Gathering, The
Oscar, Charles Robert
about 1943–57
Artwork Information
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Title:
Gathering, The
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Artist:
Oscar, Charles Robert
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Artist Bio:
American, 1923–1961
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Date:
about 1943–57
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Medium:
Casein, ink, watercolor, and charcoal on paper
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Dimensions:
33 x 42 in.
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Credit Line:
Wichita Art Museum, Roland P. Murdock Collection
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Object Number:
M149.57
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Display:
Not Currently on Display
About the Artwork
Charles Robert Oscar enjoyed a reputation as an emerging abstract artist when Elizabeth Navas purchased The Gathering in 1957. He was also a graphic designer at the Museum of Modern Art, where one of his chief accomplishments was the design and layout of their Art Nouveau exhibition catalogue. Just four years after the Museum acquired The Gathering, Oscar, only 37, was brutally murdered in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Mrs. Navas was deeply shaken by the event. In a letter to the Museum’s director, Richard Grove, written a week after the murder, she stated that she had been in discussion with Oscar on the design of a catalogue of the Murdock Collection. His premature death brought about a near eclipse in the recognition of the prodigious talent that is eminently visible in The Gathering.