Between the Lines. 70 Drawings and 7 Essays
New York: Pella Publishing Company, Inc., 1978. 1st Edition. Quarto, publisher's stiff illustrated paper wraps.
Signed catalog of work by Black artist, educator, and archivist Benny Andrews. A self-described "people’s painter," Andrews is known for painting figurative collages while abstract expressionism was dominating the art world, and for co-founding the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC). This collection gathers seventy of his line drawings and seven essays reflecting on his personal experiences as a Black artist, the art community at large, and race relations in the US. Includes an introduction by leading American figurative painter Alice Neel. The two met and became lifelong friends in 1966, when the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture organized a joint exhibition of their work. Neel painted Andrews with his partner Mary Ellen Andrews in a 1972 portrait. Andrews described sitting for Neel as " so beguiling. She lulled you. And you can see it in my portrait. I am just lying in that chair." Illustrated in black-and-white. Issued simultaneously in a limited edition of 200 signed copies, this is the unsigned trade issue, which has been signed by Andrews to the half-title at a later date. Light soiling and edgewear to wraps. Very good. Scarce. Item #7093
$250.00