James Meese

"The Dangerous Year (The Sunken Garden), " Cover Illustration, 1956

1956

Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Left Original cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, October 22, 1955. The Post described, “Mother is making rapid progress...

Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Left: Hughes Sight Size 25.00" x 23.00;" Framed 31.25" x 29.25" Original cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, November 11,...

Medium: Oil on Sculpted Composition Dimensions: 17.50" x 13.50" Signature: Signed Lower Left A Jerusalem Gate at night

Cover of The Saturday Evening Post, February 5, 1949 Label on back is Falter’s handwriting, his daughter said Curtis Publishing probably titled it “meeting the Date”. The Episcopal ...

Medium: Oil on Board Signature: Signed Lower Left Sight Size 26.00" x 24.00", Framed 32.00" x 20.00" Original cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, December 12, 1959. T...

Medium: Oil on Board Signature: Signed Lower Left Sight Size 27.00" x 23.75;" Framed 34.50" x 37.50" Original cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, September 12, 1959. ...

"Squares and Things" painted by the eminent artist, Charles McGee, literally breaths his African American heritage and his extraordinary vibrant use of colors. Provenance is The Arwin Galleries on Grand River in Detroit, Michigan - label on verso. This early painting of McGee's shows his mastery in creating a painting in the style of the French Impressionist Edouard Manet, "Still Life with Melon and Peaches" located in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and in the style of Fauvist/Expressionist painter Henry Matisse, "Still Life with Blue Tablecloth", located in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia. McGee makes the well-known genre of still life his own creating an exciting marvelous work incorporating the homely quilt - the powerful symbol of the African American road to safety from slavery - as his main focus. Quilts symbolize warmth, comfort, and as shown by the collection of quilts gathered by the artists in Gee's Bend the designs on the quilts hung outdoors at locations along the Underground Railroad showed fugitives the road north and to safety. "Squares and Things" was first shown at The Arwin Galleries, Inc., Detroit, Michigan, one of the stops along the Underground Railroad. This piece is signed by the artist, Charles McGee, and is an extraordinary example of his early work before he moved into Abstract Expressionism and his many sculptural works now located throughout Michigan. Several of these works are: "Noah's Ark: Genesis, 1984," on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts, his brilliant 2005 "Progression" a 45-foot wide aluminum sculpture at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan, and his stunning 2016 "United We Stand" sculpture at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History . His genius can be seen in sculpture installments throughout the city of Detroit. . He was born into a family of sharecroppers. While helping his grandfather tend the land, "he observed firsthand the order and harmony that exists within nature." He had no formal schooling until moving to Detroit at age 10, where he found that "everything was on the move and it hasn’t slowed down yet." in 2017 he observed, "I learned something not being in school — because life is school . . .I learn something every time I move. Every time I go around a corner, something new is revealed to me.” McGee took advantage of the GI Bill to attend classes at the Society of Arts and Crafts, now the College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI. Other College for Creative Studies (formerly Center for Creative Studies) faculty and graduates include Richard Jerzy, Harry Bertoia, Doug Chaing (currently director of Lucas Film), Stephen Dinehart (game maker, writer, designer connected with The David Lynch Foundation), Tyree Guyton (international artist), Herb Babcock, Jerome Feretti, Kevin Siembieda (writer, designer and publisher of role-playing games), Renee Radell, and Philip Pearlstein. After retiring from the Corps of Engineers, McGee spent 1968 studying art in Barcelona. Despite not knowing the language at the outset, he immersed himself in the culture and opened himself to a whole new range of experience that would play out in his artwork. "If you free yourself, you have this kind of opportunity to have those experiences, horizons, and new vistas." (per interview with Nick Sousanis author of a book on Charles McGee.) He returned to Detroit and curated "Seven Black Artists" at the Detroit Artists Market in 1969, which along with McGee himself, included Lester Johnson, Henri Umbaji King, Robert Murray, James Lee, Allie McGhee...

Still life "Wine with Orange" by Claude (Charles Claude) Buck (1890-1974). Signed lower left. Artist's notes and color scheme on verso. Displayed in rustic giltwood frame. Image, 14"...

NYC Subway Mid 20th Century American Modernism WPA Realism industrial Colorful "New York Subway," 36 x 48 inches. Oil on Masonite (backed with a wood frame), Signed and dated ’47 upper left. The colors of the painting are extraordinarily vibrant. The white gold frame, signed Richard Tobey...

Nativity scene on an architrave of a cathedral, done in the style of Hummel figurines by Helen Gleiforst (American, 1903-1997). Signed "Gleiforst" in t...

Inviting and warm interior dining room scene by S. Spencer (American, 20th Century). Signed and dated “S Spencer 83” in lower right corner. Unframed. Image size: 17.5 x 21.5.

"Lovender" - 1979, Abstract Expressionist Oil on Masonite 1979 Original abstract expressionist painting by John O. Thomson (American, b. 1941). Purples, pinks and yellows make up this unique abstracted piece. Signed, titled and dated "J. Thomson" lower right, "Lovender, 1979" on verso. Presented in original painted wood frame. Frame: 29"H x 23"L. Image: 28"H x 22"L. John O. Thomson is a Bay Area artist. Thompson lived between Santa Cruz, California and Mexico, while working with several of California's designers and art galleries. Thomson studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he was awarded the Bachelor of Arts Degree, Master of Arts Degree, and California Teaching Credentials at Chico State University. He received his Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from the University of Guanajuato in Mexico and went on to teach at many institutes. Thomson has exhibited in many galleries and shows throughout the world including: The Galleria Design Center in San Francisco, The Institute Allende Masters Show, Art Center of Saratoga, The Triton Museum of Santa Clara, The Northern California Art...