1910s Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

VII prise de mon bureau is a wonderful original pencil drawing watercolored on ivory-colored paper, realized in 1914 by a French artist whose signature seems to be J. Denis. Title, ...

WILLIAM SHACKLETON, NEAC (1872-1933) Sorting the Catch – Study for The Mackerel Nets Oil on paper, unframed 32 by 46.5 cm., 12 ½ by 18 ¼ in. (mou...

Georges CONRAD (1874-1936) Libertine Carnaval in Venice Original India ink and color pencil drawing Signed with the stamp of atelier On paper 26.5 x 20 cm (c. 10,4 x 7.8 in) Very ...

Watercolor on cardboard of a young boy in a straw hat peeling an orange by the Italian artist, Guiseppe Gelanze. Signed middle right, Gelanze, along with “Napoli” or Naples. Circa ...

ARTUR MARKOWICZ 1872-1934 Podgórze (Poland) 1872-1934 Cracow (Polish) Title: Sketchbook I, 1915 Technique: A Sketchbooks with 154 Pencil and Colour Pencil Drawings on Paper with Stamp Size: 16.5 x 20.5 cm. / 6.5 x 8.1 in. Additional Information: This is an original sketchbook...

Charming vintage watercolor of a turquoise blue pond along a country path. Signed by the artist, lower center; "Paule East." Presented in a vintage oak wood...

Medium: Pencil, Charcoal and Orange Wash on Paper Signature: Signed "O'Neill" Upper Left Sight Size 24.00" x 19.50", Framed 35.00" x 29.00" Illustration for the poem "Baby's First Christmas" by Margaret G. Hayes, published in Harper's Bazar, December 1910. ​​​​​​​The artwork is also reproduced within Walt Reed's The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000 (Society of Illustrators, 2001) on page 154. Exhibited: Brandywine River...

GEORGE LUKS (1867-1933) Otis Skinner as Col. Philippe Bridau in "The Honor of the Family", c. 1919 Charcoal on paper 12 x 7 ¾ inches (sight) Signed at lo...

Studies for the Female Figure is an original artwork realized by the french artist Ginsbourg in 1918. Original red pencil on paper. Hand-signed and dated in pencil on the lower ri...

Date: 1907-1910 Medium: Pastel on Board Dimensions: 22.00" x 28.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right Stuart Travis did many early Vogue magazine covers. Signed with an address on ...

Artist: John Arthur Dees (English, 1876-1959) Title: "In Cambridgeshire" *Signed by Dees lower right Circa: 1915 Medium: Original Watercolor on paper Framing: Not framed, but beautifully matted with hand decorated French matting...

Striking watercolor of a beautiful sunset over a rocky shore along the French Riviera by French artist L. Bourlier, circa 1920. Signed lower left. Original artwork on paper display...

Date: 1919 Medium: Watercolor on Paper Dimensions: 20.75" x 22.00" Signature: Signed and Dated Lower Left

Magnificent French watercolor of a crystal blue waterfall spilling out from a rocky crevice by artist J. Aucante-Roy, circa 1920. Signed lower right. Original artwork on paper disp...

Galloping Horses is a wonderful and original drawing in charcoal on paper, realized by the italian divisions artist Giuseppe Cominetti. Hand-signed in charcoal and dated on the lower...

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed and dated lower right. Hayley Lever (1876-1958) Hayley Lever's exceptional career path took him from the shores of ...

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...

Signed lower left, 'A.F. Gorguet' for Auguste François Gorguet (French, 1862-1927), titled 'Menton' and dated with roman numerals 'XI' for 1911; bearing old 'P. Navez' exhibition lab...

Medium: Charcoal on Board Signature: Signed Upper Left by the Artist Contact for exact dimensions. Published for the serialized Penrod and Sam stories in Cosmopolitan Magazine betw...

"Woman Carrying Wood Branches" is an original pencil drawing by Ludovic Rodo Pissarro. It depicts a young woman doing farm work. It is framed in a handmade ...

Beautiful ink drawing and white lead by Giuseppe Raggio, probably belonging to his last years of artistic activity. Good conditions. This artwork is shipped from Italy. Under existi...

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899-1985) An American Modernist of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene, Gershon Benj...

ARTUR MARKOWICZ 1872-1934 Podgórze (Poland) 1872-1934 Cracow (Polish) Title: Sketchbook II, 1915 Technique: A Sketchbook with 149 Pencil and Colour Pencil Drawings on Paper with Stamp Size: 16.5 x 20.5 cm. / 6.5 x 8.1 in. Additional Information: This is an original sketchbook...

