Llewellyn DECARLO (1925–1981)

Title: Untitled (stylized animal composition)
Medium: Color lithograph
Edition: Artist’s proof IX/XXV
Signature: Signed lower right
Dimensions: 48 × 64 cm

Description and Critical Analysis of the Work

In this lithograph, Keith Llewellyn DeCarlo develops a singular aesthetic, poised between stylized figuration and archaic symbolism. At the center, the outline of a horse, drawn with flowing, calligraphic precision, emerges against a textured blue background. The animal, both fragile and hieratic, appears fossilized in a timeless space, like the remnant of an ancient myth.

To the right, a vivid red vegetal motif, framed in a golden cartouche, introduces a decorative dimension reminiscent of Mediterranean or Byzantine frescoes. At the bottom, a geometric frieze inspired by classical antiquity links the two registers and reinforces the architectural rhythm of the image.

The work unfolds like a modern fresco: DeCarlo combines formal purity with universal memory, transforming ancestral signs into a contemporary visual language. More than a decorative scene, this lithograph offers a meditation on the permanence of symbols and the vitality of tradition transposed into modern form.

Biographical Note – Keith Llewellyn DeCarlo

Keith Llewellyn DeCarlo (1925–1981) was a Panamanian-born painter, illustrator, and printmaker—though some sources cite Jamaica as his birthplace. At the age of 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines and fought in World War II, later becoming an American citizen.

After the war, he studied art in New York, Paris, and Barcelona, developing a style shaped by the cosmopolitan exchanges of the postwar period. A versatile artist, DeCarlo worked as a muralist, producing large-scale works in the United States, the Netherlands, France, and Spain. He also created lithographs, book illustrations, and commercial art, particularly during his years in Paris.

In 1962, he produced a unique project: a comic strip narrating the life of Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire, written by Ella Griffin. Published in the Québec newspaper Le Soleil, and likely commissioned by UNESCO, the series exemplifies DeCarlo’s interest in cultural transmission through image and narrative.

DeCarlo died in Paris in 1981. His body of work—at the intersection of decorative art, symbolic figuration, and universalist ambition—remains a testament to the richness of transatlantic artistic exchanges in the 20th century.