Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Stately portrait of George Arliss by Ivan Opffer (Danish, 1897-1980). Mr. Arliss is depicted wearing his signature monocle, looking directly at the viewer. Although this piece appears to be done rapidly, there is a clear confidence in Opffer's work - he was an accomplished portrait artist - and the resemblance to the subject is unmistakable. George Arliss (born Augustus George Andrews; 10 April 1868 – 5 February 1946) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he won for his performance as Victorian-era British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli in Disraeli (1929) – as well as the earliest-born actor to win the honour. He specialized in successful biopics, such as Disraeli, Voltaire (1933), and Cardinal Richelieu (1935), as well as light comedies, which included The Millionaire (1931) and A Successful Calamity (1932). Signed and dated "Ivan Opffer 1934" in the lower right. Titled "Mr. Arliss" in the lower left. Presented in a new off-white mat with foamcore backing. Mat size: 22"H x 16"W Art size: 17.5"H x 12"W Ivan Opffer (Danish, 1897-1980) was born in Nyborg, Denmark, on June 4, 1897, to a family of Danish scholars and journalists. His brother was Emil Opffer, a Danish merchant seaman and journalist who was known for his relationship with American writer Hart Crane. Ivan was raised in Mexico City and New York, where his anarchist father was the editor of a radical Danish-language newspaper. His involvement in painting and drawing began at an early age. At a summer workshop, he met and studied drawing with Winslow Homer, then went on to study at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York. When the US entered World War I, Opffer was one of the members of the American Army Camouflage Corps, headed by Homer Saint-Gaudens (whose mother was a relative of Winslow Homer), the son of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. As a camoufleur, Opffer served with other artists and architects, some of whom became well-known, including Barry Faulkner, Sherry Edmundson Fry, Kimon Nicolaides, Robert Lawson, Abraham Rattner, Kerr Eby, and others. It was this same unit, while still in training in at Camp American University in Washington DC, that launched a camp newspaper called The Camoufleur. Only three issues were published before the unit’s deployment to France in late 1917. In the October 31 issue, a satirical portrait by Opffer of Homer Saint-Gaudens (titled “Our Boss”) was published on page 5. After the war, Opffer returned to New York, where he became known for his caricatures of leading Modern writers, among them James Joyce, Edgar Lee Masters, Siegfried Sassoon, George Bernard Shaw, Carl Sandburg, G.K. Chesterton, and Thomas Mann. In the years between the wars, Opffer married Betty à Beckett Chomley, and settled in Paris, where he was a student at the Academie Julliard. He also lived in London and Copenhagen, where his drawings were frequently published in newspapers and magazines. With the outbreak of World War II, he and his family returned to New York and lived in Greenwich Village. Among his friends in that era were William Butler Yeats, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald...

Clyde Steadman's "Untitled 8" is an original, handmade watercolor painting that depicts an impasto portrait of a feminine face.

Clyde Steadman's "Untitled 7" is an original, handmade watercolor painting that depicts an impasto portrait of a feminine face with a blue background.

Very stylish, unique and original 1940's fashion design by French illustrator Geneviève Thomas. The painting, executed in gouache and pencil. The sketch is original, vintage and me...

Very stylish, unique and original 1930's French fashion design, no doubt of Parisian origin. The painting, executed in gouache/ watercolor and pencil, is dated to the upper corne...

Very stylish, unique and original 1930's French fashion design, no doubt of Parisian origin. The painting, executed in gouache/ watercolor and pencil, is dated to the upper corner...

Very stylish, unique and original 1940's fashion design by French illustrator Geneviève Thomas. The painting, executed in gouache and pencil. The sketch is original, vintage and me...

Very stylish, unique and original 1940's fashion design by French illustrator Geneviève Thomas. The painting, executed in gouache and pencil, double...

Historical late 19th century portrait of Hiram H. Hobbs, Foreman of the Grand Jury of San Francisco y Richard Langtry Partington (American, ...

Born in Groton, Massachusetts in 1862, impressionist painter Edmund Charles Tarbell studied with George H. Bartlett at the Massachusetts Normal Art School, under Otto Grundmann at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and in 1883, entered the Académie Julian to study under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefebvre. In 1884, his education included a Grand Tour to Italy and the following year to Belgium, Germany and Brittany. Tarbell returned to Boston in 1886 where he began his career as an illustrator, private art instructor and portrait painter. He was a member of the Ten American Painters and was a leading member of a group of painters which came to be known as the Boston School. In 1889 Tarbell assumed the position of his former mentor, Otto Grundmann, at the Museum School. His students included Bertha Coolidge, Margaret Fitzhugh Browne...

