Distant Country (Semi-Abstract Mountain Landscape: Purple, Gold, Green, Brown)
View Similar Items
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 11
Ethel MagafanDistant Country (Semi-Abstract Mountain Landscape: Purple, Gold, Green, Brown)
About the Item
- Creator:Ethel Magafan (1916-1993, American)
- Dimensions:Height: 25 in (63.5 cm)Width: 22.75 in (57.79 cm)Depth: 1.75 in (4.45 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Framing:Frame IncludedFraming Options Available
- Condition:very good to excellent vintage condition.
- Gallery Location:Denver, CO
- Reference Number:Seller: DCG-245661stDibs: LU2734668392
Ethel Magafan
Ethel Magafan Born Illinois, 1916
Died New York, 1993 Jenne and Ethel Magafan were identical twins, born in Chicago to a Greek immigrant father and a Polish mother. Due to health concerns about their father, the family moved to Colorado, living first in Colorado Springs and then in Denver. He was a proud supporter of their artistic ambitions but died suddenly 1932, a heavy blow to both of them. They attended East High School in Denver, where they found a mentor in their art teacher Helen Perry. She had studied at the Art Institute of Chicago but had later abandoned a career as an artist, making her all the more determined to help the Magafan twins succeed artistically. While still in high school, the twins impressed artist Frank Mechau, and Helen Perry paid for their lessons with him. He subsequently invited them to apprentice with him at his Redstone studio. In 1936, Jenne won the Carter Memorial Art Scholarship and shared it with her sister so that they both could attend the Broadmoor Art Academy in Colorado Springs. Once they ran out of money, Mechau, now teaching there, hired them as assistants. Through their involvement at the Academy, the twins entered into careers as muralists, working at first with Mechau and then with Peppino Mangravite. From 1937 to 1943, Ethel was commissioned to paint her first of seven government sponsored murals. Located in the US Post Office in Auburn, Nebraska, this commission made Ethel (at age 26) the youngest artist in America to receive such an honor. Denver Art Museum director Donald J. Bear once commented that “[Ethel and Jenne's] study of local detail makes them appear as little Bruegels of ranch genre – natural and unforced.” As mural painting commissions diminished, Ethel began to do more easel painting for which she used a palette knife and tempera paints to great effect. After settling in California for five years, the twins permanently relocated to Woodstock, New York in 1945, where the sisters lived apart for the first time. Ethel developed an increasing focus within her work, particularly for horses and abstract landscapes. She met fellow artist Bruce Currie at an artist’s party, and the two were married in 1946. The twins and their husbands went to Greece and Italy for a year when Jenne’s husband and Ethel were granted Fulbright Scholarships. Upon their return, Jenne died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage — a loss that Ethel would mourn deeply. With her sister gone, her landscapes became much more abstract, as she sought out the feeling of the scene rather than an exact representation. During the mid-fifties, she began to make annual trips to Colorado. Her stature within the art world was solidified in 1971 when the United States ©David Cook Galleries, LLC
About the Seller
5.0
Platinum Seller
These expertly vetted sellers are 1stDibs' most experienced sellers and are rated highest by our customers.
Established in 1979
1stDibs seller since 2013
265 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 3 hours
More From This SellerView All
- Mid Century Modern Abstracted Cityscape Oil Painting, American Modern, Red BlackLocated in Denver, COMid 20th century oil and spackle painting featuring an abstracted cityscape with a bridge and buildings by Henriette "Yetti" Stolz. Signed by the artist in the lower right margin. Pa...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board, Putty
- Southwestern Landscape Painting, Lightning Storm over Mountains, Semi AbstractLocated in Denver, COOriginal vintage painting of a Lightning Storm, Southwestern Mountain Landcape. Oil painting on textured board by Morton Lawrence Schneider (1919-2000). This large scale semi abstrac...Category
20th Century American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
- American Modernist Abstract Landscape Oil Painting of Trees, Yellow Orange BlueLocated in Denver, COMid 20th Century abstracted landscape pen and oil painting with trees by American Modernist Henriette "Yetti" Stolz, signed on the back of the painting. Portrays a modernist landscape of a forest with trees, painted in shades of gold, brown, orange, and blue. Presented in a vintage frame measuring 30 ¾ x 36 ¼ inches. Image measures 30 ¼ x 35 ¾ inches. Provenance: Estate of the Artist, Henriette "Yetti" Stolz Painting is in good condition - please contact us for a detailed condition report. About the Artist: Henriette “Yetti” Stolz was born in Serbia in 1935 ( and is still living ). Her family emigrated to Denver, Colorado, in the early 1950s after WWII and she attended East High School before studying art at Colorado College, in Colorado Springs in the mid to late 50s. While there studying she would have been exposed to modernist artists working both at the college ( ie. Mary Chenoweth...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Ink, Oil
- Central City, Colorado, 1950s Semi-Abstract Cityscape Gouache Painting, Red BlueLocated in Denver, CO'Central City, Colorado' by Leonard Silverstein is an original gouache on paper from 1954. Hand signed, titled, and dated by the artist in the lower right...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsGouache, Archival Paper
- Central City, Colorado, 1950s Modernist Cityscape Oil Painting with BuildingsLocated in Denver, COOil on canvas modernist city scape painted circa 1950 by Paul K Smith (1893-1977) titled Central City, Colorado. Portrays a city scene of historic buildin...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Old Mine and Houses, Cortez Colorado, Modernist Abstract Landscape WatercolorBy Richard AyerLocated in Denver, CO20th century modernist watercolor painting depicting an old mine and houses in Cortez, Colorado by Richard K. Ayers with colors of blue, green, gold, and brown. Presented in a custom frame with all archival materials, outer dimensions measure 36 ½ x 30 ½ x ¾ inches. Image size is 24 ¾ x 18 ¾ inches. Painting is clean and in very good vintage condition. About the Artist: Richard K. Ayers (1921-2003) studied art at Miami University...Category
