Arthur Smith

Circus Performers by WPA Artist Arthur Smith

20th Century

Framed Maurice Kish (American, 1895-1987) Genre painting of a man carrying water buckets Signed lower left: Maurice Kish Framed dimensions: 12 1/8 x 9 1/8 in. Maurice Kish, painter and poet, was born in Dvinsk, Russia (also known as Denenburg while under Russian rule) which is now known as Daugavpils, Latvia. Dvinsk was one of the leading Jewish cities in Russia in the 19th century, and a center of Jewish culture and debate. It was also a poor city where an estimated 30% of the Jewish population applied for aid in 1898. (1) Maurice (Moishe) Kish was born February 19, 1895 (2). A census conducted 2 years earlier indicated 330 industrial establishments owned by Jews, and 99 owned by non Jews. The dominant trades were tailoring and shoemaking. (1) "Kish… immigrated to New York in his teens. He pursued studies in art at Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design, gaining a foundation solid enough to support himself as a painter and to place his work in exhibitions, by the late 1930's, at such prestigious venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art." (3) Kish also exhibited at the New York World's Fair in 1939, and by 1945 had exhibited 13 times at the National Academy and won 30 art prizes. He was a member of numerous art associations, including the Educational Alliance, the American Veteran Society of Artists, and the Brooklyn Art Alliance. (4) During the Depression Kish often portrayed "factory and street scenes in New York with the tired faces of workers revealing the weight of wage-labor upon their lives." (5) Kish himself was no stranger to the proletarian life - he was a skilled craft worker for decades in a factory which made glass vases. He was short and sturdy, a former amateur boxer, and also served as a dance instructor in the Catskills. In the 1970's, at the age of 75, he was still playing handball in the famous Brighton courts. (6) By the last decade of his life, however, he had lost his eyesight and was infirm. Kish lived most of his adult life in Brooklyn, initially in Brownsville but mainly in Williamsburg, and then Brighton Beach where he became enchanted by Coney Island...

Michael Hoiland (Norwegian-American, 1901-1994) Untitled (Church, Possibly Chicago), 20th century Oil on board 13 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. Framed: 18 3/4 x 21 3/4 in. Signed lower left: Mich...

Unknown Brandywine / Wyeth School Artist (Stuart G. Scott) #27 Remember The Good Times, 1971 Oil on board 11 x 15 in. Framed: 16 x 20 in. Signed lower right: Stuart G. Scott Inscribe...

Arthur Smith (American, 1897-1972) Untitled (Acrobats), 20th century Oil on board 39 1/8 x 25 1/8 in. Framed: 32 1/4 x 18 in. Signed lower left: A Smith Arthu...

Emilio Trad (Argentinian, b. 1953) Untitled (Church), 1978 Oil on board 18 1/4 x 14 in. Framed: 25 3/4 x 22 1/4 in. Signed lower left: Trad Signed and date...

Marta Becket (1925 - 2017) Untitled, c. 1960s Oil on board Sight: 23 x 26 in. Framed: 27 3/4 x 30 3/4 x 7/8 in. Signed lower left Talented as a painter, dancer and pianist, Marta B...

Icon is an artwork realized in the 19th century by Anonymous artist. Mixed colored encaustic painting on panel. The artwork depicts a religious scene, following the tradition of re...

Guy Pene du Bois' "Two Figures in Courtroom" is a WPA era American scene oil painting created in a realistic style. Modernism at its best The work is framed by Heydenryk. Pène du Bois descended from French immigrants who settled in Louisiana in 1738 and was raised in a Creole household. He was born in 1884 in Brooklyn, NY and first studied with William Merritt Chase at the New York School of Art and later continued his training with Robert Henri. Pène du Bois was greatly impressed with Henri's credo that "real life" was subject matter for art and throughout his life a realist philosophy informed his art as well as his parallel career, art criticism. In 1905, Pène du Bois made his first visit to Paris where he painted scenes of fashionable people in cafes rendered in the dark tonalities and impasto associated with the Ashcan School. By 1920, he had achieved his mature style, which was characterized by stylized, rounded, almost sculptural figures painted with invisible brushstrokes. The subjects of his paintings were often members of society whom he gently satirized. In 1924, Pène du Bois and his wife, Floy, left for France where they would remain until 1930. Returning to America showcases pictures the artist produced after this very productive period abroad. After five years of living in France, Pène du Bois was able to observe American life with fresh eyes. His work becomes more psychologically intense and less satirical. In Girl at Table a slender, blond is shown gazing at a small statue that she holds at arm's distance. The meaning is elusive, but a powerful sense of longing is evoked. Similarly, paintings such as Dramatic Moment and Jane are taut with unresolved dialogue. Both pictures depict mysterious interiors in which a lone woman anxiously awaits the denouement of a suspenseful scene. Other pictures, for example, Chess Tables, Washington Square and Bar, New Orleans, recall Pene du Bois's Ashcan origins in their depiction of urban entertainment. During this period, landscape becomes an important subject for Pène du Bois. Girl Sketching...

This work is part of our exhibition - America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s Untitled (Transcendental Composition), oil on board, 1947, oil on board, signed and dated lower r...

Woman is an orignal modern artwork realized by Antonio Feltrinelli in 1920s. Mixed colored oil painting on board. Not signed. Antonio Feltrinelli (Milan, 1887 – Gargnano, 1942) H...

Still Life is an artwork realized by Valentino Ghiglia in the Mid-20th Century. Oil on Cardboard, cm 46x57. Hand signed on top left. Very good condition.

Russian Musicians is an original painting, realized by Leonid Mikhailovich Brailovsky in the Early XX century Oil painting on board. Hand-signed by the artist on the lower margin. I...