20th Century Figurative Paintings

Guinovart. Thoughtful man. black and white. drawing on cardboard Josep Guinovart i Bertran (Barcelona 1927-2007) was a painter, draftsman and engraver from Catalonia, Spain. After ...

Pointe du Vert-Galant Paris by Paulémile Pissarro (1884-1972) Oil on canvas 46 x 65 cm (18 ¹/₈ x 25 ⁵/₈ inches) Signed lower right, Paulémile Pissarro Executed circa 1925 This work ...

The Huntsman English School, mid 20th century (painted in an earlier style) oil on board, framed framed: 17 x 21 inches board : 13 x 16 inches provenance: private collection, UK cond...

A beautiful oil on canvas painting by the French artist, Te Pencke. Pencke was a Parisian painter known for his colorful cityscapes depicting the times of his generation. His work is...

Posed Lady by Louise Alix (French, 1888-1980) *see notes below provenance stamp to the back pencil drawing on artist paper, unframed measures: 10 high by 8.25 inches wide condition:...

This artwork titled "Fleurist A Hotel Cler, Paris" 1990, is an oil painting on canvas by noted American artist Gregory Sievers, b.1951. It is signed at the lower right corner by the ...

This artwork titled "Ballroom" c.1990 in an oil painting on canvas by noted German artist Christian Jereczec, 1935-2013. It is signed at the lower right corner by the artist. The art...

"The Power (People)" 1970  Olaf Karlsen (b. 1947) Oil on canvas Signed front and back. 28 1/4 x 40 inches (frame) Olaf Karlsen  has managed to remain a m...

French Landscape signed by Louise Alix (French, 1888-1980) *see notes below provenance stamp to the back watercolour painting on artist paper, unframed measures: 12 high by 9 inche...

Landscape "Provencal Village" Provencal landscape from Henri Farré. According to Wikipedia, Henri Farré was a painter and aviator during WWI. Born in the South of France (Foix), he joined France while he was in Buenos Aires during the mobilization. He became an official Army painter specializing in aeronautical painting. According to Richard Norton Gallery, "Farre flew in the cockpits along with the pilots of the famed Lafayette Escadrille, sketching the air battles as they were taking place. After the battles, Farre created finished, larger oil paintings based on these dogfight sketches. He was given the title of "Observateur Bombardier au Groupe d'Escadreille de Bombardment" by the French government and received the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre from France for his war efforts. Farre wrote a book of his exploits called "Sky Fighters of France" in 1919. He exhibited at the Paris Salons and won a gold medal at the Salon des Artists Francais in 1934. In 1918, a large collection of Farre's aerial combat paintings was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago to benefit the children of the French aviators killed in action. The exhibition received a nationwide audience, traveling to major cities such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Laurance Rockefeller, the noted philanthropist and businessman, purchased approximately 75 of these paintings, which are today in the Collection of the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Farre spent time in the U.S. before the Great War and returned to France upon the outbreak of war. After WWI, he settled in Chicago and maried an heiress, who was a 'modiste' (couturier), Marguerite Grassino. Farre lived and painted in Chicago until his death in 1934. " Structural Analysis : Inside a street view of a Provencal Village with flat roofs. On the foreground, a street is crossing the scene. It is surrounding by ocher-colored buildings with orange awnings. On the right side of the painting, a massive vegetation hangs over a porch. In the background, there is a cloudy bluish sky. Concerning the structure, the painter used thick paints to create texture. Thus, light movement creates new system of shadow and lights on the painting. It's also a geometrical painting, composed with triangular shapes.It seems very basic with triangle overlay/ superposition. Color analysis: The painter used complementary colors blue of the sky and orange of the awnings, when placed side by side, each heightens the visual intensity of the other. Technique: oil on canvas 54x65 cm / 21.3x25.6 inch with gold frame: 71x82,5cm / 28 x 32.5 inch Thickness: 3,5cm It is signed Henri Farré. There is no date mentioned on the artwork but I can guess that the artwork is after WWI. He started to use thick painting for the representation of landscape or cityscape (see Chicago paintings) Condition : Good condition - No cracks, no discoloration, no missing parts of paint. There are 2 restorations. It warps or curls in the corners, probably need to be tense again. (see picture...

