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JAMES A. PORTER (1905 - 1970)
FA as Harlequin
.
Watercolor on buff textured wove paper, 1930. Approximately 483x405 mm; 19x16 inches. Signed
and dated in ink, lower right
Provenance: the artist; Dorthy Porter Walker; Constance Porter Uzelac, thence by descent to the
current owner.
Illustrated:
James A. Porter, 1905 -1970, From Me toYou: the Works of James A. Porter
, G.R. N’Namdi
Gallery, p. 57;
James Amos Porter (1905 - 1970): Spotlight on HisWorks on Paper
,Westport Foundation
and Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, FL, p. 12.
This unusual and early self-portrait is a striking departure for the artist, and a remarkable early foray
into modernism by a Harlem Renaissance-era artist. Porter had received a Bachelor of Arts degree
in painting at Howard University in 1926, when the following year he was appointed assistant
professor there. Porter rose to prominence and widely exhibited his work in the early 1930s -
including at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Museum of Modern Art,
the Baltimore Museum, and the Harmon Foundation, NewYork. At the Harmon Foundation, his
best known painting
Woman Holding a Jug
, also from 1930, was reproduced on the cover of its 1933
exhibition catalogue and won the Schomburg portrait prize; its popular and critical acclaim brought
Porter national recognition.
[5,000/7,000]