Collage of various printed papers, mounted to stiff paper board, 1974. 450x540 mm; 17 3/4x21 1/4 inches. Signed and dated in white pencil, lower right.
Provenance: William Zierler, Inc., New York, with the label on the frame back; private collection, Florida.
We believe this collage is only the second work of this artist to come to auction. Malcolm Bailey is best known for his late 1960s polymer paintings with collaged images of slave ships and their human cargo - based on 18th century abolitionist diagrams. After great success as a young artist in the early 1970s, Malcolm Bailey's career ended suddenly -we have not found any exhibitions or artworks by the artist dated past the mid-1970s. His paintings are found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His Untitled, 1969 was recently exhibited in the Whitney Museum of American Art's inaugural exhibition America is Hard to See in their new building.
