Batik on thin cotton canvas, mounted to masonite board, circa 1970-71. 787x508 mm; 31x20 inches. Signed, lower right recto. Signed, titled, dated and inscribed in ink on the artist's label, upper left verso.
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist by Rev. Msgr. James A. Carter, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (1972). Private collection, Georgia.
Dr. Leo Franklin Twiggs is a significant Southern artist - an influential South Carolinian painter and educator for two generations. Born in St. Stephen, South Carolina, Twiggs received his undergraduate degree from Claflin University in Orangeburg. There, he was one of the first students of Arthur Rose in 1952, the inaugural year of his Claflin visual art program, the first available to African Americans in South Carolina. Twiggs continued his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and earned a master's degree from New York University, where he studied under Hale Woodruff. Twiggs later became the first African American to receive his doctorate in Art Education from the University of Georgia.
In 1964, Twiggs returned to Orangeburg to teach at South Carolina State University, where he started the art department and was instrumental in founding its I. P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium. At this time, he began to experiment with painting with batik, the traditional African wax-resist method of dyeing textiles. Twiggs uses batik to create unique vivid colors and rich textures, and often applies the dye directly like paint. His paintings are often of symbolic motifs, including flags, railroad crossings, and shadowy figures. Twiggs has had numerous solo exhibitions, including at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Asheville Art Museum, the Greenville County Museum of Art and the Georgia Art Museum. Twiggs is the Distinguished Artist in Residence at Claflin University. Biographical notes courtesy of the Johnson Collection.