20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings
MaterialsWatercolor
You May Also Like
- Head to Sea, Modernist sailing sceneBy Ralph Eugene Della-VolpeLocated in Greenwich, CTA vibrant and yet romantic sailing scene which was a favorite series by Della-Volpe. His compelling colorist approach has made his works desirable as he was one of the few artists post-war to be representative in style like Milton Avery and Wolf Kahn. Head to Sea has the hallmark intense and lovely coloration for which Della-Volpe is known. He came out of Abstract Expressionism in the New York school but then pivoted, like Milton Avery to representational, colorist work. The frame is a silvered gold leaf float frame of quality and has a rubbed, antiqued surface...Category
Early 2000s American Modern Abstract Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
- "Orange Clouds" American contemporary seascape with sailboat, eveningBy Kelly CarmodyLocated in Sag Harbor, NY"Orange Clouds" is an American Modern contemporary seascape with sailboat, evening. Kelly Carmody’s work has been widely exhibited and collected. One of her major figurative works w...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Panel, Wood Panel, Board
- Untitled from the Westwood PaintingsBy William TillyerLocated in London, GBWilliam Tillyer Untitled (The Westwood Paintings) 1989 Acrylic on canvas 61 x 71.1 cms (24 x 28 ins) WT9778Category
1980s American Modern Abstract Paintings
MaterialsAcrylic
Price Upon Request - The Surf at NewportBy Warren W. SheppardLocated in Storrs, CTThe Surf at Newport (Rhode Island). c. 1906. Oil on canvas. 17 x 24 (framed 26 x 34). Lined; extensive craquelure; otherwise fine condition. Housed in an exceptional Louis XV (reviva...Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil
$4,400 Sale Price20% Off - American Woman Artist Modernist Large Oil Painting Cubist Influenced LandscapeBy Lena GurrLocated in Surfside, FLA beautiful wooded landscape scene with houses and trees. Painted on a masonite board. hand signed lower right. with framers label verso. Framed to 40 X 55 inches. 33 X 48 without the frame and mat. It is not dated. Lena Gurr (1897–1992), was an American woman artist who made paintings, prints, and drawings During the course of her career Gurr's compositions retained emotional content as they evolved from a naturalistic to a semi-abstract cubist style. Born into a Russian-Jewish Yiddish speaking immigrant family, she was the wife of Joseph Biel, also Russian-Jewish and an artist of similar genre and sensibility. Gurr used Lena Gurr as her professional name. After marrying Joseph Biel she was sometimes referred to as Lena Gurr Biel. Biel had been born in Grodno, Poland (later absorbed into Russia) and had lived in England, France, and Australia before coming to New York. An artist, he specialized in landscape paintings and silkscreen printing as well as photography. He studied art at the Russian Academy in Paris. After immigrating to the United States, he studied under George Grosz at the Arts Students League. Gurr was born in Brooklyn and, apart from brief stays in Manhattan and in Paris, lived there her whole life. This painting bears the influence of Lyonel Feininger an influential German American artist. Gurr began studying art at a young age. In 1919 she studied painting and printmaking at the Educational Alliance Art School and between 1920 and 1922 she won a scholarship to attend the Art Students League where she took classes with John Sloan and Maurice Sterne. In 1926 and 1928 Gurr participated in group shows at the Whitney Studio Club in Greenwich Village and in 1928 she also participated in the 12th annual exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists at the Waldorf Roof in New York. (Reviewing this show, Helen Appleton Read, the critic for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, said "I made three discoveries on my first visit, Thomas Nagel, Eugenie McEvoy and Lena Gurr with two figure compositions which have something of Marie Laurencin or Helene Perdriat quality of naive sophistication.") The Waldorf Roof was a set of rooms on the top floor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, one of which had glass sides and a glass roof. The rooms were used for concerts, dances, benefits, and exhibitions.From 1929 to 1931 Gurr took a leave of absence from her teaching position to travel in France with Joseph Biel, an artist whom she had met while studying at the Art Students League. They spent time in Nice and Mentone but mainly in Paris. During the early months of 1931, while she was still abroad, her work appeared in group exhibitions held at the R. H. Macy department store and the Opportunity Gallery (opened by Gifford Beal). In 1932 she participated in three shows: a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, an annual exhibition of the New York Society of Women Artists, ( Its first president was Marguerite Zorach. Founding members included Agnes Weinrich, Anne Goldthwaite...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Panel
- Salutations, Architectural Abstract Scene, Cultural and Spiritual CommentaryLocated in Doylestown, PA"Salutations" is a 12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas painting by American modernist and surrealist, female artist Peter Miller. The work is painted in a vibrant color palette. The painti...Category
1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Ways To Browse
1950 Fashion Sketches
Vintage Green Depression
Picasso Poster 1950s
Matisse Print Dancer
Tiffany Locations
Tiffany Location
No Post No Bills
Head Of A Woman Picasso
Notre Dame Paris 1950s
Polish War Poster
Public Health Posters
Dior So Real Blue
New York State Travel Poster
Picasso Original Vintage Posters
New Orleans Poster
Duncan Grant
Polished Cotton Dresses
Purple Barn