Featuring works by Charly Palmer and Lawrence Philp
In 2020, Time magazine commissioned artist Charly Palmer to create a portrait of the impact of racial injustice. The resulting 40-by-30-in. acrylic painting of a little girl faced with the injustice of today and America’s historical role in it is titled “In Her Eyes.”
Black Art Auction is pleased to present one of the series of three paintings Palmer created for this project in its Winter Signature Sale of African-American Fine Art. For more information, go to www.blackartauction.com.
Illustrator, graphic designer, and educator Charly Palmer was born in Fayetteville, Alabama, and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He went on to study at the American Academy of Art and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Palmer’s work tells the story of being Black in America.
His notable works include the cover art for John Legend’s album, Bigger Love, a poster for the 1996 Olympics, original artwork commemorating Fisk University’s 150th anniversary, and the same for Howard University. He has illustrated children’s books, including Mama Africa, for which he received the 2018 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award.
The painting “Yoruba” is a commemoration of the film Black Orpheus, a 1959 romantic tragedy directed by French filmmaker Marcel Camus, and the scene where the protagonist goes to a Candomblé ceremony, and Eurydice speaks to him through a practitioner.
Candomblé is an African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil amid the Atlantic slave trade (1600s-1900s). Its practices are based on Yoruba and Congo traditions from Nigeria and West Africa. Interestingly, Jean-Michel Basquiat claimed the bossa nova soundtrack to the film was one of his early musical influences.
Lawrence Philp was born in New York City in 1949 to parents who had immigrated from Jamaica in 1920. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA) and the University of Michigan (MFA). One of his early influences was the work of Bob Thompson.
Live bidding begins December 2, 2023 at 11 AM CST. Go to www.blackartauction.com/