17: ROBERT ELLIS (1923-1979) MIXED MEDIA ABSTRACT ON PAPER

Robert C. (R.C.) Ellis (1923-1979)
Women Mujer (1960)
The oil pastel rendering of angular, vertically situated abstract forms backlit by an orange glow is signed and dated lower right front. The image has an ethereal glow inside and out of the imagined and fragmented structure, a feeling of night settling in.

Robert Ellis was a Taos based modernist who evolved from Cubism to more abstract expressionist painting. He began studies at the University of New Mexico's Taos Summer Field School in 1942, where he met modernist painter Andrew Dasburg. After the war he studied at the New School for Social Research in New York in 1949, and earned his BFA from the University of New Mexico in 1950. During these years of study, Ellis lived intermittently with the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico, drawing deep inspiration from their art and traditions.
Sheet measures 10.25 x 22.5 with a framed size of inches.
Very good untouched condition. There are no issues of scratches, losses, repairs, in-painting or touch-up to any degree.
Provenance: Private collection, Kansas City, Missouri.
$1,000 - $1,500