This sweet and sentimental painting by Charles Shaw depicts an idyllic scene of a mother watching her children play in a field. One of the children holds up a flower he found to his ...

Nude Figures by Louise Alix (French, 1888-1980) *see notes below provenance stamp to the back pencil drawing on artist paper, unframed measures: 10 high by 8.25 inches wide conditio...

Female Figures by Louise Alix (French, 1888-1980) *see notes below provenance stamp to the back pencil drawing on artist paper, unframed measures: 10 high by 8 inches wide condition...

Impressive American impressionist beach scene painting. Oil on board. Framed. Signed.

Nude Figure by Louise Alix (French, 1888-1980) *see notes below provenance stamp to the back pencil drawing on artist paper, unframed measures: 10 high by 8 inches wide condition: o...

This artwork titled "Place de la Madeleine, Paris" is an oil on canvas by noted American artist Gregory Sievers, b.1951. It is signed and dated at the lower right corner by the artis...

Dramatic, monumental oil painting laid to Masonite by George Matthews Harding (1882-1959). Painter, illustrator and muralist, Harding was born in Philadelphia. He studied at the Pyle...

Seascape in oil. Unsigned. Presented in a wooden frame with internal slip. Inscribed by the artist's hand verso. On panel.

Paul Riba (American, 1912-1977) Driftwood and Fish Oil on panel Signed lower right 9.25 x 23.5 inches 14 x 28.25 inches, framed Paul Riba was a painter of Magic Realism. He explore...

"Girl with Flowerpot" is a portrait painting by Philadelphia born Expressionist painter Bernard Harmon. The 40" x 36" oil on board portrait is painted in a vibrant color palette. The...

Paul Riba (American, 1912-1977) Untitled Oil on panel Signed lower right 30 x 18 inches 39.25 x 27.25 inches, framed Paul Riba was a painter of Magic Realism. He explored the unrea...

Mediterranean landscape with sailing boat gliding through turquoise waters. A stretching coastline splits the scene with mountains dominating the top half of the canvas. The oil has ...

Signed with initials H. H. Dated 12th December 1903. On canvas.

Jozef Popczyk Cubist Art Deco Painting Music Group oil on canvas. Joseph Popczyk Polish artist known for his vivid palette and love of Cubism, and in ...

A whimsical oil painting depicting a Street Scene in Venice of people going about their day by Luigi Cagliani. As an Italian Impressionist artist, most of Cagliani's works were produ...

French Figures signed by Louise Alix (French, 1888-1980) *see notes below provenance stamp to the back watercolour painting on artist paper, unframed measures: 10.75 high by 7.25 in...

Signed to the lower left. Presented in a decorative gilt-effect frame with fine running patterns. On canvas on stretchers.

Signed to the lower left. Presented in a gilt frame. On board.

Joaquin Terruella Matilla (1891-1957) - Flamenco - Oil board Oil measures 35x39 cm. Frame measures 40x44 cm. Joaquim Terruella Matilla (1891 - 1957) Joaquim Terruella Matilla, neph...

Impressionist scene in oil. French buildings and boats by a river. Illegibly signed to the lower right. On canvas on stretchers.

Signed to the lower right. Presented in a deep wooden frame. On panel.

woman. original figurative academician drawing painting. FRAMED Barcelona, 1904 - Barcelona, 1965 It was formed in Buenos Aires, in the Circle of San Lucas of Barcelona and the FAD...

Ronald Ossory Dunlop (1894-1973), estuary scene in oil. Signed lower right. Presented in a stunning oak frame with internal gilt slip. Inscribed to the reverse by a later hand.' R. O...

Illegibly signed. On canvas on stretchers.

Signed to the lower right with initials. Presented in a gilt frame. On canvas.

A wonderful mid-century oil by the British artist Harold Riding RCA, depicting moored fishing boats at Scarborough Docks. Signed by the artist to the lower left. On canvas on stretch...

