Lot 146: ALVIN CARL HOLLINGSWORTH Venice.

ALVIN CARL HOLLINGSWORTH
Venice.

Oil on canvas. 252x760 mm; 10x30 inches. Signed in oil, lower left.

Alvin Hollingsworth (1928-2000), African-American comic-strip illustrator and painter, was born in New York City. He began drawing at the age of 4, and by the time he was 12, he was an artist assistant at Holyoke Publishing Company for Catman's Comics.

A year later he was doing illustrations for Crime Comics. His paintings dealt with contemporary social themes such as the Civil Rights Movement, women's struggles, spiritual concepts, jazz, city life, time and space and dance. He was also a mural designer, author, poet and lecturer. By 1953, he was creating his own comic strip that was nationally syndicated by the Associated Press in 140 newspapers. From 1980 until his retirement in 1998, Hollingsworth was a full Professor of Art at Hostos Community College of the City University of New York.