Phillip Callahan Ink Drawing on Paper of Abstract Female Figure

Item Details

Ink Wash

A mid to late 20th century ink drawing on paper by listed American artist Phillip Callahan (1918-1991). The piece depicts a simple abstract sketch of a female figure, rendered in a palette of black against cream. The work is posthumously stamped with the artist’s facsimile signature to the lower right. The drawing is matted in off-white and presented under glass in a black composite wood frame fitted with hanging wire to the verso.

Phillip Callahan was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1918. By the age of eighteen his work had been exhibited in several galleries throughout New York. Callahan received his formal artistic training at the Worcester Institute of Fine Art in 1937 as well as the Advanced School of the Boston Museum of Fine Art. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris before World War II broke out. Callahan enlisted in the United States Army in February of 1941. After the war he returned to the United States and began studying at the Art Students League of New York. It was during this time that Callahan studied under Czech-American modernist painter Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984). Callahan’s earlier works remained ultimately realistic with slight abstraction. However, after studying in New York and Europe his work started to become more abstract. By the 1950s-60s his work had become completely non-objective.

Condition

- slight toning to paper; minor wear and nicks to frame.

Dimensions

- measures frame; visible image measures 7.0" W x 8.75" H.

Item #

17IND158-001