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American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

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Style: American Modern
1950s "Purple Head" Mid Century Oil and Pastel Portrait Original Drawing
Located in Arp, TX
Donald Stacy "Purple Head" c.1950s Gouache and oil pastel on paper 13.75" x 17" unframed Unsigned Came from artist's estate Donald Stacy (1925-2008) New Jersey Studied: Newark School of Fine Art The Art Students League Pratt Graphic Arts Center University of Paris 1953-54 University of Aix-en-Provence 1954-55 Faculty: Art Department of the New School Museum of Modern Art School of Visual Arts Stacy Studio Workshop Exhibitions: Grand Central Moderns George Wittenborn The New School Print Exhibitions, Chicago University of Oklahoma Honolulu Museum Monclair Museum Wisconsin State College Louisiana Art Commission Philadelphia Print...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Oil Pastel, Gouache

Portrait Of A Woman Pencil Drawing
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
Portrait of a Woman Pencil signed and dated Feb 20. 20 unframed 14x11 George Kenneth Hartwell painter and illustrator was born in Fitchburg 1891-1949, Massachus...
Category

1920s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel, Pencil

African Mama - Vintage Illustration in Ink and Watercolor
Located in Soquel, CA
African Mama - Vintage Illustration in Ink and Watercolor A charming illustration, by Irene Pattinson (American, 1909-1999), shows a woman with a...
Category

1950s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, India Ink, Watercolor, Pen

Lounge Chair Nap - Vintage Illustration in Ink and Watercolor
Located in Soquel, CA
Lounge Chair Nap - Vintage Illustration in Ink and Watercolor A man lazes in a lounge chair, book still in hand, as he dozes off with a content e...
Category

1950s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, India Ink, Pen

"Marc Chagall" Original Drawing Illustration Caricature William Saroyan book
Located in New York, NY
"Marc Chagall" Original Drawing Illustration Caricature William Saroyan book This drawing was published in the 1976 edition of William Saroyan's SONS ...
Category

1970s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Board

Chaim Gross Judaica Jewish Watercolor Painting Rabbi Klezmer Music WPA Artist
Located in Surfside, FL
Chaim Gross (American, 1904-1991) Watercolor with pencil painting Rabbi Klezmer music concert, flute player. Hand signed framed: 15 X 28.5, paper: 9.5 X 23 Chaim Gross (March 17, 1904 – May 5, 1991) was an American modernist sculptor and educator. Gross was born to a Jewish family in Austrian Galicia, in the village of Wolowa (now known as Mezhgorye, Ukraine), in the Carpathian Mountains. In 1911, his family moved to Kolomyia (which was annexed into the Ukrainian USSR in 1939 and became part of newly independent Ukraine in 1991). When World War I ended, Gross and brother Avrom-Leib went to Budapest to join their older siblings Sarah and Pinkas. Gross applied to and was accepted by the art academy in Budapest and studied under the painter Béla Uitz, though within a year a new regime under Miklos Horthy took over and attempted to expel all Jews and foreigners from the country. After being deported from Hungary, Gross began art studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, Austria shortly before immigrating to the United States in 1921. Gross's studies continued in the United States at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, where he studied with Elie Nadelman and others, and at the Art Students League of New York, with Robert Laurent. He also attended the Educational Alliance Art School, studying under Abbo Ostrowsky, at the same time as Moses Soyer and Peter Blume. In 1926 Gross began teaching at The Educational Alliance, and continued teaching there for the next 50 years. Louise Nevelson was among his students at the Alliance (in 1934), during the time she was transitioning from painting to sculpture. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he exhibited at the Salons of America exhibitions at the Anderson Galleries and, beginning in 1928, at the Whitney Studio Club. In 1929, Gross experimented with printmaking, and created an important group of 15 linocuts and lithographs of landscapes, New York City streets and parks, women in interiors, the circus, and vaudeville. The entire suite is now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Gross returned to the medium of printmaking in the 1960s, and produced approximately 200 works in the medium over the next two decades. For more than sixty years Chaim Gross's art has expressed optimistic, affirming themes, Judaica, balancing acrobats, cyclists, trapeze artists and mothers and children convey joyfulness, modernism, exuberance, love, and intimacy. This aspect of his work remained consistent with his Jewish Hasidic heritage, which teaches that only in his childlike happiness is man nearest to God. In March 1932 Gross had his first solo exhibition at Gallery 144 in New York City. For a short time they represented Gross, as well as his friends Milton Avery, Moses Soyer, Ahron Ben-Shmuel and others. Gross was primarily a practitioner of the direct carving method, with the majority of his work being carved from wood. Other direct carvers in early 20th-century American art include William Zorach, Jose de Creeft, and Robert Laurent. Works by Chaim Gross can be found in major museums and private collections throughout the United States, with substantial holdings (27 sculptures) at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. A key work from this era, now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is the 1932 birds-eye maple Acrobatic Performers, which is also only one and one quarter inch thick. In 1933 Gross joined the government's PWAP (Public Works of Art Project), which transitioned into the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which Gross worked for later in the 1930s. Under these programs Gross taught and demonstrated art, made sculptures that were placed in schools and public colleges, made work for Federal buildings including the Federal Trade Commission Building, and for the France Overseas and Finnish Buildings at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Gross was also recognized during these years with a silver medal at the Exposition universelle de 1937 in Paris, and in 1942, with a purchase prize at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Artists for Victory" exhibition for his wood sculpture of famed circus performer Lillian Leitzel. In 1949 Gross sketched Chaim Weizmann, Israeli President, at several functions in New York City where Weizmann was speaking, Gross completed the bust in bronze later that year. Gross returned to Israel for three months in 1951 (the second of many trips there in the postwar years) to paint a series of 40 watercolors of life in various cities. This series was exhibited at the Jewish Museum (Manhattan) in 1953. He also did some important Hebrew medals. In the 1950s Gross began to make more bronze sculptures alongside his wood and stone pieces, and in 1957 and 1959 he traveled to Rome to work with famed bronze foundries including the Nicci foundry. At the end of the decade Gross was working primarily in bronze which allowed him to create open forms, large-scale works and of course, multiple casts. Gross's large-scale bronze The Family, donated to New York City in 1991 in honor of Mayor Ed Koch, and installed at the Bleecker Street Park at 11th street, is now a fixture of Greenwich Village. In 1959, a survey of Gross's sculpture in wood, stone, and bronze was featured in the exhibit Four American Expressionists curated by Lloyd Goodrich at the Whitney Museum of American Art, with work by Abraham Rattner, Doris Caesar, and Karl Knaths. In 1976, a selection from Gross's important collection of historic African sculpture, formed since the late 1930s, was exhibited at the Worcester Art Museum in the show The Sculptor's Eye: The African Art Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Gross. Gross was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1981. In 1984, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, with Jacob Lawrence and Lukas Foss. In the fall of 1991, Allen Ginsberg gave an important tribute to Gross at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which is published in their Proceedings. In 1994, Forum Gallery, which now represents the Chaim Gross estate, held a memorial exhibition featuring a sixty-year survey of Gross's work.In March 1932 Gross had his first solo exhibition at Gallery 144 in New York City. For a short time they represented Gross, as well as his friends Milton Avery, Moses Soyer, Ahron Ben-Shmuel and others. Gross was primarily a practitioner of the direct carving method, with the majority of his work being carved from wood. Other direct carvers in early 20th-century American art include William Zorach, Jose de Creeft, and Robert Laurent. Works by Chaim Gross can be found in major museums and private collections throughout the United States, with substantial holdings (27 sculptures) at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. A key work from this era, now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is the 1932 birds-eye maple Acrobatic Performers, which is also only one and one quarter inch thick. In 1933 Gross joined the government's PWAP (Public Works of Art Project), which transitioned into the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which Gross worked for later in the 1930s. Under these programs Gross taught and demonstrated art, made sculptures that were placed in schools and public colleges, made work for Federal buildings including the Federal Trade Commission Building, and for the France Overseas and Finnish Buildings at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Gross was also recognized during these years with a silver medal at the Exposition universelle de 1937 in Paris, and in 1942, with a purchase prize at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Artists for Victory" exhibition for his wood sculpture of famed circus performer Lillian Leitzel. In 1949 Gross sketched Chaim Weizmann, President of Israel, at several functions in New York City where Weizmann was speaking, Gross completed the bust in bronze later that year. Gross returned to Israel for three months in 1951 (the second of many trips there in the postwar years) to paint a series of 40 watercolors of life in various cities. This series was exhibited at the Jewish Museum (Manhattan) in 1953. In the 1950s Gross began to make more bronze sculptures alongside his wood and stone pieces, and in 1957 and 1959 he traveled to Rome to work with famed bronze foundries including the Nicci foundry. At the end of the decade Gross was working primarily in bronze which allowed him to create open forms, large-scale works and of course, multiple casts. Gross's large-scale bronze The Family, donated to New York City in 1991 in honor of Mayor Ed Koch, and installed at the Bleecker Street Park at 11th street, is now a fixture of Greenwich Village. In 1959, a survey of Gross's sculpture in wood, stone, and bronze was featured in the exhibit Four American Expressionists curated by Lloyd Goodrich at the Whitney Museum of American Art, with work by Abraham Rattner, Doris Caesar, and Karl Knaths. In 1976, a selection from Gross's important collection of historic African sculpture, formed since the late 1930s, was exhibited at the Worcester Art Museum in the show The Sculptor's Eye: The African Art Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Gross. Gross was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1981. In 1984, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, with Jacob Lawrence and Lukas Foss. In the fall of 1991, Allen Ginsberg gave an important tribute to Gross at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which is published in their Proceedings. In 1994, Forum Gallery, which now represents the Chaim Gross estate, held a memorial exhibition featuring a sixty-year survey of Gross's work. Gross was a professor of printmaking and sculpture at both the Educational Alliance and the New School for Social Research in New York City, as well as at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, the MoMA art school, the Art Student's League and the New Art School (which Gross ran briefly with Alexander Dobkin...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

