Lot 35: LEROY FOSTER (1925 - ) Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (Self-Portrait).

LEROY FOSTER (1925 - )
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (Self-Portrait).

Oil on canvas board, circa 1942. 610x505 mm; 24x20 inches. With a signed label on the verso.

Provenance: the artist; private Michigan collection.

This stunning self-portrait was made by a very talented, young artist at the age of only 17 as a senior in high school. According to the labels on the painting back, this work was submitted to the National Scholastic Art Award after winning the painting prize at his Cass Technical High School in Detroit. Foster went on to study at the Art School of the Detroit Society of the Arts. He later taught at his alma mater Cass Technical High School, and in 1958, founded the Contemporary Studio, with artists Charles McGee and Henri Umbaii King. He is best known for his mural of Frederick Douglass in the downtown branch of the Detroit Public Library.