Modern Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Joseph Stella was a visionary artist who painted what he saw, an idiosyncratic and individual experience of his time and place. Stella arrived in New York in 1896, part of a wave of Italian immigrants from poverty-stricken Southern Italy. But Stella was not a child of poverty. His father was a notary and respected citizen in Muro Locano, a small town in the southern Appenines. The five Stella brothers were all properly educated in Naples. Stella’s older brother, Antonio, was the first of the family to come to America. Antonio Stella trained as a physician in Italy, and was a successful and respected doctor in the Italian community centered in Greenwich Village. He sponsored and supported his younger brother, Joseph, first sending him to medical school in New York, then to study pharmacology, and then sustaining him through the early days of his artistic career. Antonio Stella specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis and was active in social reform circles. His connections were instrumental in Joseph Stella’s early commissions for illustrations in reform journals. Joseph Stella, from the beginning, was an outsider. He was of the Italian-American community, but did not share its overwhelming poverty and general lack of education. He went back to Italy on several occasions, but was no longer an Italian. His art incorporated many influences. At various times his work echoed the concerns and techniques of the so-called Ashcan School, of New York Dada, of Futurism and, of Cubism, among others. These are all legitimate influences, but Stella never totally committed himself to any group. He was a convivial, but ultimately solitary figure, with a lifelong mistrust of any authority external to his own personal mandate. He was in Europe during the time that Alfred Stieglitz established his 291 Gallery. When Stella returned he joined the international coterie of artists who gathered at the West Side apartment of the art patron Conrad Arensberg. It was here that Stella became close friends with Marcel Duchamp. Stella was nineteen when he arrived in America and studied in the early years of the century at the Art Students League, and with William Merritt Chase, under whose tutelage he received rigorous training as a draftsman. His love of line, and his mastery of its techniques, is apparent early in his career in the illustrations he made for various social reform journals. Stella, whose later work as a colorist is breathtakingly lush, never felt obliged to choose between line and color. He drew throughout his career, and unlike other modernists, whose work evolved inexorably to more and more abstract form, Stella freely reverted to earlier realist modes of representation whenever it suited him. This was because, in fact, his “realist” work was not “true to nature,” but true to Stella’s own unique interpretation. Stella began to draw flowers, vegetables, butterflies, and birds in 1919, after he had finished the Brooklyn Bridge series of paintings, which are probably his best-known works. These drawings of flora and fauna were initially coincidental with his fantastical, nostalgic and spiritual vision of his native Italy which he called Tree of My Life (Mr. and Mrs. Barney A. Ebsworth Foundation and Windsor, Inc., St. Louis, illus. in Barbara Haskell, Joseph Stella, exh. cat. [New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994], p. 111 no. 133). Two Wood Ducks...

'Still Life with Strings', ink and pencil on paper, from the Italian School of artists (circa 1940s). This gallery acquired this artwork with two similar works for which this one may...

'Fish, Dove and Musical Instrument', gouache on paper, from the Italian School of artists (circa 1940s). Surely this very attractive piece was inspired by Georges Braque (1882-1963) ...

'Cubist Still Life', gouache on paper, from the Italian School of artists (circa 1940s). Surely this very attractive piece was inspired by Juan Gris (1887-1927) and Georges Braque's ...

Alexander Calder Handwritten, signed letter, 1956 Ink on paper: 2 page handwritten and hand signed letter Hand signed by Calder at the end of the letter on the second page. Unique 11...

'Amalfi Coastline, Italy' signed mixed media on paper. Glazed frame 53cmx 42cm painting 36cmx27cm A view of Amalfi, looking down to the shoreline from the hilly landscape that surrou...

Swallows by the water. 1976, paper, pencil, 45. 5 x 40. 5 cm Dzidra Ezergaile (1926-2013) Born in Riga. School years alternate with summer work in the countryside. In 1947, she bega...

