Katherine Librowicz

Interior Bouquet of Flowers

Polly Kraft American (1928-2017) Umbrella Still Life (1984) watercolor on paper signed lower right 29 1/2 x 41 1/2 inches frame dimensions: 33 x 45 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches, wood frame with acrylic glazing Provenance: East Hampton Collection Fischbach Art Gallery New York, NY label affixed verso Polly Kraft, Known for painting portraits, landscapes, and still-lifes, realist artist Polly Kraft worked in both watercolor and oil. She had the ability to translate a split second glance into a memorable painting.a painter who turned quotidian objects and scenes — a sliced red apple still bearing its seeds, an unmade bed cluttered with mail, a filleted fish vibrant even in death — into works of art resonant with meaning, Her son, Mark Stevens is an art critic who with his wife, Annalyn Swan, co-authored the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “de Kooning: An American Master” Mrs. Kraft spent a half-century at the center of the Washington establishment as the wife of Joseph Kraft, the syndicated newspaper columnist, and later, after Kraft's death in 1986, of Lloyd Cutler, the high-powered lawyer who was White House counsel to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Her marriages took her into the thick and thicket of social life in the capital — a world, she once remarked, where "politicians were mixed in with intellectuals, mixed in with academics, mixed in with movie stars." She counted among her friends members of the Kennedy family, former Washington Post chairman and publisher Katharine Graham, former Post executive editor Benjamin C. Bradlee and diplomats W. Averell and Pamela Harriman. Although oft cited as a doyenne of Georgetown hostesses, Mrs. Kraft professed that she relished neither politics nor Washington’s breed of socializing, which at times approached the intensity of a competitive sport. “When it comes to the poetry of dishevelment, Polly Kraft is one of our more rewarding practitioners,” art critic John Russell wrote in the New York Times in 1981. “She specializes in the domestic pileup — cushions knocked out of shape, books and magazines left askew, hasty departures acted out in verismo style. The point of the paintings lies in the contrast between this archetypal havoc and the order that Mrs. Kraft has imposed upon it.” Classic Americana. Her paintings, mainly watercolors and oil paintings, appeared at venues including the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Addison/Ripley Fine Art in Washington (she was part of their 40 year retrospective along with Lou Stovall, Diana Walker...

Watercolor painting of Shul interior in Tzfas, Safed Israel. MORDECHAI AVNIEL Minsk, Belarus, b. 1900, d. 1989 Mordecai Dickstein (later Avniel) was born in 1900 in Minsk, present-day Belarus. He studied fine arts in Yekaterinburg, Russia (1913–19) and at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem (1923). Avniel immigrated to Palestine in 1921 where he first worked as a pioneer in citrus plantations near Petah Tikva. In 1923, at the urging of Boris Schatz, he went to Jerusalem to further his art studies at Bezalel. He later taught painting and sculpture at the school, and served a term as director of the Small Sculpture Section of the Sculpture Department (1924–28). From 1935 on, Avniel lived in Haifa. Avniel was also a lawyer and a founding partner of the Haifa firm Avniel, Salomon & Company. Avniel regularly showed his work in group exhibitions of the Painters and Sculptors' Association of Israel. He was awarded the Herman Struck Prize (1952), Tenth Anniversary Prize for Watercolours, Ramat Gan (1958), Histadrut Prize (1961), and First Prize Haifa Municipality (1977). He represented Israel at the 1958 Venice Biennale and the 1962 International Art Seminar at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Avniel was a member of the Artists' Colony in Safed and maintained a studio on Mount Carmel. Mordechai Avniel is best known for his deft and singular landscape work. His works are held in numerous museums and collections both in Israel and abroad, including the Metropolitan Museum, New York and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA. Avniel's manipulations of light and colour share much with those of compatriot artists Shimshon Holzman and Joseph Kossonogi. Education 1913-19 Art School of Katrinburg, Russia 1923 Bezalel School of Art, Jerusalem Selected exhibitions: 2004: Our Landscape: Notes on Landscape Painting in Israel, University of Haifa Art Gallery, Haifa (online catalogue) 1965: Mordechai Avniel Retrospective, Haifa Municipality Museum of Modern Art, Haifa 1964: Galerie Synthèse, Paris 1962: New York University, New York 1961: Rina Gallery of Modern Art, Jerusalem The Autumn Exhibition Rina Gallery, Jerusalem Artists: Dedi Ben Shaul...

Herman Frederick Ten Kate 1822 - The Hague - 1891 Interior Scene Watercolor on paper 9 1/4 x 13 1/4 inches (23.4 x 33.6 cm) Framed: 17 x 21 ½ inches (43 x 54.6 cm) Signed lower right Provenance: Private Collection, USA Herman Ten Kate spent most of his life in The Hague although he did occasionally travel to Amsterdam and Haarlem. He was a member of the Royal Academy in Amsterdam in 1847. He was a student of Cornelis Krusemans from 1837 to 1841. Ten Kate generally depicted friendly genre scenes as well as scenes with soldiers inspired by the 80 years war. His work is generally of watercolor and lithographs. Our sheet offers a quiet scene in which two gentlemen are featured, each sporting the extravagant hats, vests and tall boots typical of the 19th century, inspired by the 17th century Guardroom scenes. One man rests against the back of a chair, his face marked with a serious expression, his left hand gesturing toward the other man seated at the table. The seated figure wears a rather bemused expression as he composes a letter, apparently taking delight in his endeavor. The two figures are surrounded by various objects cluttering the room, which Ten Kate employs for the specific means of compositional balance. The various interior elements -- a long wooden table...

Artist: Raoul Dupoux (1906-1988) Title: Untitled Year: circa 1965 Medium: Watercolor and pastel on wove paper Size: 26 x 27 inches Condition: Good Inscrip...