"Isadora Duncan (Blue), " Pen, Ink, & Watercolor signed by Abraham Walkowitz
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Isadora Duncan (Blue)" is an original mixed media drawing created by Abraham Walkowitz. It is made with pen & ink, graphite, and watercolor piece on cream paper. The artist signed t...
Category

1920s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor, Graphite

Mission Impossible Original TV Guide Drawing Illustration Caricature Mid Century
Located in New York, NY
"Mission Impossible" Original TV Guide Drawing Illustration Caricature Mid Century NYC with Greg Morris, Barbara Bain, and Steve Hill. This original drawing...
Category

1960s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Board

A Compelling 1951 Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Young Man by Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A Compelling, 1951 Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Young Man by Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Artwork size: 12 x 9 1/2 inches. Artwork is unframed, matted/...
Category

Mid-19th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Long Time River Woman (Blackfoot Maiden)
Located in New York, NY
Winold Reiss (1886-1953), who scholars increasingly recognize as a pivotal figure in early 20th-century American art, is known for his evocative portraits that capture the spirit and...
Category

20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Black Panther Trials - Civil Rights Movement Police Violence African American
Located in Miami, FL
The Black Panther Trials - In this historically significant work, African American Artist Vicent D. Smith functions as an Art Journalist/ Court Reporter as much as a Artist. Here, he depicts, in complete unity, 21 Black Panther Protestors raising their fist of defiance at the White Judge. Smith's composition is about utter simplicity, where the Black Panther Protestors are symmetrically lined up in a confrontation with a Judge whose size is exaggerated in scale. Set against a stylized American Flag, the supercilious Judge gazes down as the protesters as their fists thrust up. Signed Vincent lower right. Titled Panter 21. Original metal frame. Tape on upper left edge of frame. 255 . Panther 21. Framed under plexi. _____________________________ From Wikipedia In 1969-1971 there was a series of criminal prosecutions in New Haven, Connecticut, against various members and associates of the Black Panther Party.[1] The charges ranged from criminal conspiracy to first-degree murder. All charges stemmed from the murder of 19-year-old Alex Rackley in the early hours of May 21, 1969. The trials became a rallying-point for the American Left, and marked a decline in public support, even among the black community, for the Black Panther Party On May 17, 1969, members of the Black Panther Party kidnapped fellow Panther Alex Rackley, who had fallen under suspicion of informing for the FBI. He was held captive at the New Haven Panther headquarters on Orchard Street, where he was tortured and interrogated until he confessed. His interrogation was tape recorded by the Panthers.[2] During that time, national party chairman Bobby Seale visited New Haven and spoke on the campus of Yale University for the Yale Black Ensemble Theater Company.[3] The prosecution alleged, but Seale denied, that after his speech, Seale briefly stopped by the headquarters where Rackley was being held captive and ordered that Rackley be executed. Early in the morning of May 21, three Panthers – Warren Kimbro, Lonnie McLucas, and George Sams, one of the Panthers who had come East from California to investigate the police infiltration of the New York Panther chapter, drove Rackley to the nearby town of Middlefield, Connecticut. Kimbro shot Rackley once in the head and McLucas shot him once in the chest. They dumped his corpse in a swamp, where it was discovered the next day. New Haven police immediately arrested eight New Haven area Black Panthers. Sams and two other Panthers from California were captured later. Sams and Kimbro confessed to the murder, and agreed to testify against McLucas in exchange for a reduction in sentence. Sams also implicated Seale in the killing, telling his interrogators that while visiting the Panther headquarters on the night of his speech, Seale had directly ordered him to murder Rackley. In all, nine defendants were indicted on charges related to the case. In the heated political rhetoric of the day, these defendants were referred to as the "New Haven Nine", a deliberate allusion to other cause-celebre defendants like the "Chicago Seven". The first trial was that of Lonnie McLucas, the only person who physically took part in the killing who refused to plead guilty. In fact, McLucas had confessed to shooting Rackley, but nonetheless chose to go to trial. Jury selection began in May 1970. The case and trial were already a national cause célèbre among critics of the Nixon administration, and especially among those hostile to the actions of the FBI. Under the Bureau's then-secret "Counter-Intelligence Program" (COINTELPRO), FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had ordered his agents to disrupt, discredit, or otherwise neutralize radical groups like the Panthers. Hostility between groups organizing political dissent and the Bureau was, by the time of the trials, at a fever pitch. Hostility from the left was also directed at the two Panthers cooperating with the prosecutors. Sams in particular was accused of being an informant, and lying to implicate Seale for personal benefit. In the days leading up to a rally on May Day 1970, thousands of supporters of the Panthers arrived in New Haven individually and in organized groups. They were housed and fed by community organizations and by sympathetic Yale students in their dormitory rooms. The Yale college dining halls provided basic meals for everyone. Protesters met daily en masse on the New Haven Green across the street from the Courthouse (and one hundred yards from Yale's main gate). On May Day there was a rally on the Green, featuring speakers including Jean Genet, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and John Froines (an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon). Teach-ins and other events were also held in the colleges themselves. Towards midnight on May 1, two bombs exploded in Yale's Ingalls Rink, where a concert was being held in conjunction with the protests.[4] Although the rink was damaged, no one was injured, and no culprit was identified.[4] Yale chaplain William Sloane Coffin stated, "All of us conspired to bring on this tragedy by law enforcement agencies by their illegal acts against the Panthers, and the rest of us by our immoral silence in front of these acts," while Yale President Kingman Brewster Jr. issued the statement, "I personally want to say that I'm appalled and ashamed that things should have come to such a pass that I am skeptical of the ability of a Black revolutionary to receive a fair trial anywhere in the U.S." Brewster's generally sympathetic tone enraged many of the university's older, more conservative alumni, heightening tensions within the school community. As tensions mounted, Yale officials sought to avoid deeper unrest and to deflect the real possibility of riots or violent student demonstrations. Sam Chauncey has been credited with winning tactical management on behalf of the administration to quell anxiety among law enforcement and New Haven's citizens, while Kurt Schmoke, a future Rhodes Scholar, mayor of Baltimore, MD and Dean of Howard University School of Law, has received kudos as undergraduate spokesman to the faculty during some of the protest's tensest moments. Ralph Dawson, a classmate of Schmoke's, figured prominently as moderator of the Black Student Alliance at Yale (BSAY). In the end, compromises between the administration and the students - and, primarily, urgent calls for nonviolence from Bobby Seale and the Black Panthers themselves - quashed the possibility of violence. While Yale (and many other colleges) went "on strike" from May Day until the end of the term, like most schools it was not actually "shut down". Classes were made "voluntarily optional" for the time and students were graded "Pass/Fail" for the work done up to then. Trial of McLucas Black Panther trial sketch...
Category

1970s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Pen, Pencil, Paper

Young Man with Flower
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is arguably the most important American artist of the 20th century. He not only defined Pop Art but had an unrivaled influence on artists and image-making. ...
Category

1950s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ballpoint Pen

Young Man with Flower
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is arguably the most important American artist of the 20th century. He not only defined Pop Art but had an unrivaled influence on artists and image-making. In recent years there has been new scholarship and increasing commercial interest in Andy Warhol's early works, material created prior to Pop Art. During the 1950's Warhol established himself in New York City as a trendy illustrator contributing to a wide number of fashion publications and retailers. His simple line drawings were modern and gentle, with a subtle but unmistakably gay touch. In a short period of time, he created an aesthetic that was both versatile and distinctively his. Like the consummate artist that he was, Warhol was frequently drawing. The images he created during this era, independent from his fashion commissions, were romantic, hopeful, and unabashedly gay. It is worth emphasizing that Warhol was almost exclusively dedicated to drawing during this period, only creating a handful of paintings - which were intended to be used for window displays. Taschen, the legendary art book publisher, recently released the book Andy Warhol: Love, Sex, and Desire 1950-1962 which celebrates his drawings of the male form from the pre-Pop era. This portrait is a paradigm of Warhol's mastery of line and visionary framing. A man's profile commands the composition as he gazes forward with his hand raised towards his mouth, holding a delicate flower. With the lightest touch, Warhol masterly portrays this male ideal with the details of his chiseled jawline, softened gaze, and timeless elegance. Warhol drawings from the 1950s are marked by a gentle whimsy that embodies Warhol's vivid imagination. With fanciful details such as exaggerated lips and eyebrows, "Young Man with Flower...
Category

1950s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ballpoint Pen

Gin Giving Doris a Haircut
Located in Middletown, NY
A life drawing by a well known book illustrator and long-term resident of the Chelsea Hotel in the 1930s. Caswell, Edward Gin giving Doris a hair cut Black crayon on lightweight, br...
Category