You are viewing a modernist American watercolor painting by Robert Noel Blair. Robert Noel Blair (American, 1912-2003) was an American artist, painter, sculptor, printmaker and te...

Abstract composition is a contemporary artwork realized by Artist in 1970s. Mixed colored drawing on paper.

Palazzo Farnese is an artwork of the 19th century. Watercolour on paper.  The evocative representation of a lodge in the garden of the palazzo Farnese in Rome, the artist depicts t...

Roman Landscape is an artwork of the 19th century. Watercolour on paper. The artwork is attached on passepartout: 27.5 x 34.5 cm. The evocative representation of a scenic view of t...

Substantial modernist watercolor by California artist Yukako Okudaira (American, b. 1943). Signed lower right. Metal frame. Image size, 18"H x 20"W. (We inlcuded a reference image of the artist in the image section, we don't have the actual photograph) Yukako Okudaira was born in Tokyo and raised in Kugenuma Kaigan. She immigrated to California in 1962. She holds a Master’s degree in painting from California State University in San Jose. In 1985 she studied at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture under Elizabeth Murray, Richard Serra, John Chamberian, Mary Heilman...

Louise (McClure) Schatz (1916 – 1997) Born in Vancouver, Canada, Louise Schatz moved with her family at age three to Minnesota. Her father, a stage director, was part of the local Bohemian culture and traveled the theater circuit around the U.S. She earned a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts at the University of California, where she became a skilled water colorist. “My Japanese instructor showed me how to preserve several colors together on paper,” she noted. “Water colors can bleed into the paper, and the paper plays with the colors – some of which can even disappear. I have a great love of texture and what materials do to color. I was very excited to discover what happens to colors and how to achieve what I wanted.” Her interest in astronomy also led Louise to study science at the university. Louise joined the “California Seven” artists in 1945 and for the next three years created prints and textile patterns. During WWII, she earned her living as a sketch artist for ship builders in San Francisco Bay, and it was there she met her future husband, Bezalel. “Then, it was very avant-garde to hire women in ship-building,” she once recounted. “We used to take dimensions from engineers and make sketches. It was very trailblazing and exciting, and the ships were constructed very quickly and launched very quickly. Besides the fact that we contributed to the war effort, it was really beautiful art.” The Bohemian society developing in San Francisco at the time included the novelist Henry Miller, who was then married to Louise’s sister, Eve. “There was a group of artists in Big Sur, all of them poor,” according to Bezalel Schatz’s sister, Zohara. “They were a group of Beatniks before the hippy era of the 1960s. There were novelists, poets, and painters there who lived communally under primitive conditions and were close to nature.” Bezalel and Louise were married in 1948 and moved to Israel. There, together with Zohara, they founded the arts and crafts workshop, “Yad,” with the goal of creating and selling alternative art objects that differed in style from those of the Bezalel School of Art. The couple divided its time between the family home in Jerusalem and a residence in Ein Hod designed for them by the architect David Resnik. Despite her connection to the Schatz family and her active involvement in the Israeli art world at the time, Louise guarded her privacy and rarely granted interviews. As Henry Miller wrote, “Her paintings reflect and reveal the extent of her sensitivity, shyness, and gentleness…” Scenes of Israel were a source of inspiration for Louise, and, in addition to her abstract Bauhaus geometric works, she also painted landscapes, flowers, and other elements of the environment in which she worked. Louise worked mainly in water colors but also created collages, book illustrations, and applied art. Among her outstanding works are murals for Zim’s “Shalom” and “Theodore Herzl” ships (together with Bezalel), El Al’s London office, and Jerusalem’s tenth anniversary exhibition, as well as ceramic walls for Jerusalem’s Midreshet Amalia and Beit Ha’am Library. She was awarded the Silver Medal in 1954 at the tenth Triennale in Milan for her copper designs, and in 1952 she received the “Above Competition” prize for her textile designs at the Bezalel National Museum. She was also awarded the Shen Beit Haomanim Prize in 1970 and the Jerusalem Prize for painting in 1973. Louise took part in many art exhibitions in Israel and abroad. Her works are held by the Israel, Tel Aviv, and Haifa Museums, and in private collections in Israel, the U.S., England, Switzerland, France, and Italy. Following her husband’s death in 1978, Louise continued to live with her sister-in-law, Zohara, at the family home in Jerusalem on Schatz Street. Louise died in Jerusalem in 1997. She has been called in the pages of the Jerusalem Post " the greatest Schatz of all" and "Israel's finest watercolorist" Parts of her work summon up affinities with Paul Klee and Julius Bissier and occasionally even Joan Miro. But she never copied any of them. Her work also bears affinities for Lyonel Feininger and Wassily Kandinsky Between 1937 and 1951, Bezalel resided in the U.S. Near the end of WWII, he worked in a California shipyard, and it was there he met his future wife, Louise. He was also introduced to the novelist Henry Miller in California, and their friendship blossomed into a creative collaboration. The artist May Ray recorded his observations about the two, noting that “I have never encountered such smooth cooperation…” Bezalel produced silkscreen prints for Miller’s novel, Into the Night Life, an innovation for both the art and publishing worlds. In Florence, New Mexico, New York, San Francisco, and other locations, Bezalel exhibited his own work and participated in group shows with some of the greatest artists of his era – Picasso...

