Two William Draper Paintings of Africa, ca. 1966

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CLEARANCE | Ancient & Ethnographic Art

By Artemis Gallery

Feb 17, 2022

Set Reminder 2022-02-17 10:00:00 2022-02-17 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : CLEARANCE | Ancient & Ethnographic Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/clearance-ancient-ethnographic-art-8898
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• Lot Description
  **First Time At Auction**
  
  William Franklin Draper (American, 1912-2003). "African Lake" and "Malindi" - oil paint on heavy gauge paper - ca. 1966. A beautiful pair of paintings depicting scenes in Africa by William Draper. "Malindi" presents the town named in the title, located on the coast of Kenya. Malindi has been a Swahili settlement since the 13th century. In this composition, hatch-roofed buildings line each side of a dirt road; women carry wares on their heads as children and elders look on; and palm trees rise to the clear blue sky above. "African Lake" presents a serene blue lake surrounded by golden grasslands with trees and brush in the foreground and hillsides in the distance - all below a rosy sky indicative of dawn or dusk. Both paintings are delineated with Draper's signature loose brushstrokes and a brilliant color palette. Size of "Malindi": 20" L x 23.875" W (50.8 cm x 60.6 cm)
  
  William Franklin Draper was born in Hopedale, Massachusetts on December 24, 1912. A child prodigy, he studied classical piano at Harvard University. He later changed his focus to fine art and studied with Charles Webster Hawthorne and Henry Hensche in Provincetown, Rhode Island. Draper also attended the National Academy of Design in New York and the Cape Cod School of Art in Massachusetts. Then he traveled to Spain and studied with Harry Zimmerman, moved on to France and attended the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. In 1937, he moved to Boston to study sculpture with George Demetrius and also studied with Jon Corbino in beautiful Rockport, Massachusetts. In 1942, Draper joined the Navy and served as a combat artist when stationed on the Aleutian Islands and in the South Pacific. He observed and painted battle scenes on Bougainville, Guam, Saipan, and other locations, as well as genre scenes of soldiers who were not engaged in combat but rather at work and at play. National Geographic magazine reproduced 25 of his war images in four issues in 1944. In 1945, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. organized a group exhibition of works by five official war artists, including Draper. That same year the Metropolitan Museum of Art included Draper in an exhibition entitled, ''The War Against Japan.'' Draper was also featured in a PBS television show about combat artists entitled, "They Drew Fire" in May of 2000. After the war, Draper opened a studio on Park Avenue in New York City and continued to not only paint, but also play classical and jazz piano.
  
  Draper's career spanned seven decades and his subjects included a portrait of John F. Kennedy that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. based upon an oil sketch for which the president sat in 1962. Draper was actually the only artist who painted JFK from life. Draper showed at Knoedler, the Graham Gallery, Portraits, Inc., the Far Gallery, The Findlay Galleries (New York, NY) and the Robert C. Vose Galleries (Boston, MA). His work has been included in shows at the National Portrait Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), The National Academy of Design (New York, NY), The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, (Boston, MA) the Fogg Art Museum, (one of the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA), the National Gallery, (London), Salon de la Marine (Paris) and in museums in Australia. He also taught at the Art Students League of New York, and received a lifetime achievement award from the Portrait Society of America in 1999.
  
  Provenance: The William F. Draper Collection, New York City, USA, acquired via descent from the late William Franklin Draper (1912-2003), an accomplished American artist whose career spanned seven decades. Known as the "Dean of American Portraiture," William Draper was the only artist to paint President John F. Kennedy from life, and his oeuvre includes marvelous landscapes from his world travels, military paintings as he was one of only seventeen Combat Artists in WWII, and portraits of illustrious individuals.
  
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  Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.
  
  #151457

  Condition

  Each painting has a Draper Estate stamp on the verso. "African Lake" has its title handwritten on the verso and "Malindi" has its title handwritten on the verso as well. "African Lake" has a few small minor nicks and creases to the peripheries and a few tears that have been reinforced with acid free tape on the verso. "Malindi" has a few small losses/creases to peripheries as well as some tears that have been reinforced with acid free tape on the verso as well.
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