Large framed Carroll Cloar (American, 1913-1993) graphite on paper drawing, "The Epitaph of Ezekiel Polk," depicting a little girl standing beside a tomb with lengthy inscription. Signed lower left. Sight: 38 1/2" H x 27 1/2" W. Frame: 39 1/4" H x 28 1/4" W. Note: this work is a study for a painting by the same name, featured on p. 140 of "Hostile Butterflies and Other Paintings" (Memphis State University Press, 1977). It was acquired by the consignor from Guy Northrup, a writer and arts editor for the Memphis Commercial Appeal, who wrote the introduction for the book. Colonel Ezekiel Polk was a Revolutionary War veteran, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration, and grandfather of President James K. Polk. After the war, Polk's atheist beliefs brought him increasing conflicts with his neighbors, and by 1790 he resettled his family in Tennessee. He was a pioneer of the area now known as Hardeman County. Polk is said to have written his own epitaph, which appears on his tomb. Biography: Caroll Cloar was known for incorporating nostalgic images from his Southern childhood, often merged with dreamlike motifs, into powerful magic realist scenes, and noted that literature, particularly by Southern Gothic writers such as William Faulkner or Eudora Welty, influenced his artistic approach. Cloar graduated from Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) in Memphis, Tennessee, and went on to study at the Memphis Adacemy of Arts under the artist George Oberteuffer. In 1936, he moved to New York to attend the Art Students League. There, Cloar's achievements earned him a McDowell fellowship which he used to travel across the American Southwest, West Coast, and Mexico. Cloar served with the Army Air Corps during World War II and upon his return, he was awarded a Guggenheim traveling scholarship to fund an extended sojourn to Central and South America. Two years later, several of his images were featured in a Life Magazine article titled 'Backwoods Boyhood,' and Cloar's career went on to receive additional national acclaim. By the mid-1950s, Cloar had settled permanently in Memphis, where he produced paintings, often executed in tempera and acrylic paints. His works are in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooks Museum of Art, and Library of Congress. In 1993, Cloar's painting, Faculty and Honor Students, Lewis Schoolhouse, was one of six paintings by American artist selected to commemorate the inauguration of President Clinton. (Source: The Johnson Collection/Memphis Brooks Museum of Art).

PROVENANCE: Private Memphis Collection, ex-Guy Northrup, Memphis, acquired directly from the artist.

CONDITION: Overall very good condition with some light foxing and toning, sunning at edges. Adhered to support board along the left and right vertical edges of the paper, resulting in vertical lines of acid burn at the sides.