Early 20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon

Alfred Bendiner, (Baseball Hitter and Pitcher -- The Philadelphia Phillies?)
Located in New York, NY
Of course it's possible that these baseball players aren't from a Philadelphia team, but I doubt it. There was so much drama and intrigue with both the Philadelphia Phillies...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Watercolor

Rare 1950s Original Syndicated Ink Drawing Cartoon Strip Susie Q Smith Comic Art
Located in Surfside, FL
SUSIE Q. SMITH Medium: Newspaper comics Distributed by: King Features Syndicate First Appeared: 1945 Creators: Linda and Jerry Walter 6 X 18.25 Like her contemporaries, Aggie Mack,...
Category

1950s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Cafe Society: The Smoker, male portait Closerie des Lilas, Lost Generation Paris
By John Wentworth Russell
Located in Norwich, GB
A strong portrait, and a piece of history. It was confidently sketched in 1923, during the heyday of the "Lost Generation" in Paris, at the Closerie des Lilas - Ernest Hemingway's favourite haunt and home-from-home in the City. This historical café is where Hemingway first read The Great Gatsby with his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald and where he wrote most of The Sun Also Rises...
Category

1920s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Graphite

Tiger, Lion, Panther, Wolf, Bear, Cat Predator Silhouette Illustration
Located in Miami, FL
Pioneering Woman Illustrator Margery Stocking Hart draws a pen-and-ink story depicting a round table of predators encircling a vulnerable bunny rabbit. ...
Category

1920s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Pen

Surprised Woman with Cactus 1920s Female Illustrator
Located in Miami, FL
The postman's delivery of a limp cactus creates a big emotional response the female recipient. Most likely an interior illustration for a newsstand magazine. Signed lower right Sus...
Category

1930s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Graphite

'Self-Portrait with Black Hat' — Mid-Century American Impressionism
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Robert Philipp, 'Self-Portrait with Black Hat', ink and color pastel, c. 1945. Signed in ink, lower right. A fine, spontaneous drawing, on heavy, buff wove paper; the artist's tack holes in the top and bottom left sheet corners, minor rippling in the bottom sheet edge; otherwise in good condition. Image size 16 1/4 x 11 1/4 inches; sheet size 19 1/4 x 12 3/4 inches. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Provenance: Art Students League, from the artist’s personal portfolio. ABOUT THE ARTIST Robert Philipp (1895–1981) was a celebrated American Post-Impressionist painter known for his nudes, still lifes, and portraits. Noted art critic Henry McBride named Philipp one of America's top six painters of his generation. Philipp was an instructor of painting at the Art Students League, New York, for 33 years. Philipp was Secretary of the National Academy of Design, a National Academician, and a Benjamin Franklin Fellow at the Royal Society of Arts in London. His composition and painting style has been compared to the art of Edgar Degas and Pierre Auguste Renoir. In 1940, Philipp was invited to Los Angeles by Hollywood producer Louis B. Mayer to paint portraits of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie stars. The same year, Walter Wanger, producer of ‘The Long Voyage Home’, directed by John Ford and based on plays by Eugene O'Neill, contracted with Reeves Lewenthal, head of the Associated American Artists gallery in Manhattan, to bring nine well-known artists to the set and paint scenes from the movie and portraits of the actors in character. The artists included Robert Philipp, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, Ernest Fiene, George Schreiber, Luis...
Category

1940s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Ink

A Sensitive 1950s Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Young Man By Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A Sensitive, Finely Rendered 1950s Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Young Man By Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Artwork size: 12 x 9 1/2 inches. Artwork is un...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Graphite

A ca 1937 Watercolor Titled "Sad Girl" by Institute of Design Artist Eugene Dana
Located in Chicago, IL
A ca. 1937 watercolor Titled "Sad Girl" by Institute of Design artist Eugene Dana. Image size: 19 3/4" x 12 1/2". Matted to 24 1/4" x 18 1/4". Provenance: Estate of the artist. ...
Category

1930s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

'Portrait of a Young Navajo', Native American, Arizona, California Woman artist
By Victoria Creech Stewart
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left 'Creech PSWC' and created circa 1975 A compelling pastel study showing the subject dressed in brightly-colored ceremonial robes and gazing past the viewer. An eleg...
Category

1970s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Archival Paper

Alfred Bendiner, La Alsacienne (pair)
Located in New York, NY
Leave it to the Bendiners to find an Alsatian restaurant in Paris (La Taverne Alsacienne) and use it's stationary to such a great end! And thank goodness that the paper required two ...
Category

1960s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Indian Dancer - Vintage Illustration in Ink and Watercolor
Located in Soquel, CA
Indian Dancer - Vintage Illustration in Ink and Watercolor A stoic, dark-haired woman in elaborate dress is sitting cross-legged in this illustration by Irene Pattinson (American, 1909-1999). Pattinson uses fine ink line detail and a vibrant pink watercolor for a splash of color. Signed at the bottom, "Irene Pattinson." Provenance: The Artist, Estate of Irene Pattinson: David Carlson; Estate of Larry Miller Fine Art, Robert Azensky Fine Art. Presented in a new white mat with foam core backing. Mat size: 16"H x 12"W Paper size: 11.75"H x 8.5"W Image size: 7.5"H x 6.5"W Irene Pattinson (American, 1909-1999) studied at the California School of Fine Art (now The San Francisco Art Institute), San Francisco State College and The Marion Hartwell School of Design. She was President of the San Francisco Woman Artists Association 1955-56. Provenance: The Artist, Estate of Irene Pattinson: David Carlson; Estate of Larry Miller Fine Art, Robert Azensky Fine Art. Solo Exhibitions: Lucien Labaudt Gallery 1955; San Francisco Museum of Art, 1961 (39 works). Selected Group Exhibitions: San Francisco Art Association Annual 1948, 54, 55; San Francisco Woman Artists, 1957-1960; Oakland Art Museum Annual, 1951, 58; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1960; Richmond Art Center, 1955, 56, 57, 58; San Francisco Art Institute 1959, 60. The Art Bank of the San Francisco Art Association, 1958, 59, 60, 62, 63; Winter Invitational, California Palace of The Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1960; Fourth Winter Invitational, California Palace of The Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1963. Awards: First Place, San Francisco Woman Artists Assoc., 1957, 1959; San Francisco Art Festival 1957;Literature: San Francisco Art Institute - A catalog of the Art Ban 1962/63; San Francisco and the Second Wave: The Blair Collection Exhibitions: 1963 The Art Bank of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco, CA 1963 California Palace of The Legion of Honor: Forth Winter Invitational, San Francisco, CA 1962 The Art Bank of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco, CA 1961 San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA 1960 California...
Category

