Oil on canvas board, circa 1950-55. 762x552 mm; 30x21 3/4 inches. Signed in oil, lower right.
Provenance: the estate of Burton Weiss, Berkeley, CA.
We believe this postwar oil painting is the first work by Harlem Rennaissance artist and writer, Bruce Nugent, to come to auction. Its surreal quality appears inspired by the European painters Francis Picabia or Pavel Tchelitchew.
Nugent was an openly gay writer and artist best known for his literary work during the 1920s and 30s - he was one of the organizers of the 1926 literary journal Fire!!. He also painted an illustration for the cover of Opportunity in March of 1926. His visual art of the period were largely works on paper, provocative figurative drawings with themes of biblical narratives, eroticism and dance. Sims p. 73.