Julius Hubler, American artist. Deans scholar; State University Iowa graduate scholar, 1944; Arthur W. Dow scholar Columbia University, 1947; distinguished se...

A tonal, watercolor of a steel mill by artist Harold Haydon. Harold Emerson Haydon was born in Fort William, Ontario, Canada in 1909. Haydon came to Chicago with his family in 191...

A tonal, watercolor of a steel mill by artist Harold Haydon. Harold Emerson Haydon was born in Fort William, Ontario, Canada in 1909. Haydon came to Chicago with his family in 191...

Louis Wolchonok was a social realist painter and member of the Woodstock Art Association. His work was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Academy of Design...

Watercolor on brightly colored paper, signed Gibor, with wooden frame mis.cm.h.65x56

The Praised Woman is a charcoal Drawing realized by Mino Maccari  (1924-1989) in the Mid-20th Century. Hand-signed on the lower. Good conditions. Mino Maccari (Siena, 1924-Rome, J...

Love goes up in smoke is a drawing, realized by Mino Maccari, 1960s.  27 x 21 cm ; Sheet 14 x 9 cm.  Pen on cardboard. Good conditions!

Edmond Xavier Kapp (British, 1890 – 1978) Toccata 23 Ink on paper Signed and dated ‘Kapp 76’ (lower right) 9.1/2 x 14 in. (24.3 x 35.5 cm.) Edmond Kapp was born in Islington, London, on 5 November 1890, of American and German Jewish parentage. He gave himself the middle initial ‘X’ – sometimes said to stand for Xavier – to distinguish himself from his father Emil Kapp, who was a wine merchant. However, his parents called him ‘Eddie’ while his wife and friends knew him as ‘Peter’. During his early years, Kapp was continually ill and, while convalescing, entertained himself by drawing at home. As his health improved, he attended Dame Alice Owen’s School, Islington (1903-10), with periods at Berlin University (1909) and L’Institut Français pour les Etrangers, Paris (1909). He then read Languages at Christ’s College, Cambridge (1910-13), though spent most of his time writing and drawing. Kapp took a studio in London, and worked intensively until the outbreak of the First World War, contributing to the Daily News, the Onlooker and other periodicals. During the war, he served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment on the Western Front, and then in Intelligence, rising to the position of Staff Captain on Haig’s Staff. Finally, he founded and directed the Neutral Press Counter-propaganda Section. In 1919, Kapp returned to London and, after abortive periods at three art schools, worked alone. In that year, he made his name with an exhibition of caricatures, held at Furst’s Gallery, London, and accompanied by a catalogue introduced by Max Beerbohm. This soon led to contracts with three London periodicals and a book of caricatures, Personalities, published by Martin Secker. Through the 1920s and 30s, his drawings of musicians and other personalities appeared in a wide variety of periodicals, most notably Time & Tide; were collected in further volumes; and were exhibited at the Leicester Galleries. He considered himself to be a ‘character-portraitist’, producing images of psychological not satirical power, and disliking the term ‘caricature’. Between the wars, Kapp developed other aspects of his artistic talents, the desire to study and the search for subject matter often taking him abroad. For instance, work at the British Academy, Rome, under Antonio Sciortino...

