Kismine Varner

Portrait with Striped Background

1990

Pencil drawing of human profile in portrait by artist Werner Bell, circa 1960. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold border. Mat fits a standard-size f...

Pencil drawing of human profile in anterior view by artist Werner Bell, circa 1960. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold border. Mat fits a standard-s...

Serene charcoal portrait of a young woman, quietly seated and reading, c. 1990. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold border. Archival plastic sleeve and Ce...

Fluid charcoal sketch of study of human motion by artist Max Rauh (1888-1961), circa 1920. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold border. Mat fits a standard...

Warm and pleasing watercolor portrait painting of a charming young lady with a small crown on leaves accenting her hair, 1912. Signed Laure and dated lower right. Original one-of-a-...

Amusing French oil pastel drawing of a colorful man in a bowler hat playing the accordion by artist Kseiran, 2009. Signed lower right. Original one-of-a-kind artwork on paper disp...

Oil on paper About Tom Bennett: With quick brushstrokes, Tom Bennett creates representational images of human figures and animals, emphasizing movement in a manner reminiscent of Lucien Freud, Edgar Degas and the photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Elongated and blurry, the horse racing up a hill (Canter Fritz, 2002) and the sinister cat landing a leap (Chien Blanc, 1998) elicit a sense of foreboding enhanced by Bennett’s somber palette; his female figures too reflect a grim sense of humor with their distorted nude bodies. The face of Untitled Figure (1997), for example, is obscured by layers of dark paint. Classically trained as a painter, he initially worked in oil on canvas but discovered that monotype printing enabled him to “literally push the image around,” creating an essential element of motion. To overcome the limited scale of monotypes, however, he switched to painting on slick-surfaced plastic. Tom Bennett’s practice is rooted in the classical tradition where painting and drawing from life is highly regarded. Bennett’s work is heavily influenced by Francis Bacon, Frank Auberbauch and foremost his father, Harry Bennett, who was also an artist. Tom’s time living abroad in Spain and traveling through Eastern Europe and Africa provided the artistic freedom to explore many of the techniques and subject matter that continue to define his practice. Bennett was born and raised in Connecticut. His mediums include monotypes, oil on paper, canvas or styrene board. In a technique that Tom started over 4 years ago, several of his monotypes have been painted over with oil paint using a palette knife, brush, or his fingers to re-purpose the underlying image. These works are a testament to Bennett’s ability to quickly and concisely compose an image with expressive brush strokes, foreshortened figures and expertly rendered light. Tom’s work has been featured in group and solo exhibitions worldwide. Bennett lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He is currently represented by Tabla Rasa...

Mixed media on paper. Framed: 15" x 18" My work comes from observation, memory and imagination. Collective daydreams that make another world out of this world--the experience of ‘in...

Study of an peasant woman. Red pastel. Signed. This work will be recorded in the catalogue raisonné of the work of the artist currently in preparation. ...

Fantastic pair of Peter Max (American b. 1937) V. 3. IX and XII. In the manner of Picasso each color pencil signed lower center and titled low...

Rene Genis (French 1922-2004) “Guy au portrait de madame Descazeaux” / Guy (Bardone) in the portrait of Madame Descazeaux. Ink on paper laid down on matt board. Unsigned. Image siz...

Pastel on paper, oval 9 x 7 ¼ inches; 230 x 185 mm Inscribed on the verso: ‘The Revd Henry Dabzac D.D./ late Senior Fellow of/ Trinity College Dublin/ ever to be lamented by all that knew/ Him. Extensive learning, zeal, gently tempered/ by a spirit of charity & above all, a strong/ faith & a piety deservedly gained/ the character of a great and good man./ This exceptional man died 12th May 1790/ This picture was his give to Jane [Mary] Crofton, his sincerely [missing] sister.’ Collections: Rev. Dr Henry Dabzac gift to his sister, Jane Crofton (d.1797); Sir Hugh Crofton (1763-1834); By descent to 1990; Private collection, Dorset to 2020. Literature: Robert Staveley, Traces of Past and Present, Dublin, 1895, p.74; Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800, online edition, no.J3751247 This characteristic pastel portrait by Hugh Douglas Hamilton was made early in his career; it depicts precisely the kind of education, well-connected Irish sitter who fuelled his success. The Reverend Henry Dabzac was from a distinguished Huguenot family, a celebrated academic historian, Dabzac received the Donegall lectureship in 1764 and from 1785 was Librarian and Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. According to his earliest biographer, Hamilton was the son of a peruke-maker based in Crow Street, Dublin. As Anne Hodge has pointed out, this places Hamilton’s father at the heart of the city: Crow street was a narrow thoroughfare formed part of the busy warren of streets bordered by the old Houses of Parliament and Trinity College at one end, and by Dublin Castle at the other. It is perhaps telling that in this early portrait, Hamilton shows Dabzac in a splendid powdered wig and his clerical bands. In 1754 Hamilton was apprenticed to James Mannin, a ‘pattern drawer’ who two years later was appointed master of the school of ornament at the Dublin Society’s drawing school, run by Robert West. Here Hamilton took the first prize in the 1755 competition, winning a premium of £1/16/. Hamilton developed a popular and profitable method of making pastel likenesses of sitters in a distinctive oval format. Hamilton developed a technique of using a sharpened pastel to hatch shaded areas of the features and, in the case of this portrait of Dabzac, the white powdered wig, which is drawn with particular care. In 1764 Hamilton moved to London where this small, oval pastels proved...