Melecio Galvan

"Figures, " Melecio Galvan, Modern Mexican Anti-War Artist, Social Justice

1968

Man Working Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism Industrial WPA Modern Jo Cain (1904 - 2003) Telephone Pole Worker 38 1/4 x 18 1/2 inches Oil on pap...

Answering the Door Early 20th Century w/c Fauvism Social Realism American Scene Note: We have three similar in style works from 1911 available now on 1stDibs. All are framed identi...

Cowboys Horses Cattle WPA American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern Jo Cain (1904 – 2003) Cowboy 33 3/4 x 36 inches Oil on paper, c. 1930s Signed...

"Painter" 20th Century American Scene Social Realism Working Man Modern WPA Era Jo Cain (1904 - 2003) Painter 41 ½ x 36 3/4 inches (sight) Gouache on paper c. 1930s Signed lower rig...

"Good Health Week" WPA American Scene Mid 20th Century Modern Social Realism Jo Cain (1904 – 2003) Good Health Week 10 ½ x 15 1/2 inches Oil on pape...

Two Men on a Street Early 20th Century w/c Fauvism Social Realism American Scene Note: We have three similar in style works from 1911 available now on 1stDibs. All are framed identi...

Chinese New Year paintings (nian hua) are colorful folk paintings created to celebrate the annual Spring Festival. Drawn or printed by folk artists in regional studios, nian hua paintings featured exaggerated characters with bright and contrasting colors. Put up around the home to beckon luck and happiness in the coming year, most paintings depicted mythical guardians, scenes from folk operas, or auspicious symbols of good luck. This New Year painting depicts a young woman with a child and is hand-painted in a palette of red, blue, and purple. Belonging to a genre known as 'beauties and babies,' the painting represents a harmonious family life. The early 20th century painting is from the town of Yangliuqing, one of the leading producers of traditional New Year's paintings known for its combination of woodblock printing...

In celebration of the lunar new year festival, it was traditional all over China to hang special decorations. In a city called Wuqiang, local artists made lacquer scroll paintings laden with symbolism. This framed and finely rendered early 20th century folk painting from Wuqiang features an imperial court official and his family dressed in their best silks. The young boy is dressed in a wonderfully patterned yellow robe to offer Shou Xing...

Perfect Love (2022), figurative, sitting woman, flower, figure drawing, contour line, tulip, leaf, leaves, foliage, garden "Perfect Love" by Rebecca N. Johnson Limewash, pigment ink...

Sing It Back (2022), figurative, woman sitting, flower, figure drawing, contour line "Sing It Back" by Rebecca N. Johnson Limewash, pigment ink, gel pen and pastel on archival paper...

Sun Dose (2022), figurative, sitting woman, kneeling figure, nude, flower, figure drawing, contour line, sunflower, leaf, leaves, foliage, garden "Sun Dose" by Rebecca N. Johnson Li...

Melecio Galvan (1945 - 1982) Figures, 1968 Sepia on paper 18 x 22 inches Signed and dated lower right Provenance: Estate of the artist Melecio Galván (San Rafael, Mexico, 1945 - 1982) was a Mexican draughtsman who was little-known during his lifetime. This is principally because he was a socio-politically committed artist wary of the commercial gallery circuit as well as art institutions controlled by the state. He arose from a working-class family in San Rafael, on the outskirts of Mexico City, and died under mysterious circumstances in that town at the age of 37, just when he was reaching the apogee of his mature style. Galván studied at the Academia San Carlos in Mexico City between 1965 and 1968. His preferred medium was ink on paper, and he created page upon page of sketchbooks filled with drawings. The major themes he developed in his work were reinterpretations of classical drawings of the human figure and anatomy studies, explorations of the grotesque, and themes related to the socio-political situation in Mexico, especially following the 1968 Tlateloco Massacre. In 1971-72, he traveled to Northern California where he collaborated on a mural in Fresno and created illustrations for the Latino journal Basta Ya (Enough Already) in San Francisco. Back in Mexico City, from 1977 to 1981 he was a member of the Grupo MIRA, primarily comprised of printmakers who favored themes of politics and social justice...