Lot 324: Charles Cagle O/B Self Portrait

Charles Cagle (American/Tennessee, 1907-1968) oil on canvas Fauvist-influenced self portrait depicting the artist as a young man. Molded giltwood frame. Sight: 10 in H x 8 in W. Frame: 13 1/2 in H x 11 1/2 in W. Illustrated, the Tennessee Historical Quarterly, “Portrait Painting in Tennessee,” Vol. XLVI No. 4, Winter, 1987, fig. 66 (p. 269). 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). 

PROVENANCE: By descent from the estate of Eugenia Moore, Nashville. 

CONDITION: Professionally conserved in 1988 by Cumberland Art Conservation. Canvas has been laid to board with a small edge folded under, lower right corner; otherwise excellent condition. A copy of the conservation report is available on request.