Frederick Leo Hunter Art

Eleanor Park Custis painted scenes as varied as the artist's travels: from her hometown of Washington, D.C., to the coastal towns of New England; from the prosperous fishing villages of Brittany, to Venice and the mountain villages and lakes of northern Italy. While Custis's subjects are diverse, her style is consistent and distinctive throughout this body of work. Her use of flat areas of color delineated by dark contours is reminiscent of the aesthetics of woodblock printing. Like many artists of the day, she was profoundly influenced by Japanese woodblock prints, and her adaptation of the aesthetic by 1924 led to her most productive artistic period. Eleanor Custis hailed from a socially prominent Washington, D.C., family. She was distantly related to Martha Custis Washington, America's first First Lady. Custis began three years of formal art training in the autumn of 1915 at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, and was guided and inspired by Impressionist artist Edmund C. Tarbell, one of the Ten American Painters, who became the Corcoran School's principal in 1918. Custis exhibited widely in many of the Washington art societies and clubs for much of her career. She was also a frequent exhibitor at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City; her last one-woman show there was in April 1945. Custis's mature style emerged in scenes of the streets, wharves, and drydocks of seacoast villages from Maine to Massachusetts, which she visited during the summers of 1924 and 1925. She was working in Gloucester, Massachusetts in August 1924, and painted several gouaches of the town's wharves and winding streets, including In Gloucester Harbor and At the Drydock, Gloucester. During her stay, Custis may have met Jane Peterson or at least must have seen her work, the best of which was executed in Gloucester during the preceding ten years. The similarity between their styles is unmistakable, but, while it may be tempting to suggest that Custis was influenced by Peterson during her summer in Gloucester, the connection between their work is probably more a case of shared aesthetics and common European influences. Custis expanded her subject repertoire with three trips to Europe between 1926 and 1929, and was inspired by the Old World charm of Holland, northern France, Switzerland, and Italy, leading to such works as New Kirk, Delft, Holland, Market Day in Quimper, At the Foot of the Matterhorn, and The Town Square, Varenna. A Mediterranean cruise in 1934 introduced her to the Near East, and the bustling, colorful streets and bazaars of Cairo, captured in works like A Street in Cairo, Egypt and A Moroccan Jug...

House on Cliff Walk, Newport, R.I. 1931-1932. Etching and drypoint. Hausberg catalog 13 state .i/ii. Edition 75 in this state. 5 7/8 x 7 7/8 (sheet 9 x 13 1/2). A rich impression pr...

The Gargoyle and His Quarry, Notre Dame. 1920. Etching.Fletcher 90. 7 1/8 x 5 1/4 (sheet 10 1/2 x 9 1/16). Gargoyle series #1. Edition 75. A rich impression printed on 'FJHead&Co' c...

This artwork "Man Fishing in a Lake" c.1980, is a gouache on paper by noted Montana artist Shirley Cleary, b.1942. It is signed at the lower right corner by the artist. The artwork (image) size is 7 x 20 inches, framed size is 14.65 x 27.75 inches. Custom framed in a wooden gold frame, with light green matting and gold color spacer. It is in excellent condition, the frame have a very small minor restoration, practically invisible. About the artist: Shirley Cleary was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1942. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Washington University in St. Louis in 1964, studied at the University of Valencia in Spain in 1965, and at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1966, in Rome in 1967, and received her Masters of Fine Arts in 1968. Shirley Cleary received her BFA Degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her MFA Degree from Tyler School of Art of Temple University in Philadelphia and Rome, Italy. She also studied at the University of Valencia (Spain) and the Corcoran in Washington, DC. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, has lived in Montana since 1971 and spends part of the winter painting and fishing in New Zealand. Her paintings have been featured in many publications including "American Artist", "Art West", "The Artist's Magazine", "US Art", "Inform Art", "Fly Fisher's Magazine", "Angler's Journal", "Disegnare & Dipingere" and in several issues of "Wildlife Art". She is listed in Samuel's "Contemporary Western Artists", "An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West" and "Who's Who in American Art" (since 1987). Shirley has participated in many invitational and juried exhibitions including a one woman exhibition at the American Museum of Flyfishing in Manchester, Vermont and group exhibitions including "Women Artists of the West" at the Tucson Museum of Art in Arizona; Maryland Waterfowl Festival; Easton Academy of the Arts (Maryland) "the Art of Flyfishing-A Visual History"; Foothills Art Center (Golden, Colorado), "Rivers: The Song of Life", "Stampede Western Invitational Exhibit", (Greeley, Colorado); The Southeast Wildlife Festival in Charleston, South Carolina; "Wild Thing" and "The Artful Angler" and the CM Russell Auction at CM Russell Museum (Great Falls, Montana). Her work is licensed through Wild Wings, Inc., Lake City, Minnesota. Shirley was the winner of the 1990 Oregon Trout Stamp/Print competition and the 1992 Association of Northwest Steelheaders Stamp/ Print. In 1999 she received the "Communication in Conservation Award" from National Trout Unlimited and was the 2001 print...

This artwork "Landscape with Trail" c.1980 is a watercolor on paper by noted American artist Gerald F. Brommer, 1927-2020. It is signed at the lower right corner by the artist. The a...

Etching and drypoint. Schneiderman 133.v/xi. 7 3/4 x 16 3/8 (sheet 9 1/4 x 17 1/2). A rich impression with plate tone printed in black/brown in on antique cream wove paper. Signed in...

The Gothic Spirit (also called A Gargoyle, A Gothic Spirit). 1922. Etching and stipple. Fletcher 120. 11 5/8 x 7 (sheet 15 1/4 x 11 1/4). Gargoyle Series #8. Edition 130. Illustrated...

Forellenweiher is a wonderful black and white etching and drypoint on wide rod cream paper realized by Franz von Stuck in 1890-1891. Hand signed in gr...

This artwork titled "State Capitol at night, Sacramento, California" c.1960 is a watercolor on paper by noted California artist William Jack Laycox, 1921-1984. It is signed at he low...

This artwork "Sonoma County Landscape" 1901, is a watercolor on paper by noted California artist Elizabeth Hoen, 1868-1955. It is signed and dated at the lower right corner by the ar...

Bailey's Beach (Newport, Rhode Island). c. 1931-1933. Etching and drypoint. Hausberg catalog 126 state vi. Edition 75. 6 x 7 7/8 (sheet 9 9/16 x 12 1/2). Printed on cream wove paper ...

This artwork "Yosemite Falls" c.1970 is a watercolor on paper by American impressionist artist Jane Burnham, 1926-2016. It is signed at the lower right co...