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Mobility: African American Artists Abroad: Truman State University

Past PFF Exhibitions exhibition
24 January - 1 March 2024
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Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Avel de Knight, The Rehearsal, 1955

Avel de Knight 1923-1995

The Rehearsal, 1955
Oil painting on canvas
34 x 45 in.
86.4 x 114.3 cm
© Avel de Knight, 1955. Licensed by The Estate of Avel de Knight, William Burgess III.
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View on a Wall
This work on canvas was rescued from the estate of the late Paul Outin, who had been a close friend of Avel de Knight's during his years in Paris in the mid-20th century. Joel Fletcher and John Copenhaver were visiting a friend in Paris who was a banker and associated with the Executor of Outin's Estate. Outin had collected numerous works of art, and most of the estate had been dispersed at the time. The banker asked if Fletcher and Copenhaver would like to visit the executor who was in the final stages of cleaning out the last of Outin's property. The chance meeting resulted in the recovery of a large portfolio that contained a few unstretched canvases and some drawings. One of the canvases was "The Rehearsal" by Avel de Knight. In addition, one of the drawings was attributed to the Polish Artist Boris Taslitzky (1911-2005), who created numerous drawings in secret while imprisoned in a German concentration camp. That drawing is now in the permanent collection of the Holocaust Museum. These works of important 20th-century artists were acquired by Fletcher and Copenhaver and quite literally saved from loss to a Paris garbage collection.

- Hilary Pierce
Read more

Provenance

Estate of Julien Outin
Fletcher-Copenhaver Fine Art

Exhibitions

"Ain't I America: Selections from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art", Hampton University. Dates: 25/01/2019-11/05/2019. Location: Hampton University Museum and Archives, 14 Frissell Avenue Hampton, VA 23668. Link: https://home.hamptonu.edu/msm/2019/05/11/collection-four/

"Constructing Identity: Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art", Portland Art Museum. Dates: 28/01/2017-18/06/2017. Location: Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR. Link: https://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/constructing-identity/

"Mobility: African American Artists Abroad", Truman State University. Dates: 02/01/2024-08/03/2024. Location: Truman State University, Kirksville, MO

"Paris Noir", Centre Pompidou. Dates: 19/03/2025-30/06/2025. Location: Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris, France - Borrowing Contact: Barbara Kugler, Centre Pompidou

Publications

1. Berrisford Boothe, Moe Brooker, Brian Ferriso, James G. Petrucci, (2017), "Constructing Identity: Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art", Portland Art Museum – Constructing Identity, Catalog, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR, Gretchen Dykstra

2. John S. Welch and Berrisford Boothe, (2016), "Petrucci Family Foundation Collection Envisions its Role as Major Collector and Preservationist of African American Art in the 21st Century", International Review of African American Art, Vol. 26 No. 4, IRAAA - 40th Anniversary Issue, Journal, The Hampton University Museum, Hampton, VA, Shakara Thomas and John S. Welch, https://online.hamptonu.edu/product/the-international-review-of-african-american-art-vol-26-no-4-2016-40th-anniversary-issue/

3. Alicia Knock, (2025), "Paris Noir 1950-2000, Circulations artistiques et luttes anticoloniales" —Paris Noir 1950-2000, Exhibition catalog, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR.
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