Chris Meadows (1863-1947) - original oil painting. Interior scene with crofter seated by a spinning wheel. Signed to the lower left. Well presented in an ornate gilt-effect frame wit...

Impressionist scene in oil. Unsigned. On canvas on stretchers.

Older, realistic portrait of an older Jewish shtetl tailor by Polish artist. Here the artist conveys a sense of quiet grandeur through the eyes of his subject and the way it's render...

A highly unusual, surreal scene depicting the crucifixion of Christ with tearing head and skeletal Bird. Signed and dated (1973) to the lower right. On canvas on stretchers.

Oil painting of a study of "Blue Boy" standing with his hat in his left hand by Mary Welch (American, 1875-1967). Circa 1918. Signed "M. Welch" lower left and gifted circa "1955" on verso. Image: 6"L x 9"H. Mary Welch, born 10 years after the end of the Civil War, was a woman ahead of her time. She signed her paintings M. Welch, hoping that potential buyers wouldn't discover she was a woman. More often than not, when they learned her sex, art dealers lost interest. The Hutchinson artist never married, never had children. But when she died in 1967, she left an impressive body of paintings, many of them familiar Kansas landscapes...

Maurice Asselin (1882-1947) Still life with fruits Signed lower left Oil on cardboard In good condition 15.8 x 21.5 cm Framed : 25 x 31.5 cm (a hole as visible on the photographs ...

Christening signed by Louise Alix (French, 1888-1980) *see notes below provenance stamp to the back watercolour painting on artist paper, unframed measures: 10.5 high by 7.5 inches ...

Dark Sketch signed by Louise Alix (French, 1888-1980) *see notes below provenance stamp to the back black pastel drawing on artist paper, unframed measures: 10 high by 8.25 inches w...

Gladiator. Bronze, 33 x 30 x 15 cm

French painter (dated 1919) - Still life with vase of roses. 117 x 90 cm. Antique oil painting on canvas, without frame. - Work signed and dated bottom right: “P. Daudenarde 1919”...

David Hare Cronus Waiting, 1990 Acrylic on linen 72 x 42 inches “Freedom is what we want,” David Hare boldly stated in 1965, but then he added the caveat, “and what we are most afraid of.” No one could accuse David Hare of possessing such fear. Blithely unconcerned with the critics’ judgments, Hare flitted through most of the major art developments of the mid-twentieth century in the United States. He changed mediums several times; just when his fame as a sculptor had reached its apogee about 1960, he switched over to painting. Yet he remained attached to surrealism long after it had fallen out of official favor. “I can’t change what I do in order to fit what would make me popular,” he said. “Not because of moral reasons, but just because I can’t do it; I’m not interested in it.” Hare was born in New York City in 1917; his family was both wealthy and familiar with the world of modern art. Meredith (1870-1932), his father, was a prominent corporate attorney. His mother, Elizabeth Sage Goodwin (1878-1948) was an art collector, a financial backer of the 1913 Armory Show, and a friend of artists such as Constantin Brancusi, Walt Kuhn, and Marcel Duchamp. In the 1920s, the entire family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and later to Colorado Springs, in the hope that the change in altitude and climate would help to heal Meredith’s tuberculosis. In Colorado Springs, Elizabeth founded the Fountain Valley School where David attended high school after his father died in 1932. In the western United States, Hare developed a fascination for kachina dolls and other aspects of Native American culture that would become a recurring source of inspiration in his career. After high school, Hare briefly attended Bard College (1936-37) in Annandale-on-Hudson. At a loss as to what to do next, he parlayed his mother’s contacts into opening a commercial photography studio and began dabbling in color photography, still a rarity at the time [Kodachrome was introduced in 1935]. At age 22, Hare had his first solo exhibition at Walker Gallery in New York City; his 30 color photographs included one of President Franklin Roosevelt. As a photographer, Hare experimented with an automatist technique called “heatage” (or “melted negatives”) in which he heated the negative in order to distort the image. Hare described them as “antagonisms of matter.” The final products were usually abstractions tending towards surrealism and similar to processes used by Man Ray, Raoul Ubac, and Wolfgang Paalen. In 1940, Hare moved to Roxbury, CT, where he fraternized with neighboring artists such as Alexander Calder and Arshile Gorky, as well as Yves Tanguy who was married to Hare’s cousin Kay Sage, and the art dealer Julian Levy. The same year, Hare received a commission from the American Museum of Natural History to document the Pueblo Indians. He traveled to Santa Fe and, for several months, he took portrait photographs of members of the Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni tribes that were published in book form in 1941. World War II turned Hare’s life upside down. He became a conduit in the exchange of artistic and intellectual ideas between U.S. artists and the surrealist émigrés fleeing Europe. In 1942, Hare befriended Andre Breton, the principal theorist of surrealism. When Breton wanted to publish a magazine to promote the movement in the United States, he could not serve as an editor because he was a foreign national. Instead, Breton selected Hare to edit the journal, entitled VVV [shorth for “Victory, Victory, Victory”], which ran for four issues (the second and third issues were printed as a single volume) from June 1942 to February 1944. Each edition of VVV focused on “poetry, plastic arts, anthropology, sociology, (and) psychology,” and was extensively illustrated by surrealist artists including Giorgio de Chirico, Roberto Matta, and Yves Tanguy; Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp served as editorial advisors. At the suggestion of Jacqueline Lamba...

