Lot 344: BEN CULWELL (1918-1992)

BEN CULWELL (1918-1992)
Mickey Mouse Landscape, 1949-1968
Oil on masonite
11in. x 15in.
Signed all four corners
Signed, dated, and titled verso

Ben Culwell was born in San Antonio, grew up in Houston, and graduated high school in Dallas. He attended college at Southern Methodist University and Columbia University under Walter Pach. Pach was one of the organizers of the Amory Show and was a leading proponent of modernism.

After graduation, Culwell began to exhibit and teach art at the Texas State College for Women, Denton, Texas, until he enlisted in the navy. During the war he executed a series of ground-breaking paintings that would forever change the history of American Art. These paintings were the basis for what a few years later would be called the Abstract Expressionist Movement.

The news article below from the Temple Daily Telegram, dated April 7, 1992, upon the death of Ben Culwell, does an excellent job of explaining Culwell's importance as a painter.

This painting, Mickey Mouse Landscape, is one of the early works of the Abstract Expressionist Movement. As the verso indicates, its date of creation is 1949-1968. This is very common of Culwell's paintings. He often worked and reworked his paintings over months, years, and sometimes decades.

Culwell's paintings are signed in all four corners because they are meant to hang in any orientation.

Provenance:
Acquired by descent from the artist by the present owner

Excellent condition. Period frame in excellent condition.