Daniel R. Celentano (1902-1980)
Between Rounds
late 1930s
Oil on canvas laid down on board, 17 x 13 inches. Initialed upper left: "DRC"
Exhibitions:
Enduring America: Selections from the Collection of Art and Peggy Hittner, Northern Arizona University Art Museum, April 7 - May 29, 2015.
Reproduced:
Marqusee, Janet, Daniel Celentano (Janet Marqusee Fine Art, 1992), p. 4; Enduring America (catalogue); Speer, George V. and Arthur D. Hittner, "Enduring America: The Collection of Art & Peggy Hittner," American Art Review, June, 2015, p. 86.
References:
Hills, Patricia, Social Concern and Urban Realism: American Painting of the 1930s (Boston University Art Gallery, 1983), p. 37; Marqusee, Janet, Daniel Celentano (Janet Marqusee Fine Art, 1992); Berardi, Marianne, Under the Influence: The Students of Thomas Hart Benton (The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, 1993), pp. 63-66.
Provenance:
Artist’s estate; with Janet Marqusee Fine Arts, New York City (by 1992); to a California collector in whose family it descended until acquired through Arlene Berman Fine Arts, New York City, May 17, 2008.
Notes:
Framed in 2 ¾ - inch dark-stained hardwood frame (not original) with additional ½ - inch gold liner. Bears label of Janet Marqusee Fine Arts Ltd.
Daniel Celentano contracted polio as a child, but regained sufficient mastery of his afflicted right leg to indulge in his favorite sports: swimming and boxing. His love for, and appreciation of the subtleties of, the sport of boxing are evident in his intense portrayal of a prizefighter and his handlers in Between Rounds, probably painted in the late 1930s. While the scene depicts the boxer at rest, Celentano effectively conveys the tension of the moment as the boxer attacks the water bottle while his trainer barks instructions for the ensuing round. The artist places the principal subject of the painting in the center of the composition, at the juxtaposition of the receding edges of the ring and the ropes that frame it, rendering him disproportionally larger than his ring attendants for maximum impact.
In his later years, Celentano produced murals for the Gruman Aircraft Corporation in Bethpage, New York. He also worked as a technical illustrator and a staff member at the Museum of Natural History. He continued to paint and draw to the end of his life, all the while remaining faithful to the style and subject matter which he championed during the Thirties. For additional biographical information on Celentano, see Celentano: Houseboat.