Ann Graves Tanksley (American, b. 1934), Seated Nude Figure

Oil on panel, 1963, signed and dated at lower right, framed. Frame dimensions 64 3/4 x 22 1/4 in. Ann Graves Tanksley is an American painter, printmaker, and educator recognized for her contributions to African American art. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she earned her BFA from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1956 and continued her studies at the Art Students League of New York, Parsons School of Design, and the New School for Social Research, studying with artists including Norman Lewis, Balcomb Greene, and Robert Blackburn. She taught art at several institutions in New York and New Jersey and was an early member of Where We At: Black Women Artists, Inc., an influential collective established in 1971. Tanksley gained particular recognition for her extensive series of paintings and monotypes inspired by the writings of Zora Neale Hurston, which toured nationally beginning in the 1990s. Her work has been exhibited at the National Arts Club, Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles, and numerous galleries throughout the United States. Her artwork is represented in the permanent collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and Medgar Evers College, as well as the John and Vivian Hewitt Collection and the collection of Oprah Winfrey. Good estate condition.

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