The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 16, 2025

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
(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

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.
  • June Sallee Antoine (the artist's sister)
  • Litt, Steven. "Cleveland Museum of Art Survey's America's Racial History Through Works by Modern, Contemporary Black Artists," Plain Dealer, February 27, 2022. P. D-2
    Porter, James A. Modern Negro Art. New York, NY: Dryden Press, 1943. Reproduced: p. 238
    Rahn, Zita, and Ursula Korneitchouk. Yet Still We Rise: African American Art in Cleveland, 1920-1970. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Artists Foundation, 1996. Reproduced: p. 34
    Cole, Mark "The Cleveland Gallery." Cleveland Art, no. 49 (September 2009):6. Reproduced: p. 6
    Litt, Steven. “A Sampling of the New Acquisitions on Display in the East Wing.” Cleveland Plain Dealer June 21, 2009, P. H6.
    Bassett, Mark. "Charles Sallee's Joyous Work." Link 11 (Spring, 2012):5. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 5
    Cole, Mark, Amy Sparks, and Rebecca Michaels. African American Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. .. Reproduced: p. 11; Mentioned: p 20.
  • Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20-June 26, 2022).
    Hardship to Hope: African American Art from the Karamu Workshop. Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, OH (organizer) (September 13-December 31, 2011).
    Yet Still We Rise: African American Art in Cleveland, 1920-1970. Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, (March 15-April 20, 1996); Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH (December 22, 1996-January 26, 1997) ; Riffe Gallery, Columbus, OH (April 24-July 12, 1997).
    Exhibit by Karamu Artists,. Associated American Artists, New York, NY, (January 7-22, 1942).
  • {{cite web|title=Bedtime|url=false|author=Charles L. Sallée|year=1940|access-date=16 March 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2006.202