On Saturday, February 21 the South Side Community Arts Center in Chicago will host an event celebrating the work of renowned artist and printmaker Eldzier Cortor. Swann's own Nigel Freeman will be the moderator for a conversation with the 99-year-old artist.
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| Eldzier Cortor's iconic images of African-American life have made him one of the country's most revered artists. |
The evening before the SSCAC event, Cortor will receive the 2015 Legends and Legacy Award from the Art Institute of Chicago. This award is bestowed on living African-American artists who, through their lifelong accomplishments and exceptional career in the visual arts, have influenced the next generation of artists.
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| Trio Assemblage I, 1950s. From the Eldzier Cortor Coming Home show, a gift by the artist in memory of Sophia Cortor. |
The Art Institute event also includes remarks from Maséqua Myers, Executive Director of the South Side Community Arts Center, a viewing of Eldzier Cortor Coming Home: Recent Gifts to the Art Institute, and a cocktail reception.
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| Cortor's Classic Study, No. 36, oil on canvas, circa 1979, is featured in Swann's upcoming April auction of African-American Art |
A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Cortor spent his professional life as a painter and printmaker in Chicago and New York. A tireless innovator, he devoted much of his seven-decade career to the depiction of African Americans, specifically the portrayal of the African-American woman, and also helped found the South Side Community Art Center in Chicago in 1941.
Click here for more information on the Art Institute's Legends and Legacy event.
Click here for information on the South Side Community Art Center's Afternoon with Eldzier Cortor event.