Cleo II
Shipping and applicable insurance calculated at checkout.
Offered directly by the Samella Lewis Estate.
Each work is inspected and securely packaged before shipment.
About the Work
Cleo II is built around a frontal figure holding two yellow flowers. Lewis places her within carefully organized blocks of green, blue, gold, black, and white, giving the portrait a formal structure without distancing us from the sitter. The flowers interrupt that geometry with an intimate, living detail.
“Cleo” was one of Lewis’s own nicknames, and the name also recalls Clio, the Greek muse of history. That double association gives the portrait an unusual resonance: it can be read as a specific child, as an image of memory, and as a meditation on who is allowed to stand inside history. Lewis does not explain the figure through narrative. Her direct gaze and centered position are enough.
Institutional context
Related impressions of the 1996 composition, catalogued as Cleo, are held by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Crocker Art Museum. Those museum records place the image within Lewis’s important body of later lithographs and confirm its continuing institutional recognition.
Print and edition notes
The broad fields of color are balanced by the drawn quality of the figure and flowers. This estate impression is catalogued as Cleo II and belongs to an edition of 100.
About the Artist
Dr. Samella Lewis (1923–2022) was an artist, scholar, educator, curator, and publisher whose work helped reshape the study and presentation of African American art. Her studio practice and her institution-building shared a commitment to preserving artists’ histories and expanding the audiences able to encounter them.
Artwork Details
Artist: Dr. Samella Lewis
Medium: Lithograph
Date: 1996
Dimensions: 27.5 × 20.25 in.
Edition: 100
Presentation: Unframed
Estate & Availability
This work is offered directly by the Samella Lewis Estate. Availability reflects the estate’s current holdings and may change as works enter private and institutional collections.
Shipping & Care
Each work is individually inspected and securely packaged before shipment. Shipping arrangements, insurance, and any condition-specific handling are confirmed before fulfillment.