Phillip Callahan Graphite and Ink Drawing of Two Figures

Item Details

ink and graphite

A graphite and ink drawing on paper by American artist Phillip Callahan (1918-1991). This piece depicts two dancing figures in a swirl of rust orange shading and lines that add movement. The piece has a stamped signature to the lower right and is presented behind a white mat and glass in a black composite wood frame with wire to the verso for hanging.

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 Ecole 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 abstraction. By the 1950s and 1960s his work became completely non-objective.

Condition

- minor nicks and wear to frame.

Dimensions

- measures frame; visible image measures 7.0" W x 8.25" H.

Item #

17IND158-025