Art

Horst P Horst (1906-1999) (Black and White Photography) Lisa on Silk, New York, 1940 Signed on reverse Silver gelatin print 14 x 11 inches Horst was a perfectionist who raised the s...

Horst P Horst (1906-1999) Mainbocher Corset, Paris, 1939 Signed on reverse Silver gelatin print 14 x 11 inches Round the Clock is endowed with fastidious precision and the enigmatic ambiance of a characteristic Horst image. The chiaroscuro befalling the legs from ankle to suspender compounds a sense of drama instantly recognisable to those familiar with the artist’s fashion...

Ben Schonzeit Yankee Flame, from the portfolio: America: the Third Century, 1975 Collotype on wove paper Pencil signed and numbered 50/200 on the front Publisher: APC Editions, Chermayeff & Geismar Associates, Inc Printer: Triton Press 27 × 19 3/10 inches Unframed Note: this is the original hand signed and numbered collotype; not to be confused with the separate (unsigned) poster edition. This hand-signed, numbered and dated collotype in colors by photorealist pioneer artist Ben Schonzeit was created in 1975 for the portfolio America: the Third Century, commissioned by Mobil Oil Corporation in which 13 American artists, including Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist and others created works celebrating America's bicentennial. Yankee Flame combines the iconic images of George Washington, Coca-Cola and the Statue of Liberty into a collaged interpretation of contemporary American life and the meaning of freedom. "Yankee Flame" is in excellent condition and never framed. It was acquired as part of the America: The Third Century full portfolio. Ben Schonzeit (b. 1942, Brooklyn, New York) is one of the original Photorealist painters and is considered to have pioneered the airbrush technique. His works often depict still life arrangements that are intentionally out of focus. He received his B.F.A. from The Cooper Union in 1964 and has since had over 50 solo exhibitions both in the United States and abroad. His paintings are held in numerous museum collections including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 1973 Nancy Hoffman introduced me to Ben Schonzeit in the backroom of her gallery on West Broadway. She had been open less than a year, and Ben was one of the artists in her original stable. His large Crab Blue It had arrived from his studio a few days earlier and was leaning against the wall. I thought at the time it was one of the most impressive, virtuosic Photorealist works I had seen. That first encounter was more than a quarter of a century ago and I have always considered it to be one of the quintessential, tour de force paintings of American Photorealism. In the early seventies one could stand on West Broadway on any pleasant, sunny weekday and see less than a dozen people on the street between the Nancy Hoffman Gallery and OK Harris Works of Art. Almost all of the SoHo galleries, such as Leo Castelli, Paula Cooper, Ward-Nasse, and Ivan Karp’s Hundred Acres, could be visited in an afternoon. At night the streets were almost deserted. With the exception of Andy Warhol, there were no art world superstars. More importantly, none of the artists expected to achieve celebrity status. That was a phenomenon of the eighties and nineties. There were a only a handful of restaurants and watering holes, such Elephant and Castle, Fanelli’s, the Spring Street Bar and Prince Street Bar. Fanelli’s closed on weekends, which was a holdover from their sweatshop clientele during lunch and ragtag group of artists in the evenings. In those early days of SoHo, the drafty, raw sweatshop spaces with their large windows, rough floors, and service elevators provided large, inexpensive living quarters and studios for many artists. Unlike today, there were no boutiques. The area was not chic and with the exception of Lowell Nesbett’s showplace, the lofts were not glamorous. Schonzeit was in the same living and working space the he now occupies when I first visited him, but SoHo was a very different time and place. When the National Endowment of the Arts recommended me to curate America 1976, which turned into one of the major visual arts projects for the Bicentennial, Ben Schonzeit was on the first list of participants I made up for the U.S. Department of the Interior. His large diptych, Continental Divide, was one of the most memorable works produced for the exhibit. I stopped by his studio four or five times while it was in progress and have visited him many times over the years. We have maintained a very cordial working relationship and friendship over the past three decades. I saw The Music Room exhibit in 1978 and realized at the time that the vigorously rendered mural sized canvases and mirror and related works represented a major catharsis in his painting. In many ways, it and the other paintings and drawings based on the same image represented a sharp, decisive break with the tenets of Photorealism, or at least the photo-replicative aspects that had been so widely heralded in America and abroad in the mid-seventies. Over the years we have continued to work together. He has been in almost all of the major exhibitions I have curated here and abroad and in almost all of the books I have written. I am familiar with his studio habits, his quiet, internalized restlessness that manifests itself in the hundreds of small, unknown drawings and watercolors, doodles on napkins during lunch, and imaginary landscapes. I also know that he would rather do a painting than think or talk about it. Over the years I have followed the shifts in his studio procedure from the monumental airbrushed fruit and vegetable paintings to the most recent bouquets of flowers and decorative paintings. Our discussions of these matters tends to lapse into a verbal shorthand at this point. The following essay is based on both my longstanding familiarity and admiration for his work and involvement with contemporary realism and figurative painting. A booklet of color xeroxes with notes made up by Schonzeit was extremely helpful. In addition to several interviews, much of the information unfolded through a lengthy series of Emails. Due to our different working habits these were composed and sent out very late at night and answered by Ben the following morning. They dealt with the specifics of many of the paintings, generalities, his background and childhood in Brooklyn, and occasional bits of art world gossip. And there were odd discoveries. Prior to discussing his witty, tongue in cheek painting of Buffalo Bill, I did not know or had long forgotten that William Cody...

