Malcolm McKesson (American, 1909-1999), In Bondage / Two Call Boys

The first, ink on paper, 1975, inscribed to lower center, labeled to verso, framed; the second, ink on paper, inscribed to the verso, labeled, matted and framed below glass.

Frame dimensions 25 1/2 x 12 1/2 in.; 16 x 12 1/2 in.

Malcolm McKesson was an American artist and writer associated with the Outsider Art movement. Born in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, into a prominent New York family, he studied art history at Harvard University and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He married poet Madeline Mason in 1942 and subsequently worked for his family's pharmaceutical company, McKesson & Robbins, before retiring from business in 1961 to devote himself to art. Working privately for decades, McKesson produced thousands of intricate pen-and-ink drawings exploring themes of gender identity, power, and psychological fantasy. His work gained public recognition in the 1990s after he approached dealers at the New York Outsider Art Fair in 1993. In 1997, he published his illustrated, semi-autobiographical novella Matriarchy: Freedom in Bondage. His drawings have since been exhibited internationally and are represented in the collections of the American Folk Art Museum in New York, Collection de l'Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Museum of Everything in London.

Light toning to the sheets, not examined outside the frames.

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