Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6
Edgar O. KiechleA Valley Streetscape at Night1948
1948
About the Item
This work is part of our exhibition - American Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s
A Valley Streetscape at Night, 1948, oil on masonite, signed and dated lower right, 18 x 24 inches; literature: King, Chloe, The Paintings of Edgard O. Kiechle – Unearthed After 60 Years, Ventura Blvd, January/February, 2023, pp. 46 – 53 (illustrated)
Edgar Kiechle was a Los Angeles painter, illustrator, and designer. He was born in St. Louis into an artistic family. His father, Otto Anton Kiechle, was also a painter and designer of stain glass and movie sets. The Kiechle family moved to Los Angeles in 1920, where the young artist studied at the Otis College of Art and Design and with Jean Mannheim. He worked for nearly thirty years for many of Hollywood’s major studios, including with Ub Iwerks, Walter Lantz Productions, and his primary client, Universal Studios.
Kiechle lived in Studio City in the San Fernando Valley and was adept at capturing the nocturnal neon glow of the Los Angeles’ burgeoning sprawl during the 1940s and 1950s, earning the nickname "Mr. Observation." A Valley Streetscape at Night is typical of Kiechle's ability to use expressionist painting techniques and a cinematographer's sensibility to portray "suburban noir" landscapes. Several years before he painted the present work, Kiechle showed in an exhibition of motion picture artists in 1945, and was honored when the critic Herman Reuter wrote "in the Kiechle canvasses there is spirit, imagination and dexterity of manipulation." Kiechle's works were popular with the Hollywood crowd, including Ira Gershwin and Hedy Lamarr who hosted a solo exhibition of his art. In 1947, the Francis Taylor Galleries in Beverly Hills mounted Kiechle’s first solo exhibition about which Los Angeles Times art critic, Arthur Millier wrote, that Kiechle's work was “especially colorful,” and Reuter added that Kiechle's "vigorous approach" was "especially notable in several oils," adding that his "bold layering on of paint seems to serve a definite expressive purpose, rather than being a mere mannerism as it so often is with those who mistake plastic tub-thumping for impressiveness."
Later in the 1940s and 1950s, Kiechle’s work was included in exhibitions at the Palace of the Legion of Honor Exhibition in San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Art Museum, and the Oakland Art Gallery. In 1953, Millier called Kiechle "a born painter," saying that he had "a gift for suggesting atmosphere, and is one of the best painters of night in the region." Toward the end of his career, Universal Studios rented out Kiechle’s easel paintings to other studios and they appeared in films such as An Affair to Remember (1957), Pillow Talk (1959), and For Love or Money (1963). Kiechle died young at the age of forty-nine from dysentery he contracted while working in Mexico on the set of The Last Sunset (1961). Kiechle is listed in Edan Hughes' Artists in California 1786 – 1940.
- Creator:Edgar O. Kiechle (1911 - 1960, American)
- Creation Year:1948
- Dimensions:Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:18 x 24 inchesPrice: $2,750
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1859214264382
About the Seller
No Reviews Yet
Vetted Seller
These experienced sellers undergo a comprehensive evaluation by our team of in-house experts.
