Charles Cagle (Tennessee, 1907-1968) oil on canvas painting titled "Gardenia Corsage" depicting a blonde haired woman seated in front of a dressing mirror, wearing an off the shoulder white dress and choker, her hands resting below a white gardenia corsage at her left shoulder. Deep red background. Unsigned. Handwritten paper label with artist's name, medium, title, and "Collection-John Richardson" en verso. Housed in a grey wooden frame comprised of thin veneers applied to sides of canvas. Sight: 25" H x 30" W. Framed: 26" H x 30 1/2" W. 2nd item: Charles Cagle graphite and gouache on paper drawing of a young man seated on a stool, his back turned to the viewer. Unsigned. Two labels, en verso. Housed and matted under plexiglass in a black wooden frame. Sight: 23 1/2" H x 18 1/2" W. Framed: 31" H x 25 1/2" W. Note: According to the label on the back of the frame, this drawing was executed for a Life Drawing Class Demonstration when Cagle was an instructor at Watkins Institute. Provenance: Art Collection of former Watkins College of Art; proceeds benefit scholarship endowment for students in the new Watkins College of Art at Belmont University. Biography: Charles Cagle was born in Beersheba Springs, Tennessee. He studied at Watkins Institute of Art and Design and Peabody College in Nashville, as well as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at the Barnes Foundation. In 1930 he won a Cresson Memorial Scholarship which allowed him to spend a year traveling in Europe. Cagle was influenced by post-Impressionists, particularly Cezanne and Matisse, and upon his return to Nashville in 1931 he created some controversy with his progressive attitudes toward art and some of the art itself (including a nude statue that had to be draped because of the outcry caused by its exhibition at the Centennial Club). In 1935 he left Nashville for Vermont, where he bought a farm and established the Charles Cagle Summer Painting Group, which continued for 27 years. In 1940 his painting Forest Interior was placed in the Richmond Museum and he won the Schilling Prize. His art career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the Army in France and won five battle stars and the French Legion of Honor. In the years after the war, Cagle had several shows in New York City and Nashville, the largest of which was at The Parthenon in 1966. (Source: Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Winter, 1987). Condition: Overall good condition with craquelure.