?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,000
GREGORY D. RIDLEY, JR. (1925 - 2004) Battle of Chattanooga.
Copper repoussé frieze, mounted on a wood panel, 1963. 457x1727 mm; 18x68 inches (including the panel). Signed and dated in repoussé, lower right recto. Signed, titled, numbered "No. 1" and inscribed "Nov. 27, 1963, Copper Repoussé, Created on Great Battles of the Civil War, Nov. 24 - 25, 1863, 3,500 N, 2,500 South Died...." in ink, upper right verso.
Provenance: private collection, Tennessee.
This impressive battle scene in hammered copper is an excellent example of the copper repoussé which artist Gregory Ridley is nationally known for. This is a panel from Ridley's first and important series of repoussé depicting fifteen battles of the Civil War.
A native of Smyrna, Tennessee, Gregory D. Ridley, Jr. and his family moved to Nashville in 1936, where he was educated in the city's public schools. After service in the United States Navy during World War II, he enrolled at Fisk University, where he studied under the artist Aaron Douglas, who remained a close friend and mentor until his death in 1979. Ridley earned an undergraduate degree in art education from Tennessee State University and a master's degree in fine arts from the University of Louisville where he was the first to receive this degree. He enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a teacher, including faculty appointments at Alabama State University, Grambling State University, Tennessee State University, Fisk University, and City University of New York, where he also served as the University's museum coordinator.
Ridley's work has been exhibited at the Tennessee State Museum, Cheekwood, the Nashville Artist Guild, Tennessee State University, Fisk University, the J. B. Speed Museum, the Toledo Arts Center, and Morehouse College. His work is included in the collections of museums, corporations, and individuals throughout the United States. His last major work is "A Story of Nashville" in the new Nashville public library's Grand Reading Room - a series of 80 panels, integrated within the tops of the bookshelves, which form a linear story of Nashville's history. Biography courtesy of Askart.com.