1stDibs seller since 2022
6 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 2 hours
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Los Angeles, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
More From This SellerView All
- Blue LakeBy George MarinkoLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis painting is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s. Blue Lake, c. 1940s, oil on masonite, signed lower right, 20 x 36 inches, label and inscriptio...Category
1940s American Modern Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- LandscapeBy Marcel Emile CaillietLocated in Los Angeles, CALandscape, 1940, oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches, signed, dated and titled verso: “Marcel Cailliet ’40 – S.C.” and “Marcel Cailliet Landscape”; likely exhibited at the annual juried st...Category
1940s American Modern Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Untitled (Collapsed Shacks)By Karl FortressLocated in Los Angeles, CAUntitled (Collapsed Shacks), c. 1940s, oil on canvas, signed lower left, 20 ½ x 26 ½ inches, presented in a period frame This work is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: ...Category
1940s American Modern Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Untitled (Farm in Winter)By Julius M. DelbosLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis work is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s Untitled (Farm in Winter), 1940s, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 26 x 30 inches, presented in an original frame Julius Delbos...Category
1940s American Modern Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Untitled (Houses and Railroad Tracks)By Harry LaneLocated in Los Angeles, CAUntitled (Houses and Railroad Tracks), c. 1940s, oil on canvas board, signed lower right, 16 x 20 inches, presented in a newer frame This work is part of our exhibition America Coas...Category
1940s American Modern Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
- My Only Working ToolLocated in Los Angeles, CAMy Only Working Tool, 1949, oil on panel, signed and dated lower right, 16 x 12 inches, remnant of exhibition label verso, exhibited at the Art News Second Annual National Amateur Co...Category
1940s American Modern Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
You May Also Like
- Untitled (Martha’s Vineyard)By Francis ChapinLocated in Chicago, ILA colorful view of Martha's Vineyard (Depicting Edgartown's main street) by Francis Chapin, from around 1950. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- Oak Bluffs, Mass. (Martha’s Vineyard)By Francis ChapinLocated in Chicago, ILA view of Oak Bluffs, MA on Martha's Vineyard by Francis Chapin, from around 1950. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- Yellow Sky at MenemshaBy Francis ChapinLocated in Chicago, ILA colorful view of Menemsha in Martha's Vineyard by Francis Chapin, from around 1950. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- Untitled (Vineyard Harbor)By Francis ChapinLocated in Chicago, ILA colorful view of Martha's Vineyard by Francis Chapin, from the 1930s. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of the city’s most popular and celebrated painters in his day. Born at the dawn of the 20th Century in Bristolville, Ohio, Chapin graduated from Washington & Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922. He would set down deep roots at the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibiting there over 31 times between 1926 and 1951. In 1927 Chapin won the prestigious Bryan Lathrop Fellowship from the Art Institute – a prize that funded the artist’s yearlong study trip to Europe. Upon his return to the United States, Chapin decided to remain in Chicago, noting the freedom Chicago artists have in developing independently of the pressure to conform to pre-existing molds (as was experienced by artists in New York, for example). Chapin became a popular instructor at the Art Institute, teaching there from 1929 to 1947 and at the Art Institute’s summer art school in Saugatuck, Michigan (now called Oxbow) between 1934 – 1938 (he was the director of the school from 1941-1945). A prolific painter, Chapin produced numerous works while traveling in Mexico, France, Spain, Saugatuck and Martha’s Vineyard, where he frequently spent summers and taught at the Old Sculpin Gallery there. Chapin was best recognized for his dynamic and vibrant images of Chicago during the 1930s and 40s. Chapin was a resident of the Old Town neighborhood where he lived and kept his studio on Menomonee Street for many years. Described as a “colorful figure, nearly 6 feet 6 inches tall, and thin, and usually wearing tweeds”, it is easy to imagine Chapin at work observing the busy street life of the city. In addition to his many exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chapin’s work was shown during his lifetime at such institutions as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the National Academy of Design, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, among others. Francis Chapin’s paintings are represented in the collections the Art Institute of Chicago; the Friedman Collection, Chicago; the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown; the Denver Art Museum; the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach...Category
1930s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsMasonite, Oil
- "Le Cheval Blanc"By Nahum TschacbasovLocated in Southampton, NYOil on masonite painting by the Russian/American artist Nahum Tschacbasov. Signed middle right and dated 1955. It depicts a white stallion riding on a wooden raft in rough seas with...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Masonite
- Large 1960 California "Abstract Landscape" Jack Stuck PaintingLocated in Arp, TXJack Stuck (1925-1993) "Abstract Landscape" 1960 Collage oil paint, charcoal, paper and canvas laid down on masonite 48"x46" natural wood frame 51" x 49" Si...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Masonite, Charcoal, Oil, Laid Paper
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Ways To Browse
Phillip Core
Essex House Restaurant
Barbizon Hotel
Keith Haring Silk Screen 1990s
Palestinian Paint
19th Century Puppy Painting
Claude Monet Bio
Edmonton Oilers
Organism 11
Resurrection Of Christ Painting
Charleston Dealers
John Frazier
Shadow Dancers Reverse Light
Victor Milton Painting
Larry Stanton
Edna Hibel Society Lithograph
Harry Winston Saved
Figurative Modernist Painting