Exquisite and highly skilled watercolor of an elaborate Italian courtyard accented with radiant foliage and flowers by Flaromia, circa 1920. Signed lower left. Original one-of-a-ki...

CLARK HOBART (1868 – 1948) COLONIAL DAMES Monotype signed and titled in pencil Hobart was an early 20 c. California painter. He was on the forefront ...

Signed and dated by the artist in ink, lower right Annotated in ink lower left: 3. Plate 15. - Lesson 3 A very early student work. From the Artist's estate

Stunning watercolor of the flood at the Porte de Bercy in Paris by French artist E. Fournier, 1910. Signed lower right. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a g...

Date: 1919 Medium: Charcoal on Board Dimensions: 24.00" x 30.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right Story illustration, image of a young woman confiding in elderly religious man.

THE ARCHITECT'S ORIGINAL PROPOSAL FOR KING'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL William Alfred Pite (1860-1949) King`s College Hospital, Denmark Hill general bird`s-eye view (1913) Initialled H.M.F.,...

Date: 1914 Medium: Watercolor and Ink on Paper Dimensions: 23.50" x 17.50" Signature: Signed and Dated Lower Right “She trades for a sling shot and uses it...

Delightful French watercolor of a glassy river lined with vivid green grass and trees dotted in fall colors from 1911. Original one-of-a-kind artwork on paper displayed on a white...

Graceful watercolor portrait of an elegant auburn haired female in profile, 1912. Signed "Laure" and dated lower right. Over 100 years old. Original vintage one-of-a-kind artwork on...

An original watercolor on paper by American modernist Charles E. Burchfield, created in 1916. This work comes in an archival frame presentation and has been authenticated by the Bur...

An original watercolor on paper by American modernist Charles E. Burchfield, created in 1916. This work comes in an archival frame presentation and has been authenticated by the Bur...

A lush, historic watercolor figurative landscape by C. Harry Allis (American, 1870-1938). Signed and dated "C. Harry Allis 1919" lower right. Displ...

Kellogs advertisement with ad sheet included. Advertisement of a little girl with a bowl of Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes cereal. Benjamin Sayre Cory Kilv...

Picturesque French watercolor of a windmill in tranquil cool hues, circa 1920. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold bord...

Medium: Charcoal on Board Signature: Signed "W.B. King" Lower Right The Negotiation. Likely a story illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, circa 1915.

An fine period watercolor, dated 1910, an illustration by Charles Edmund Brock (English, 1870-1938). This, from a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, "The Newcomes, Memoirs of the Most Respectable Family." The novel was published in 1855. Below this image are two characters from "The Newcomes, Chapter XI". Presented in a rustic giltwood frame. Signed "C.E. Brock" and dated "1910" lower left. Image size, 10"H x 7.5"W. Charles Edmund Brock was a widely published English painter, line artist and book illustrator, who signed most of his work C. E. Brock. He received his first book commission at the age of 20. He became very successful, and illustrated books for authors such as Jonathan Swift, William Thackeray, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot. Brock also contributed pieces to several magazines such as The Quiver, The Strand, and Pearsons...

LASZLO BARO MEDNYANSZKY 1852-1919 Beckó, Slovakia 1852-1919 Vienna (Hungarian) Title: Cityscape, 1912 Technique: Original Hand Signed and Dated Pencil Drawing on Paper s...

LASZLO BARO MEDNYANSZKY 1852-1919 Beckó, Slovakia 1852-1919 Vienna (Hungarian) Title: Rooftops, circa 1912 Technique: Original Hand Signed Pencil Drawing on Paper size: ...