HAROLD DEARDEN (BRITISH, 1888-1962) THE WINDOW CLEANERS Oil on canvas Signed `H DEARDEN’ (lower left) 30 x 30 in. (76.3 x 76.3 cm.) Dearden studied at Rochdale School of Art under H...

Farm Landscape with Lush Green Fields & Summer Sky in the English Countryside Art measures 16.75 x 9.5 inches Frame measures 22 x 15 inches

Male portrait from the Art Nouveau era. An enigmatic and magnetic image of the man, on whose face there is just a hint of a smile. Technique: oil on canvas. Relined. In good conditio...

Gustavo Pisani (Naples, 1877 - 1948) was an Italian painter and illustrator of the Neapolitan school. Gustavo Pisani studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples under Filippo Pali...

Work on canvas mounted on cardboard

Birth of the Lamb. Cardboard, oil, 65x60 cm Aleksandr Rodin (1922-2001) Painter Born in a family of farmers. Wife Rasma Lace - art scholar. Studied at the Stalingrad School of Art, ...

Josine Vignon (French 1922-2022) ...

FRANCISCO BORES Spanish, 1898 - 1972 SANS TITRE signed and dated "Borès 42" (lower left) oil on panel 13-3/4 x 10-5/8 inches (35 x 27 cm.) framed: 19 x 15-3/4 inches (48 x 40 cm.) B...

Grzegorz Radecki is a Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, Poland. Painter and graphic artist, born in 1961 in Ostróda. Since 1981 he has been living and working in the...

Early work was impressionistic and hard abstract. Carola later developed a more mature way of working in a colourful exploration of the subject. Colour was her main interest and she...