Signed, dated, and titled, lower left: L Ury/ 1883/ Studie zum Hiob Provenance: Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Berger, New York, until 2005; thence by descent. Literature: Illustrated in...

Gorgeous pair of two 1920's watercolor portraits of Gibson girls, one in blue and one in pink, by Charles Hollman (Dutch, 1877-1953). Each portrait renders...

Vintage watercolor portrait by Doris Ann Warner (American, 1925-2010). Signed "Warner" in the lower right corner. Dated "1978". Unframed. Doris Ann Warner began as an Abstract Expre...

"Mrs. Snell/Figure (reverse)" are two pencil drawings on paper by Henry Snell (New Hope, Pennsylvania / Gloucester, Massachusetts 1858 - 1943). Each drawing measures 5 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches and is conservation framed and matted in black, wood frames, and put behind glass. These drawings come from an original sketchbook...

Watercolor portrait of a clown by Marjorie Blake (American, 1920-1994). Signed "Blake" in the lower left corner. Unframed. Marjorie May Gulley Blake wa...

A beautiful 1985 pencil drawing of actress Joan Collins by American artist Louis Nadalini (Italian, 1927-1995). Signed and dated "Nadalini 85" lower right. Unframed. Image, 20"H x 16"L. ARTFORUM article: Louis Nadalini In the last couple of seasons, San Francisco has lost several of its galleries. Some others have just recently begun operating but often with an entirely new group of artists. Some members of those apparently secure gallery stables that went out of business have found their way into other stables, but a larger group is without a place to show. I decided to look into such a person’s studio in my endeavor to find out what is really happening in the Bay Area art world. I went to see Louis Nadalini. His latest painting continues with the lattice of slats protruding forward with two variations of the painting painted on the sides of the slats which are viewable when standing to either side. This was always a very abstract method and he had quite often painted pure abstractions which centered quietly into hypnotic devices of exceptional color richness, but which gave a kaleidoscopic change as you moved past it. Untitled #42 (the most recent painting) has subject matter and was done in a much more painterly way. The side variations were flat in color, and there were some elements seen only in the side views, a skeleton’s arm and a black hand, for example. Nadalini says that he may abandon the lattice altogether if it gets in his way, but so far it seems to work better than it did with the abstractions. He is enthusiastic about the work he is doing, felt very free about making changes, and was, at the same time still happy about work from several years ago and unwilling to think that older work and new work should not be exhibited together. He hasn’t been thinking about galleries for a while. Nadalini goes to sea periodically which gives him time for contemplation as well as for renewing his resources. by —Knute Stiles...

Watercolor portrait of a clown by Marjorie Blake (American, 1920-1994). Signed "Blake" in the lower right corner. Unframed. Marjorie May Gulley Blake w...

Watercolor portrait of a clown on heavy paper by Marjorie Blake (American, 1920-1994). Signed "M. Blake" in the lower right corner. Unframed. Marjorie ...

Fine quality ink drawing fully signed and dated although I cannot break the signature. I put it in a custom frame. Ink on toned paper.

Image dimensions: 24 ½ x 18 ¾ inches Framed dimensions: 34 x 28 inches This charcoal drawing is a preliminary study for the figure of Science, the subject that comprises the far ri...

A full length portrait of Marie Duhem by her husband Henri. Watercolour on paper circa 1910. Signed lower right. This painting is not currently framed but a suitable frame can be sou...

Signed verso, 'George Wilburton Colby' (American, 1859-1922) and dated 1920. George Colby was a member of the old Art League and a life member of the Chicago Art Institute. After hi...

Portrait of an old man done in charcoal by California artist Ralph Edward Joosten (American, 1928-2009). Signed "R. Joosten 82" lower right. Pre...

Artist: Robert Philipp, American (1895 - 1981) Title: Nude in a Yellow Hat Year: circa 1970 Medium: Pastel on paper, signed Image Size: 25.5 x 18.5 inches Frame Size: 38 x 31 inches