RICHARD DEMPSEY (1909 - 1987) Untitled (Dancer Back Stage).
Tempera on illustration board, circa 1940s. 235x190 mm; 9 1/4x7 1/2 inches. Signed in blue pencil, verso.
Provenance: John and Mediel R. Hoskins Jr., Washington, DC (brother-in-law and sister of Delilah Pierce); the estate of Delilah Pierce; thence by descent to the current owner.
This small but richly detailed painting is a scarce work by Washington, DC artist Richard Dempsey--it is one of the earliest figurative paintings of his to come to auction. Dempsey received a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship in 1946 to paint 100 portraits of "Outstanding American Negroes."
