Abraham P. Hankins (1904-1963). An abstract work, signed and date for 1955-56 verso. Abraham Hankins was born in Gomel, Russia in 1904. The son of a poor rabbi and brother to many siblings, he began to draw at a young age. Hankins' affinity for art was noted at an early age, and he was sent to the United States in 1914 to live with his cousins. It was here that he studied under Henry McCarter at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art.

Fibbing about his age and lineage, he enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I. After being gassed in France and suffering a wounded left hand, he was sent home to Philadelphia. Mr. Hankins then began some singing, partly to rehabilitate his lungs. His singing was soon discovered and a patron sent him to Paris to develop a career as a tenor. Hankins studied music seriously and painting became a hobby.

His hobby soon proved to be his passion, and he turned his studies to art. From 1925 to 1936 he took up study at the Academy Julien and worked privately with M. de Montholon.

Hankins again returned to Philadelphia and attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Art, the Barnes Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

His work was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York World's Fair, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Print Club, the Allentown Museum of Art, the Grand Salon in Paris, and many others.

His work is in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Public Library and the private collection of Dr. Albert C. Barnes, Dr. Barnes of the prestigious Barnes Foundation personally selected Hankins work for exhibition in the Foundation.

Mr. Hankins died in 1963 at the age of 59 in Miami Beach.

Source: Karlie Corporation

Dimensions: 24in x 30in, the frame 25in x 31in. 

Craquelure, otherwise good condition.