Photo from Horst's book Horst: Sixty Years of Photography. Paper measures 14 x 11 image is 11.5 x 9.

Horst P Horst (1906-1999) (Black and White Photography) Lisa With Harp, 1939 Signed on reverse Silver gelatin print 20 x 16 inches Horst was a perfectionist who raised the standards...

Artist: ​Horst P. Horst (1906-1999) Title: Coco Chanel, Paris, 1937 Year: 1937 Medium: Silver Gelatin Print Size: 14 x 11 inches Condition: Excellent Inscripti...

Ben Schonzeit is one of the pioneers of the Photorealist movement in Soho NY in the 1970's. He is well known for his large still life of flowers, arresting canvases that explore the artist dream world. The artist has had numerous one man exhibitions and his work can be found in the permanent collections of major museums around the world including: Butler Institute of American Art Delaware Art Museum Denver Art Museum Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco Guggenheim Museum of Art, NYC This work, executed in 1987, appears to be a rider ready to enter the show ring at the Hampton Classic...

Artist: Ben Schonzeit, American (1942 - ) Title: Roses with Dutch Landscape Year: 1990 Medium: Lithograph, signed, dated, and numbered in pencil Edition: 66/72 Paper Size: 43 x 48 ...

A pioneer of the Photorealist movement, Ben Schonzeit has been recognized by the legendary art dealer Louis Meisel—who himself named the movement—as one o...

In Zoli Models, Horst pays homage to an earlier composition, Movement Study 1924, by Rudolph Kooptiz (1884-1936) one of the leading proponents of art photography in Europe between th...

Artist: Ben Schonzeit, American (1942 - ) Title: Lamps Year: 1979 Medium: Etching, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 14/125 Image Size: 19.5 x 17 inches Size: 28 x 25 in. (71.12...

Artist: Ben Schonzeit, American (1942 - ) Title: Yankee Flame from the Portfolio, America: The Third Century Year: 1976 Medium: Collotype, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 200 ...

Round The Clock I, New York - Horst P. Horst (Black and White Photography) Stamped on reverse Silver gelatin print 14 x 11 inches Round the Clock is endowed with fastidious precision and the enigmatic ambiance of a characteristic Horst image. The chiaroscuro befalling the legs from ankle to suspender compounds a sense of drama instantly recognisable to those familiar with the artist’s fashion...

Artist: Ben Schonzeit, American (1942 - ) Title: Lamps (White) Year: 1979 Medium: Intaglio, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 14/125 Size: 28.5 x 25 in. (72.39 x 63.5 cm)

Horst began his photography career in 1931 working for Paris Vogue. Shortly after he succeeded his friend and mentor, George Hoyningen-Huene, as head photographer of Vogue's photo studios. It was during the 1930's that Horst established his trademark style, which incorporated dramatic lighting and an unparalleled eye for grace that enabled Horst to create images that portray his subjects as emblems of elegance. In his portrait of Coco Chanel, one of his most famous images, he captures a woman who was rarely photographed, and creates a striking composition with her regal profile and the exquisite chair. 
For sixty years, Horst photographed...

Horst P. Horst 1906-1999 Body Sweater by Tina Leser, 1950 Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso Platinum/Palladium Print Image: 9-1/2" x 7-1/2", Paper: 14" x 11", Mat: 20" x 16"

Horst P. Horst 1906-1999 Helen Bennett, Hair/Lace, 1935 Signed in pencil on recto; Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso Platinum/Palladium Print Image: 9" x 7-1/2", Paper: 14"...

Horst P. Horst 1906-1999 Balenciaga Checkered Suit, Jean Patchett, 1949 Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso Platinum/Palladium Print Image: 9-1/2" x 7-1/2", Paper: 14" x 11",...

Horst P. Horst 1906-1999 Park Ave Fashion, 1962 Signed, titled, dated, stamped and numbered in pencil on verso; Blind stamp on recto Platinum/Palladium Print Image: 9-1/2" x 7" , Pap...

Horst P. Horst 1906-1999 CoCo Chanel, Paris, 1937 Signed, titled, dated in pencil and stamped on verso; Blind Stamp on recto Gelatin Silver Print Image: 9-1/2" x 9", Paper: 14" x 11"...

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer Edition 9/10

Although credited by their married names at the time of publication, both subjects would re-marry and became better known as Babe Paley, the stylish socialite and “swan” of Truman Ca...

Photographer’s stamp on the verso From the collection of and signed by Horst

From the collection of and signed by Horst

Signed by the photographer

Platinum Palladium Print

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Vintage Print

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Signed by the photographer

Photographer’s stamp on the verso

Signed by the photographer

Photographer’s stamp on the verso

Photographer’s stamp on the verso

Signed by the photographer

Photographer’s stamp on the verso

Photographer’s stamp on the verso

Photographer’s stamp on the verso

Photographer’s stamp on the verso

Photographer’s stamp on the verso

Photographer’s stamp on the verso

Signed by the photographer