Blade - Ink on Paper - Original Art 1044

No of Items: 1 Circa: 1980 Size: 14x22 Signed

Estimated: $5000.

Neel Bate (1916–1989), also known as Blade, was an American underground artist known for his gay erotic art. He is best known for his 1948 series of drawings The Barn. He began drawing erotica in the 1930s and continued for most of his life.^[1] His work was initially distributed underground due to American obscenity law. In the 1970s, his drawings began to be published in gay magazines, and, during the last decade of his life, exhibited in art galleries.  Most of his art was destroyed, lost or stolen - almost all known pieces are held by Leslie Lohman Museum,