Paul Maxwell

Very Early 1950s Abstract Texas Desert Landscape

1950s

Modern grey and white geometric abstract leaf pattern composition with orange accents by textile designer John Little. The work was created as a proposed design for a wallpaper and features the original color codes in the front lower left corner. Currently hung in a solid black frame with a large white margin. Dimensions Without Frame: H 27.13 in. x W 31.5 in. Artist Biography: A painter and textile designer, John Little is best known for gestural works filled with boldly explosive color that reflect the influences of his teacher Hans Hofmann and for his involvement in the Abstract Expressionist movement in East Hampton, where he moved in the late 1940s. In East Hampton Little congregated with Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and the other artists who were the leading innovators in the New York School. John Little was born in Sanford, Alabama. He left home at the age of fourteen to become an artist, and moved to Buffalo, New York, in 1923. After spending a year working as a stevedore on the docks to save money, he enrolled at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and developed an interest in singing. In 1927 he moved to New York City where he continued his vocal work and studied operatic literature. He also became involved in textile design, opening his own store in 1920, called John Little Studios: Fabric and Wallpaper Design. He ran the store until 1950. In 1933 John Little resumed his painting studies at the Art Students League in New York under the guidance of George Grosz (1893-1959). The following year he made his first visit to East Hampton, Long Island, which he would eventually call home. Later in the decade, he traveled to Paris where he became familiar with European modernism. On his return to America, he taught textile design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He hired Josephine Watkins to work for him; she later became his wife. Little's textile store and teaching job gave him a financial security that was rare during the Depression, and he never found it necessary to find employment with the Works Progress Administration. At the end of the decade, John Little studied with Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) in New York and Provincetown. Little was greatly influenced by Hofmann, particularly by his views on color theory. In 1942 John Little joined the Navy as an aerial photographer. In the late 1940s he purchased a rundown house on Three Mile Harbor...

Abstract watercolor painting of outer space. Gustave Alhadeff did a series of these space works for a poster design for the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The work is signed by the artist in the bottom corner. The painting is not currently framed. Artist Biography: Born in the Belgian Congo in 1940, Gustave Alhadeff won his first award at the annual art show in Elisabethville, at age 13. His formal art education began with Mr. Marcel Pire (Prix de Rome). He continued his studies at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, with Mr. Van Nesche in Cape Town, South Africa from 1956 to 1957. He was awarded a scholarship from the Art Academy to continue his studies with Mr.Creytens at the "Institute National Superieur des Beaux Arts" in Anvers, Belgium. The following year he entered the class of Mr. Leon Devos...

Modern abstract watercolor painting with blue and grey tones. The artist sketched out crosses within the blue abstract landscape. The piece is signed by the artist. It is framed in a silver metal frame with a white matte. Dimensions without Frame: H 25 in x W 33 in. Artist Biography: Peter Keefer...

Earth tonal abstract expressionist painting was done in watercolor. The work is signed by the artist in the bottom corner. It is framed in a gold frame with a tan matte. Dimensions w...

Whimsical modern abstract painting by renowned artist Lamar Briggs. Circa 1960s. Painting features soft floral pink and purple hues. Dimensions without frame: H 31 in. x W 22.5 ...

Elegant dining room scene of a River Oaks Houston, Texas home. The piece is mainly yellow and orange tones. The piece is framed in a gold frame with tan mat...

A fine mixed media plien air painting by Gradwell. The Amalfi coast, Italy . An evening study in low light. mixed media on paper: 34cmx 54cm Glazed gallery frame: 52cm x 73cm

In 1955, as he was residing at the Château de Chassy in the Morvan for two years, Balthus created a large painting entitled "Getting up". Balthus was inspired for this painting by t...

'French Boy in Bloomers', gouache on art paper (circa 1960s-70s), by Raymond Debiève. A young boy emerges from a beach cabana wearing a bloomer bathing costume that was still in use ...

John Emanuel embarking on a series of works using new life models. Unusual for a artist who has over the last 40 years only had 3 previous sitters. Now working with Sarah Jane and Ro...

'Reclining Nude en Plein Aire', gouache on art paper, by Raymond Debiève (circa 1960s). The reclining figure is one of the most popular poses in art history...

Watercolor painting of Shul interior in Tzfas, Safed Israel. MORDECHAI AVNIEL Minsk, Belarus, b. 1900, d. 1989 Mordecai Dickstein (later Avniel) was born in 1900 in Minsk, present-day Belarus. He studied fine arts in Yekaterinburg, Russia (1913–19) and at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem (1923). Avniel immigrated to Palestine in 1921 where he first worked as a pioneer in citrus plantations near Petah Tikva. In 1923, at the urging of Boris Schatz, he went to Jerusalem to further his art studies at Bezalel. He later taught painting and sculpture at the school, and served a term as director of the Small Sculpture Section of the Sculpture Department (1924–28). From 1935 on, Avniel lived in Haifa. Avniel was also a lawyer and a founding partner of the Haifa firm Avniel, Salomon & Company. Avniel regularly showed his work in group exhibitions of the Painters and Sculptors' Association of Israel. He was awarded the Herman Struck Prize (1952), Tenth Anniversary Prize for Watercolours, Ramat Gan (1958), Histadrut Prize (1961), and First Prize Haifa Municipality (1977). He represented Israel at the 1958 Venice Biennale and the 1962 International Art Seminar at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Avniel was a member of the Artists' Colony in Safed and maintained a studio on Mount Carmel. Mordechai Avniel is best known for his deft and singular landscape work. His works are held in numerous museums and collections both in Israel and abroad, including the Metropolitan Museum, New York and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA. Avniel's manipulations of light and colour share much with those of compatriot artists Shimshon Holzman and Joseph Kossonogi. Education 1913-19 Art School of Katrinburg, Russia 1923 Bezalel School of Art, Jerusalem Selected exhibitions: 2004: Our Landscape: Notes on Landscape Painting in Israel, University of Haifa Art Gallery, Haifa (online catalogue) 1965: Mordechai Avniel Retrospective, Haifa Municipality Museum of Modern Art, Haifa 1964: Galerie Synthèse, Paris 1962: New York University, New York 1961: Rina Gallery of Modern Art, Jerusalem The Autumn Exhibition Rina Gallery, Jerusalem Artists: Dedi Ben Shaul...