A tonal, watercolor of a steel mill by artist Harold Haydon. Harold Emerson Haydon was born in Fort William, Ontario, Canada in 1909. Haydon came to Chicago with his family in 191...

Barbara Keidel Untitled (XIII) Pastel Drawing on Paper 1991 Signed, dated and insribed by hand Size: 17.25x13in COA providedRef.: 924802-1923 *Fram...

Felt-tip pen and ink and pencil on paper. Dated and extensively annotated in ink on recto. Study for the same-titled steel sculpture, 1956, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven.

Jack Hooper "Tree Landscape" 1981 Ink on glossy paper 11"x7" unframed Signed and dated in pencil lower right Embrace the serene beauty of nature through this abstract line drawing b...

The work is hand signed in ink by the artist "b.ost" in the lower right corner, and hand dated "36" next to the signature. The drawing was created in 1936. Provenance: Collection So...

"NY Street Signs" Mid-20th Century WPA 1938 Modernist Abstract Realism Pop Art Stuart Davis (American, 1892-1964) "Street Signs" Modernist gouache and traces of pencil on paper in t...

Aharon Giladi, Israeli painter, born in Russian Empire, 1907-1993 Aharon Golodetz (later Giladi) was born in Belarus, Russia to a wealthy family. In 1923-1926, he studied at the Leningrad Academy of Art. In 1926, he was exiled to Siberia for Zionist activity. In 1929, he immigrated to the Land of Israel, then Palestine, and helped to found Kibbutz Afikim in the Jordan valley. In 1934, he married Dvora Sifelman and worked as a builder and plasterer. He began to draw sketches of kibbutz life and taught art locally. His dynamic lines link subject to subject and figure to figure, displaying the magical nexus between objects and figures while reserving the characteristic elements of each. Everything accords with the invisible spirit which hovers over all. In 1942, he published a book of sketches...

Jay Van Everen was a pioneering early American abstractionist known for his affiliation with the Synchromists. His abstract color studies would take him to the forefront of the Ameri...

Early modern landscape drawing by German artist Hermann Max Pechstein. The work features a gestural depiction of a winding path leading into a small village. Signed with a monogram i...

Signed and dated in ink lower center Provenance: Charlotte Bergman, noted collector and patron of Walkowitz. See photo for additional information.

Hai (Abba) (Hebrew translation: Hey Father) Signed in ink lower left by the artist’s widow “AL” (Adele Lozowick) Original label from early exhibition verso at The Art Corner Graphit...

Abstract modern figurative drawing by Native American artist R.C. Gorman. The work features a large group of faceless figures representing the Navajo people who were forcefully remov...

Mitchell Mitch Becker, painter, born November 12, 1938, Chicago, Illinois. 1972, Emigrated to Israel. Education 1961 - School of the Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois. Bachelor of Art Education, 1971 - University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Master of Fine Arts, Teaching 1968-1972 High School, Skokie, USA. 1973-1974 Thelma Yellin Art School, Givatayim 1974-1976 Institute of Visual Art, Beersheba 1977-1981 Art Teachers College, Ramat Hasharon 1981-1982 Bezalel, Jerusalem Awards And Prizes 1958-61, Anna Tucson Scholarship, USA Mitchell Becker emerged into the art world of late 1950s Chicago, between gestures of Abstract Expressionism and declarations about the "death of painting." The hot names of his youth, such as Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Larry Rivers, provided him with interest and challenges for years to come, and his awe for them is still evident in his voice to date, many years after drawing away from them. This work is reminiscent of the work of Saul Steinberg and Philip Guston. Heroes - Past and Present, Yad Labanim Museum, Petach-Tikva Artists: Shalom Moskowitz, (Shalom of Safed) Yohanan Simon, Boris Schatz, Motti Mizrachi, Hanan Milner, Mitchell Becker, Edith Samuel, Ludwig Schwerin, Igael Tumarkin, Talia Tokatly. EDUCATION: 1971 Master of Fine Arts,University of Chicago, Illinois 1961 Bachelor of Art Education School...

