Graphite, pen, ink and watercolor wash drawing. Image: 29.3x22.8 cm (11½x9"); sheet approx. 40.5x34.3 cm (16x13½"). Signed with the initials of the artist.
Arthur Dove is often referred to as the First American abstract painter. The present piece is a significant departure from that style. An illustration for Edgar Wallace's short story "The Education of King Peter" first published in McClure's Magazine Volume 35, New York, 1910. Dove depicts the British Colonial Administrator, Bailman, tapping the chest of the African chief of the Akasava tribe, insisting, according to Wallace's story, that the chief return the women and goats which they took from the Ochori. A partially printed label identifies the drawing as "No. 17670 / Article: Education of King Peter / A.G. Dove / Pub. in May 1910 No."
