Ascension
Sam Doyle
American, 1906–1985
Details
Title
Ascension
Artist/Maker
Sam Doyle (American, 1906–1985)
Date
ca. 1982–1985
Medium
House paint on tin
Dimensions
45 1/2 x 26 inches
Credit
Purchase with funds from Alfred Austell Thornton in memory of Leila Austell Thornton and Albert Edward Thornton, Sr., and Sarah Miller Venable and William Hoyt Venable, and through the generosity of Gordon W. Bailey
Accession #
2010.176
Location
Currently not on view
Near the road outside his house, Sam Doyle created the St. Helena Out Door Art Gallery, which he filled with paintings honoring the achievements of both local and nationally prominent African Americans, local characters, and the creatures that populated local legends. Simple and powerful, Doyle’s untitled depiction of the Ascension of Christ is one of his most convincing paintings of religious subjects. Doyle shows the scene from a high vantage point, conveying scale through size and simultaneously showing Christ both nearer to the viewer and more important than his distant followers on the ground. The painting’s fresh colors communicate its subject clearly and immediately.