25-176 Lassiter 1971 Outsider Painting on Lucite 37 x 10

Offered here is a rare original painting on polymethyl methacrylate (brand name Lucite) signed by Charles Keeling Lassiter and dated 1971. It measures 37 x 10 inches as framed in glossy white wood with a spacer to protect the painted surface. A few minor signs of wear not unusual for a hard plastic surface from the early 1970s. Charles Keeling Lassiter (1926-2005) was an Abstract Expressionist artist. His work often features lively, calligraphic figures and bizarre animals. He was considered a reclusive artist whose paintings are described as raw, primitive, and powerful. Lassiter lived entirely alone and became agoraphobic and only leaving his apartment for inspiration. “For the type of work I do,” he said, “you have to be alone, to think alone — You have to just observe and capture that inner source.” It was not until 1956, curators from the Museum of Modern Art were the first to recognize his work and featured it in a contemporary drawing’s exhibition.

In addition to MoMA, his works can be now found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Bio credits: Bountiful Davis Art Center.