Elbridge Ayer Burbank Creates an Engaging Nap Scene
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On June 21, Hôtel Drouot celebrates summer with this small, arresting composition full of charm by American painter Elbridge Ayer Burbank, making its debut at auction. Elbridge Ayer Burbank (1858-1949), Young African-American Boy Holding a Sunflower, Sleeping on the Back of a Chair (The Sunflower?), 1894, oil on panel signed and dated, 20.2 x 15.2 cm/7.9 x 5.9 in. Estimate: €10,000/15,000 Painting is at its zenith when it produces images that stand on their own. This small panel could be the subject of a doctoral thesis, but viewers, whatever their knowledge of late 19th-century American political and social history, can instantly grasp
