"Man with Wavy Hair, " 1930s Portrait in Pastel, Sanguine by Porter Woodruff

This sensitive depiction of St. Sebastian, pierced by a myriad of arrows but not yet expired, was painted by Porter Woodruff in a gorgeous combination of watercolor, gouache and ink. The saint is shown against an Ionic column, with a dark and turbulent sky behind that is punctuated by a row of poplars pointing skyward. Woodruff was best known for his paintings and illustrations for Vogue magazine -- one of five American fashion illustrators who worked for the magazine -- as well as House & Garden. Woodruff was born in Tennessee, but spent much of his creative life in Paris and Tunisia, where he lived with Georges Sébastian, an important Hungarian-born, French orchestra...

Beautifully realized in sanguine, a ruddy chalk, this view of a North African cityscape dominated by a wide, tumultuous sky and a mosque with a large, low dome and high minaret, was drawn by Misha Reznikoff, a Ukranian-American artist. Reznikoff studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and later in Europe where he became close friends with Arshile Gorky, a friendship that lasted a lifetime. Later he taught at the Art Students League and The New School for Social Research, was active in the WPA and socialized with Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Ad Reinhardt, Milton Avery...

Beautifully and sensitively drawn by Paul Ulen, this single sheet includes two images of a half-nude male figure, seated and reclining, wearing loose worker pants and sporting a fashionable 1930s haircut. In each case, the figure's strong, muscular body is expressed in tones of light and shadow, confidently drawn in pencil. The gridded background suggests that the figures were studies for a larger wall mural, and indeed, a major mural-esque painting by Ulen, "Bricklayer at Rest," perhaps depicting the same model, is also available from Renaissance Man Antiques...

This strong and compelling portrait of a young man with chiselled features was drawn by Leon Kroll, WPA muralist and accomplished painter who normally favoured female subjects. Kroll studied under John...

Although there is no evidence that Paul Cadmus knew Robert F. Kennedy, this portrait of a handsome, youthful man with blue eyes and a thick head of hair suggests that the artist admi...

Evidence of Western Europe's fascination with Native American culture, dress and way of life for over a century, this vivid drawing uses watercolor, gouache and crayon to capture a g...

Pastel portrait on paper of woman in Georgian era pale pink dress and bonnet with yellow ribbons. Unsigned, circa 1930's. Unframed, displayed mounted o...

Signed lower left, C Catlin. Oil crayon (pastel) on paper, circa 1930. The artist has depicted a working class crowd in pronounced profile. Framing treatment consists of simple gi...

American intra-war artist and illustrator Porter Woodruff (1894-1959). Arabian Horse scene, oil and gold leaf on board with chalky gouache. Signed Woodruff on lower right of painting. Signature somewhat obscured by frame. His Art Deco-influenced paintings are highly decorative and appealing, the compositions complex and well-thought out. The gold leaf background is decorative and elegant. His are rare Modernist paintings by an artist who found himself at the very heart of design, fashion and celebrity life in the early part of the century. Label at back for Pitt & Scott Ltd London - well known for its expertise in handling antiques, works of art and fragile artefacts. Dimensions: 11.5"h x 15.5"w (sight) 12.5"h x 17.5"w (frame) Porter Woodruff, was an illustrator artist and contributor to Vogue Magazine and Home & Garden (including covers for both). He was one of five artists stationed in Paris in 1923 for Vogue. Woodruff spent considerable time in Tunisia, North Africa, residing with his romantic partner, Romanian socialite George Sebastian. Sebastian owned a lavish, coastal property in then-trendy Hammamet, near Tunis on the Mediterranean. Sebastian fell in love with the simple beauty of the quiet fishing port of Hammamet and was the first of the international set of the times to build his villa there. He started a trend that has never ceased. Frank Lloyd Wright is said to have claimed Dar Sebastian to be ”the most beautiful house I have ever seen”. American and European intelligentsia and upper-crust were attracted to the area between the wars. The artists Cocteau, Elsa Schiaparelli, Paul Klee, Andre Gide, the Sitwells, and Cecil Beaton enjoyed visiting, partying, and undertaking what someone once described as indulging the opportunity to do 'some rather elaborate sinning'. Other visitors included Art Deco designer Jean-Michel Frank, Wallis Simpson, Somerset Maugham, and Greta Garbo, among others. The onset of war disrupted this scene and it never truly regained its former glory. Dar Sebastian was requisitioned by the 'Desert Fox', German General, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel...

Portrait of a woman with dark hair on paper. Drawn using pastel chalk, the subject of this piece is a woman with a bouffant with short dark brown hair gazing at the artist. She wears a high neck purple top...

A fantastic vintage Boho pencil sketch. A stunning rendering of a nude male in a reclining pose. Beautiful matted and framed. Acquired from a Palm Beach collector.

This beautiful pastel portrait was recently acquired from a London, England estate and it dates to the late 1920s. The artist Robert Louis Raymond Duflos was known for his pastel por...