Beautiful Richard Willliam Dempsey oil panel. Frame: 25 x 20 inches, art: 19 x 14 inches. Provenance: private owner.
Biography: 1909 - 1987. Richard William Dempsey balanced a career as a painter as well as an illustrator with the Federal Government with teaching at the Corcoran School of Art. Despite the fact that his usual style skewed abstract, one of Dempsey's greatest public projects was the creation of one hundred portraits of notable Black historical figures.Dempsey was born in Ogden, Utah, but while still a child he moved to Oakland, California. He attended Sacramento Junior College (now Sacramento City College) between 1929 and 1933, followed by two years at the California School of Arts and Crafts (now California College of Arts and Crafts), a private school located in Oakland at the time he was a student. Between 1935 and 1940 Dempsey was associated with the Students Art Center, which was possibly a community art center connected to the Federal Art Project.

All authorship of items in this catalog are described according to the following terms:

Signed [Artist Name] : In cases in which the signature is legible in the lot, this work is described as-is with no attributions given.

By [Artist Name] : The work is by the artist.

Attributed to [Artist Name] : The work may be ascribed to the artist on the basis of style, but there may be some question as to actual authorship.

In the manner of [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

After [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but is a deliberate copy of a known work by the artist.

Circle of [Artist Name] : A work of the period of the artist showing his influence, closely associated with the artist but not necessarily his pupil.

Follower of [Artist Name]: A work by a pupil or a follower of the artist (not necessarily a pupil).

American, 19th century: This work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

It is the buyer's responsibility to inspect each lot and deem their own opinions on condition, description, provenance, and validity BEFORE purchasing.

All descriptions are visual opinions based on the auction house's experience and do not warrant as a guarantee.