Phillip Callahan Ink Drawing of Abstract Figure Study

Item Details

Ink on paper

An ink drawing of an abstract figure study by listed artist Phillip Callahan (1918-1991). This drawing depicts a gestural rendering of a nude woman in profile, as the various swirls define stylized arms and legs as she looks onward. This work is posthumously stamped with the artist signature to the lower right. The drawing is presented under layered matting.

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 scratches along the matting.

Dimensions

- measures matting; visible image measures: 6.25" W x 8.0" H.

Item #

18IND013-015