(Enlarge) Raoul Middleman’s hyperactive 1967 study of “Custer’s Last Stand,” seen in a slightly cropped format here, is once again on larger-than-life view in a new exhibit for the Baltimore painter at the C. Grimaldis Gallery through April 11.

Raoul Middleman is a prolific Baltimore artist whose energetic brushwork remains as lively as ever in his exhibit at the C. Grimaldis Gallery. "Custer's Last Stand and Other Painterly Obsessions" mostly contains recent paintings, watercolors and drawings, but it's an enormous 1967 painting that's the big star of the show.

"Custer's Last Stand" is 18 feet long and more than 11 feet high. It's so big that it can't hang flat on the gallery wall, so it's leaning at a slight angle against the wall. The subject matter and dimensions evoke those grand 19th-century history paintings so overloaded with figures that you spend a long time surveying the painterly battlefield.

The soldiers, Indians and horses are so tightly packed together that the composition is a vigorous jumble. This is a "last stand" in which everybody is moving -- except for those who already lie dead. Middleman even slyly puts his own face on the body of one of those aggressively moving Indians.

Many of the fighters have their arms raised as they savagely wage war with swords, rifles, spears, knives and their bare hands. The visceral details include an Indian scalping a soldier.

Custer loses this fight, of course, but here he seems so intent on victory that he doesn't allow for the possibility of defeat. His prominent placement near the center of the composition reinforces the sense of him as a commander who fully shares in the bloody combat. His yellow jacket, red scarf, raised sword and fierce facial expression make him a formidable figure.

This big painting was exhibited in New York City and elsewhere when it was new, but has spent the decades since then rolled up and in storage. It's a jolting treat to have it on view again.

The more recent paintings in the show are an assortment of portraits and irreverent mythological subjects.

"The Three Graces" (2009) depicts three nude women against an all-green background. Although it basically remains within the classical tradition for this subject, these women aren't as delicate and graceful as one usually expects. They have serious faces topped by orange hair, making them seem like contemporary women with punk roots. The paint is vigorously applied, but also has a chunky quality that makes them seem beautifully substantial.

Deploying a different medium and a somewhat different approach, Middleman has a series of watercolors made within the past decade that all depict landscapes. In "Buttes in Anasazi Country" (2000) and other watercolors, the definitional lines are loosely worked and the application of color more evocative than descriptive.

Yet another body of work is a series of drawings in which the loose lines are in the service of rather loose nude models. These bawdy drawings bear such humorous titles as "Hubba Hubba" (2006).

The works in the exhibit all represent aspects of Middleman's personality and working methods. For his literal presence, simply look at a wall in which nearly 150 variously sized self-portraits are hanging in a salon-style installation that goes from floor to ceiling. The artist's intense bohemian presence really fills the space.

Raoul Middleman exhibits through April 11 at the C. Grimaldis Gallery, at 523 N. Charles St., in Baltimore. Call 410-539-1080 or go to www.cgrimaldisgallery.com.

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