Lot 345: Charles Cagle oil on canvas, Portrait of a Lady

Portrait of a lady by Charles Cagle (Tennessee, 1907-1968). Oil on canvas, unframed. Signed en verso, upper right. 24" x 18". Circa 1950. Biography (courtesy The Tennessee Historical Quarterly vol XLVI No. 4, Portrait Painting in Tennessee): Cagle studied art at Watkins Institute and Peabody College in Nashville before enrolling at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Barnes Foundation in Merion, PA, a hub of avante garde art. Cagle returned to Nashville in 1931 and is credited with introducing Nashville "to the notion that paintings could express ideas and visions rather than views." In March 1933, Cagle draped a sheet over one of his nudes because of the controversy it caused when exhibited at the Centennial Club. Cagle left Nashville for Vermont in 1935 but his influence continued to be seen in the works of many other Nashville artists whose work subsequently became more modern in spirit.

Condition: tear at neck, small 1/16" hole on forehead.