Untitled (Woman by the Windows) Unsigned. Pastel on board, c. 1915 Created while the artist was in Giverny, France Provenance: Gift of the artist to his wife, Mary Hess Buehr by Descent to the artist's niece, daughter of Will Hess. David Salzman Robert Henry Adams Fine Art, Chicago Ronald C. Sloter, Columbus One of the early Chicago artists to adopt Impressionism, Karl Buehr became a figure and landscape painter. As a figure painter, his specialty became "gorgeously colored images of young women on porches overlooking brilliant summertime gardens." (Kennedy 98) His later work often showed a female figure with serious expression engaging the viewer with a direct stare. In his landscapes, he was noted for his strong coloration. In a December 1896 student exhibition at the Art Institute, a reviewer for the "Chicago Times Herald" described Buehr's landscapes as "blithe and joyous" with "country roads brilliant in sunlight . . . fields rich in summer verdure, under soft skies painted in a high, musical key." (Gerdts 68) Buehr was born as one of seven sons to a prosperous German family who immigrated to America and settled in Chicago in 1869. He was first exposed to his signature style of Impressionism in 1888 when he enrolled in night classes at the Art Institute while working in the shipping department of a lithographic firm near the Institute. He remained a student there until 1897 and was recognized in a "Chicago Times Herald" editorial of June 13, 1897 as one of the Institute's most outstanding pupils. The next year, his art career was temporarily put on hold when he briefly enlisted with the U.S. Army in the Spanish American War. In 1899, he resumed his art studies, this time with Frank Duveneck. He exhibited a painting at the Paris Salon of 1900. In 1905, thanks to a wealthy Chicago patron, Buehr and his family moved to France. They spent the following year in Taormina, Sicily, and spent time in Venice as well. In Paris, Buehr studied at the Academy Julian with Raphael Collin for two years. Then he went to England, enrolling in the London Art School but had returned to Paris by 1908. During this time, he began painting at Giverny, the home of Impressionist leader Claude Monet (1840-1926, and by 1912, Buehr was listing that village as his home address. One of his good friends and associates at Giverny was Frederick Frieseke. One of Buehr's paintings from that time, "News from Home", was exhibited in 1913 at the French Salon in Paris and at the annual exhibit of the Chicago Art Institute. It shows a woman in floral dress sitting on a porch with a background with potted flowers and lush greenery background. Of his painting done at Giverny, Buehr wrote in 1912 to William Macbeth of Macbeth Galleries in New York: "My figures painted in and around Giverny are costumed and in appropriate out door settings." (Gerdts 68) In 1914, he returned to the United States and took a teaching position in Chicago at the Art Institute, which he held for the remainder of his life. He was married to Mary Hess, a painter of miniatures and decorative works. In 1928-29, he was a guest artist at Stanford University. Courtesy: AskArt “Karl Albert Buehr (1866–1952) was a painter born in Germany. Buehr was born in Feuerbach - near Stuttgart. He was the son of Frederick Buehr and Henrietta Doh (Dohna?). He moved to Chicago with his parents and siblings in the 1880s. In Chicago, young Karl worked at various jobs until he was employed by a lithograph company near the Art Institute of Chicago. Introduced to art at work, Karl paid regular visits to the Art Institute, where he found part-time employment, enabling him to enroll in night classes. Later, working at the Institute as a night watchman, he had a unique opportunity to study the masters and actually posted sketchings that blended in favorably with student's work. Having studied under John H. Vanderpoel, Buehr graduated with honors, while his work aroused such admiration that he was offered a teaching post there, which he maintained for many years thereafter. He graduated from the Art Inst. of Chicago and served in the IL Cav in the Spanish–American War. Mary Hess became Karl's wife—she was a student of his and an accomplished artist in her own right. In 1922, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member. Art Studies in Europe In 1904, Buehr received a bronze medal at the St. Louis Universal Exposition, then, in 1905, Buehr and his family moved to France, thanks to a wealthy Chicago patron, and they spent the following year in Taormina, Sicily, where the artist painted local subjects, executing both genre subjects and landscapes as well as time in Venice. Buehr spent at least some time in Paris, where he worked with Raphaël Collin at the Académie Julian. Giverny and American Impressionism Prior to this time, Buehr had developed a quasi-impressionistic style, but after 1909, when he began spending summers near Monet in Giverny, his work became decidedly characteristic of that plein-air style but he began focusing on female subjects posed out-of-doors. He remained for some time in Giverny, and here he became well-acquainted with other well known expatriate America impressionists such as Richard Miller, Theodore Earl Butler, Frederick Frieseke, and Lawton Parker. It seems likely that Buehr met Monet, since his own daughter Kathleen and Monet’s granddaughter, Lili Butler, were playmates, according to George Buehr, the painter’s son. His other daughter Lydia died before adulthood due to diabetes. He returned to Chicago at the onset of World War I and taught at The Art Inst for many years. One of his noted pupils at the Art Institute was Archibald Motley...

For your consideration here is a wonderful original watercolor by the Scottish born artist John P. Nicolson also known as John Nicolson. Executed circa 1915 in the style of Winslow H...

