Posted 12 years ago
ho2cultcha
(5048 items)
Here's another piece which came with all those old frames i got the other day. Does anyone recognize or can anyone read the signature? What kind of printing technique was used for it? What a variety of paintings, prints, etc...
Is there another site where i can post photos of old art to find more information? I see that this site is not really geared for that so much - due to the limited categories in that field. thanks for any info!
Wow! i'm impressed mustangtony! it is a serigraph by Mildred Rackley Simon from when she was in Spain. She was a fascinating woman who lived in Oakland for most of her life - which is where i live. She worked as a secretary and a union organizer in the dockyards - and quit one job because the dockyard refused to hire african-americans. she went to spain as an interpreter and to help w/ the revolution. She was fluent in 3 languages. she is most known for her serigraphs and they sell for a pretty high price at Swann - average over $1,000. This is a large and detailed piece for her. Thanks so much for your help! i can't believe you figured it out so quickly!
she went to spain w/ the international brigades - which were on the side of the republic and against the falange - franco. the left at that time was strongly associated w/ the communist party. when she returned, she continued the struggle by becoming a union organizer - also associated w/ the communist [although somewhat loosely]. the 'cp' became a 'bad' word during the mcarthy hearings of the 40s, when anyone associated in any way w/ the cp was harrassed, jailed, or killed. my grandfather went to jail in those days for teaching 'communism' at sunday school. i did check the values and the average at swann's was around $1,000, but this one is larger than any of those ones [and more attractive than most, but not all!].
i just posted a new photo of this since i framed it in a vintage frame. this is one of the largest and most beautiful of any of her works that i've found - also the earliest of her works i've seen for sale anywhere. i think that this was done when Rackley was working w/ the Spanish Resistance during their famous civil war.
thank you mustangtony - for helping me to find out about another very interesting Oakland artist - and to see the real value in this piece.