John Lapsley (American/Alabama, 1915-2005), "Ice Delivery", 1965, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, signed, titled and dated en verso, 22 in. x 26 1/4 in., framed. Note: While he grew up in the small town of Selma, Alabama, John Lapsley had a cosmopolitan art education, studying at the University of Alabama, Philips Gallery School in Washington, D.C., Academy of Design in New York and Columbia University in New York. Remarking on this time period in his life, Lapsley notes the most important experience he had was his encounter with the work of the Impressionists, specifically Matisse and Cezanne. He often employed aspects of Impressionism through his own distinctly southern lens. While working as a muralist, Lapsley also had the opportunity to meet Diego Rivera, another important influence on his work. Rivera’s uplifting and powerful portrayals of the working class impressed Lapsley greatly. He later participated in the New South School, a group of painters whose intention was to display the harsh and difficult conditions of many Southerners in pre-war America. Even though this movement was short lived, Lapsley continued to return to the subject often, focusing on eccentricities unique to the South such as in the canvas offered here depicting an ice vendor making his rounds. Ref.: Fowler, Miriam Rogers, ed. New South, New Deal and Beyond. Montgomery, AL: Alabama State Council on the Arts, 1989.