Lot 360: Ronald Joseph (American, 20th Century) Peeling Green Apples Signed or inscribed "...Ronald Joseph"

on the reverse. Oil on canvasboard, 30 x 23 1/2 in. (76.2 x 59.7 cm), framed. Condition: Unobtrusive surface grime. N.B. Born in the British West Indies, Ronald Joseph moved to New York at the age of thirteen. During the 1930s he studied printmaking along with Robert Blackburn under Riva Helfond at the Harlem Art Center, where Joseph later taught. He worked in the mural section of the WPA and was a representative of the Harlem Artists~dq~ Guild to the New York World~dq~s Fair (1939-1940). By 1943, prominent art critic James Porter considered him the "foremost Negro abstractionist painter" in New York. In recent years, many institutions have begun to explore and recognize the important contributions African American artists have made to the development of a modern American artist movement. Locally, the Worcester Art Museum compiled an exhibition titled The Harlem Renaissance and It~dq~s Legacy, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently showing an exhibition titled African American Artists, 1929-1945. The show will be on view in New York until July 6, 2003.