Growing up in Harlem, Robert Blackburn became involved in the rich mix of art programs and creative groups available there, including Charles Alston's Harlem Arts Workshop, the Harlem YMCA and later the Harlem Artist's Guild. In 1937 he joined the WPA at the Harlem Community Art Center, the largest New York center for instruction in the arts. There he was exposed to Harlem's most prominent artists, among them Aaron Douglas, William Henry Johnson and Jacob Lawrence. He studied with Will Barnet and Vaclav Vytlacil at the Art Students League, which he attended in the early 1940s on scholarship. In 1949 he founded the Printmaking Workshop, an artist's cooperative modeled on Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17.

Blackburn's ongoing commitment to the workshop and his innovative approach to the art of lithography was critical in shaping the development of the medium. In his capacity as master printmaker, Blackburn collaborated with many major American artists including Romare Bearden, Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler.
From an early age, Blackburn was the recipient of many awards and fellowships including: the Frederick Douglas Guidance and Art Medals, John Wanamaker Medal, Spingarn Award, Robert Pious Award, Poussant Award, G.T. Pinckney Award, and the John Hay Whitney Traveling Fellowship.

Untitled (Modernist Still Life 1)TT-c.1948, Gouache.

Unsigned.

Image size 23 5/8 x 17 5/8 inches (600 x 448 mm).

A fine spontaneous work, with fresh colors, on cream wove drawing paper; the image extending to the sheet edge, in excellent condition.

Provenance: Adrienne E. Wheeler Collection, acquired from the artist.

SOLD

Untitled (Reclining Nude)TT-c.1948, Brush and Ink.

Unsigned.

Image size 18 3/4 x 23 1/2 inches (476 x 597 mm).

A fine, spontaneous work, on cream wove paper. Slight toning to the sheet edges; otherwise in excellent condition.

Provenance: Adrienne E. Wheeler Collection, acquired from the artist.

$1600.

Untitled (Laying Nude)TT-c.1948, Brush and Ink.

Unsigned.

Image size 18 3/4 x 23 1/2 inches (476 x 597 mm).

A fine, spontaneous work, on cream wove paper. Slight toning to the sheet edges and a small (1/2 inch) restored loss in the top left sheet edge, well away from the image; otherwise in excellent condition.

Provenance: Adrienne E. Wheeler Collection, acquired from the artist.

SOLD

Untitled (Still Life with Mandolin)TT-c.1948, Pen and Ink.

Unsigned.

Image size 15 3/4 x 19 1/2 inches (400 x 495 mm); sheet size18 3/4 x 23 1/2 inches (476 x 597 mm).

A fine, spontaneous work, on cream laid drawing paper. Slight toning to the sheet edges; otherwise in excellent condition.

Provenance: Adrienne E. Wheeler Collection, acquired from the artist.

SOLD