Lot 70: William R. Hollingsworth, Jr.

William R. Hollingsworth, Jr. (American/Mississippi, 1910-1944), "Frosty Morning", watercolor on paper, monogrammed lower right, titled and inscribed en verso, 22 1/2 in. x 29 3/4 in., matted and framed.

Provenance : Descended in the family of noted Mississippi art collector Bitsy Irby. Note: A native of Jackson, MS, William Hollingsworth returned home in 1934 after six years of art studies. Hollingsworth is known for his watercolors of the countryside near Jackson, of which "The Country Road" is a prime example. Two African American figures walk down a road running at a diagonal across the composition, leading to several sharecropper cabins in the distance. In 1937 Hollingsworth earned national attention when a study of black culture won him the William Tuthill Prize at an international watercolor show at the Art Institute of Chicago. Unfortunately, his artistic output was limited to a mere ten years, as the artist took his life in the summer of 1944 His work is quite rare, especially highly accomplished compositions such as "The Country Road".