Feb 17, 2009 - Sale 2169

Sale 2169 - Lot 49

Price Realized: $ 13,200
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
JACOB LAWRENCE (1917 - 2000)
Artists and Models Ball, #2.

Gouache on wove paper, circa 1950-60. 420x260 mm;17x10 1/4 inches. Signed in ink, lower right.

Provenance: Philip Schneider, Hollywood, Florida; private collection, New Jersey. In the letter to Philip Schneider, Jacob Lawrence wrote "This is in answer to your letter of October 25th 1975 requesting information in regards to three works of mine that are in your collection. All three works are in gouache. They were executed (perhaps between the years of 1950-1960) when I was very active in the New York Chapter of Artists Equity. For a number of years Artists Equity gave an Artists and Models Ball, and its members were invited to contribute designs and ideas for costumes which could be worn for the occasion. The paintings that are in your collection are three such designs. These three designs are purely of my own fantasy and have no special meaning." There is a photocopy of the April 23, 1976 letter attached to the frame back.