(Sorry for reflections in the glass.) A fine Alexander Drysdale oil wash out of an estate here in New Orleans. A classic Drysdale in every way, of good size, in fabulous condition. ...

Translation of dedication, in blue crayon: "For the fraternal league of the children of France with all my heart." Signed: Mucha, Paris, 23 March 1907 “This study was used for the ...

Work on paper without frame

This recently rediscovered expressionist drawing by László Moholy-Nagy is part of a small group of drawings made by the artist early in his career, in Vienna and Berlin. The use of interlaced curves, typical of the artist's technique, gives this hieratic portrait a magnetic radiance, while the absence of any connection with the rest of the body evokes a profane Holy Face. 1. From Hungary to Chicago, the ardent life of László Moholy-Nagy Moholy-Nagy was born in Borsod, now known as Bácsborsód in Southern Hungary, in July 1895. He studied law in Budapest in 1913, when he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army to serve as an artillery officer on the Italian and Russian fronts. While serving at artillery observation posts, Moholy-Nagy was able to execute numerous drawings, recording his traumatic war experience, on the reverse of military-issued postcards which he could easily carry with him. In 1917, he was seriously wounded and hospitalized. The following year (around 1918 at the age of 23), he abandoned his plans to become a lawyer in favour of a career as an artist, with the encouragement of his friend, the art critic Iván Hevesy. The drawings executed in those early years reveal Moholy-Nagy's powerful Expressionist lines. In his autobiography of 1944, Abstract of an Artist, Moholy-Nagy explained his early figurative style, writing that contemporary art in those days was too chaotic and that and all the '-isms' were incomprehensible and puzzling to him. He was, however, experimenting with Dadaist compositions already in 1919 and then moved to Vienna and later to Berlin, where he would soon make his first works in his Constructivist style of the early 1920s. In Berlin he met photograph and writer Lucia Schultz who became his wife the next year. In 1922 he met Walter Gropius. During a vacation on the Rhome with Lucia, she introduced him to making photograms on light-sensitized paper. Walter Gropius invited him to teach at the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1923 where he replaced Paul Klee as Head of the Metal Workshop. The Bauhaus became known for the versatility of its artists and Moholy-Nagy was no exception: throughout his career, he became proficient in the fiels of photography, typography, sculpture, painting, printmaking, film-making and industrial design. In 1928 Moholy-Nagy left the Bauhaus and established his own design studio in Berlin. He separated from his first wide Lucia in 1929. In 1931 he met actress and scriptwriter Sibylle Pietzsch. They married in 1932 and has two daughters, Hattula (born 1933) and Claudia. After the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, he was no longer allowed to work there. He moved his family to London in 1935. In 1937, on the recommendation of Walter Gropius, Moholy-Nagy moved to Chicago to become the director of the New Bauhaus, but the school closed in 1938. Moholy-Nagy resumed doing commercial design work, which he continued for the rest of his life. In 1939 Moholy-Nagy opened the School of Design in Chicago, which became in 1944 the Institute of Design, becoming part of the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1949. Diagnosed with leukemia in 1945, Moholy-Nagy died of the disease in Chicago in 1946. 2. Description of the artwork This drawing presents us with a frontal representation of a man in his thirties, whose penetrating gaze seems to stare at us. The face is highly symmetrical and is modelled by curved black lines. The very high forehead and the slightly dilated left pupil reinforce the very expressive character of the face. Like the Holy Face which appeared on the cloth stretched out to wipe Christ's face by Saint Veronica, only the model's face is represented on the cardboard piece. The curved lines that define the face, hollowing out the temples, the eyelids, the cheeks and the area around the mouth, create a kind of magnetic radiation around a median point located between the eyebrows. In some respects, this face may evoke one of the most famous representations of the Holy Face: the extraordinary engraving by Claude Mellan...

Lesser Ury (1861-1931) Auf dem Kanal 1912 pastel on board 49.2 x 34.9 cm signed and dated 'L.Ury.1912.' (lower left) Price: $25,000 USD Provenance: Sale: Christie's London, 30 June 2000, lot 42 Collection of Simone and Jean Tiroche (acquired at the above sale) Thence by descent Sale: Christie's London, 19 June 2013, lot 199 Private collection, UK (acquired from the above sale) Notes: Dr Sibylle Gross has confirmed the authenticity of this work. Lesser Ury, a German-Jewish Impressionist...

