Thanks for the feedback Objectworship. Nothing else on the back unfortunately. I did remove it from the frame as well.
I FINALLY came across one instance of the piece from an expired auction listing. The link:
http://rasmuscatalog.com/cgi-bin/mnlist.cgi?rasmus958/12520
Not sure how legit that source is and if they identified the artist correctly. They say Robert P. Morris Jr. (who shows up nowhere). I can see the "Robert P." but the last name portion doesn't reveal that me at all. Seems like there are more characters and something different than "M" to start off. May be an "f" and two "o"s in there as well.
Any handwriting experts in the house?
Robert P. Moore Jr.
I think the digging has paid off and I have a positive ID. At least it wasn't Morris.
He was a professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and taught color theory and painting. Students said he had an aggressive and argumentative style mixed with southern charm.
Nice call on "arguing" with this piece, Objectworship!
In case anyone would like to know more, here's a lovely article. He seems like a fascinating guy, one who was taken way too young.
http://artinthestudio.blogspot.com/2009/12/rob-moore-art-of-seeing.html
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