D. Cummings Surrealist Oil 1977 — Large 5ft Bird-Headed Figure

Large and theatrically charged 1977 surrealist oil painting on canvas, signed and dated "D. Cummings '77" in pencil lower center-left. The composition centers on a monumental bird-headed figure in ceremonial yellow regalia who dominates the right two-thirds of the canvas, gesturing with one hand in indictment and the other raised palm-out — a palmistry-style "halt" or benediction. A pietà-like grouping occupies the lower-left: a nude woman cradling a winged figure beneath a sweeping yellow drape. The painting is staged across a flat color field — emerald sky above, deep magenta ground below — split by a pink horizon line carrying a small distant pyramid form. The bird-headed figure literally straddles both realms, torso in the sky, legs on the ground.

Attributed to Doug Cummings (American, lives and works in Germany), retired Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and currently represented by Douglas Flanders & Associates of Minneapolis. The 1977 date places this work in his early career and predates the more academic draftsman style of his later mature work. The iconography draws on rich art-historical sources — Egyptian Thoth, commedia dell'arte plague masks, Tarot's Magician, classical Pietà composition, and palmistry — assembled into a single dreamlike tableau. The figures are sculpted with deep chiaroscuro modeling, with charcoal underdrawing visible through the thinly applied oil in the leg passages, set against the flat unmodulated color fields of the background. Presented in its original wood floater frame. A serious, statement-scale piece for collectors of 1970s American figurative surrealism.

CONDITION

In good condition overall, with no remarkable damage. The canvas is original, taut, and unrelined, with original stretcher bars and no visible patches, tears, or losses. Colors remain saturated; the pencil signature is legible in person and under raking light. Light surface dust and minor age toning consistent with a nearly 50-year-old painting. The floater frame shows light handling wear at the edges. Verso is clean — no inscriptions, gallery labels, or title notations present. Please refer to photographs for full visual condition.

DIMENSIONS

• Overall (framed): 60½ × 38⅜ × 2½ inches
• Visible canvas: 59¼ × 36⅞ inches
• Medium: Oil on stretched canvas
• Frame: Wood floater frame
• Signed: Lower center-left, "D. Cummings '77" in pencil