Charles Culver

Charles Culver Landscape "Late Afternoon Landscape" Watercolor on Paper

1941

The idyllic atmosphere of this Mexican scene is located in Mexico, west of Mexico City and south of Guadalajara. “Red Hills Near Patzcuaro” is set in a golden light. and was one of three paintings by the artist while the artist visited Patzcuaro, Mexico. The humans depicted lend an atmosphere to the painting and an indication of location - dressed in native Mexican peasant dress - without being obtrusive and causing the viewer to concentrate on them. The intense red hills of Patzcuaro are the feature in this painting along with the pinon and juniper trees and the Chamisa shrub. This piece has been professionally reframed with acid-free matting and museum glass. In a 1952 Detroit Free Press article, entitled “Artist Explains His Work,” Culver was asked why he painted the way he did. He stated: “I try to ‘see’ though not too exactly; I try to think though not too ponderously; I feel emotion yet I try not to become overwrought. I interpret rather than describe, and design rather than depict. I work with values, not light and shade; hence, when I am successful, I achieve substance rather than three-dimensional form, and this satisfies me as being wholly sufficient. In my work I wish to be serious without becoming a bore, exuberant without being frivolous, humorous without being silly. I believe that good paintings are conceived, not contrived; and I am interested in art much more than in pictures.” Charles Culver...

The idyllic atmosphere of this country scene falls within a couple of styles one being regionalism, an American realist modern art movement that included paintings, murals, lithographs, and illustrations depicting scenes of rural and small-town America primarily in the Midwest and frequently associated with Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton. The other style is romanticism wherein the scene depicted is a more desired or dramatic version of what actually is. “Untitled (Winter Road)” is a quiet country scene depicting a road leading into the distance either going to or coming from a local farm. The snow does not particularly seem fresh suggesting a melt and the coming of spring. This piece has been professionally reframed with acid-free matting and conservator glass. In a 1952 Detroit Free Press article, entitled “Artist Explains His Work,” Culver was asked why he painted the way he did. He stated: “I try to ‘see’ though not too exactly; I try to think though not too ponderously; I feel emotion yet I try not to become overwrought. I interpret rather than describe, and design rather than depict. I work with values, not light and shade; hence, when I am successful, I achieve substance rather than three-dimensional form, and this satisfies me as being wholly sufficient. In my work I wish to be serious without becoming a bore, exuberant without being frivolous, humorous without being silly. I believe that good paintings are conceived, not contrived; and I am interested in art much more than in pictures.” Charles...

The idyllic atmosphere of this local dock scene falls within a couple of styles one being regionalism, an American realist modern art movement that included paintings, murals, lithographs, and illustrations depicting scenes of rural and small-town America primarily in the Midwest and frequently associated with Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton. The other style is romanticism wherein the scene depicted is a more desired or dramatic version of what actually is. “Untitled (Dock Scene)” is typical of a small town dock scene from Michigan where Culver lived or from places as far away as Maine, but what makes it important is its easy familiarity: water, gulls or terns, slanting wood shanties, scruffy dirt patches and course grasses. It is not idealized, but does set the tone of fresh air, the scream of birds and the sun on water. This piece has been professionally reframed with acid-free matting and museum glass. In a 1952 Detroit Free Press article, entitled “Artist Explains His Work,” Culver was asked why he painted the way he did. He stated: “I try to ‘see’ though not too exactly; I try to think though not too ponderously; I feel emotion yet I try not to become overwrought. I interpret rather than describe, and design rather than depict. I work with values, not light and shade; hence, when I am successful, I achieve substance rather than three-dimensional form, and this satisfies me as being wholly sufficient. In my work I wish to be serious without becoming a bore, exuberant without being frivolous, humorous without being silly. I believe that good paintings are conceived, not contrived; and I am interested in art much more than in pictures.” Charles Culver...

