ORIGINAL JACQUES DUNHAM 'JAZZ MUSICIANS' WATERCOLOR & INK DRAWING, SIGNED, 1947

Description

FEATURED:    A tremendous, wild original Watercolor & ink painting of Jazz Musicians grooving away with each other, lost in their music and the rhythm, by noted Mid Century artist JACQUES RALPH DUNHAM, signed and dated 1947. We don't know where this scene took place, perhaps a Greenwich  Village nightclub or a rehearsal pad, but whereever it was, the vibe in this piece is so very super cool and unique, capturing perfectly the spirit of a late night jazz club, its musicians concentrating on their sound, how they sat next to each other when playing on those small stages, their faces in concentration, listening to the notes, oblivious of anything else.  We see a drummer and a piano player, drawn with parts of their bodies and furniture at angles to each other, a very 'beat'- Kerouac feel early Modern abstract look about this artwork, and a great example of the talent and imagination this artist had to take a everyday scene and turn it on its head and sideways, yet still capturing the images perfectly.
The artist, Jacques Dunham, who was based in NYC, was a multi-talented artist, best known for his Modern Mid Century elongated stylized geometric somber figures and portraits, and a very successful international interior designer for the Hilton Corp. in the 1960's-70's, a book illustrator, furniture designer, and a artist who spent time in Mexico in those golden 50's years when artists from around the world flocked to it.  This was an artist with a very wild imagination for sure, and the talent to put it all down on canvas or paper!
MEASURES:  The artwork image itself is @ 6.75 inches x 9.25 inches, with the mat covering a little more art, and the mat is 14.75 inches x 20 inches.  The art is signed lower right with the date, 1947, and artist's initials,'JRD' lower right in the artwork.  The paper is taped with old tape to the mat in the back, and could be easily removed.   It is also signed with his script signature on the back of the piece. The art we know would certainly benefit from a new mat and framing, but as the mat we feel is original to the piece, and possibly was made by the artist,  we have left that choice up to the new owner to decide what he/she wants to do with this situation.  The artwork itself is in very good condition, especially for its age.   Such a great piece by a very fascinating artist of the Modern Mid Century art world, and scarce to find this topic by him on the open market today, as most of his work is of his elongated intense abstract portraits of figures- this is a very different theme, to say the least, and belongs in a Musician's home/collection or Early Modern American art collection- and would be fabulous as the cover for a cool jazz album! A super example of a Portrait of a late night in a small jazz club somewhere, many decades ago.  You can almost hearing the crowd, the glasses clinking, the laughter, and those hypnotic notes being played, can't you?
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