Lot 24F
Deane G. Keller (American, 1940-2005). "For Ned" black charcoal and white chalk drawing on paper, n.d. Signed at lower left.. A hushed, intimate figure study rendered in black charcoal and white chalk on toned blue-gray laid paper, bearing the assured hand of Deane G. Keller (American, 1940-2005), the Yale-trained classical realist and longtime instructor at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. The nude reclines on his back, viewed in foreshortened perspective from above the crown of the head, both arms drawn up and resting on the ground beside the skull, elbows bent with the right elbow lifted slightly clear of the surface. Hair tumbles loose across the brow, and the chest and abdomen recede into the page in a daring compression of anatomy that recalls Mantegna's lamentation and the academic foreshortening exercises of the European ateliers. Keller models the torso and limbs with a few confident passes of charcoal, then reclaims the highlights in white chalk, allowing the cool paper itself to carry the middle tones. The drawing belongs to that disciplined academic tradition Keller championed throughout his career, the trois-crayons method filtered through American atelier practice, and the economy of marks reveals an artist for whom anatomy was second nature. Inscribed and signed at lower left "For Ned, Deane G. Keller", a dedication to the painter Ned Jacob, a fellow representational artist and friend, marking the sheet as a collegial gift between two practitioners of the figurative tradition rather than a commissioned work. Size: 17" W x 12" H (43.2 cm W x 30.5 cm H).
About the artist: Deane Galloway Keller (1940-2005) was an American draftsman, painter, sculptor, and teacher who devoted forty years to the instruction of figurative art and classical drawing, carrying forward a pedagogical lineage that ran, through his own father, back to Jean-Leon Gerome and George Bridgman. He trained at Yale, where he studied under his father, pursued anatomy at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis under David Rubins, and refined his draftsmanship in Florence with Nera Simi. He earned a Master of Arts in Education from St. Joseph College in West Hartford, Connecticut.
For twenty-five years Keller led the drawing department at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, where he was honored in 2001 with an endowed chair bearing his name. He also taught at the New York Academy of Art, the Art Students League of New York, the Hartford Art School, and the Woodstock School of Art, and lectured at the Yale Center for British Art, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and Harvard's Graduate School of Design. His published works include the "Draftsman's Handbook: A Resource and Study Guide for Drawing from Life" (2002) and "Figure Drawing in the Academy Tradition, 1890-1998."
His conviction that draftsmanship had suffered an unwarranted eclipse in contemporary art education animated everything he did. In his own words, drawing offers "a unique record of an encounter with a culture, of experience transformed from fleeting moment to lasting resonance." His work is held by the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Brandywine River Museum, Yale University, and a number of other public and private collections.
Provenance: private Santa Fe, New Mexico USA collection; ex-private Maine, USA collection
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Item #
203065
- Condition: Excellent. A few small areas of discoloring to paper; none of which affect drawing. Otherwise, drawing is in excellent overall condition. Signed and dedicated at lower left.
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