Lot 86
Kenneth Riley(1919-2015)Profiles 20 x 22in framed 26 1/2 x 28in
4 August 2021, 10:00 PDT
Los AngelesSold for US$50,312.50 inc. premium
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Kenneth Riley (1919-2015)
Profiles
signed 'Kenneth Riley / CA' (lower left)
oil on Masonite
20 x 22in
framed 26 1/2 x 28in
signed 'Kenneth Riley / CA' (lower left)
oil on Masonite
20 x 22in
framed 26 1/2 x 28in
Footnotes
Provenance
Sale, Coeur D'Alene Art Auction, Reno, July 22, 2006, lot 137.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.
Presenting continuity of culture and lineage of Native peoples through allegorical visual storytelling is a hallmark of Kenneth Riley's work. In Profiles, his extensive background as a successful illustrator reveals itself in the precise execution of the figure, horse and their ornamentation. In the painting we see the artist's heightened ability to relay narrative in a deceptively simple layered composition. The figures are positioned in the immediate foreground and presented from the shoulders up. They stand in profile gazing forward out of frame. Riley focuses our full attention on the heavily decorated man and horse, but reminds us that this is not a studio painting with a visual hint of mountains in the distance at the lower right. About painting Riley writes, "In order to project an Idea or convey a feeling, an artist must be capable of a high degree of organization and an ability to present his Idea forcefully, yet simply and directly." 1 In Profiles, the culturally historic and important relationship between Plains Indians and their horses are referenced while also showing the viewer a very intimate view of one man and his loyal companion.
1 S.H. McGarry, West of Camelot: The Historical Paintings of Kenneth Riley, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1993, p. 156.
