"Attack of the Cobra, " Large Art Deco Painting, France, 1930s

An extraordinary example of Art Deco painting with allegorical meaning -- like so many murals painted in the 1920s and 1930s -- this large work by William L'Engle depicts five nude male figures laboring in the field, symbolizing life in Provincetown, Massachusetts. A Black male figure in the foreground is planting crops, while two other figures in the distance are pulling a rope, perhaps alluding to fishing boats tied up at the dock, while another nude seems to be sinking into sleep beneath a pier -- all with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the background. L'Engle called this "The Five Josephs," perhaps referring to Joseph of Arimathea and other figures in the New Testament. William L'Engle was a towering figure in the Provincetown art colony, and was extremely well connected with America's artistic elite, starting with his trip to Europe as a young man with Waldo Pierce and George Biddle. Over time, William and his life Lucy became close to a wide range of important figures in painting, theater and the arts, including Charles Hawthorne, Eugene O'Neill, Gerrit Beneker, John Dos Passos, Edmund Wilson and Mary McCarthy, William and Marguerite Zorach, Edna St. Vincent-Millay, Charles Demuth, Childe Hassam, George Biddle, Edwin Dickinson...

Beautifully conceived, dramatically set and very finely painted, this gouache and ink painting by Willis R. Lohse is a paean to the hard work and nobility of the black farmer in America, hat in hand as he marvels at the beauty of the day. Full of lovely colors -- lemon yellow, cerulean and fresh green -- Lohse captures a lovely moment where the farmer pauses to look upward, amidst sprays of birch trees and expanses of rolling fields. Lohse was a German-American artist who is best known for his illustrations for fiction and fantasy books published between the 1920s and 1950s, including "The Boy Who Found the King," "Raff, the Jungle Bird...

One of the most beautiful and tender depictions of maternal love from the Art Deco period that we have ever seen, this richly-toned oil painting by Gino ...

The painter Iver Rose is best known for his work which brought attention to the plight of workers in Depression Era America. This painting of quarry workers in Rockport, Massachusett...

Full of color and drama and boldly demonstrating his mastery of watercolor this painting by Wilmot Heitland of a shirtless Dominican on the beach next to a wood hut is the finest we ...

This fantastic view of a great battle waged by a phalanx of nude male soldiers -- probably a scene from Sweden or France -- was painted by Nils Wedel, an important Swedish painter st...

Art Deco painting in oil on canvas illustrating a young nude woman, pensive, half lying down, in front and the face resting on her right hand. Her skin is clear and she wears a short hairstyle in the fashion of the 30s. A certain light emanates from this work which takes up a classic theme of Western art: the female nude. This Art Deco painting is not signed but can be linked to the work of the French...

1930s Dutch school of art abstract painting. Signed by artist STM. Newly framed art floating on linen backing. From a large collection of work.

1930s Dutch school of art abstract painting. Newly framed art floating on linen backing. From a large collection of work.

1930s Dutch school of art abstract painting. Signed by artist STM. Newly framed art floating on linen backing. From a large collection of work.

Stupendous pastel painting designed by Fried Pal in the 1930s,the theme of the nude in the Art Deco period was of important relevance,the author in this painting demonstrates great s...

This stunning painting was created by the French artist Paul Jouve (1866-1924) in the 1930's and depicts two parrots. Paul Jouve was an illustrator and sculptor who had a lifelong p...