Willem de Kooning

The Thinker

1965

E. Simms Campbell was the first African-American illustrator/ cartoonist published in nationally distributed, slick magazines, he created Esky, the familiar pop-eyed mascot of Esquire. This early work of 1930 was done on assignment for an interior page of Life Magazine. It features two Rowing teams engaged in spirited competition with cheering onlookers. This is a highly stylized black-and-white illustration and is masterfully executed. The work is composed of two illustrations, 6 x 9 inches and 2-3/4 x 2 inches respectively. It is initialed center bottow ESC. unframed Campbell left the University of Chicago and transferred to and received his degree from the Chicago Art Institute.[3] Professional career During a job as a railroad dining-car waiter, Campbell sometimes drew caricatures of the train passengers, and one of those, impressed by Campbell's talent, gave him a job in a St. Louis art studio, Triad Studios. He spent two years at Triad Studios before moving to New York City in 1929. A month afterward, he found work with the small advertising firm, Munig Studios, and began taking classes at the National Academy of Design.During this time, he contributed to various magazines, notably Life, & Judge Following the suggestion of cartoonist Russell Patterson to focus on good girl art, Campbell created his "Harem Girls", a series of watercolor cartoons that attracted attention in the first issue of Esquire, debuting in 1933. Campbell's artwork was in almost every issue of Esquire from 1933 to 1958 and he was the creator of its continuing mascot, the cartoon character in a silk top hat. He also contributed to The Chicagoan, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, The New Yorker, Playboy, Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, Pictorial Review, and Redbook. His commercial artwork for advertising included illustrations for Barbasol, Springmaid, and Hart Schaffner...

Murray Tinkelman builds his works out of tiny meticulously placed cross hatchings that are organized into horizontal and diagonal structures. Most are done with a ruler and some fre...

This Harry Beckhoff illustration is masterfully rendered and intricately designed in line and wash. It's as abstract as it's representational with its graphic style, clean lines, and flat patterning. Every element in the composition works in harmony without a line out of place. The flat and abstract nature of the work rivals that of the great modernist painters of the 1930s. Perhaps this was done for a major newsstand magazine like Collier's. Although he studied with Dean Cornwell and Harvey Dunn, he didn't pursue the style of painterly brushstrokes and impastos. Instead, he defined his forms with flat shapes, whose internal forms are defined by thin lines. The emphasis is more on silhouette and line than it is on texture and lighting. Beckhoff also described his work as having been influenced by illustrators like Pierre Brissaud...

Gallery tags on verso. Work is frame an in very good condition.

Signed and dated lower right; inscribed, Dated and Signed on Verso Provenance: Ashley John Gallery

This later work by Lyonel Feininger approaches almost full abstraction. It was executed in 1950 at a crucial moment in American art history. Abstract Expressionism and non-representational art were in full gear and taking the world by storm. Yet Feininger who was associated with the German expressionist groups: Die Brücke...

Wonderful abstract expressionist drawing in shades and tones of grays and black by John Haley (American, 1905-1991), c.1956-7. Signed lower left corner. Presented in 3" mat. Condition: Very good: some edge wear consistent with age. Image size: 25"H x 19"W. A feature of the artwork of John Charles...

"Reclining Woman with Fish" Watercolor painting 11 x 14.5in by Shaker El Maadawy signed & dated Shaker El Maadawy graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in painting in 1967 in his...

Oil on paper, signature Tom Bennett freedom of rich brushwork, warm colors

Mercedes Carles Matter (1913 - 2001) Untitled, circa 1937 Pastel on paper 16 x 13 1/2 inches Estate stamped on the reverse Provenance: Estate of the artist Spanierman Gallery, New York Private Collection, Pennsylvania circa 2013 Private Collection, New York, 2021 Mercedes Matter was born in New York in 1913. Her father, the American modernist Arthur B. Carles, had studied with Matisse. Her mother, Mercedes de Cordoba, was a model for Edward Steichen. Ms. Matter grew up in Philadelphia, New York and Europe. She began painting under her father's supervision at age 6, and studied art at Bennett College in Millbrook, N.Y., and then in New York City with Maurice Sterne, Alexander Archipenko and Hans Hofmann. In the late 1930's, she was an original member of the American Abstract Artists organization and worked for the federal Works Progress Administration, assisting Fernand Léger on his mural for the French Line passenger ship company. Léger introduced her to Herbert Matter, the Swiss graphic designer and photographer, whom she married in 1939. The Matters were active in the emerging New York art scene and also traveled frequently to Europe. Their closest friends included Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Philip Guston, Alexander Calder and Willem de Kooning. They were also close to Alberto Giacometti, who was an important artistic role model for Mrs. Matter and a frequent photographic subject for her husband. Beginning in 1953, Mrs. Matter taught at the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts), Pratt Institute and New York University. Based on her teaching experiences she wrote an article for Art News in 1963 titled ''What's Wrong with U.S. Art Schools?'' In it, she lamented the phasing out of the extended studio classes required to initiate ''that painfully slow education of the senses,'' which she considered an artist's life work. The article prompted a group of Pratt students to ask her to form a school based on her ideas, which led, in 1964, to the founding of the New York Studio School. Originally in a loft on Broadway, the school gained almost immediate support from the Kaplan Fund, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation. It granted no degrees, had only studio classes and emphasized drawing from life. Its teachers, chosen by the students, included the artists Guston, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Charles Cajori, Louis Finkelstein...

Anthony Thomas Triano (1928–1997) was an abstract expressionist painter, sculptor, illustrator and teacher. His works feature natural forms, especially the human form, and tend towar...

Colorful abstract work by Bay Area artist Kelvin Curry (American, 20th Century). Signed "Kelvin Curry" lower left. Unframed. Image size, 15"H x 11.25"W. Born in Oakland, California ...