Philip Campbell Curtis (American, b. 1907) The Valley, Jerome Arizona

Description:

Philip Campbell Curtis (American, b. 1907)

The Valley, Jerome Arizona
Signed and dated "CURTIS '50" l.l.
Gouache on paper, sight size 15 x 19 3/4 in. (37.6 x 50 cm),framed.
Condition: Minor water stain to l.r. corner, not examined out of frame.

N.B. Philip Curtis was born in Jackson, Michigan, in 1907. By the early 1930s, Curtis was working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and through their Federal Arts Project, was moved to Arizona in 1937 to found and direct the Phoenix Art Center (now the Phoenix Art Museum). Following this move, the desert and western landscapes became a frequent and important subject in Curtis' work. His style is perhaps best described by the Curator of the West Valley Art Museum in Surprise, AZ. He suggests that "Philip Curtis, while essentially a surrealist, is too much a painter with an individual point of view to fit comfortably in the Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte 'realistic' wing of that movement. More romantic, very much less cynical, and not nearly as photographic as these two artists, Curtis does, however, clearly share their dreamlike penetration of the surface of reality into that stranger, far less rational zone below consciousness where a different form of truth may be found." The lot is accompanied by a copy of American Dreamer, The Art of Philip C. Curtis, complied by James K. Ballinger, Director, Phoenix Art Museum.
Estimate $15,000-25,000

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