Marjorie Stevens

'Water's Edge', California Woman Artist, CWS, SWA

Circa 1965

An elegant and atmospheric watercolor showing a colorfully-striped linen jacket drying in the breeze with a view through a stand of palm trees to an idyllic tropical beach and the In...

Signed lower right, 'DeMartis' for James Joseph DeMartis (American, 1926-1996) and painted circa 1965. Born in Queens, New York, James Joseph DeMartis served with distinction in World War II and was decorated at the Battle of the Bulge. He subsequently attended painting classes at New York's Museum of Modern Art (1946-47) and, later, at the Art Students League of New York. He then enrolled at the California School of Fine Arts in Santa Monica, California until 1949, before leaving t study in Europe in 1950. He settled in Florence, Italy where he attended L’Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (1950-54). While continuing to study painting, he participated in several group and one-man shows in Italy and Switzerland. In 1956, DeMartis returned to New York at the height of the American Abstract Expressionist movement. He settled with his new family in Brooklyn and, after participating in a series of grass-roots galleries opened with fellow artists, he opened the Armory Gallery and studio in Manhattan. He also exhibited in other Manhattan galleries and at the National Arts Club. In 1961, De Martis was awarded the prestigious Emily Lowe Award for Painting. This led to to shows at the Ward Egglestone, ROKO, Pierantonio and Artemis West galleries from 1962-68. He then returned to Europe to participate in a group show in Florence. Upon his return, he opened the Brownstone Gallery in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, where he exhibited his own and others’ works until 1988. James De Martis exhibited widely and with success including at one-man shows in Tokyo, Brooklyn, New York, Sarasota, Florida, San Francisco and Santa Fe. Select Exhibitions: 1953 Brodighera, Italy 1954 Galerie an der Reuss, Lucerne, Switzerland 1955 La Casa di Dante, Florence, Italy 1956 Walden School, New York, New York 1957 Bottega 57 Gallery, Brooklyn, New York 1960, 61 Hicks Street Gallery, Brooklyn New York 1960 Heights Casino, Brooklyn, New York 1961 Ward Eggleston Gallery, New York, New York 1962 Ray Gallery, Brooklyn New York 1962 Pietroantonio Gallery, New York, New York 1962,3,5,7 Armory Gallery, New York, New York 1965 Brooklyn Arts Gallery, Brooklyn, New York 1966,9 Brooklyn Heights Association 1967 Roko Gallery, New York, New York 1970,3,4,5,8,9,83 Brownstone Gallery, Brooklyn, New York 1972 Artemis East Gallery, New York, New York 1975 Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York 1977 Marcoleo Gallery, New York, New York 1978 Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York 1989,91,92 Gallery Gion Tokyo, Japan 1994 Private show, Sarasota, Florida 1995 Private show, San Francisco, California 1995 Private show, Copake, New York 1996 Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania May, 2018 Retrospective show, Ashawagh Hall...

This drawing records the destruction that was endured by London during the Blitz. The building in the foreground is St Nicholas Cole Abbey, situated in the city of London. Whilst a church was recorded on this site from the twelfth century, this church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London so the remnants of the church that we see here is one that was built by Sir Christopher Wren...

Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) Crashing Waves on the Atlantic Coast, 1957 Watercolor and graphite on paper Signed and dated lower right 22 x 29 inches Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox was a respected librarian. In 1906 Wilcox enrolled from the Cleveland School of Art under the tutelage of Henry Keller, Louis Rorimer, and Frederick Gottwald. He also attended Keller's Berlin Heights summer school from 1909. After graduating in 1910, Wilcox traveled and studied in Europe, sometimes dropping by Académie Colarossi in the evening to sketch the model or the other students at their easels, where he was influenced by French impressionism. Wilcox was influenced by Keller's innovative watercolor techniques, and from 1910 to 1916 they experimented together with impressionism and post-impressionism. Wilcox soon developed his own signature style in the American Scene or Regionalist tradition of the early 20th century. He joined the Cleveland School of Art faculty in 1913. Among his students were Lawrence Edwin Blazey, Carl Gaertner, Paul Travis, and Charles E. Burchfield. Around this time Wilcox became associated with Cowan Pottery. In 1916 Wilcox married fellow artist Florence Bard, and they spent most of their honeymoon painting in Berlin Heights with Keller. They had one daughter, Mary. In 1918 he joined the Cleveland Society of Artists, a conservative counter to the Bohemian Kokoon Arts Club, and would later serve as its president. He also began teaching night school at the John Huntington Polytechnic Institute at this time, and taught briefly at Baldwin-Wallace College. Wilcox wrote and illustrated Ohio Indian Trails in 1933, which was favorably reviewed by the New York Times in 1934. This book was edited and reprinted in 1970 by William A. McGill. McGill also edited and reprinted Wilcox' Canals of the Old Northwest in 1969. Wilcox also wrote, illustrated, and published Weather Wisdom in 1949, a limited edition (50 copies) of twenty-four serigraphs (silk screen prints) accompanied by commentary "based upon familiar weather observations commonly made by people living in the country." Wilcox displayed over 250 works at Cleveland's annual May Show. He received numerous awards, including the Penton Medal for as The Omnibus, Paris (1920), Fish Tug on Lake Erie (1921), Blacksmith Shop (1922), and The Gravel Pit (1922). Other paintings include The Trailing Fog (1929), Under the Big Top (1930), and Ohio Landscape...