Jane Freilicher Untitled I, 1958-59 Signed lower right Charcoal on paper 11 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches Provenance: Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York Private Collection, New York Jane Freilic...

Abstract composition is an artwork realized by Pascal, in 1960.  Watercolour, 13 x 10 cm. Handsigned in the lower right margin. Good conditions

JACQUES LIPCHITZ Study for a Lesson from a Disaster, ca. 1952 Black and Blue Crayon on Paper Signed in graphite pencil lower right front Unique work of art Framed: held in original v...

Original painting on archival paper, circa 1964. Paper Size: 14 x 11 inches (oval). Provenance: Estate of Ian Hornak, East Hampton, New York. Notes: Created during Hornak’s undergra...

Original painting on archival paper, circa 1964. Paper Size: 10 x 9 inches (oval). Provenance: Estate of Ian Hornak, East Hampton, New York. Notes: Created during Hornak’s undergrad...

Abstract Composition is a drawing realized by Jean Criton in 1957. Watercolor, ink on paper.  Hand-signed and dated. Good conditions. The artwork is realized poetically through b...

Dimensions: 25.5 X 20.5 Frame. Artwork measures 23.25 X 18.25 Ksenia Vladimirovna Ender ( Russian Ксения Владимировна Эндер , also Xenia Ender and Kseniia Ender. born 1895 in Sluzk , died 1955...

Gloria Vanderbilt Mother and child, ca. 1968 Gouache on paper painting Hand signed by Gloria Vanderbilt lower right recto Unique Frame included Measurements: Framed 37 Vertical by 31 inches. Painting 27 Vertical by 21.5 inches This unique, poignant poignant portrait was done by the legendary Gloria Vanderbilt. It is signed on the front. As this work was done in the mid 1960s, it is believed to be a self portrait depicting the artist, and likely her son, Anderson Cooper. Held loosely in the original damaged vintage Heydenryk frame used by Hammer Galleries...

Abstract Composition is a drawing on paper realized by an unknown artist in 1961. Hand signed 61. Watercolor on paper. Good conditions. The artwork is represented through organi...

Al Hirschfeld Original (unique) Self portrait drawing, 1976 Hand signed ink drawing, on typewritten letter with envelope Hand signed in Hirschfel...

Untitled Pastel on paper, 1922 Initialed lower right (see photo) Exhibited: Francis Nauman, Leon Kelly: Draftsman Extraordinaire, New York, April 4 - May 23, 2014. Condition: Excell...

This Lovely Modernist Lithograph Originates from the Israeli born artist Yaakov Agam (made in Paris, France Circa 1980). This Lithograph is an Artist's Proof and a member of Agam's "...

Cats is a Colour Maker Drawing realized by Reynold Arnould (Le Havre 1919 - Parigi 1980). Good condition on a sheet of notebook. No Signature. Reynold Arnould was born in Le Hav...

A handsome black & white abstraction by artist Jan Matulka. Jan Matulka was an important Modernist that worked with artist Stuart Davis in creating a new form of Cubism, that was ba...

A bright, geometric textile design (In red, white & blue) by stage and costume designer Andre Delfau.

