Among my dearest memories of Vance were when he lived in Olde Town, Alexandria in 1979 and 1980. This self-portrait was from that period. When I visited him there he was often playing chess with Bill Paren, a collector of his art, and listening to Tomita's Debussy.
Vance lived at 508 Prince St. in the first floor apartment. Fred and I lived in Falls Church and visited him often; he was painting our portraits--he did two of each of us.
ReplyDeleteDo you remember Cafe Rembrandt? It was further down on the main street (King St?). Vance painted the sign for it, a copy of famous Rembrandt self-portrait, 2-sided, on a wooden board. After the cafe closed Vance got it back, but sold it later.
--Valerie
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ReplyDeleteYou are mistaken. The unsigned portrait you speak of (attributed to John Miller) is in the posession of my mother. The portrait I posess and have photographed on this blog is a different one, and was painted and signed by Vance.
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