and inscribed with numerous pencil notations, lower margins of the mounts. Various sizes and conditions.

Three working studies for a proposed mural for the World's Fair exposition. Baker did realize the controversial mural Activities of the Narragansett Planters in 1939, which was located in the Wakefield Post Office, South Kingstown, R.I. until the Wakefield Post Office was closed in 1999. Baker's mural depicts the slave-dependent economy that characterized South County--uniquely in New England--in the early and mid-18th century. This mural was restored and then moved in June 2003 to the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society across from the University of Rhode Island's main campus.