Ron Adams
1934-2020
Study for Neptune Washington
1996
pencil, brown ink and watercolor on Arches paper
30-1/8 x 22-1/2 inches
signed, dated and titled

This is the original drawing for the well-known lithograph executed in 1996 of the same name. Adams was an incredible draftsman, and this work reflects his ability in drawing.
From the Chazen Museum: “Neptune Washington” depicts a fisherman, polling his boat in a light rain. The print is characteristic of Adams’s portrayal of African American musicians, craftspeople, folk heroes, and everyday people, rendered through a synthesis of technical excellence and interest in expressing heroic qualities of the human figure.

His distinctive renderings of the human figure intertwine the strength of sinuous muscle strands and the grace, fluidity and balance of the body. As a teacher and the owner of a print studio in New Mexico, he has worked with and instructed some of the top printmakers in the United States, including John Biggers, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Jones. Considered by his peers to be a “maestro,” his detailed depictions of African-American musicians, craftsmen, folk heroes and everyday people have made him one of the top figurative artists and printmakers in the South.