ALVIN D. LOVING, JR. (1935 - 2006) Three Solid Questions. Triptych of acrylic on cotton canvas, 1969. Each 1321x1524 mm; 52x60 inches (hexagonal). Provenance: acquired directly from the artist (1969); private collection. The triptych was sold privately to the current owner by the artist while they were on exhibit. Exhibited: Alvin Loving: Paintings, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, December 19, 1969 - January 25, 1970. This impressive trio of paintings is the first Al Loving work offered at auction that was part of his important solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The exhibition included only six works - 4 large assemblages of shaped canvases, and two cube-shaped canvases. Inspired by Hans Hofmann and Josef Albers, Detroit-born, Loving earned an MFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1965. Loving began hard edge painting of cubes and hexagons in 1967, and launched his New York career after his first one-person exhibition with Gertrude Kasle gallery in Detroit in 1969. Gertrude Kasle provided Loving with letters of introduction to Harold Hart of Martha Jackson Gallery and Steven Wilde and Bert Walker, curators at the Whitney. In 1969, Loving enjoyed extraordinary success with his critically acclaimed, one-person exhibition at the Whitney Museum. Loving was the first of a group of African-American artists whose work was shown at the Whitney during the 1970s, including Frank Bowling, Frederick Eversley, Melvin Edwards and Alma Thomas. The Whitney exhibition led to the museum purchase of the painting Rational Irrationalism, private sales of the other works and his signing with William Zierler gallery.