Sylvia Spicuzza

"Self-Portrait With Student Creating a Mobile" watercolor by Sylvia Spicuzza

ca. 1950

"Woman In Fancy Costume Estate #752" is a watercolor and graphite signed by Sylvia Spicuzza. A woman stands with arms stretched out. The lady is wearing a red and white stripped outf...

"The Free Press-Composition" is a watercolor street scene created by Joseph Ferrara. The street is dark, evoking the feeling of night and cold. There are white rings expanding from t...

"Isadora Duncan Dancing #3" is an original ink and watercolor piece on cream paper by Abraham Walkowitz. The artist signed the piece in the lower center. The drawing depicts Isadora ...

In this painting, Sylvia Spicuzza demonstrates her skill as an illustration artist, representing the Milwaukee character Billie the Brownie with a growing spring of a tree. An illustration like this could grace the pages of a children's book or illustrated magazine, or as an advertisement for Schuster’s Department Store. Watercolor, gouache and graphite on paper 8 x 5.75 inches, artwork 14 x 12 inches, frame Stamped with artist signature, below image, lower left. Presented in a new custom frame with a gold-finish neoclassical wood moulding, archival matting and mounting materials; and UV glass to inhibit fading. Born in 1908, Sylvia Spicuzza was the daughter of noted painter Francesco Spicuzza. Sylvia devoted herself to teaching art to the students of Lake Bluff Elementary School in Shorewood, WI. During this time Sylvia produced a magnificent body of work that was undiscovered until her death. Sylvia's work is rich, diverse and fascinating collection of drawings, watercolors and prints from the 1920's to the 1990's. Her style ranges from early figurative drawings to regionalism, Art Deco, lyrical abstractions of every conceivable subject (both real and imagined), as well as figurative paintings that reflect the work of Picasso, Kandinsky and Max Ernst in the 1930's and 1940's. Biomorphic and organic, Modernist images are presented with Sylvia Spicuzza's own unique sense of style, humor and fantasy. Billie the Brownie was a multi-media star of Christmas in Milwaukee from the 1920s to the 1950s. Years earlier, the writer and artist Palmer Cox...

This still life is an unusual example of Sylvia Spicuzza's work, as most of her most significant output are geometric and biomorphic abstract images. The objects in the image - a sea shell, a pitcher, a heavy necklace - are objects the artist likely had at home and staged for the image. But of particular significance is the insertion of the artist's hand, as though she was reaching into the still life while she was painting. The hand has been a significant symbol of the artist throughout art history as a source of creation: Albrecht Dürer's 'Self Portrait at the Age of Twenty-Eight' (1500) highlights the artist's hand much like traditional images of Christ giving gestures of blessing. Likewise, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 'Self Portrait as a Soldier' (1915) shows the artist in military uniform but with a severed hand as a symbol of helplessness during the First World War. Another important comparison, given Spicuzza is a Midwestern artist, is Ivan Albright's magic realist work 'That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door)' at the Art Institute of Chicago. The massive painting...

"Family Portrait" is an original gouache and pencil piece on paper by Thomas Smith. The artist uses pure, unmixed color in flat planes, shading only on the faces of the figures, which makes them stand out from the rest of the image. The three figures sit in a triangular formation. The tallest figure looms over the other two with a dark black cloak...

*UK BUYERS WILL PAY AN ADDITIONAL 5% IMPORT DUTY ON TOP OF THE ABOVE PRICE Place de la Concorde by Jean Dufy (1888-1964) Gouache and watercolour on paper 48.6 x 63.2 cm (19 ¹/₈ x 24 ⁷/₈ inches) Signed lower right, Jean Dufy Executed circa 1955 This work is accompagnied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Jacques Bailly and will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné vol.3 currently being prepared by Jacques Bailly. Provenance: Private collection, France Artist biography: Born into a large family in the busy port-city of La Havre in northern France, Jean Dufy was the younger brother of the Fauvist painter Raoul Dufy. In order to please his accountant father, Jean was...

The Company is a Watercolor Drawing realized by Mino Maccari (1924-1989) in the Mid-20th Century. Hand-signed on the lower. Good conditions. Mino Maccari (Siena, 1924-Rome, June ...

The Portrait is a Watercolor Drawing realized by Mino Maccari (1924-1989) in the 1960s. Hand-signed on the lower. Good condition. Mino Maccari (Siena, 1924-Rome, June 16, 1989) w...

Green Lady is a watercolor Drawing realized by Mino Maccari (1924-1989) in the 1960s. Hand-signed on the lower. Good condition. Mino Maccari (Siena, 1924-Rome, June 16, 1989) was...

The Seascape is a Watercolor Drawing realized by Mino Maccari (1924-1989) in the 1960s. Hand-signed on the lower. Good condition. Mino Maccari (Siena, 1924-Rome, June 16, 1989) w...

The star press is an artwork realized by Suzanne Tourte, in 1950s. Original watercolor. 33 x 25 cm. Good conditions, except for some yellowing on pa...