Oil on board, signed at lower right, retains artist's label to verso, in whitewashed wooden frame.

Sight Size 16.5 x 13.5 in.; Frame Dimensions 20.25 x 17.25 in.

Collection of a Gentleman, Hillsborough, North Carolina

James Augustus McLean was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina. He studied briefly at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill before transferring to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1923. After graduating, he returned to North Carolina and founded the Southern School of Creative Arts in Raleigh.

McLean was instrumental in establishing a strong support system for the arts in North Carolina. A talented painter and sculptor, his work was exhibited at Rockefeller Center, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and elsewhere. His murals may still be seen in Raleigh, Concord and Greensboro. And his carved plaque of tragedy and comedy has long graced the entrance of the Raleigh Little Theatre, and serves as its logo.

Some light surface grime.