Signed and dated lower left Titled lower right Provenance: Gifted by the Artist to Martin Doyle Gifted to Mrs Darlington Thence by descent

Henry de Waroquier Three Women Faces (Three Graces), 1918 Original watercolor Handsigned three times Size of the sheet : 39 x 76 cm (c. 16 x 30 in) Size ...

Medium: Mixed Media on Paperboard Signature: Signed Lower Right This mixed media art by Jesssie Willcox Smith, entitled “Pease-Porridge Hot, Pease-Porridge Cold,” was executed in 19...

Drawn in 1912 by Picasso, this fine piece of work is a recognizable mark of his unique style. "Homme dans un interiéur jouant de la guitare", 1912 is on cream laid paper, with abstra...

French townscape landscape study with a tree in the foreground. The work is signed and dated by the artist. This landscape is an early study done by the artist. The paper is not fram...

Gisella Loeffler "Mother and Child in the Gardenl" 1919 Gouache on Paper Initialed Lower Right Framed Size: approx 19 x 10 3/4 inches In a village filled with colorful characters, few Taos artists were as colorful as Gisella Loeffler [1900-1977]. From her handmade Austrian clothing and hand-painted furniture to whimsical paintings and letters written in multicolored crayon, joyful color defined the artist, who early on chose to use simply Gisella as her professional name and was known as such to everyone in Taos. 

In spite of her fame there—the Taos News once labeled her a Taos legend—Gisella is rarely included in scholarly discussions of the Taos Art Colony. This oversight is likely due to the naive quality of her work, in which children or childlike adults inhabit a simple, brightly colored world filled with happiness. The macabre, the sad, the tortured, the offensive—all have no place in Gisella’s paintings. Her naive style of work looks very different from that of the better-known early Taos artists. Yet both Gisella’s artwork and her interesting life command attention. Born in Austria, Gisella came to the United States with her family in 1908, settling in St. Louis, MO. After studying art at Washington University in St. Louis, she became a prominent member of the local art community, joining the St. Louis Art Guild as well as the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts. In addition to creating posters for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Gisella won prizes from the Artists Guild of the Author’s League of America in 1919 and 1920 and from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1923. She also began working in textiles, including batik, to which she would return later in her career.  In the early 1920s Gisella married writer and music critic Edgar Lacher. A difficult character, Lacher may have chafed under Gisella’s success, for the couple divorced in the 1930s. Having seen a local exhibition of paintings by Taos artists Oscar Berninghaus (who was from St. Louis) and Ernest Blumenschein, Gisella felt drawn to Taos, which reminded her of the villages of her native Austria. In 1933 the single mother with two daughters, Undine and Aithra, moved to Taos, where she lived off and on for the rest of her life. She traveled frequently, spending extended periods in Mexico, South America, and California, but always returned to New Mexico. Gisella initially applied an Austro-Hungarian folk-art style to the Indian and Hispanic subjects that she found in New Mexico. In her early work she covered her surfaces with decorative floral and faunal motifs, and her images were flat with no attempt at rendering traditional one-point perspective. Eventually, though, Gisella developed her own style, often using children or childlike figures as subjects. Still, the influence of her native country’s folk art remained evident in her New Mexican, Mexican, and South American images. In 1938 Gisella moved briefly to Los Griegos, north of Albuquerque, to be closer to medical facilities for her eldest daughter, who was suffering from rheumatic fever. Two years later, she moved to California to participate in the war effort, painting camouflage and decals on airplanes for Lockheed. In California, Gisella broadened her range of artistic pursuits. She taught art privately, created illustrations for Scripts Magazine, and did interior design for private homes. She also designed greeting cards, a practice she continued after her return to New Mexico, where she created a series of Christmas cards.  Gisella began illustrating children’s books in 1941 when she collaborated on Franzi and Gizi with author Margery Bianco. Eventually she wrote and illustrated her own book, El Ekeko, in 1964. She also designed ceramics—her Happy Time Dinnerware, marketed by Poppy Trail...

Gisella Loeffler "Three Girlsl" c. 1919 Gouache on Paper Initialed Lower Left Framed Size: approx 19 x 13 inches In a village filled with colorful characters, few Taos artists were as colorful as Gisella Loeffler [1900-1977]. From her handmade Austrian clothing and hand-painted furniture to whimsical paintings and letters written in multicolored crayon, joyful color defined the artist, who early on chose to use simply Gisella as her professional name and was known as such to everyone in Taos. 

