Ealey, 1962, 12" x 24"
Another purchase from the catacombs of the South Loop Flea Market. This piece works well with almost any bathroom decor, and it has recently taken its place of honor above the upstairs toilet in our new home. Compositionally, I think this painting is almost perfect, but the monochromatic color palette is the real prize here. I'm constantly kicking myself for not returning to the dealer where I bought this painting to purchase the 30 to 40 other works by Ealey which were stored in a drawer in the back of his booth. They were selling for around $3.00 apiece, but at the time I figured that it would be too much of a headache to put the paintings back on their wooden stretchers, which had been removed for transport. When I realized my oversight and returned to buy the paintings a few weeks later they had already been sold. The paintings I missed out on utilized the same bluish color scheme as the stretched canvas shown here, and the subject matter of these works ran the gamut from landscapes to portraits.