Lot 419: Murray Jones (IL, 1915-1964), Two Works

Murray Jones (IL, 1915-1964), Two Works the first is automotive lacquer on masonite, signed at lower right "Murray Jones," inscribed on the verso "Two Head $75," presented in the original paint decorated frame (SS 14 x 25.5 in.; DOA 21 x 32.25 in.) (some scattered paint flaking); the second an etching on paper, signed and inscribed in pencil along the lower margin "Via Dolorosa Trial Proof Murray Jones," retaining Northwest Printmakers 23rd International Exhibition label on the verso, matted and framed under glass (Plate size 17.75 x 35.5 in.; DOA 25.5 x 42.25 in.).
Born in Durham, NC, Jones entered the Chicago Art Institute in the mid-1930s and graduated with an MFA in 1939. He taught art at both Michigan State University and Ohio State University until his premature death in 1962. This painting is an example of Jones' early abstract expressionist work, drawing on the influence of de Kooning and other prominent American artists of the 1940s and 1950s. He later spent time in Kyoto on a Fulbright Research Fellowship and switched to fully abstract works based on Japanese paintings.


Estate of Vivian Dixon, Chapel Hill, North Carolina