1950s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, India Ink, Watercolor, Pen

Alfred Bendiner, Johnny Hodges (Johnny Hodges, Bass Fiddle & Traps)
Located in New York, NY
Did Bendiner ever miss a performance, show, concert, play? Was there anyone he didn't know? This double-side drawing in blue crayon shows Johnny Hodges (jazz saxophonist extraordina...
Category

1950s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon

Alfred Bendiner, Baccaloni in Rosenkavalier
Located in New York, NY
The Italian opera singer, Salvatore Baccaloni (1900-1969) often took comic roles. He worked with several opera companies in Philadelphia between 1951 and 1966. Bendiner was a world t...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache

"Spa Hair" Minimalist Illustrative Portrait in Ink on Paper by Geraldine Heib
Located in Soquel, CA
"Spa Hair" Minimalist Illustrative Portrait in Ink on Paper In this illustrative portrait by Jerry O'Day (American, 1912), a person is depicted in a continuous line contour style. The fine line detail of the hair gives texture and movement to the piece, with half-closed eyelids, giving the sense of calm and relaxation. Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Presented in a new black mat. Mat size: 36"H x 30"W Paper size: 28.5"H x 22.63"W Image size: 25.5"H x 20"W Jerry O'Day is also known as Geraldine Heib. Born in Oakland, California, on June 17, 1912. Geraldine Heib assumed the name Jerry O'Day at an early age. She grew up in Washington and studied in Seattle at the Cornish School of Fine Arts. Upon moving to the San Francisco Bay area in 1938, she further studied with Bufano as a muralist for two years. O'Day wed sculptor David Lemon and had a gallery in a converted cod fishery in Belvedere from 1942 until 1963. At that time, the couple moved to a houseboat in Sausalito, where she remained until her demise on March 30, 1986. Post War California artist, Jerry O'Day studied at the Cornish School of Fine Arts in Seattle; studied with Beniamino Bufano for two years. She lived in the artist's colony at the Cod fishery with artist David Lemon on Belvedere Island in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1942 - 1963. Solo Exhibitions: City of Paris, Rotunda Gallery; Lucien Labaudt Gallery, 1963; Torrance Gallery, San Anselmo, 1955; Marin Art Gallery, Sausalito, 1956; Palace of The Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1962; East & West Gallery, Fillmore Street, San Francisco; Landmarks Gallery, Marin County, 1991. Selected Group Exhibitions: 65th Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association at the San Francisco Museum of Art, 1945; Fourth Winter Invitational, California Palace of The Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1963. Source: David J Carlson...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Alfred Bendiner, (Supper at the Oak Room, Plaza Hotel, NYC)
Located in New York, NY
Bendiner always took drawing materials with him when he traveled. And a beautiful piece of 'found' paper was never wasted. (Once in Greece on a bus trip he had to acquire paper from ...
Category

1960s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Mid Century Self Portrait of the Artist Original Drawing on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
Portrait of the Artist by the Artist Original Charcoal Drawing on Paper 1960 Excellent detailed original drawing of the artist by Eugene Hawkins (American, b. 1933). A realistic dep...
Category

1960s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Study for "The Jade Necklace"
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Study for the painting "The Jade Necklace" Silver point drawing on prepared paper, n.d. Stamp lower right: "J Stella/JML Coll" (see photo) The painting of the same sitter and title, measures 21 3/4 x 18 1/8 inches, formerly handled by Richard York Gallery. (see photo) Provenance: Collection of the artist Mrs. Giovanni Stella, the artist's sister-in-law Josephine M...
Category

