RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK -- Robert Duncanson

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton 

Robert Duncanson's "At the Foot of the Cross" was executed by the artist during his formative years when, like many emerging artists, he went through a period of experimentation. It is signed by Duncanson and dated 1846, a year when he is known to have worked in Detroit.

Growing up visiting Cincinnati's Taft Museum, Ernest knew the story of Black artist & abolitionist Robert Duncanson, and finally, now so does the rest of the nation. Landscape with Rainbow by Duncanson was gifted this week to President Biden on his Inauguration Day. It is a painting representing a vision of America as a paradise like the Garden of Eden. His At the Foot of the Cross, 1846, owned by the Jesuit Community at UDM is another of our favorites. This Inauguration week of light (and normalcy) makes Robert Duncanson our collector's tip of the week.

Robert Duncanson photograph

OTHER NEWS from across the USA, and around the world:

• Anila Quayyum Agha's "A Beautiful Despair" Coming to Texas (CultureMap) 
• Maria Roosen's “Red Roosenary” (2008) in Toledo, Spain (The New York Times) 
• Old Master Giovanni Battista Castello (Genoa) Comes to Auction (Sotheby's)
• The Most Expensive Old Master Works Sold at Auction (ARTnews)
• The Stories of Those Who Lost Decades in the Closet (The New York Times)

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Robert S. Duncanson, Landscape with Rainbow, 1859. Smithsonian Collection.

Credit: NBC News Capitol Rotunda gift-giving ceremony on inauguration day.

Robert S. Duncanson's "Uncle Tom and Little Eva" (1853); Medium oil on canvas Dimensions Unframed: 27 1/4 × 38 1/4 inches. Collection of the Detroit Institute of Art

The recently discovered painting, "At the Foot of the Cross" was executed by the artist during his formative years when, like many emerging artists, he went through a period of experimentation. It is signed by Duncanson and dated 1846, a year when he is known to have worked in Detroit.