Wade Reynolds (1929-2011) - African-American Male Nude AP1959

This lovely study measures 22" x 32". Estate stamped.

Known for realistically drawn, pensive seeming figures, Wade Reynolds was born in Jasper, New York and showed early art talent. He was in the Navy where he studied electronics, and during that period his only art expression was a mural at the Enlisted Men's Club on Guam.

For a short time, he studied at an electronics school in Rochester, New York, but decided he was in the wrong field. He was briefly with a theater group and studied drama in New York with Herbert Bergoff. He also turned to designing fabrics, china, wallpaper, and glassware in Greenwich Village, and then returned to painting. One of his activities was illustration for The World of Susie Wong, a novel by Richard Mason.

In May, 1959, he moved to California, living in Los Angeles, Oceanside and Newport Beach.  There he became a prolific and successful painter of portraits and figures. Notable portrait subjects include costume designer Noel Taylor and actress Agnes Morehead. He also taught art at the Academy of Art in San Francisco.

Reynolds' work appeared in museums and galleries in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and New York, Newport Beach and Santa Fe, New Mexico. On October 3, 2011 Reynolds died in the Los Angeles area after a long bout with cancer.

Information, courtesy of Phil Kieffer, Stewart Galleries, Palm Springs, California

Source:
Los Angeles Times online, October 24-30, 2011