20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Chaim Gross Mid Century Mod Judaica Jewish Watercolor Painting Rabbis WPA Artist
Located in Surfside, FL
Chaim Gross (American, 1904-1991) Watercolor painting Rabbinical Talmudic Discussion Hand signed 17 x 29 framed, paper 10 x 22 Chaim Gross (March 17, 1904 – May 5, 1991) was an American modernist sculptor and educator. Gross was born to a Jewish family in Austrian Galicia, in the village of Wolowa (now known as Mezhgorye, Ukraine), in the Carpathian Mountains. In 1911, his family moved to Kolomyia (which was annexed into the Ukrainian USSR in 1939 and became part of newly independent Ukraine in 1991). When World War I ended, Gross and brother Avrom-Leib went to Budapest to join their older siblings Sarah and Pinkas. Gross applied to and was accepted by the art academy in Budapest and studied under the painter Béla Uitz, though within a year a new regime under Miklos Horthy took over and attempted to expel all Jews and foreigners from the country. After being deported from Hungary, Gross began art studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, Austria shortly before immigrating to the United States in 1921. Gross's studies continued in the United States at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, where he studied with Elie Nadelman and others, and at the Art Students League of New York, with Robert Laurent. He also attended the Educational Alliance Art School, studying under Abbo Ostrowsky, at the same time as Moses Soyer and Peter Blume. In 1926 Gross began teaching at The Educational Alliance, and continued teaching there for the next 50 years. Louise Nevelson was among his students at the Alliance (in 1934), during the time she was transitioning from painting to sculpture. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he exhibited at the Salons of America exhibitions at the Anderson Galleries and, beginning in 1928, at the Whitney Studio Club. In 1929, Gross experimented with printmaking, and created an important group of 15 linocuts and lithographs of landscapes, New York City streets and parks, women in interiors, the circus, and vaudeville. The entire suite is now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Gross returned to the medium of printmaking in the 1960s, and produced approximately 200 works in the medium over the next two decades. For more than sixty years Chaim Gross's art has expressed optimistic, affirming themes, Judaica, balancing acrobats, cyclists, trapeze artists and mothers and children convey joyfulness, modernism, exuberance, love, and intimacy. This aspect of his work remained consistent with his Jewish Hasidic heritage, which teaches that only in his childlike happiness is man nearest to God. In March 1932 Gross had his first solo exhibition at Gallery 144 in New York City. For a short time they represented Gross, as well as his friends Milton Avery, Moses Soyer, Ahron Ben-Shmuel and others. Gross was primarily a practitioner of the direct carving method, with the majority of his work being carved from wood. Other direct carvers in early 20th-century American art include William Zorach, Jose de Creeft, and Robert Laurent. Works by Chaim Gross can be found in major museums and private collections throughout the United States, with substantial holdings (27 sculptures) at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. A key work from this era, now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is the 1932 birds-eye maple Acrobatic Performers, which is also only one and one quarter inch thick. In 1933 Gross joined the government's PWAP (Public Works of Art Project), which transitioned into the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which Gross worked for later in the 1930s. Under these programs Gross taught and demonstrated art, made sculptures that were placed in schools and public colleges, made work for Federal buildings including the Federal Trade Commission Building, and for the France Overseas and Finnish Buildings at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Gross was also recognized during these years with a silver medal at the Exposition universelle de 1937 in Paris, and in 1942, with a purchase prize at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Artists for Victory" exhibition for his wood sculpture of famed circus performer Lillian Leitzel. In 1949 Gross sketched Chaim Weizmann, Israeli President, at several functions in New York City where Weizmann was speaking, Gross completed the bust in bronze later that year. Gross returned to Israel for three months in 1951 (the second of many trips there in the postwar years) to paint a series of 40 watercolors of life in various cities. This series was exhibited at the Jewish Museum (Manhattan) in 1953. He also did some important Hebrew medals. In the 1950s Gross began to make more bronze sculptures alongside his wood and stone pieces, and in 1957 and 1959 he traveled to Rome to work with famed bronze foundries including the Nicci foundry. At the end of the decade Gross was working primarily in bronze which allowed him to create open forms, large-scale works and of course, multiple casts. Gross's large-scale bronze The Family, donated to New York City in 1991 in honor of Mayor Ed Koch, and installed at the Bleecker Street Park at 11th street, is now a fixture of Greenwich Village. In 1959, a survey of Gross's sculpture in wood, stone, and bronze was featured in the exhibit Four American Expressionists curated by Lloyd Goodrich at the Whitney Museum of American Art, with work by Abraham Rattner, Doris Caesar, and Karl Knaths. In 1976, a selection from Gross's important collection of historic African sculpture, formed since the late 1930s, was exhibited at the Worcester Art Museum in the show The Sculptor's Eye: The African Art Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Gross. Gross was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1981. In 1984, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, with Jacob Lawrence and Lukas Foss. In the fall of 1991, Allen Ginsberg gave an important tribute to Gross at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which is published in their Proceedings. In 1994, Forum Gallery, which now represents the Chaim Gross estate, held a memorial exhibition featuring a sixty-year survey of Gross's work.In March 1932 Gross had his first solo exhibition at Gallery 144 in New York City. For a short time they represented Gross, as well as his