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Auction Finds: Philadelphia's forgotten artists

I fell in love with the man in the painting as soon as I saw him. He was leaning against a rail in his green Army uniform — his stare daring, his demeanor flirty. I didn't know who he was or what artist Robert Cromartie had in mind when he put him to canvas. The man's uniform placed him around World War II, but his defiant look put him decades ahead. Black soldiers weren't supposed to be so confident in the face of a military that didn't want them.

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