francis-speight-american-1896-1989-i-lyceum-no-2-i
Lot 216
Francis Speight (American, 1896-1989), Lyceum No. 2
Lot Details & Additional Photographs
Oil on canvas, signed at lower right, circa 1950, presented in a custom carved frame with gold leaf and branded Perakis Frames of Philadelphia, with gallery plaque.

Stretcher size 25 x 30 in.; Frame dimensions 31 1/4 x 36 1/2 in.

Private Collection, Pennsylvania

Taggart, Jorgensen & Putman, Washington, D.C. (1989)

Exhibited:
"The Painterly Voice: Bucks County's Fertile Ground," James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsyvlania, October 22, 2011 - April 1, 2012

Born in Bertie County, North Carolina in 1896, Francis Speight began his art studies at Meredith College in Raleigh. Following his lessons there, he then moved on to the Corcoran in Washington, D.C. where he viewed an exhibition of Daniel Garber's work and was inspired to enroll at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art where Garber was an instructor. Speight attended PAFA from 1920-1925. He then served as an instructor at the academy until 1961, when he moved back to eastern North Carolina.

The present painting depicts children and adults along Lyceum Ave. in Manayunk, a working class neighborhood in lower northwest Philadelphia.

$15,000 - 25,000