friends Milton Avery, Moses Soyer, Ahron Ben-Shmuel and others. Gross was primarily a practitioner of the direct carving method, with the majority of his work being carved from wood. Other direct carvers in early 20th-century American art include William Zorach, Jose de Creeft, and Robert Laurent. Works by Chaim Gross can be found in major museums and private collections throughout the United States, with substantial holdings (27 sculptures) at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. A key work from this era, now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is the 1932 birds-eye maple Acrobatic Performers, which is also only one and one quarter inch thick. In 1933 Gross joined the government's PWAP (Public Works of Art Project), which transitioned into the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which Gross worked for later in the 1930s. Under these programs Gross taught and demonstrated art, made sculptures that were placed in schools and public colleges, made work for Federal buildings including the Federal Trade Commission Building, and for the France Overseas and Finnish Buildings at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Gross was also recognized during these years with a silver medal at the Exposition universelle de 1937 in Paris, and in 1942, with a purchase prize at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Artists for Victory" exhibition for his wood sculpture of famed circus performer Lillian Leitzel. In 1949 Gross sketched Chaim Weizmann, President of Israel, at several functions in New York City where Weizmann was speaking, Gross completed the bust in bronze later that year. Gross returned to Israel for three months in 1951 (the second of many trips there in the postwar years) to paint a series of 40 watercolors of life in various cities. This series was exhibited at the Jewish Museum (Manhattan) in 1953. In the 1950s Gross began to make more bronze sculptures alongside his wood and stone pieces, and in 1957 and 1959 he traveled to Rome to work with famed bronze foundries including the Nicci foundry. At the end of the decade Gross was working primarily in bronze which allowed him to create open forms, large-scale works and of course, multiple casts. Gross's large-scale bronze The Family, donated to New York City in 1991 in honor of Mayor Ed Koch, and installed at the Bleecker Street Park at 11th street, is now a fixture of Greenwich Village. In 1959, a survey of Gross's sculpture in wood, stone, and bronze was featured in the exhibit Four American Expressionists curated by Lloyd Goodrich at the Whitney Museum of American Art, with work by Abraham Rattner, Doris Caesar, and Karl Knaths. In 1976, a selection from Gross's important collection of historic African sculpture, formed since the late 1930s, was exhibited at the Worcester Art Museum in the show The Sculptor's Eye: The African Art Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Gross. Gross was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1981. In 1984, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, with Jacob Lawrence and Lukas Foss. In the fall of 1991, Allen Ginsberg gave an important tribute to Gross at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which is published in their Proceedings. In 1994, Forum Gallery, which now represents the Chaim Gross estate, held a memorial exhibition featuring a sixty-year survey of Gross's work. Gross was a professor of printmaking and sculpture at both the Educational Alliance and the New School for Social Research in New York City, as well as at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, the MoMA art school, the Art Student's League and the New Art School (which Gross ran briefly with Alexander Dobkin...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Self Portrait with Arms Over Head, vignette on Paul Cadmus on left
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Self Portrait with Arms Over Head, vignette on Paul Cadmus on left Graphite drawing on thin wove paper, c. 1940's Unsigned Provenance: Paull Cadmus Jon F. Anderson (1937-2018) Condition: Sheet size: 15 x 10 1/4 inches Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, Margaret Hoening (1906–1998) was a painter and an etcher perhaps best known for her photographs as part of the PaJaMa photography collective. After attending Smith College, she settled in New York, where she pursued formal artistic training at the Art Students League. There, she met the artist couple Paul Cadmus and Jared French. In 1937, she married French, fifteen years her junior, who had spent the previous decade with Cadmus. The trio formed a tight bond, with Cadmus and French continuing their relationship. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, Margaret Hoening (1906–1998) was a painter and an etcher perhaps best known for her photographs as part of the PaJaMa photography collective. After attending Smith College, she settled in New York, where she pursued formal artistic training at the Art Students League. There, she met the artist couple Paul Cadmus and Jared French. In 1937, she married French, fifteen years her junior, who had spent the previous decade with Cadmus. The trio formed a tight bond, with Cadmus and French continuing their relationship. Together, the three formed PaJaMa (a mashup of their first names, Paul, Jared, and Margaret). Using Hoening’s Leica, they captured themselves, their artist friends, and members of the gay community posing in artful tableaux on the beaches of Fire Island, Provincetown, and Nantucket over the following eight years. Those captured by their camera include the photographer George Platt Lynes; Cadmus’s sister and artist Fidelma; artist Bernard Perlin; and Monroe Wheeler, director of exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, among others. Though she produced few canvases, Hoening’s paintings demonstrate the influences of French and Cadmus, particularly with her adoption of the time-intensive, traditional medium of egg tempera that they championed. In the 1940s, the Frenches’ social circle continued to expand. They befriended the British author E.M. Forster, who stayed with them on his first trip to New York in 1947, spending a few days with them in Provincetown, and visiting them again in 1949. When Cadmus began a relationship with the young artist George Tooker in 1944, the trio became a foursome, with Tooker regularly vacationing with the group and appearing in PaJaMa’s photographs...
Category

