Pastel on paper, signed at lower right, matted and presented under glass in the likely original frame.

SS 15 x 20 in.; DOA 25.75 x 30 in.

Maynard Walker Galleries, New York, NY, 1938
Private Collection

Born in rural Edgecombe County, NC, Pittman moved to Pennsylvania in 1918. After several one-man shows in Philadelphia, he was represented in the 1933 exhibition "Painting and Sculpture from 16 American Cities" held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY. A celebrated regionalist, Pittman exhibited extensively throughout his lifetime and beyond.

Pittman was particularly known for his depictions of quiet rooms, writing “rooms are wonder for me—I like rooms and doors and windows—Mystery shrouds them all—mystery not revealed or explained...” John Canaday, Art Editor of the New York Times, reveled in Pittman's interiors as being both "nostalgic and visionary," seemingly at once "still peopled by the remembered presences of romantic personages." Interiors similar to the pastel offered here are Nine P.M. in the permanent collection of The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., and The Old Maid (Searching), in the permanent collection of the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC.

A pencil sketch for the present work is illustrated in Hobson Pittman: At Home & Work, the catalogue accompanying a 2009 exhibition at Barton Art Galleries, Wilson, NC (by Buddy Hooks and designed by Gérard Lange).

Masking tape to the verso of the sheet; some abrading to floor; some loss and looseness to pigment; fading, particularly to the red.

$2,000 - 4,000