Ann Brockman (1895–1943) was an American artist who achieved success as a figurative painter following a successful career as an illustrator. Born in California, she spent her childhood in the American Far West and, upon marrying the artist William C. McNulty, relocated to Manhattan at the age of 18 in 1914. She took classes at the Art Students League where her teachers included two realist artists of the Ashcan School, George Luks and John Sloan. Her career as an illustrator began in 1919 with cover art for four issues of a fiction monthly called Live Stories. She continued providing cover art and illustrations for popular magazines and books until 1930 when she transitioned from illustrator to professional artist. From that year until her death in 1943, she took part regularly in group and solo exhibitions, receiving a growing amount of critical recognition and praise. In 1939 she told an interviewer that making money as an illustrator was so easy that it "almost spoiled [her] chances of ever being an artist."[1] In reviewing a solo exhibition of her work in 1939, the artist and critic A.Z Kruse wrote: "She paints and composes with a thorough understanding of form and without the slightest hesitancy about anatomical structure. Add to this a magnificent sense of proportion, and impeccable feeling for color and an unmistakable knowledge of what it takes to balance the elements of good pictorial composition and you have a typical Ann Brockman canvas."[2] Early life and training Brockman was born in Northern California in 1895 and spent much of her youth in nearby Oregon, Washington, and Utah.[1][3] She met the artist William C. McNulty in Seattle where he was employed as an editorial cartoonist. They married in March 1914 and promptly moved to Manhattan where he worked as a freelance illustrator.[4][5] At the time of their marriage, Brockman was 18 years old.[6] Over the next few years, her career generally followed that path that her husband had previously taken. His art training had been at the Art Students League beginning in 1908; she began her training there after moving to New York in 1914.[1] After an early career as an editorial cartoonist, he freelanced as a magazine and book illustrator beginning in 1914; she began her career as a magazine and book illustrator in 1919.[7] He embarked on a teaching career in the early 1930s and not long after, she began giving art instruction.[8][9] While they both adhered to the realist tradition in art, their usual subjects were different. His prominently depicted urban cityscapes in the social realist whereas hers generally focused on rural landscapes. He was best known for his etchings and she for her oils and watercolors.[8][10] Brockman returned to the Art Students League in 1926 to take individual instruction for a month at a time from George Luks and John Sloan.[1] Despite their help, one critic said McNulty's "sympathetic encouragement and guidance" was more important to her development as a professional artist.[11] Career in art In the course of her career as illustrator, Brockman would sometimes paint portraits of celebrities before drawing them, as for example in 1923 when she painted the French actress Andrée Lafayette who had traveled to New York to play title role in a film called Trilby.[12] She would also sometimes accept commissions to make portrait paintings and in 1929 painted two Scottish terriers on one such commission.[13] During this time, she also produced landscapes. In 1924 she displayed a New England village street scene painting in the Second Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings in the J. Wanamaker Gallery of Modern Decorative Art.[14] Available sources show no further exhibitions until in 1930 a critic for the Boston Globe described one of her portraits as "well done" in a review of a Rockport Art Association exhibition held that summer.[15] Between 1931 and her death in 1943, Brockman participated in over thirty group exhibitions and five solos.[note 1] Her paintings appeared in shows of the artists' associations to which she belonged, including the Rockport Art Association, Salons of America, Society of Independent Artists, and National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.[17][19]Between 1932 and 1935, her paintings appeared frequently in New York's Macbeth Gallery.[20][23][25][27] She won an award for a painting she showed at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1940.[41] In 1942, the Whitney Museum bought one of the paintings she showed in its Biennial of that year.[10] Critical praise for her work steadily increased during the decade that ended with her untimely death in 1943. In 1932, her painting called "The Camera Man" was called "a clever piece of illustration."[21] Three years later, a painting called "Small Town" gave a critic "the impression of freshness, honesty, and skill".[29] In 1938, a critic described her "Folly Cove" as "masterful" and said "Pigeon Hill Picnic" was "sustained by excellence of execution".[48] At that time, Howard Devree of the New York Times saw "evidence of gathering powers" in her work and wrote "she imparts a dramatic feeling to landscape. She even manages this time to do trees touched by Autumn tints without calendar effect, which is no small praise."[51] Three years later, a Times critic reported Brockman had "set herself a new high" in the watercolors she presented,[52] and another critic said the gallery where she was showing had not "for some time" shown "so outstanding a solo exhibitor as Ann Brockman."