Untitled

Abstract

This is an oil painting on canvas of a yellow circle with half of an off-circle within the yellow circle on a blue aqua background. There is an artist's signature in the bottom left reading "Callicott '66" in black. In the bottom left of the frame there is a broken label reading "BURTON CALL". There are three noticible scars in the paint revealing the canvas beneath, two in the center and one in the upper-left corner of the canvas. Cracking in paint is seen in the blue background. It has a black wooden frame and no glass. There is a silver sticker on the back in the bottom left that reads "PROPERTY OF / SOUTHWESTERN AT MEMPHIS / N.O. 13161". A note on the art card says that this painting was vandalized and repainted by the artist. Artist biography: Burton Callicott was hired by the Art Department in 1966 to teach art for the 1966-1967 academic year. It is unclear that he ever taught at Rhodes, however he did teach at the Memphis Academy of Art. Callicott would have had the responsibility of teaching six hours per week (two three-hour courses) per semester. In addition to creating art for Rhodes, Callicott completed murals at The Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium. The three murals at The Pink Palace make up a set titled The Coming of De Soto. His stepfather Michael Apt helped him secure the commission in 1933, and the three-panel mural depicts Hernando De Soto's arrival in West Tennessee. Another one of his most recognized works The Cleaners was completed in 1936 and received much attention at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Callicott was heavily influenced by the work of Hans Hoffman and he pursued Abstract Expressionism in his later career. With this shift, he began to focus on images of sunlight as a portrayal of the true spirit of light and of color. Callicott's works have been exhibited at various museums across the state and region, including the Cheekwood Museum of Art and the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, the West Tennessee Regional Art Center in Humboldt, the Knoxville Museum of Art, the Carroll Reece Museum at East Tennessee State University, the Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock, and the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia.