Early 20th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Satiric Scene For l’asino is an original drawing in pencil and pen realized in 1910 ca. by Gabriele Galantara. The state of preservation of the artwork is good. The artwork with a ...

Nude of Woman is an Original Pen Drawing realized by Marcel Spranck (1896-1978). The little artwork is in very good condition, included a yellow cardboard passpartout (50x32.5 cm). ...

Rare and finely painted view of Saint Moritz, watercolor on paper realized by Hans Beatus Wieland between 1890 and 1920. Very good conditions. Wieland was...

Themistokles von Eckenbrecher (1842 Athens - 1921 Goslar), Norwegian pine grove, 1901. Watercolor on blue-green paper, 30 x 22 cm. Signed, dated and inscribed in his own hand "TvE. Fagermes [i.e. Fagermes]. 26.6.[19]01." - Slight crease throughout at left margin, otherwise in good condition. About the artwork Themistokles von Eckenbrecher often traveled to Norway to study the nature that fascinated him there. On June 26, 1901, near the southern Norwegian town of Fagernes, in the summer evening sun, he saw a small pine grove, which he immediately captured in a watercolor. He exposed the trees growing on a small hill in front of the background, so that the pines completely define the picture and combine to form a tense motif. The tension comes from the contrast of form and color. The trunks, growing upward, form a vertical structure that is horizontally penetrated by the spreading branches and the pine needles, which are rendered as a plane. This structural tension is further intensified by the color contrast between the brown-reddish iridescent trunks and branches and the green-toned needlework. Themistokles von Eckenbrecher, however, does not use the observed natural scene as an inspiring model for a dance of color and form that detaches itself from the motif and thus treads the path of abstracting modernism. Its inner vitality is to be brought to light and made aesthetically accessible through the work of art. It is precisely in order to depict the inner vitality of nature that von Eckenbrecher chooses the technique of watercolor, in which the individual details, such as the needles, are not meticulously worked out, but rather a flowing movement is created that unites the contrasts. The trees seem to have formed the twisted trunks out of their own inner strength as they grew, creatingthose tense lineations that the artist has put into the picture. The inner strength continues in the branches and twigs, culminating in the upward growth of the needles. At the same time, the trunks, illuminated by the setting sun, seem to glow from within, adding an almost dramatic dimension to the growing movement. Through the artwork, nature itself is revealed as art. In order to make nature visible as art in the work, von Eckenbrecher exposes the group of trees so that they are bounded from the outside by an all-encompassing contour line and merge into an areal unity that enters into a figure-ground relationship with the blue-greenish watercolor paper. The figure-ground relationship emphasizes the ornamental quality of the natural work of art, which further enforces the artwork character of the group of trees. With the presentation of Themistokles von Eckenbrecher's artistic idea and its realization, it has become clear that the present watercolor is not a study of nature in the sense of a visual note by the artist, which might then be integrated into a larger work context, but a completely independent work of art. This is why von Eckenbrecher signed the watercolor. In addition, it is marked with a place and a date, which confirms that this work of nature presented itself to him in exactly this way at this place at this time. At the same time, the date and place make it clear that the natural work of art has been transferred into the sphere of art and thus removed from the time of the place of nature. About the artist Themistocles' parents instilled a life of travel in their son, who is said to have spoken eleven languages. His father, who was interested in ancient and oriental culture, was a doctor and had married Francesca Magdalena Danelon, an Italian, daughter of the British consul in Trieste. During a stay in Athens - Gustav von Eckenbrecher was a friend of Heinrich von Schliemann and is said to have given him crucial clues as to the location of Troy - Themistokles saw the light of day in 1842. After an interlude in Berlin, where Themistokles was educated at the English-American School, the journey began again. From 1850 to 1857 the family lived in Constantinople, after which the father opened a practice in Potsdam, where Themistokles, who wanted to become a painter, was taught by the court painter Carl Gustav Wegener. In 1861 the von Eckenbrechers left Potsdam and settled in Düsseldorf. There Themistokles received two years of private tuition from Oswald Aschenbach, who greatly admired the talented young artist. After his artistic training, he undertook extensive travels, often accompanied by Prince Peter zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, which took him to northern and eastern Europe, but above all to the Middle East and even to South America. The paintings that resulted from these journeys established his artistic reputation and led to his participation in large panoramas such as the 118 x 15 metre Entry of the Mecca Caravan into Cairo, painted for the City of Hamburg in 1882. 1882 was also the start of a total of 21 study trips to Scandinavia, most of them to Norway, and the unique Norwegian landscape with its rugged fjords became a central motif in his work. Along with Anders Askevold and Adelsteen Normann...

The Power is a modern artwork by Gabriele Galantara (1865-1937) in the early 20th century. The artwork was in mixed media of ink and white lead on paper. Included a Passepartou: 50...

Farmers is an original modern artwork realized in the early 20th Century by the artist Gabriele Galantara. Watercolor and tempera. Monogram on the lower right. Hand-written annotat...

Complex Art Nouveau patterns intertwined with gracefull figures define this work by American Artist and illustrator, teacher and lecturer Mildred Bailey Carpenter. Signed in cartouc...

Mabel E. Johnston Untitled, c. 1920s Watercolor and pencil on paper Sight: 18 x 12 1/2 in. Framed: 39 x 21 1/4 x 1/2 in. Signed lower right: Mabel E. Johnston The first tidbit I fou...

Christ is an original drawing on paper in pen and pencil mounted on blueish Passepartout, realized by an anonymous Italian artist of the Early 20th Cen...

Study for Scenography is a painting in watercolor realized in the 1920s by Erminio Loy. Hand-signed on the lower right. Good conditions. The artwork represented through harmonious...

Caricature is an original drawing in pencil and pastels realized by an anonymous artist of the early 20th Century Good condition. The artwork is depicted through perfect hatching i...

Costume for Aida is an original painting in tempera and watercolor on brownish paper realized in 1920 ca. by an Anonymous Italian artist of the 20th Century. In very good condition....

Studies for a Female Standing Nude is an original artwork realized by the french artist Ginsbourg in 1918. Original red pencil and pencil on paper. Hand-...

Figure is an original drawing in watercolor and pencil on ivory paper, realized by Raymond Cazanove in 1922. Hand-signed on the lower margin in ...

Art Sz: 12 3/4"H x 21 1/2"W Frame Sz: 18 3/4"H x 27 3/4"W Henry William Standing (British,1894 -1931)

Sketch of a figure with dog is an original drawing in pencil on paper realized by Gabriele Galantara. The state of preservation of the artwork is good...

Road is an original blue China ink drawing on ivory paper by Anonymous Artist of the early 20th Century. In excellent conditions: As good as new. Unreadable signature on the lower ...

Epicuro is an original drawing in china ink realized as study for a book cover by Gabriele Galantara The state of preservation of the artwork is good. This artwork represents a cent...

Marius de Zayas was born in Veracruz, Mexico and emigrated to New York with his family in 1907. He joined the art staff of the New York Evening World newspaper and quickly became kno...

Bernard Boutet de Monvel was a French painter, sculptor, engraver, fashion illustrator and interior decorator. Although first known for his etchings, he earned notability for his pai...

Jean Cocteau (French, 1889-1963) La Dame Queteuse Ink on paper Signed, inscribed and dated `La Dame Queteuse Jean 1922’ (below) 10.1/4 x 7.7/8 in. (26 x 20 cm...

This little gem of a compact artwork was executed in the Arts and Crafts style for an interior illustration for "The Wise Book," J.M. Dent & Co, London, 1906. "You can't eat your ca...

Figures is an original drawing in pencil and pen realized by Gabriele Galantara, the state of preservation of the artwork is good and aged, with hand-writing of the artist on it, app...

Sketch for a Sign is a very graceful drawing representing the sign of a bar. This artwork made by an anonymous artist in the first half of the 20th century was applied on a slightly ...

Nude Female Torso Charcoal on paper, c. 1920 Stamped and initialed in pencil "Asa Cheffetz/A.D.C" Estate signature by wife, A.D.C. Exhibited: Museum of F...

Jean Cocteau - The Fight - Original Signed Drawing 1923 28 x 22 cm Signed This drawing was made as a frontispiece of the book Dessins publishe...

A charming watercolour scene from the view of a boat entering the harbour at Mousehole, Cornwall. Signed to the lower left and well presented in a white mount and gilt frame. On wove.

Amy Londoner Beach at Atlantic City, circa 1922 Signed lower right Pastel on paper Sight 23 x 18 inches Amy Londoner (April 12, 1875 – 1951) was an American painter who exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show. One of the first students of the Henri School of Art in 1909. Prior to the Armory Show of 1913, Amy Londoner and her classmates studied with "Ashcan" painter Robert Henri at the Henri School of Art in New York, N.Y. One notable oil painting, 'The Vase', was painted by both Henri and Londoner. Londoner was born in Lexington, Missouri on April 12, 1875. Her parents were Moses and Rebecca Londoner, who moved to Leadville, Colorado, by 1880. In 1899, Amy took responsibility for her father who had come to Los Angeles from Leadville and had mental issues. By 1900, Amy was living with her parents and sister, Blanche, in the vicinity of Leadville, Denver, Colorado. While little was written about her early life, Denver City directories indicated that nineteenth-century members of the family were merchants, with family ties to New York, N.Y. The family had a male servant. Londoner traveled with her mother to England in 1907 then shortly later, both returned to New York in 1909. Londoner was 34 years old at the time, and, according to standards of the day, should have married and raised a family long before. Instead, she enrolled as one of the first students at the Henri School of Art in 1909. At the Henri School, Londoner established friendships with Carl Sprinchorn (1887-1971), a young Swedish immigrant, and Edith Reynolds (1883-1964), daughter of wealthy industrialist family from Wilkes-Barre, PA. Londoner's correspondence, which often included references to Blanche, listed the sisters' primary address as the Hotel Endicott at 81st Street and Columbus Avenue, NYC. Other correspondence also reached Londoner in the city via Mrs. Theodore Bernstein at 252 West 74th Street; 102 West 73rd Street; and the Independent School of Art at 1947 Broadway. In 1911, Londoner vacationed at the Hotel Trexler in Atlantic City, NJ. As indicated by an undated photograph, Londoner also spent time with Edith Reynolds and Robert Henri at 'The Pines', the Reynolds family estate in Bear Creek, PA. Through her connections with the Henri School, Londoner entered progressive social and professional circles. Henri's admonition, phrased in the vocabulary of his historical time period, that one must become a "man" first and an artist second, attracted both male and female students to classes where development of unique personal styles, tailored to convey individual insights and experiences, was prized above the mastery of standardized, technical skill. Far from being dilettantes, women students at the Henri School were daring individuals willing to challenge tradition. As noted by former student Helen Appleton Read, "it was a mark of defiance,to join the radical Henri group." As Henri offered educational alternatives for women artists, he initiated exhibition opportunities for them as well. Troubled by the exclusion of work by younger artists from annual exhibitions at the National Academy of Design, Henri was instrumental in organizing the no-jury, no-prize Exhibition of Independent Artists in 1910. About half of the 103 artists included in the exhibition were or had been Henri students, while twenty of the twenty-six women exhibiting had studied with Henri. Among the exhibition's 631 pieces, nine were by Amy Londoner, including the notorious 'Lady with a Headache'. Similarly, fourteen of Henri's women students exhibited in the groundbreaking Armory Show of 1913, forming about eight percent of the American exhibitors and one-third of American women exhibitors. Of the nine documented works submitted by Londoner, five were rejected, while four pastels of Atlantic City beach scenes, including 'The Beach Umbrellas' now in the Remington Collection, were displayed. Following Henri's example, Londoner served as an art instructor for younger students at the Modern School, whose only requirement was to genuinely draw what they pleased. The work of dancer Isadora Duncan, another artist devoted to the ideals of a liberal education, was also lauded by the Modern School. Henri, who long admired Duncan and invited members of her troupe to model for his classes, wrote an appreciation of her for the Modern School journal in 1915. She was also the subject of Londoner's pastel Isadora Duncan and the Children: Praise Ye the Lord with Dance. In 1914, Londoner traveled to France to spend summer abroad, living at 99 rue Notre Dames des Champs, Paris, France. As the tenets of European modernism spread throughout the United States, Londoner showed regularly at venues which a new generation of artists considered increasingly passe, including the annual Society of Independent Artists' exhibitions between 1918 and 1934, and the Salons of America exhibition in 1922. Londoner also exhibited at the Morton Gallery, Opportunity Gallery, Leonard Clayton Gallery and Brownell-Lambertson Galleries in NYC. Her painting of a 'Blond Girl' was one of two works included in the College Art Associations Traveling Exhibition of 1929, which toured colleges across the country to broad acclaim. Londoner later in life suffered from illnesses then suffered a stroke which resulted in medical bills significantly mounting over the years that her old friends from the Henri School, including Carl Sprinchorn, Florence Dreyfous, Florence Barley, and Josephine Nivison Hopper, scrambled to raise funds and find suitable long-term care facilities for Londoner. Londoner later joined Reynolds in Bear Creek, PA. Always known for her keen wit, Londoner retained her humor and concern for her works even during her illness, noting that "if anything happens to the Endicott, I guess they will just throw them out." Sprinchorn and Reynolds, however, did not allow this to happen. In 1960, Londoner's paintings 'Amsterdam Avenue at 74th Street' and 'The Builders' were loaned by Reynolds to a show commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Exhibition of Independent Artists in 1910, presented at the Delaware Art Center, Wilmington, DE. In the late 80's, Francis William Remington, 'Bill Remington', of Bear Creek Village PA, along with his neighbor and artist Frances Anstett Brennan, both had profound admiration for Amy Londoner's art work and accomplishments as a woman who played a significant role in the Ashcan movement. Remington acquired a significant number of Londoner's artwork along with Frances Anstett Brenan that later was part of an exhibition of Londoner's artwork in April 15 of 2007, at the Hope Horn...

Johannes Friedrich Heinrich Hänsch (1875-1945), Red blooming war landscape with dead soldier, 1918. Watercolor and gouache on paper, 15 x 24.5 cm (image), 27 x 37 cm (sheet size / frame), monogrammed and dated "19JH18" at lower left. - Paper slightly darkened About the artwork Despite the relatively small format, the watercolor with an internal frame depicts a panoramic view of a flat landscape stretching to the horizon. As far as the eye can see, the poppies bloom in flaming red. The flowers are not rendered individually, however, creating an almost cohesive red surface. The bright red is interspersed with vegetal green. A complementary contrast that creates an intense color effect. In this color contrast, a white area breaks through from the middle ground, widening towards the foreground and surrounding a brown hole. Next to it, in blue, is the actual protagonist of the painting, the first thing that catches the eye: a dead soldier. Next to him is his helmet, revealing the empty interior. The brown, hollow shape corresponds to the hole in the ground. A shell funnel is surrounded by bright ash, which, like the inverted helmet, becomes a sign of death. The soldier's arms point to the funnel, while the empty helmet paraphrases the calotte of the skull and, like the funnel, thematizes the empty darkness of death. The soldier's body, however, is intact and not - as in Otto Dix's triptych "The War" - a dismembered corpse. Instead, Johannes Hänsch activates the landscape, especially the color, to illustrate a blooming landscape of death that extends from the shell funnel in the foreground to the rising column of smoke on the horizon. If the soldier's body is intact, the tangle of barbed wire emblematically placed over the empty helmet also appears tattered. On the right side of the picture, the barbed wire even seems to stretch its arms to the sky in horror. Against the background of this allegory, the content of the bright red also becomes clear: the landscape is drenched in blood, literally a sea of blood, and the single unknown soldier stands pars pro toto for all those who died on the battlefield. Dying in war is not dying in community, but in solitude. In order to emphasize the isolation in death, Johannes Hänsch has set the blue of the soldier in the axis given by his body in the middle ground of the picture into the red sea. A master of landscape painting, Hänsch succeeds in creating a natural-looking landscape allegory that illustrates the horror and death of war, without depicting the brutality of war itself. This singular 'war memorial' of the unknown soldier is the opposite of heroization and yet the dignity of the deceased soldier is preserved through the integrity of his body. About the artist As the son of the sculptor Adolf Haensch, the young Johannes received his first artistic training in his father's Berlin studio. However, he eventually decided to become a painter, and in 1897 he entered the Berlin Academy of Arts. He initially studied under Paul Vorgang and Eugen Bracht, and was particularly influenced by Bracht's increasingly colourful landscape painting. In 1901 he moved to the class of Friedrich Kallmorgen, with whom he spent several weeks on excursions into nature. In 1905 he became a master pupil of Albert Hertel, who taught him watercolour painting. From 1903 to 1933 he exhibited annually at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition, the exhibitions of the Berlin Artists' Association and the Munich Glaspalast. In 1905 he was awarded the Carl Blechen...

Two young Scottish women wear smart business jackets and fashionable tartan skirts. They are depicted as discerning Art Connoisseurs evaluating a small bronze dancer. The Artist Hele...

FRANK BRANGWYN ( U.S./U.K./Belgium, 1867-1956) watercolor, gouache, and charcoal on paper, "The Scourging of St. Alban," study for the mural painted for Christ's Hospital, West Horsh...

Date: 1903 Medium: Mixed Media on Paper Sight Size 24.25" x 15.50", Framed 31.35" x 22.50" Signature: Signed Lower Left Scribner's Magazine story illustration, November 1911, 1903 ...

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer 1865-1953 French Le fondeur de bronze Signed "Levy Dhurmer" (lower right) Pastel on paper French painter Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer was one of the leading artists of...

Pencil and watercolor realized by Charles Des Bordes in the early 20th Century. Glued on cardboard cm 31x20. Good condition.

English School, circa 1900 In the ten acre pasture Ink and bodycolour on paper 4.5/8 x 13.5/8 in. (11.8 x 34.7 cm.)

This beautiful early 20th-century fan design by American-English artist Cyrus Cuneo ROI (1879-1916) depicts a couple with cherubs in an ornamental garden. Cuneo was an accomplished p...

Watercolour and Chinese ink on paper, signed and dated (upper right), 10cm x 17cm (30cm x 38cm framed). George Barbier was one of the great French illustrators of the early 20th century. Born in Nantes, France on 16 October 1882, Barbier was 29 years old when he mounted his first exhibition in 1911 and was subsequently swept to the forefront of his profession with commissions to design theatre and ballet costumes...

HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR (1859 -1927) "JEUNE FEMME ASSISE" (Young Woman Seated) Original Drawing in sanguine, white and black chalks, c. 1910 Signed in pencil by artist, lower right Full M...

Figure  is a drawing realized by François Guiget in the Early-20th Century. Charcoal white lead and watercolor. Good conditions with slight foxing. The artwork is realized through...

Jean Dupas (French, 1882 – 1964) The angel of light Pen and ink and charcoal on paper 14.3/4 x 12.1/2 in. (37.5 x 31.8 cm.) One of the leading artists of the Art Deco period, Jean Théodore Dupas was the son of a merchant marine captain and began his adult life as a merchant seaman. Poor health meant that he had to abandon this career and he enrolled in art school instead, first in his native Bordeaux and later in Paris. He won the Prix de Rome in the category of painting in 1910 and studied at the Académie de France in Rome, from where he sent several paintings to the Paris Salons, although his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of war. Dupas’s work came to public prominence on the occasion of the seminal Exposition des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1925. He was chosen by the furniture designer Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann to provide paintings for the latter’s Maison d’un collectionneur, alongside furniture by Ruhlmann and objects by many of the leading Art Deco craftsmen of the day, while other paintings by Dupas were also displayed to great effect elsewhere in the Exposition. In the late 1920’s and 1930’s Dupas won a number of important and prestigious commissions. In 1926 he worked alongside Ruhlmann and the sculptor Alfred Jeanniot on the decoration of the tearoom of the ocean liner Ile-de-France; the first of the grand transatlantic ships to be built in France after the First World War. By this time Dupas had firmly established his reputation. Writing in 1927, his fellow artist George Barbier could already note that ‘Few artists have at such an early age attained such a degree of success, or gathered around them such swarms of imitators and disciples.’ Dupas reached the height of his fame in the mid 1930’s, and in 1934 he received his most important commission to date; a series of large glass murals...

Vase de fleurs by Paul Ranson (1864-1909) Pastel on paper 46.5 x 41.5 cm (18 ¹/₄ x 16 ³/₈ inches) Signed lower right, P. Ranson Executed circa 1900 Proven...

Study of a Dancer and a Lady by Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro (1878-1952) Watercolour and pencil on paper 21 x 15.7 cm (8 ¼ x 6 ¼ inches) Signed with Estate stamp lower right Executed circa ...

America's greatest female illustrator draws a heartwarming picture of a mother putting to bed her child. Motherly love towards their children is the artist's most iconic theme. This ...

Reynolds Beal painted this watercolor entitled “CROSS ROADS, KINGSTON.” in the spring of 1922. The paper size is 4 7/8 x 7 1/8" (12.4 x 18 cm). It is signed in pencil lower right a...

HARRY MORLEY, ARA, RWS (1881-1943) The Romany Camp Signed and dated 1927 Watercolour and bodycolour, framed 36.5 by 52cm., 14 ¼ by 20 ½ in. (frame size 60.5 by 75 cm., 23 ¾ by 29...

The Garden View French School, early 20th century signed with initials lower corner watercolour painting on artist paper, framed Glass covering framed: 13 x 10.5 inches board: 10 x 8...

Original Magazine Illustration for a magazine like Harper's, Vanity Fair, Life, Look, and Judge Shinn was an American realist painter and member of the Ashcan School. He also exhibited with the short-lived group known as "The Eight," Work is framed in an attractive gilt frame Morris Weiss collection...

Louis Valtat Young Girl Stamped with initials lower right Pencil on brown paper Sight 7 x 6 inches Provenance: Mrs. Ernest M. Werner, New York Private Collection, Rhode Island Loui...

Henri ROYER Nancy 1869 - 1938 Paris Study of dancers Sanguine pastel and charcoal on cream white paper Circa 1900-1910 Unsigned 47 x 62.5 cm sheet 67 x 83 cm cm frame Provenance: Es...

Georges Antoine Rochegrosse (1859-1938) Studies of men, Pencil on paper 23 x 41.5 cm Signed lower right In good condition In a modern mount 41 x 52.5 cm Provenance: Estate of the...

JAMES JOSHUA GUTHRIE (1874-1952) The Sower Signed with monogram l.r., inscribed with title l.c. Watercolour, bodycolour and pen and ink 21 by 15.5 cm., 8 ¼ by 6 in. (frame size 39.5 by 33 cm., 15 ½ by 13 in. Provenanace: Pickford Waller...

Jean Launois (1898-1942) Opium smokers, Indochina Stamp of the artit's estate on the lower right Black ink on paper 22.5 x 30.5 cm Framed : 38 x 46 cm This beautiful drawing, a fine example of Jean Launois' particular art, dates from the artist's stay in Indochina, from which he brought a group of works. An exhibition devoted to this Indochinese period of the artist's production was held at the Musée de l'Abbaye Sainte-Croix, Sables d'Olonne in 1998. About the artist : Of Vendée origin, Jean Launois very quickly showed a sure talent for drawing and was encouraged in this by his parents. He trained with his fellow Vendeans Charles Milcendeau and Auguste Lepère and then entered the Académie Jullian in Paris. Enrolled in the First World War in 1916, he continued to draw at the front, and produced numerous portraits of soldiers...

The key element to this work is that it is much larger that most of the other works on paper by Lachaise and somewhat more delineated and refined . The figure exudes sexuality has a...

Vladimir Pavlovich Nechoumoff (Russian, c. 1900 – 1977) Café society in Istanbul pencil on paper 8 x 8 in. (20.3 x 20.3 cm.) Executed in 1921 Figurative painter, illustrator Vladimi...

Pastel on paper, signed (lower left), 63cm x 49cm (framed 75cm x 60cm). Bouchéne was a Russian artist and costume and set designer for theatre, opera and ballet. Primarily working ...

Rousselet, French School early 20th century Portrait of an officier, 1915 Wax crayon on paper signed "E Rousselet" and dated 1915 lower right 51.5 x 31.5 cm In quite good condition, ...

Genre: German Expressionist Subject: Woman, Cuban Scene Medium: watercolor paint, ink or pencil Surface: Paper This is hand signed lower right. There is an inscription at bottom e...

Medium: Pen and Ink on Board Signature: Signed Lower Left Story Illustration- Life Magazine ca. 1915 Seated Man in dressing gown pulling on maid's apron