Description
Williams, Walter Henry. Fighting Cock #3 (1964). Original woodcut in three colors: black, orange and red. 20 in x 24 ½ in (image) 29 in (sheet). Signed “Walter Williams 1964 imp.” This woodblock print is number 94 from an edition of only 200. IGAS Series No. 62, January 1965. Walter Williams (1920 – 1988) was an African-American painter and printmaker, born in Brooklyn, New York, where he attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School, studying with Ben Shahn, Gregorio Prestopino, Reuben Tam and Victor Candell. Williams held a Whitney fellowship 1955-1956 and, in 1960, he received the National Institute of the Arts and Letters Grant. He said of Fighting Cock #3, “I did similar prints in 1957 and 1959 under the title Fighting Cock. Being an American negro artist this subject has haunted me for obvious reasons. I have used this composition again for a new block with different colors and have therefore titled this print Fighting Cock #3. As for what this print stands for, I would like to repeat: ‘ Let each man who looks at this print decide for himself its meaning.’” Unframed, without a mat, in fine condition, traces of hinging tape remain on the upper margin, otherwise a bright fresh image, with a searing social history, created in 1964, the landmark year when the Civil Rights Movement culminated in the Civil Rights Act.
The artist’s signature and the date in pencil.
