"Nude and Unicorn, " Brilliant and Important Art Deco Painting by Matulka, 1944

This brilliant Surrealist composition, with the stylization and exaggerated plant forms of Art Deco, was painted by Jan Matulka in 1944. Both Surrealism and "Moderne" decorative arts thrived in the 1940s, and here the artist draws from both styles. Matulka was born in Prague and came to America as a young man, and trained here and in Paris, where he became exposed to Cubism. He exhibited in New York, created illustrations for New Masses which advanced the interest of American workers...

This stylized and richly-colored, almost cinematic, depiction of a nude Toltec male youth by John Garth shows the figure holding a knife and chalice, hinting at human sacrifice, stan...

Painted by Eduard Buk Ulreich, who contributed a set of murals to Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center in New York, as well as WPA murals across the nation, this beautiful dep...

Painted in a kaleidoscopic array of brilliant colors -- tangerine, emerald green, scarlet, deep sky blue and black -- this Cubist work depicts a nude female figure and a parrot sitting on a circular perch, surrounded by a crazy quilt of patterns. The artist -- Joseph Popczyk -- was known for his vivid palette and love of Cubism, and in this case the chevrons and wavy patterns of Art Deco can...

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...

Painted by Dunbar Beck, one of America's most accomplished and successful muralists, this painting of a half-nude man floating over a succession of dancing couples below was one of a...

Oil on canvas painting signed Hilgers bottom right. 1930s, depicting a young woman naked kind of Olympia in the Art Deco style.

The painter Emil Fiala (8.9.1896 Prossnitz - Mähren Czech Republic - Dec. 1960 Vienna) studied at the Viennese Academy by Franz Rumpler, August Eisenmenger, Julius Schmid, Christian ...

Art Deco Nude by John Montroue, signed in lower right corner and reverse reads - "Grace" Air brush technique by John Montroue, 8/70. Dramatic silhouette of a female nude, cubist/mode...

A couple's love scene. A pastel and charcoal painting on paper. 1949 ‘Maria Adelaide de Lima Cruz’ signed and with a dedication by the Artist. Mounted in frame with glass. Maria A...

Art Deco pastel painting nudes in a landscape by Georges Lavergne. Signed and dated 1936. Ink, crayon and pastel on paper. France. Contemporary frame. Size: H. 68 cm. x L. 89.5 c...

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...