Donald Sumner Art

Max Kuehne (1880 - 1968) Train Station, circa 1910 Watercolor on paper 8 1/4 x 10 1/4 inches Signed lower right Provenance: Private Collection, Illinois Max Kuehne was born in Halle, Germany on November 7, 1880. During his adolescence the family immigrated to America and settled in Flushing, New York. As a young man, Max was active in rowing events, bicycle racing, swimming and sailing. After experimenting with various occupations, Kuehne decided to study art, which led him to William Merritt Chase's famous school in New York; he was trained by Chase himself, then by Kenneth Hayes Miller. Chase was at the peak of his career, and his portraits were especially in demand. Kuehne would have profited from Chase's invaluable lessons in technique, as well as his inspirational personality. Miller, only four years older than Kuehne, was another of the many artists to benefit from Chase's teachings. Even though Miller still would have been under the spell of Chase upon Kuehne's arrival, he was already experimenting with an aestheticism that went beyond Chase's realism and virtuosity of the brush. Later Miller developed a style dependent upon volumetric figures that recall Italian Renaissance prototypes. Kuehne moved from Miller to Robert Henri in 1909. Rockwell Kent, who also studied under Chase, Miller, and Henri, expressed what he felt were their respective contributions: "As Chase had taught us to use our eyes, and Henri to enlist our hearts, Miller called on us to use our heads." (Rockwell Kent, It's Me O Lord: The Autobiography of Rockwell Kent. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1955, p. 83). Henri prompted Kuehne to search out the unvarnished realities of urban living; a notable portion of Henri's stylistic formula was incorporated into his work. Having received such a thorough foundation in art, Kuehne spent a year in Europe's major art museums to study techniques of the old masters. His son Richard named Ernest Lawson as one of Max Kuehne's European traveling companions. In 1911 Kuehne moved to New York where he maintained a studio and painted everyday scenes around him, using the rather Manet-like, dark palette of Henri. A trip to Gloucester during the following summer engendered a brighter palette. In the words of Gallatin (1924, p. 60), during that summer Kuehne "executed some of his most successful pictures, paintings full of sunlight . . . revealing the fact that he was becoming a colorist of considerable distinction." Kuehne was away in England the year of the Armory Show (1913), where he worked on powerful, painterly seascapes on the rocky shores of Cornwall. Possibly inspired by Henri - who had discovered Madrid in 1900 then took classes there in 1906, 1908 and 1912 - Kuehne visited Spain in 1914; in all, he would spend three years there, maintaining a studio in Granada. He developed his own impressionism and a greater simplicity while in Spain, under the influence of the brilliant Mediterranean light. George Bellows convinced Kuehne to spend the summer of 1919 in Rockport, Maine (near Camden). The influence of Bellows was more than casual; he would have intensified Kuehne's commitment to paint life "in the raw" around him. After another brief trip to Spain in 1920, Kuehne went to the other Rockport (Cape Ann, Massachusetts) where he was accepted as a member of the vigorous art colony, spearheaded by Aldro T. Hibbard. Rockport's picturesque ambiance fulfilled the needs of an artist-sailor: as a writer in the Gloucester Daily Times explained, "Max Kuehne came to Rockport to paint, but he stayed to sail." The 1920s was a boom decade for Cape Ann, as it was for the rest of the nation. Kuehne's studio in Rockport was formerly occupied by Jonas Lie. Kuehne spent the summer of 1923 in Paris, where in July, André Breton started a brawl as the curtain went up on a play by his rival Tristan Tzara; the event signified the demise of the Dada movement. Kuehne could not relate to this avant-garde art but was apparently influenced by more traditional painters — the Fauves, Nabis, and painters such as Bonnard. Gallatin perceived a looser handling and more brilliant color in the pictures Kuehne brought back to the States in the fall. In 1926, Kuehne won the First Honorable Mention at the Carnegie Institute, and he re-exhibited there, for example, in 1937 (Before the Wind). Besides painting, Kuehne did sculpture, decorative screens, and furniture work with carved and gilded molding. In addition, he designed and carved his own frames, and John Taylor Adams encouraged Kuehne to execute etchings. Through his talents in all these media he was able to survive the Depression, and during the 1940s and 1950s these activities almost eclipsed his easel painting. In later years, Kuehne's landscapes and still-lifes show the influence of Cézanne and Bonnard, and his style changed radically. Max Kuehne died in 1968. He exhibited his work at the National Academy of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, and in various New York City galleries. Kuehne's works are in the following public collections: the Detroit Institute of Arts (Marine Headland), the Whitney Museum (Diamond Hill...

