Boris Lovet-LorskiProfile of an African Woman —1920s Modernism1929
1929
About the Item
- Creator:Boris Lovet-Lorski (1894 - 1973, American)
- Creation Year:1929
- Dimensions:Height: 12.38 in (31.45 cm)Width: 9.38 in (23.83 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Myrtle Beach, SC
- Reference Number:
Boris Lovet-Lorski
Boris Lovet-Lorski, sculptor, lithographer and painter, who contributed significantly to the American Art Deco movement, was born in Lithuania in 1894. Trained as an architect at the Royal Academy in Petrograd, throughout his career, Lovet-Lorski was acutely sensitive to volume and structural space. He also incorporated architectural backgrounds in the flattened aesthetic of his Art Deco neoclassicism, hallmarks of his elegant in a distinctly original style. Lovet-Lorski's idealized subject matter and masterful designs quickly won the young sculptor critical acclaim and led to his first one-man show in Boston in 1925, the year he became an American citizen. He was then invited to teach at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, quickly developing a reputation that catapulted him into the New York artistic milieu. He exhibited on a regular basis with the Wildenstein Gallery from 1928 onward. Lovet-Lorski was a quintessentially Art Deco artist. His unique style was an amalgam of Modern, Tribal, Oriental, Archaic and Teutonic influences. His Slavic roots and eclecticism tempered his modernism with lyricism and a sense of mystery. His sculptures, in bronze or Black Belgian Marble, are sleek and gorgeously polished. The work from the 1920s and 1930s often featured exotic, allegorical nudes, stylized horses or busts. Lovet-Lorski was particularly noted for his female nudes with narrow hips, thoracic cages that broaden as they rise from waist to shoulder and wide-spread arms, with hands clasped and held behind or above classically modeled heads that were perched on their torsos like flowers on a stem. Lovet-Lorski's idealized vision coincided perfectly with the mechanization of the era, its gleaming, streamlined airplanes, automobiles and proud skyscrapers, that were the sacramentals of the inter-war period. He regularly worked in sumptuous and precious materials, onyx, jade and rare, fossilized wood essences, such as that taken from a 600-year old, Assyrian lemon tree. He tailored the subjects of his sculptures to suit the nature of his materials. The Belgian black marble of Head of a Woman is a dense and close-grained stone that complements the idealized features of the figure. God Unknown, one of the sculptor's best-known works was carved in pure white Carrara marble. His preferred exteriors were like polished silk,” adding to the serenity and timelessness that his sculptures convey. Lovet-Lorski’s style and the allure of his materials brought him commissions for portraits of high society and celebrated figures. By 1929, he was successful enough to maintain studios in New York, Rome and Paris. Wildenstein Gallery gave him a retrospective exhibit in 1940. His recognition was international and his sculptures were acquired by the permanent collections of over 20 major museums. The sculptor received the French Legion of Honor in 1950. He was a member of the National Academy of Design, the National Sculpture Society, the Society of Independent Artists and the Salons of Paris. His last major work was the Manila War Memorial. He attempted to complete the monument in 1957, but arthritis had crippled him to the point that he could no longer sculpt. He finished his career as a painter and his works continued to enjoy considerable success. Lovet-Lorski's works are held in the collections of the Musée de Luxembourg, Paris; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the Petit Palais, Paris; the British Museum, London; and many museums and galleries in the United States: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Los Angeles Museum of Art; the Seattle Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts. As an interesting footnote: in his youth, he had considerable success with the feminine sex that was so eloquently extolled in his art.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Myrtle Beach, SC
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Winter Fun — Mid-century Modernism, Central Park, New York CityBy Louis LozowickLocated in Myrtle Beach, SCLouis Lozowick, 'Winter Fun', lithograph, 1940, edition 20, 250 (1941). Flint 188. Signed in pencil, with the artist’s monogram in the stone, lower left. A...Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- 'Financial District', New York City — 1930s American ModernismBy Howard Norton CookLocated in Myrtle Beach, SCHoward Cook, 'Financial District', lithograph, 1931, edition 75, Duffy 155. