Lot 1017: 2 Olen Bryant Gilt Face Mask Sculptures Incl. Signed

Two (2) Olen Bryant (American/Tennessee, 1927-2017) gilt ceramic face or mask sculptures. 1st item: Gilt ceramic face plaque with raw-edge, mounted to panel board with brass and silver tacks circling the face. Gilding is layered over red paint, with a crackled finish. Unsigned. Housed in a round molded giltwood frame. Plaque: 10 in. H x 11 in. W. Framed: 15 1/2 in. dia. 2nd item: Gilt ceramic mask sculpture, mounted to a brown glazed ceramic rectangular base. Signed en verso with illegible date, likely “80,” and additionally signed and dated (also likely “80”) to back of base. 5 1/2 in. H x 6 1/2 in. W x 2 in. D. Biography: Born in Cookeville, TN, Bryant was a 1950 graduate of Murray State University and a 1954 graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield, Michigan with a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts. He additionally studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Institute in the Visual Arts in American Culture at the University of Delaware and the Winterthur Museum in 1967. Bryant was a professor at Austin Peay State University from 1964 to 1991. Bryant’s artwork is widely collected around the United States and is a part of several museum collections, including the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, the Tennessee State Museum of Art and the Cheekwood Museum of Art in Nashville. His works have been displayed at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and at the Governor’s Mansion during the Phil Bredesen administration. He was a founding member of the Nashville Artist Guild and the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists (Source: Nashville Fine Arts Magazine & The Leaf Chronicle).

PROVENANCE: Estate of Olen Bryant, Cottonwood/Clarksville, TN.

CONDITION: Both items in overall very good condition. Item 1 with 1/4-inch scuff to tip of nose resulting in loss of gilt. 1/2-inch scuff above right eye.