In spite of her fame there—the Taos News once labeled her a Taos legend—Gisella is rarely included in scholarly discussions of the Taos Art Colony. This oversight is likely due to the naive quality of her work, in which children or childlike adults inhabit a simple, brightly colored world filled with happiness. The macabre, the sad, the tortured, the offensive—all have no place in Gisella’s paintings. Her naive style of work looks very different from that of the better-known early Taos artists. Yet both Gisella’s artwork and her interesting life command attention. Born in Austria, Gisella came to the United States with her family in 1908, settling in St. Louis, MO. After studying art at Washington University in St. Louis, she became a prominent member of the local art community, joining the St. Louis Art Guild as well as the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts. In addition to creating posters for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Gisella won prizes from the Artists Guild of the Author’s League of America in 1919 and 1920 and from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1923. She also began working in textiles, including batik, to which she would return later in her career.  In the early 1920s Gisella married writer and music critic Edgar Lacher. A difficult character, Lacher may have chafed under Gisella’s success, for the couple divorced in the 1930s. Having seen a local exhibition of paintings by Taos artists Oscar Berninghaus (who was from St. Louis) and Ernest Blumenschein, Gisella felt drawn to Taos, which reminded her of the villages of her native Austria. In 1933 the single mother with two daughters, Undine and Aithra, moved to Taos, where she lived off and on for the rest of her life. She traveled frequently, spending extended periods in Mexico, South America, and California, but always returned to New Mexico. Gisella initially applied an Austro-Hungarian folk-art style to the Indian and Hispanic subjects that she found in New Mexico. In her early work she covered her surfaces with decorative floral and faunal motifs, and her images were flat with no attempt at rendering traditional one-point perspective. Eventually, though, Gisella developed her own style, often using children or childlike figures as subjects. Still, the influence of her native country’s folk art remained evident in her New Mexican, Mexican, and South American images. In 1938 Gisella moved briefly to Los Griegos, north of Albuquerque, to be closer to medical facilities for her eldest daughter, who was suffering from rheumatic fever. Two years later, she moved to California to participate in the war effort, painting camouflage and decals on airplanes for Lockheed. In California, Gisella broadened her range of artistic pursuits. She taught art privately, created illustrations for Scripts Magazine, and did interior design for private homes. She also designed greeting cards, a practice she continued after her return to New Mexico, where she created a series of Christmas cards.  Gisella began illustrating children’s books in 1941 when she collaborated on Franzi and Gizi with author Margery Bianco. Eventually she wrote and illustrated her own book, El Ekeko, in 1964. She also designed ceramics—her Happy Time Dinnerware, marketed by Poppy Trail...

Gisella Loeffler "The Necklace and the Pot" c. 1919 Gouache on Paper Initialed Lower Left Framed Size: approx 15 x 15 inches In a village filled with colorful characters, few Taos artists were as colorful as Gisella Loeffler [1900-1977]. From her handmade Austrian clothing and hand-painted furniture to whimsical paintings and letters written in multicolored crayon, joyful color defined the artist, who early on chose to use simply Gisella as her professional name and was known as such to everyone in Taos. 

