WATERCOLOR Ink ~ KARL PRIEBE ~ 1951 AFRICAN AMERICAN Ethel Waters VAN VECHTEN

Description: Original watercolor and ink painting on postcard by the American surrealist/expressionist painter Karl Priebe (1914-1976). The piece measures approximately 5 1/2 x 3 1/4 inches and is dated for 1951. Priebe had a long term correspondence with the well known photographer Carl Van Vechten and this postcard is typical of the messages sent to Van Vechten. The piece came from the estate of Saul Mauriber, long time companion to Van Vechten and the executor of his estate. The text reads:"Dear Carlo {van vechten} - That marvelous Ethel Waters! Leon Danielian {ballet dancer} was very nice and has real dark eyes. I am anxious to see the article on you and the reprint. It is again so cold here. Frank* sends hello too. We both greet Saul {mauriber}. - L. Karlo {priebe} - Tuesday morning - 1/16/51" *Priebe was openly gay and in an interracial partnership with Frank Roy Harriet. Karl Priebe was an American painter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin whose studies and paintings of birds, exotic animals, and African-American culture won him international recognition. He was born in Milwaukee in 1914 and went on to study and graduate from the Layton School of Art and later at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago - graduating in 1938. After serving on the anthropology staff of the Milwaukee Public Museum (1938–1942) and as director of the Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts (1943–1944), he returned to Layton as an instructor in 1947. Priebe was one of the few American artists ever to receive France's prestigious Prix de Rome, an honor accorded to him in 1941, however due to WWII, he was unable to use the grant to study in Europe. Unlike the majority of midwestern artists of his generation, Priebe was able to escape the regionalist label and win showings in prestigious galleries in New York City and other major urban art centers. His paintings were shown at major public and private galleries, among them the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Throughout his creative life Priebe was known for his love of African American culture. He first became interested when, as an art student in Chicago, he taught a class in a settlement house largely attended by African Americans. He was a longtime friend of such jazz greats as Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey and Dizzy Gillespie and of painters Gertrude Abercrombie and John Wilde. He had a close relation with novelist, critic, and portrait photographer Carl Van Vechten (an early promoter of his work)and the original recipient of the artwork on offer here. Karl Priebe died in Milwaukee in 1976 at the age of 62. (the above bio was drawn primarily from the artist's wikipedia page)

Price: 275 USD

Location: Brooksville, Florida

End Time: 2024-07-26T00:19:41.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD