An untitled drawing by Harold Ambellan (American 1912-2006).
Ambellan spent the first half of his life in America. In New York he was part of the early Greenwich Village scene, being especially friendly with Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, who wrote ‘It takes a married man to sing a worried song’ for the occasion of Ambellan’s wedding.
Although friendly with De Kooning, Pollock and Rothko, Ambellan stuck to the figurative, rather than pursuing abstract expressionism.
At this time he was largely known as a sculptor, being exhibited at MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Having left wing views, Ambellan was a victim of McCarthyism and decided to exile himself to France, Initially in Paris, then Antibes and finally Arles.
Ambellan sculpted less and took to mainly drawing and painting.
Many of his drawings were on scraps of paper lying around his studio. This piece may well be one of those. There looks like tape shadows to the sides.
It is dated 1975 to the back, so would have been drawn during his time in Antibes.
To me it shows the influence of Matisse, particularly his Nu Bleu works and also La Danse. Matisse had, of course, lived at nearby Nice.
The drawing measures approximately 56cm x 47cm.
It looks like charcoal or crayon, there is also a faint wash to the paper.
Recently framed and mounted.
Signed and dated to the back 1975.
A very nice piece by a fairly significant artist.