1940s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite

Samuel Wood Gaylor American Modernist Watercolor
Located in New York, NY
Samuel Wood Gaylor (American, 1883 - 1957) Untitled (Woman in Mirror), 1930 Watercolor on paper Sight size: 14 1/4 x 10 1/4 in. Framed: 20 3/4 x 16 1/4 in...
Category

1930s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

"The Secretary" Minimalist Portrait in Ink on Paper by Geraldine Heib
Located in Soquel, CA
"The Secretary" Minimalist Illustrative Portrait in Ink on Paper This charming portrait by Jerry O'Day (American, 1912), depicts a tight-lipped woman with stern eyebrows in a fun and simplistic style. Her lips pop in red and the fine line detail of her hair gives texture and movement to the piece. Her rounded figure is created using basic shapes cleverly placed, dressed in a turtleneck with dangling earrings. She is looking sideways, drawing the viewer's eyes in that direction. Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Presented in a new blue mat. Mat size: 32"H x 26"W Paper size: 28.5"H x 22.5"W Image size: 15.5"H x 11.5"W Jerry O'Day is also known as Geraldine Heib. Born in Oakland, California, on June 17, 1912. Geraldine Heib assumed the name Jerry O'Day at an early age. She grew up in Washington and studied in Seattle at the Cornish School of Fine Arts. Upon moving to the San Francisco Bay area in 1938, she further studied with Bufano as a muralist for two years. O'Day wed sculptor David Lemon and had a gallery in a converted cod fishery in Belvedere from 1942 until 1963. At that time, the couple moved to a houseboat in Sausalito, where she remained until her demise on March 30, 1986. Post War California artist, Jerry O'Day studied at the Cornish School of Fine Arts in Seattle; studied with Beniamino Bufano for two years. She lived in the artist's colony at the Cod fishery with artist David Lemon on Belvedere Island in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1942 - 1963. Solo Exhibitions: City of Paris, Rotunda Gallery; Lucien Labaudt Gallery, 1963; Torrance Gallery, San Anselmo, 1955; Marin Art Gallery, Sausalito, 1956; Palace of The Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1962; East & West Gallery, Fillmore Street, San Francisco; Landmarks Gallery, Marin County, 1991. Selected Group Exhibitions: 65th Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association at the San Francisco Museum of Art, 1945; Fourth Winter Invitational, California Palace of The Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1963. Source: David J Carlson...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Indian Man from Mexico
Located in New York, NY
Indian Man from Mexico is a souvenir of Winold Reiss’s 1920 sketching tour of Mexico. As he traveled, Reiss’s style began to reflect the influence of the aesthetics, color palette, a...
Category

20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Man In The Moon Drawing by O. Casio
Located in New York, NY
O. Casio Untitled (Moon Man), c. 20th Century Mixed media on paper Sight: 10 x 13 1/4 in. Framed: 16 x 20 in. Signed lower right: O. Casio
Category

20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Four Horse Head Studies
Located in Missouri, MO
Four Horse Head Studies William Henry Dethlef Koerner (German, American, 1878-1938) Pencil on Paper Signed Lower Left 9 x 7 inches 16 x 14 inches with frame William Henry Dethlef Ko...
Category

Early 20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pencil, Color Pencil

Winged Putti
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Andy Warhol is arguably the most important American artist of the 20th century. In the 1950s, he was an in-demand and celebrated illustrator working for New York's toniest publicatio...
Category

1950s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ballpoint Pen

Self Portrait sketching with Vignette in Profile
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Self Portrait sketching with Vignette in Profile Graphite on thin wove paper, c. 1940's Unsigned Condition: Small nicks in the right margin, not affecting the image Sheet size: 14 1/2 x 10 inches Provenance: Paul Cadmus Jon F. Anderson (1937-2018) Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, Margaret Hoening (1906–1998) was a painter and an etcher perhaps best known for her photographs as part of the PaJaMa photography collective. After attending Smith College, she settled in New York, where she pursued formal artistic training at the Art Students League. There, she met the artist couple Paul Cadmus and Jared French. In 1937, she married French, fifteen years her junior, who had spent the previous decade with Cadmus. The trio formed a tight bond, with Cadmus and French continuing their relationship. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, Margaret Hoening (1906–1998) was a painter and an etcher perhaps best known for her photographs as part of the PaJaMa photography collective. After attending Smith College, she settled in New York, where she pursued formal artistic training at the Art Students League. There, she met the artist couple Paul Cadmus and Jared French. In 1937, she married French, fifteen years her junior, who had spent the previous decade with Cadmus. The trio formed a tight bond, with Cadmus and French continuing their relationship. Together, the three formed PaJaMa (a mashup of their first names, Paul, Jared, and Margaret). Using Hoening’s Leica, they captured themselves, their artist friends, and members of the gay community posing in artful tableaux on the beaches of Fire Island, Provincetown, and Nantucket over the following eight years. Those captured by their camera include the photographer George Platt Lynes; Cadmus’s sister and artist Fidelma; artist Bernard Perlin; and Monroe Wheeler, director of exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, among others. Though she produced few canvases, Hoening’s paintings demonstrate the influences of French and Cadmus, particularly with her adoption of the time-intensive, traditional medium of egg tempera that they championed. In the 1940s, the Frenches’ social circle continued to expand. They befriended the British author E.M. Forster, who stayed with them on his first trip to New York in 1947, spending a few days with them in Provincetown, and visiting them again in 1949. When Cadmus began a relationship with the young artist George Tooker in 1944, the trio became a foursome, with Tooker regularly vacationing with the group and appearing in PaJaMa’s photographs...
Category

