Artwork Page for Bedtime

Details / Information for Bedtime

Bedtime

1940

Charles L. Sallée

(American, 1911–2006)
Culture
United States, Ohio, Cleveland
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 86.4 x 66 cm (34 x 26 in.); Unframed: 79 x 66.2 cm (31 1/8 x 26 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of June Sallee Antoine in honor of our parents, Charles Louis Sallee, Sr. and Cora Nell Collier Sallee 2006.202
Copyright
© The Estate of Charles L. Sallée
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
228B Cleveland Artists
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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.
A vertically oriented oil painting depicts a topless woman with medium-light skin tone raising both arms to adjust her hair in a mirror, her back to us, side of her right breast showing. She wears a red skirt and red wrap around her 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)
United States, Ohio, Cleveland

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