In spite of her fame there—the Taos News once labeled her a Taos legend—Gisella is rarely included in scholarly discussions of the Taos Art Colony. This oversight is likely due to the naive quality of her work, in which children or childlike adults inhabit a simple, brightly colored world filled with happiness. The macabre, the sad, the tortured, the offensive—all have no place in Gisella’s paintings. Her naive style of work looks very different from that of the better-known early Taos artists. Yet both Gisella’s artwork and her interesting life command attention. Born in Austria, Gisella came to the United States with her family in 1908, settling in St. Louis, MO. After studying art at Washington University in St. Louis, she became a prominent member of the local art community, joining the St. Louis Art Guild as well as the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts. In addition to creating posters for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Gisella won prizes from the Artists Guild of the Author’s League of America in 1919 and 1920 and from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1923. She also began working in textiles, including batik, to which she would return later in her career.  In the early 1920s Gisella married writer and music critic Edgar Lacher. A difficult character, Lacher may have chafed under Gisella’s success, for the couple divorced in the 1930s. Having seen a local exhibition of paintings by Taos artists Oscar Berninghaus (who was from St. Louis) and Ernest Blumenschein, Gisella felt drawn to Taos, which reminded her of the villages of her native Austria. In 1933 the single mother with two daughters, Undine and Aithra, moved to Taos, where she lived off and on for the rest of her life. She traveled frequently, spending extended periods in Mexico, South America, and California, but always returned to New Mexico. Gisella initially applied an Austro-Hungarian folk-art style to the Indian and Hispanic subjects that she found in New Mexico. In her early work she covered her surfaces with decorative floral and faunal motifs, and her images were flat with no attempt at rendering traditional one-point perspective. Eventually, though, Gisella developed her own style, often using children or childlike figures as subjects. Still, the influence of her native country’s folk art remained evident in her New Mexican, Mexican, and South American images. In 1938 Gisella moved briefly to Los Griegos, north of Albuquerque, to be closer to medical facilities for her eldest daughter, who was suffering from rheumatic fever. Two years later, she moved to California to participate in the war effort, painting camouflage and decals on airplanes for Lockheed. In California, Gisella broadened her range of artistic pursuits. She taught art privately, created illustrations for Scripts Magazine, and did interior design for private homes. She also designed greeting cards, a practice she continued after her return to New Mexico, where she created a series of Christmas cards.  Gisella began illustrating children’s books in 1941 when she collaborated on Franzi and Gizi with author Margery Bianco. Eventually she wrote and illustrated her own book, El Ekeko, in 1964. She also designed ceramics—her Happy Time Dinnerware, marketed by Poppy Trail...

Gisella Loeffler "Going for a Stroll" c. 1919 Gouache on Paper Initialed Framed Size: approx 17 x 13 inches In a village filled with colorful characters, few Taos artists were as colorful as Gisella Loeffler [1900-1977]. From her handmade Austrian clothing and hand-painted furniture to whimsical paintings and letters written in multicolored crayon, joyful color defined the artist, who early on chose to use simply Gisella as her professional name and was known as such to everyone in Taos. 

In spite of her fame there—the Taos News once labeled her a Taos legend—Gisella is rarely included in scholarly discussions of the Taos Art Colony. This oversight is likely due to the naive quality of her work, in which children or childlike adults inhabit a simple, brightly colored world filled with happiness. The macabre, the sad, the tortured, the offensive—all have no place in Gisella’s paintings. Her naive style of work looks very different from that of the better-known early Taos artists. Yet both Gisella’s artwork and her interesting life command attention. Born in Austria, Gisella came to the United States with her family in 1908, settling in St. Louis, MO. After studying art at Washington University in St. Louis, she became a prominent member of the local art community, joining the St. Louis Art Guild as well as the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts. In addition to creating posters for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Gisella won prizes from the Artists Guild of the Author’s League of America in 1919 and 1920 and from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1923. She also began working in textiles, including batik, to which she would return later in her career.  In the early 1920s Gisella married writer and music critic Edgar Lacher. A difficult character, Lacher may have chafed under Gisella’s success, for the couple divorced in the 1930s. Having seen a local exhibition of paintings by Taos artists Oscar Berninghaus (who was from St. Louis) and Ernest Blumenschein, Gisella felt drawn to Taos, which reminded her of the villages of her native Austria. In 1933 the single mother with two daughters, Undine and Aithra, moved to Taos, where she lived off and on for the rest of her life. She traveled frequently, spending extended periods in Mexico, South America, and California, but always returned to New Mexico. Gisella initially applied an Austro-Hungarian folk-art style to the Indian and Hispanic subjects that she found in New Mexico. In her early work she covered her surfaces with decorative floral and faunal motifs, and her images were flat with no attempt at rendering traditional one-point perspective. Eventually, though, Gisella developed her own style, often using children or childlike figures as subjects. Still, the influence of her native country’s folk art remained evident in her New Mexican, Mexican, and South American images. In 1938 Gisella moved briefly to Los Griegos, north of Albuquerque, to be closer to medical facilities for her eldest daughter, who was suffering from rheumatic fever. Two years later, she moved to California to participate in the war effort, painting camouflage and decals on airplanes for Lockheed. In California, Gisella broadened her range of artistic pursuits. She taught art privately, created illustrations for Scripts Magazine, and did interior design for private homes. She also designed greeting cards, a practice she continued after her return to New Mexico, where she created a series of Christmas cards.  Gisella began illustrating children’s books in 1941 when she collaborated on Franzi and Gizi with author Margery Bianco. Eventually she wrote and illustrated her own book, El Ekeko, in 1964. She also designed ceramics—her Happy Time Dinnerware, marketed by Poppy Trail...