[2] Shortly before her death, a critic for Art News maintained that she was "one of America's most talented women painters".[46] After she had died, a critic said Brockman's paintings "displayed real power", adding that she was "highly rated among the nation's professional artists" and was known to give "aid and encouragement, always with a smile," both artists and to her students.[10] in reviewing the memorial exhibition at the Kraushaar Galleries held in 1945, reviewers wrote about the strength and vibrancy of her personality, the quality of her painting ("every bit as good, possibly better than people had thought"),[53] called her "one of the best of our twentieth century women painters", and credited "her sense of the vividness of life" as a contributor to "the unusual breadth that is so characteristic of her work.[11] One noted that her work was "widely recognized throughout the country" and could be found in the collections of prominent museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago.[54] Writing in the Times, Devree wrote, "even those who had followed the steady growth of this artist for more than a decade, each successive show being at once an evidence of new achievement and an augury of still better work to come, may well be surprised at the combined impact of the selected paintings in the present showing,"[55] and writing in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, A.Z Kruse said she had made "extraorginary accomplishments", painted with "inordinate distinction" showing a "lyrical majesty," and possessed "a keen esthetic sense which did not deviate from truth."[54] Artistic style (1) Ann Brockman, undated drawing, black chalk on paper, 18 x 22 inches (2) Ann Brockman, High School Picnic, about 1935, oil on canvas, 34 1/4 x 44 1/4 inches (3) Ann Brockman, untitled landscape, about 1943, watercolor and pencil on paper, 15 1/4 x 22 1/2 inches (4) Ann Brockman, North Coast, undated watercolor, 21 1/2 x 30 inches (5) Ann Brockman, On the Beach, 1942, watercolor on paper, 16 1/2 x 20 inches (6) Ann Brockman, Lot's Wife, 1942, oil on canvas, 46 x 35 inches (7) Ann Brockman, New York Harbor, 1934, watercolor on paper, 13 1/2 x 19 1/4 inches (8) Ann Brockman, Youth, 1942, oil on board, 13 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches Brockman was a figurative painter whose main subjects were rural landscapes and small-town and coastal scenes. She worked in oils and watercolors, becoming better known for the latter late in her career. Most of her paintings were relatively small. Although she made figure pieces infrequently, the nudes and circus and Biblical scenes she painted were seen to be among her best works. In 1938, Howard Devree wrote: "Her gray-day marines and coast scenes are familiar to gallery goers and are favorites with her fellow artists. Her figure pieces have attained a sculptural quality without losing warmth or taking on stiffness. One spirited circus incident of equestriennes about to enter the big tent compares not unfavorably with many of the similar pictures by a long line of painters who have been fascinated by the theme. She imparts a dramatic feeling to landscape. She even manages this time to do trees touched by Autumn tints without calendar effect, which is no small praise."[51] Similarly, a critic for Art Digest wrote that year: "Fluently and virilely painted, [her] canvases suggest a close affinity between nature and humans. The artist takes her subjects out in the open where they may picnic or bathe with space and air about them. A fast tempo is felt in the compositions of restless horses and nimble entertainers busily alert for the coming performance. Miss Brockman is also interested in portraying frightened groups of people, hurrying to safety or standing half-clad in the lowering storm light."[56] Her palette ranged from vivid colors in bright sunlight to somber ones in the overcast skies of stormy weather. Of the former, one critic spoke of the rich colors and "sun-drenched rocks" of her coastal scenes and another of her "summery landscapes of coves and picnics."[11][50] Of the latter, Howard Devree said she "painted so many moody Maine coast vignettes of lowering skies and uneasy seas that artists have been heard to refer to an effect as 'an Ann Brockman day'".[57] Brockman's handling of Biblical subjects can be seen in the oil called "Lot's Wife", shown above, Image No. 6. Her watercolor called "On the Beach" and her oil portrait called "Youth" may both indicate the "sculptural quality" that Devree said was typical of her figure pieces (Image No. 8, above). An example of Brockman's bright palette in a typical summer theme is the oil painting called "High School Picnic" shown above, Image No. 2. Next to it is a painting, an untitled landscape of about 1943 whose medium, watercolor on paper, shows off the sunny palette she often used (Image No. 3). Among the darkest of her works was an untitled 1942 drawing she made in black chalk (shown above, Image No. 1). In a book called Drawings by American Artists (1947), the artist and art editor Norman Kent noted that this study influenced her painting through its use of "forms" that were "elastic" and suggested "color". He said its "massing of dark and light" created "a definite mood" that was "impressionistic" and had "the strength of a man's work".[58] Brockman's undated watercolor called "North Coast" (shown above, Image No. 4) is an example of the paintings to which Kent referred. Illustrator (9) Ann Brockman, cover, March 12, 1917, Every Week magazine (10) Illustration of an article, "The Taking of a Salient" by Henry Russell...