A colorful 1950s textile design (Black, yellow, blue, pink, red tones) by noted set and costume designer Andre Delfau. Born in Paris, France in 1914, Andre Delfau became an internationally acclaimed stage, set and costume designer who worked world-wide from the 1930s to the 1980s. Delfau was a life long artist and painted independently of his noted design career. His artwork is recognized for it’s vibrant color and form, and a particularly keen use of line. He was highly influenced by the French Modern trends of Cubism and Surrealism, and his artwork is often infused with a dramatic sense of architecture and perspective. Delfau created fashion designs for such major Paris couture houses as Balmain, Jean Patou and Balenciaga. He completed noteworthy set designs and costumes for numerous international operatic and ballet productions, including those at the Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Ballet of Great Britain, the Paris Opera, the Dance Theater of Harlem, the Ruth Page International Ballet, the Civic Ballet of Chicago, the Chicago Opera Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, among others. Most notably, Delfau designed the elaborate stage sets and costumes for the 1986 PBS television production of the Viennese operetta, "Die Fledermaus...

Cafè in Kiev is a Colors Markers Drawing and Watercolor realized by Reynold Arnould (Le Havre 1919 - Parigi 1980). Good condition on a sheet of a notebook. No signature, dated an...

A 1950s geometric textile design in brown, yellow and pink tones by notable stage and set designer Andre Delfau. Born in Paris, France in 1914, Andre Delfau became an internationally acclaimed stage, set and costume designer who worked world-wide from the 1930s to the 1980s. Delfau was a life long artist and painted independently of his noted design career. His artwork is recognized for it’s vibrant color and form, and a particularly keen use of line. He was highly influenced by the French Modern trends of Cubism and Surrealism, and his artwork is often infused with a dramatic sense of architecture and perspective. Delfau created fashion designs for such major Paris couture houses as Balmain, Jean Patou and Balenciaga. He completed noteworthy set designs and costumes for numerous international operatic and ballet productions, including those at the Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Ballet of Great Britain, the Paris Opera, the Dance Theater of Harlem, the Ruth Page International Ballet, the Civic Ballet of Chicago, the Chicago Opera Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, among others. Most notably, Delfau designed the elaborate stage sets and costumes for the 1986 PBS television production of the Viennese operetta, "Die Fledermaus...

Abstract Composition is a drawing in watercolor on paper realized by an Anonymous artist in the 1961. Hand signed. Good conditions. The artwork is represented through organic and ...

Menashe Kadishman Untitled Sheep Drawing, ca. 1985 Unique Graphite Drawing Hand signed and inscribed on the front Frame Included Unique whimsical drawing...

A colorful textile design (with blue, green, yellow & red tones) by notable set and costume designer Andre Delfau. Born in Paris, France in 1914, Andre Delfau became an internationally acclaimed stage, set and costume designer who worked world-wide from the 1930s to the 1980s. Delfau was a life long artist and painted independently of his noted design career. His artwork is recognized for it’s vibrant color and form, and a particularly keen use of line. He was highly influenced by the French Modern trends of Cubism and Surrealism, and his artwork is often infused with a dramatic sense of architecture and perspective. Delfau created fashion designs for such major Paris couture houses as Balmain, Jean Patou and Balenciaga. He completed noteworthy set designs and costumes for numerous international operatic and ballet productions, including those at the Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Ballet of Great Britain, the Paris Opera, the Dance Theater of Harlem, the Ruth Page International Ballet, the Civic Ballet of Chicago, the Chicago Opera Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, among others. Most notably, Delfau designed the elaborate stage sets and costumes for the 1986 PBS television production of the Viennese operetta, "Die Fledermaus...

A textile design in black and brown ochre tones with wedge star pattern by noted set and costume designer Andre Delfau.

A colorful textile design in orange, blue, red and yellow tones depicting an abstract polychrome Wedge Star pattern by set and costume designer Andre Delfau.

In the Restaurant is a Colors Markers Drawing realized by Reynold Arnould (Le Havre 1919 - Paris 1980). Good condition on a sheet of a notebook. No signature,titled and dated on ...