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper, the full sheet with wide margins (2 3/4 to 5 5/8 inches), in excellent condition. Image size 13 5/16 x 10 3/8 inches (338 x 264 mm); sheet size 23 x 16 inches (584 x 406 mm). Matted to museum standards, unframed. Literature: 'American Master Prints from the Betty and Douglas Duffy Collection', the Trust for Museum Exhibitions, Washington, D.C., 1987. Collections: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum. ABOUT THE ARTIST Howard Norton Cook (1901-1980) was one of the best-known of the second generation of artists who moved to Taos. A native of Massachusetts, he studied at the Art Students League in New York City and at the Woodstock Art Colony. Beginning his association with Taos in 1926, he became a resident of the community in the 1930s. During his career, he received two Guggenheim Fellowships and was elected an Academician in the National Academy of Design. He earned a national reputation as a painter, muralist, and printmaker. Cook’s work in the print mediums received acclaim early in his career with one-person exhibitions at the Denver Art Museum (1927) and the Museum of New Mexico (1928). He received numerous honors and awards over the years, including selection in best-of-the-year exhibitions sponsored by the American Institute of Graphics Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, the Society of American Etchers, and the Philadelphia Print Club. His first Guggenheim Fellowship took him to Taxco, Mexico in 1932 and 1933; his second in the following year enabled him to travel through the American South and Southwest. Cook painted murals for the Public Works of Art Project in 1933 and the Treasury Departments Art Program in 1935. The latter project, completed in Pittsburgh, received a Gold Medal from the Architectural League of New York. One of his most acclaimed commissions was a mural in the San Antonio Post Office in 1937. He and Barbara Latham settled in Talpa, south of Taos, in 1938 and remained there for over three decades. Cook volunteered in World War II as an Artist War Correspondent for the US Navy, where he was deployed in the Pacific. In 1943 he was appointed Leader of a War Art Unit...Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- 'de Young Mansion – San Francisco' — 1930s California WPALocated in Myrtle Beach, SCMarguerite Redman Dorgeloh, 'de Young Mansion – San Francisco', lithograph, c. 1937, edition 25. Signed and titled in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impr...Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- 'I'll Be What I Choose' — Mid-century American SurrealismBy Benton Murdoch SpruanceLocated in Myrtle Beach, SC'I'll Be What I Choose: Vanity of Ambition', color lithograph, 1949, edition 40, Fine and Looney 281. Signed, titled, and numbered '23/40' in pencil. Initialed in the stone, lower ri...Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- 'Fruit Piece' — 1920's American ModernismLocated in Myrtle Beach, SCPamela Bianco, 'Fruit Piece', lithograph, c. 1925. Signed and titled in pencil. Signed in the stone, lower left. Annotated 'No. 8' in pencil, upper right...Category
1920s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- 'Eyes for the Night' — Mid-century ModernismBy Benton Murdoch SpruanceLocated in Myrtle Beach, SCBenton Spruance, 'Eyes for the Night', lithograph, 1947, edition 35, Fine and Looney 260. Signed, dated, titled, and annotated 'Ed 35' in pencil. A fine impression, on heavy, cream ...Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Seated NudeBy Richard DiebenkornLocated in Laguna Beach, CAA highly influential mid-century American artist, Richard Diebenkorn is known for his abstract landscape paintings, in particular, the "Ocean Park" series, which he exhibited when re...Category
1960s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Alfred Bendiner, ...And So..., 1948, Republican Convention nominating DeweyBy Alfred BendinerLocated in New York, NYThe full title really should be ...And So I Give Your The Next President of the United States. The scene is the Republican Convention, in Philadelphia, in 1948. There are so many fas...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Simka Simkhovitch WPA Artist Lithograph Island Beach 1933 American ModernistBy Simka SimkhovitchLocated in Surfside, FLSimka Simkhovitch (Russian/American 1893 - 1949) signed lithograph. Pencil signed and dated "S. Simkhovitch 1933" lower center. Title "Island Beach," in pencil lower left of sheet. Numbered "44/50" in pencil lower right. (it is either Island Beach Wisconsin or New Jersey) Simka Simkhovitch (Симха Файбусович Симхович) (aka Simka Faibusovich Simkhovich) (Novozybkov, Russia May 21, 1885 O.S./June 2, 1885 N.S.—Greenwich, Connecticut February 25, 1949) was a Ukrainian-Russian Jewish artist and immigrant to the United States. He painted theater scenery in his early career and then had several showings in galleries in New York City. Winning Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissions in the 1930s, he completed murals for the post offices in Jackson, Mississippi and Beaufort, North Carolina. His works are in the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Born outside Kyiv (Petrograd Ukraine) into a Jewish family who owned a small department store. During a severe case of measles when he was seven, Simcha Simchovitch sketched the views outside his window and decided to become an artist, over his father's objections. Beginning in 1905, he studied at the Grekov Odessa Art School and upon completion of his studies in 1911 received a recommendation to be admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts. Though he enrolled to begin classes in architecture, painting, and sculpture at the Imperial Academy, he was dropped from the school roster in December because of the quota on the number of Jewish students and drafted into the army. Simchovitch served as a private in the 175th Infantry Regiment Baturyn [ru] until his demobilization in 1912. Re-enrolling in the Imperial Academy, he audited classes. Simka Simkhovitch exhibited paintings and sculptures in 1918 as part of an exhibition of Jewish artists and in 1919 placed 1st in the competition "The Great Russian Revolution" with a painting called "Russian Revolution" which was hung in the State Museum of Revolution. In 1922, Simkha Simkhovitch exhibited at the International Book Fair in Florence (Italian: Fiera Internazionale del Libro di Firenze). In 1924, Simkhovitch came to the United States to make illustrations for Soviet textbooks and decided to immigrate instead. Initially he supported himself by doing commercial art and a few portrait commissions. In 1927, he was hired to paint a screen for a scene in the play "The Command to Love" by Fritz Gottwald and Rudolph Lothar which was playing at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. Art dealers began clamoring for the screen and Simkhovitch began a career as a screen painter for the theater. Catching the attention of the screenwriter, Ernest Pascal, he worked as an illustrator for Pascal, who then introduced him to gallery owner, Marie Sterner. Simkhovitch's works appeared at the Marie Sterner Gallery beginning with a 1927 exhibit and were repeated the following year. Simkhovitch had an exhibit in 1929 at Sterner's on circus paintings. In 1931, he held a showing of works at the Helen Hackett Gallery, in New York City and later that same year he was one of the featured artists of a special exhibit in San Francisco at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park. The exhibit was coordinated by Marie Sterner and included four watercolors, including one titled "Nudes". He is of the generation of Russian Soviet artists such as Isaac Pailes, Serge Charchoune, Marc Chagall, Chana Orloff, Isaac Ilyich Levitan, and Ossip Zadkine. In 1936, Simkhovitch was selected to complete the mural for the WPA Post office project in Jackson, Mississippi. The mural was hung in the post office and courthouse in 1938 depicted a plantation theme. Painted on the wall behind the judge’s bench, “Pursuits of Life in Mississippi”, a depiction of black workers engaged in manual labor amid scenes of white professionals and socialites, was eventually covered over in later years during renovations due to its stereotypical African American imagery. The following year, his painting "Holiday" won praise at an exhibition in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1940, Simkhovitch's second WPA post office project was completed when four murals, "The Cape Lookout Lighthouse and the Orville W. Mail Boat", "The Wreck of the Crissie Wright", "Sand Ponies" and "Canada Geese" were installed in Beaufort, North Carolina. The works were commissioned in 1938 and did not generate the controversy that the Jackson mural had. The main mural is "The Wreck of the Crissie Wright" and depicts a shipwreck which had occurred in Beaufort in 1866. "The Cape Lookout Lighthouse and the Orville W. Mail Boat" depicted the lighthouse built in 1859 and the mail boat that was running mail during the time which Simkhovitch was there. The boat ran mail for the area until 1957. "Sand Ponies" shows the wild horses common to the North Carolina barrier islands and "Canada Geese" showed the importance of hunting and fishing in the area. All four murals were restored in the 1990s by Elisabeth Speight, daughter of two other WPA muralists, Francis Speight...Category
1930s American Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- 'Circular Motion' original lithograph signed by Georges SchreiberBy Georges SchreiberLocated in Milwaukee, WIIn this lithograph, Georges Schreiber focused on the thrill of the circus, taking its circular composition from the central ring. Here, acrobats perform amazing feats of agility on t...Category
1940s American Modern Animal Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Alfred Bendiner, Flic et Bonne (Gendarme and Nursemaid)By Alfred BendinerLocated in New York, NYThe world was Bendiner's oyster, but here he shows us a all we need in a small corner of Paris. It's charming and safe: the 'Flic et Bonne' (gendarme and nursemaid) are together, goi...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Alfred Bendiner, Place St. Andre des Arts (Paris)By Alfred BendinerLocated in New York, NYThe Place St. Andre des Arts, on the Left Bank in Paris, would have been a natural environment for Bendiner. It was the Latin Quarter, just south of the Louvre and near everything im...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsLithograph