Skip to Main Content

Artwork Page for Bedtime

Details / Information for Bedtime

Bedtime

1940
(American, 1911–2006)
America, Ohio, Cleveland
oil on canvas
Framed: 86.4 x 66 cm (34 x 26 in.); Unframed: 79 x 66.2 cm (31 1/8 x 26 1/16 in.)
Gift of June Sallee Antoine in honor of our parents, Charles Louis Sallee, Sr. and Cora Nell Collier Sallee 2006.202
© The Estate of Charles L. Sallée
Location: 228B Cleveland Artists
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Download, Print and Share

Print

Did You Know?

Sallée worked as an interior designer for many important clients, including the Cleveland Browns.

Description

After teaching at Karamu House, Charles Sallée went on to become the first African American graduate of the Cleveland School (now Institute) of Art, earning his degree in 1938. Initially focused on painting and printmaking, he subsequently launched a distinguished professional career in interior design. Bedtime is the artist’s most famous image, having earned national renown when it was featured in James A. Porter’s groundbreaking survey Modern Negro Art,published in 1943.
Oil painting of a topless person with medium-light skin tone raising both arms to adjust their hair in a mirror, their back to us, side of their right breast showing. They wear a red skirt and red wrap around their hair. A bed with white sheets and pulled-back pink and blue covers in front of a blue wall is reflected in the mirror. Left of the mirror, a pink curtain drapes over a yellow wall.

Bedtime

1940

Charles L. Sallée

(American, 1911–2006)
America, Ohio, Cleveland

See Also

Visually Similar by AI

    Contact us

    The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

    To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

    All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.