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Gustav Melcher (German, 1898-?) Segelschiffe vor Venedig - Sailing ships off Venice • India ink, water colour wash • Visible image ca. 11.5 x 18 cm • Glased Frame ca. 20 x 25 cm • Verso various inscriptions • Signed lower right Gustav Melcher was a German painter and a pioneer in film, film criticism and film theory and created this clever little picture of the skyline of Venice with various vessels. Going by the various inscriptions an the backing paper, this drawing was made in 1918 when Gustav was twenty years old and passed on three years later to Gertrud Melcher on the 1. 2. 1921. I have no reasons to doubt this information. The small drawing is still in its unopened frame, so maybe there is more information to be discovered , however this will be the privilege of the next owner. The picture also has retained its original antique frame – note that it has lost over the years various sections of the gesso decoration. The very precisely executed drawing is most enjoyable to look at and doing so, remember you are looking through the eyes of a young man, who saw this foreign sea cape over a century ago. Thank you for your interest and please note, that I offer free worldwide shipping on all my items. Gustav Melcher began his studies at the Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie under Peter Janssen and Eduard von Gebhardt. Originaly he was interested in figurative and portrait painting, but after time he decided to pursue the depiction of land- and marinescapes. Durin his studies the young artist undertook trips to visit England, Scotland, Belgium and France and he joined the artist society Malkasten. It was in those days he would hold speeches to his colleges about this new invention called ‘Kintopp’ – Melcher was a great advocate of the moving pictures...

Ludovico Zambeletti (Italian, 1881 - 1966) Barche da pesca - Fishing boats • Water colour on paper, visible image ca. 9 x 13.5 cm • Glased frame ca. 18 x 25 cm • Signed bottom right Ludovico Zambeletti was born on the 19th of April, 1881 into a wealthy industrialist Milanese family. He was classically educated in the arts, enrolled into the Studio all’Academia di Brera and then studied under Cessare Tallone, Guiseppe Mentessi, Vespassiano Bignami and Camillo Rapetti...

Peter Caledon Cameron (American, born Scotland, 1852-c. 1920) Absecon Island, New Jersey, 1894 Watercolor on paper, 17 1/2 x 27 inches (sight) FRAMED: 26 1/2 x 36 1/2 inches Signed and dated at lower left: "ABSECON.ISLAND./ N.J-U.S.A Cameron/1894" N.J-U.S.A Cameron/1894" Born in Perth, Scotland, Peter Caledon Cameron won awards for drawing and penmanship at a Glasgow public school. He claimed that at the age of fourteen his watercolors were already "in demand," and that before turning twenty he had "crossed every ocean in the world, sketching and painting as he went." He attended the Government School of Design in London and was certified as an art master in 1883. Cameron immigrated to the United States that year, settled in Philadelphia, and commenced work on large history paintings such as Niagara in Winter (unlocated) and Vesuvius in Grand Eruption (unlocated) that he exhibited in various northern cities. He exhibited one painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1902. Nothing is known of his activities later in life. In a lengthy inscription that accompanies this watercolor, Cameron noted that Absecon was "a piece of the best sand-dune region characteristic of the whole coast of New Jersey State from Sandy Hook point in the North to Cape May Point in the extreme south." This was one among a number of studies the artist made for a large oil painting titled "Captain Kidd Burying His Treasure" (unlocated). The famous Scottish privateer Captain William Kidd...

Charles Lewis Fussell (American, 1840–1909) Abandoned House on Country Road Watercolor on paper, 14 x 23 7/8 inches FRAMED: 31 1/4 x 39 1/4 inches Sig...

A Collection of Botanical Watercolours: Drawings of British Plants Emily Stackhouse (1811-1870) perfectly illustrates the Victorian fascination with the countryside in this remark...

A Collection of Botanical Watercolours: Drawings of British Plants Emily Stackhouse (1811-1870) perfectly illustrates the Victorian fascination with the countryside in this remark...