Billy Overlooking the City from the collection of Miriam McClung

Billy Overlooking the City, c. 1960

Oil on Board

20 x 18 x 0.25 in

Inv: 57-MM

$3,500

In Transit

McClung portrays her fellow painter William "Billy" McVoy standing at a vantage point above Birmingham, Alabama. The figure is rendered loosely in the left foreground, dark and solid against a road or path that recedes toward the city. Birmingham's buildings are suggested by blocky forms on the right, painted in deep crimson and brown. The sky above is an intense, agitated red — painted with visible, directional strokes that give it an unsettled quality.

The work is nearly monochromatic, built almost entirely from reds, browns, and ochres. The palette and the turbulent handling of the sky reflect the charged atmosphere of Birmingham in 1960, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. McVoy's figure appears small against the city, an observer looking out over a place in the middle of profound conflict.

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