Farmhouse by the Sea - Original Watercolor on Paper Tranquil landscape of a seaside farmhouse on the sand surrounded by coastal plants, in soft neutral watercolors. A distant ocean s...

Mid Century Modern Farmhouse Landscape in Watercolor and Ink on Paper Bright, modern landscape by Robin Gay McCline (American, 1928-2008). A line of trees and buildings runs across ...

Wonderfully detailed early 20th century figurative landscape watercolor of sailboats docked on a bustling shore, surrounded by other boats, birds and men at work with carts, by Hudson Valley New York artist Frederick Leo Hunter (American, 1858-1943). The tall boats tower over two small figures, who wade into the water beside the vessels. In the background, a lighthouse and the hint of a skyline can be seen on the distant shore. Signed "F. Leo Hunter" lower right. Displayed in a gold mat and slender giltwood frame carved with a beautiful floral motif. Image size: 7.5"H x 12"W. Known for street scene paintings and etchings of New York...

"Lock Ness" Lake Watercolor Landscape on Paper Expansive landscape of Loch Ness by R.C. Lees (Scottish). The viewer looks out over Lock Ness, from a high vantage point. There is a l...

"Sur la rivière (Marne)" - On the River Marne - Hand Colored Lithograph Serene depiction of a house along the Marne River by unknown artist "Charlot." This piece was commissioned and printed by Camilla Lucas Publishing in New York. A two-story house with a red roof sits on the bank of the river. Lush trees line the banks, some of which are depicted with orange-brown leaves, indicating that autumn has arrived. The color in this piece was added by hand. Titled "Sur la riviere (Marne)" in the lower left corner. Signed "Charlot" in the lower right corner. Presented in a wood frame with a double mat. Frame size: 20"W x 16"W Image size: 11.5"H x 9"W In 1928, Hungarian-born Sidney Zoltan Lucas founded "Camilla Lucas Publishing" which encompassed a wholesale art publishing house and a retail art gallery. This business was both wholesale and retail and dealt in reproductions of antique, modern, and contemporary prints. It also sold original art including etchings, lithographs, and paintings. Starting in the 1930's and continuing into the 1950's, Sydney Lucas traveled to Europe periodically and contracted with French and Flemish artists to publish their work under the banner of the "Paris Etching Society." During his career, Sydney published many thousands of images. He brought art into the homes of people at all levels of income through his etchings, serigraphs, woodblock prints, restrikes and reproductions. The various subjects included Redouté and Prevost Flowers, Barraband and Gould Birds, Piranesi, French Landscapes, Urban Scenes, Women, Children, Animals, Hunting and much more. Later on in the 1950s, Sydney and his wife Phyllis Lucas became the first North American publishers of original signed, limited edition lithographs by the famous surrealist artist Salvador Dali. They worked directly with Mr. Dali over several years and the three created such fine images that in 1985 the Lucas’ Collection of limited edition lithographs from Salvador Dali’s paintings were displayed alongside his original paintings at the Salvador Dali Museum...

Colorful study of grape leaves in autumn with abstracted elements and a pink/magenta background by California artist Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). From the est...

A bold and colorful cityscape watercolor of an urban Basilica, the great Saint Ignatius Church of San Francisco, with its impressive architecture captur...

An early 20th Century drawing and watercolour view of the city and riverscape at Rouen by French artist Georges Planes. The work is signed and dated bottom right in red ink. There is...

Sir George Clausen (1852-1944) Sunlight through the trees, Signed, Watercolour, 10 x 12 inches A beautiful study of the play of light through the trees in very good condition. Geor...

John Cuthbert Hare was an accomplished New England painter born in Brooklyn, New York. He began his artistic journey by studying commercial art at the Pratt Institute in New York Cit...

Beautiful watercolor landscape of a rocky arroyo with native plants and distant mountains near Death Valley National Park, California by California artist Marilyn Ann Deeds (American...