DAVID M. GRANAHAN (American, 1910-1981). CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH ON WASHINGTON, 1963: TEN WORKS, each signed and dated 1963 lower right. Watercolor - Sight: 17 in. x 22 in. Estimate $10,000-15,000
EXHIBITED: "Witness to History: The March on Washington", U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, Washington, DC, July 20-September 28, 2007
LITERATURE: "Roll Call; Around the Hill", Wednesday, July 18, 2007
David Granahan recorded these scenes from the civil rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom as a witness and activist. An artist and employee of the Department of Agriculture, he took his watercolors and sketchbook to record the historic event.
Born in Litchfield, Minnesota in 1910 he graduated from the Minneapolis School of Art. During the Depression he was commissioned through the WPA to paint three murals depicting local industry and history for public buildings in Minnesota. Currently, they hang in the Weismann Art Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; the Historical Society, Rochester; and the Stearns County Historical Society, St. Cloud. In 1938 he moved to Washington to work for the Department of Agriculture, and specialized in graphics and designing exhibitions all over the world. He and his wife, Lolita Granahan, illustrated books, including "Upper Mississippi" from the series "Rivers of America".
The works in the current lot were exhibited in "Witness to History: The March on Washington", U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, July 20-September 28, 2007, commemorating the 1963 march.
