Kittie O'Meallie

"Large Seated Male Nude" - Modern Pastel Portrait

(Sorry for the reflections on the glass.) An exquisite antique pastel of a beautiful young lady showing her pleasure gazing at a new pair of silk tapestry shoes. An import sticker from France is still attached to the back. Comes in an elaborate gilt-and-plaster antique carved frame...

A truly lovely nude by noted 20th-century New Orleans artist and extraordinary draftsman Charles Richards, whose work does not come up for sale often enough here in New Orleans. Sorr...

A wonderfully accomplished pastel of a woman lost in thought, with a subtle sensuality about it. She has not been idealized into a classical trope, but is a real person, we can tell....

What talent is apparent here! The accurate foreshortening of the nude figure and body proportions alone were enough to get my attention. But the rendering of light is also wonderful, and I love the confident pastel strokes that he has left clearly visible. I have done figure painting myself and am so impressed by the few artists who can do it at this level. Measures 31" x 25" with frame, 24" x 18" without. Proudly presented by Guy Lyman Fine Art...

This large and arresting painting is what I believe must have been one of a pair, with a male nude of exactly the same size and style by the artist that sold at Coletti Gallery many ...

George Dureau is an icon in the history of New Orleans art. He was friends with Robert Mapplethorpe, and influenced Mapplethorpe's work greatly. Dureau often drew or photographed dwa...

'Standing Nude Study', pastel on art paper, by Louis Latapie (circa 1930). There is something very pure in the naked human body, but for some that purity can veer towards pruriency. ...

John Alfred Begg (1903 - 1974) designed this brutalist pastel painting on paper. The striking cubist nude study design boasts green, orange, and rust colors with contrasting black lines. No signature is visible on the front, but the piece can be signed at the back, like many of the artist's works. Provenance: From the estate of the artist. Newly reframed in an elegant deep-textured wood frame with orange, black, and gilded colors, original beige jute matte, and glass protection. Measurements: With frame: 17.32 in wide (44 cm) x 23.03 in high (58.5 cm). Opening view: 9.45 in wide (24 cm) x 13.19 in (33.5 cm). Note: John Alfred Begg was born in New Smyrna Beach...

This lovely pastel painting on paper by John Alfred Begg (1903 - 1974) is a striking cubist nude study in blue, purple, and orange-rust colors with contrasting black lines. The artwork is signed in the bottom right corner. Provenance: From the estate of the artist. Newly reframed in an elegant deep-textured wood frame with orange, black, and gilded colors, original beige jute matte, and glass protection. Measurements: With frame: 17.13 in wide (43.5 cm) x 24.41 in high (62 cm). Opening view: 6.50 in wide (16.5 cm) x 12.44 in (31.5 cm). About: John Alfred Begg was born in New Smyrna Beach...

This pastel painting by Catherine Bres-Rhocanges (1947 -) is titled "Group of Bathers" and signed on the bottom right corner "Bres-Rhocanges." Catherine Bres-Rhocanges paints women w...

René-Paris Castaing, winner of the Grand Prix de Rome in 1924, left a large body of work, both sacred and secular. Many churches in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in South-West France still bear witness to the diversity of his talent. In 1942, he began a major decoration project for the Château de Diusse, in the north-east of the county, including an allegory of the four seasons. The vigorous pastel we are presenting here is a study for Spring, depicted as Flore undressing. This commission was a veritable swan song for the artist, who died a year later at the age of 47. 1. René-Marie Castaing, the great inter-war painter in Pau René-Marie Castaing was born in Pau on December 16th 1896. His father, Joseph Castaing, was also a painter: he was the official portraitist of Pau's high society, which was particularly cosmopolitan at the end of the century, when many rich foreigners spent the winter in Pau, taking advantage of the mild weather to enjoy an outdoor lifestyle punctuated by hunting, horse ridings and golf. René-Marie Castaing was admitted to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in April 1920 and entered the studio of Paul-Albert Laurens (1870-1934). In 1924, he was awarded the First Grand Prix de Rome for Painting, which earned him a stay at the Villa Médicis for more than three years. He then returned to Pau in 1928, where he lived until his death. Castaing's work is marked by the academic tradition, in which drawing plays as important a role as painting. Although his drawings are often sketches that help to set up large painted compositions, they stand as independent artworks in which the artist fully expresses the vivacity of his talent. Castaing was a fervent Christian and religious painting played an essential part in his work, as shown by the decorations he created for the churches of Bizanos, Borce, Bidache and Salies-de-Béarn. The painter also created several secular decorations, such as that for the dining room of the Villa Saint-Basil's in Pau in 1935, and the Hunting at the Albret’s time commissioned in 1940 by the Prefecture of Pau. The décor created in 1942-1943 for the Château de Diusse, a mansion located north-east of Pau, was his last large-scale décor, as the painter died shortly after its completion on December 8th 1943. 2. Description of the drawing Our pastel depicts an eminently secular theme: Spring is embodied by Flore, crouching on the ground with one knee touching the ground. She reveals her ample bosom by removing her shirt, her arms raised above her shoulders to undress. Given Castaing's classical training at the Beaux-Arts and the influence of ancient statuary...

This elegant pastel painting on paper was created by John Alfred Begg (1903 - 1974). This piece features a striking cubist nude study in a blue-gray color with contrasting black line...