EARL CAVIS KERKAM American, 1891-1965 Portrait of a man with glasses, possibly a self-portrait of the artist Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. Framed. 24 x 20 inches; frame: 30 x 26 inches $1,000-1,200
ARTIST PROFILE: Earl Cavis Kerkam (1891 – 1965) was a highly respected American modernist painter associated with the New York School and Figurative Expressionism. Born in Washington, D.C., he initially enjoyed a lucrative career as a commercial artist and movie poster designer for Warner Brothers before abandoning financial security to study fine art at the Art Students League and later in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. In France, he exhibited alongside Fauvist masters like André Derain. Upon returning to the U.S. during the Great Depression, he worked for the WPA Easel Division alongside Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. Kerkam was a "painter’s painter," revered by his peers for his intense devotion to the craft and his mastery of "French" painting traditions influenced by Cézanne. He is best known for his intimate still lifes and a vast series of self-portraits, which he often produced because he could rarely afford models. Following his death, leading figures like Rothko and Guston petitioned the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to hold a memorial exhibition in his honor, cementing his legacy as a vital, if understated, force in American modernism.