1940s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite

The Sunbonnet Babies - Modernist Female Artist
Located in Miami, FL
Bertha Corbett Melcher's The Sunbonnet Babies, with their flat, minimalist, semi-abstract, and symbolic style, are an early example of American Modernism/Surrealism by a lesser-known female artist/illustrator. The present work demonstrates a delicate balance between abstraction and representation and between the commonplace and the mysterious. Her signature use of a hat or sunbonnet to hide the identity of her subjects is a big conceptual and visual idea that has been overlooked in the fine art canon. The exact meaning of this is unknown, but 120 years after they were done, it resonates as somewhat surrealistic. Her work is a contradiction. She shows innocent children engaging in everyday activity but are depicted in vail of mystery. Why does she not show the faces of her subjects? Watercolor on paper (each) Six drawings in all on one board. 6-1/8 x 5 inches (15.6 x 12.7 cm) (each) One signed; two initialed; three not signed. Six drawing in all on one board. 6-1/8 x 5 inches (15.6 x 12.7 cm) (each) One signed; two initialed; three not signed The Sunbonnet Babies characters were created by illustration Bertha L. Corbett when she was challenged to create a faceless character who nonetheless was engaging and appealing. The characters were a wild hit and appeared in books, comics, and popular collectibles. They also became a popular motif in quilting. Few of Corbett's original drawings for the babies are known to survive, making this a rare offering. From: Wikipedia Sunbonnet Babies are characters created by commercial artist Bertha Corbett Melcher (1872–1950). Sunbonnet Babies featured two girls in pastel colored dresses with their faces covered by sunbonnets. Sunbonnet Babies appeared in books, illustrations and advertisements between the years of 1900 and 1930. Sunbonnet Babies were later used as a popular quilting pattern also known as Sunbonnet Sue.[1] Melcher created a male version of the Sunbonnet Babies, named the 'Overall Boys' in 1905.[2][3] History Bertha L. Corbett Melcher Sunbonnet Babies were created by Bertha Corbett Melcher (1872–1950).[4] Melcher was born in Denver and moved with her family to Minneapolis in the 1880s. Melcher attended art school in Minneapolis with plans to become a commercial artist.[5] She may have also studied with Howard Pyle.[6] By the 1920s, Melcher had moved to Topanga, California.[7][4] Melcher started drawing the Sunbonnet Babies in 1897. The origin of the signature style of the faces being covered by sunbonnets is contested by different members of Melcher's family and by Melcher herself. In an interview, Melcher's brother said their mother suggested Bertha avoid the difficulty of drawing faces by covering them with sunbonnets.[4] Melcher herself said that covering faces allowed her to communicate with body position.[4] Melcher has also said that the design came about in "answer to a friend’s challenge to convey emotion without a face."[2] Melcher published her first book, The Sun-Bonnet Babies in 1900.[3] Later, she shopped her illustrations to publisher Rand McNally of Chicago, and nine subsequent books were written by Eulalie Osgood Grover and illustrated by Bertha Corbett. In 1905, Melcher wrote The Overall Boys.[3] Many of these books were used as primers and used widely in primary schools in the midwest. Melcher used the sunbonnet babies in advertising and later established the Sunbonnet Babies Company. She started a studio to illustrate and create merchandise of the Sunbonnet Babies.[2] The characters also appeared in a comic strip.[2] Quilting Melcher herself did not originate the use of the sunbonnet babies as quilting pattern. The Sunbonnet Babies quilting pattern appeared in textile art 1910's in the Ladies Home Journal 1911–1912 in a quilt stitched by Marie Webster. The pattern was popular during the Great Depression. In the American South, it was often known as "Dutch Doll" until the 1970s.[3] There was also a quilt pattern based on the "Overall Boys," known by the various names including “Overall Bill, “Overall Andy,” “Sunbonnet Sam,” “Suspender Sam,” “Fisherman Jim."[3] Many patterns for quilts and sewing were designed by Ruby Short McKim and published in nationally syndicated newspapers.[8] Sunbonnet Sue became symbolic of 'female innocence and docility'.[9] Linda Pershing collected accounts from women quilters who depicted 'Sues' doing activities such as smoking, wearing more revealing clothing, and subverting feminine stereotypes.[10] In 1979, the “Seamsters Union Local #500," a group of quilters from Lawrence, Kansas, created “The Sun Sets on Sunbonnet Sue," a quilt depicting the character murdered in a variety of ways.[3] Collectibles Sunbonnet Babies merchandise includes school books, valentines cards, postcards, china, and quilts.[2][5][11] Sunbonnet Babies were adapted into three dimensional porcelain collectibles and pottery made by Royal Bayreuth Company in the early 1900s. The Royal Bayreuth China...
Category

Early 1900s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

1950s "Upclose Portrait" Mid Century Ink Portrait Drawing Pratt
Located in Arp, TX
Donald Stacy (1925-2008) New Jersey "Upclose Portrait" 1953 Ink on paper 14" x 16.5" unframed Signed and dated in pencil lower right Came from artist estate *Custom framing available...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Pensive Dancer, Modern Ink Drawing by Raphael Soyer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Raphael Soyer, Russian/American (1899 - 1987) Title: Pensive Dancer Year: circa 1956 Medium: Pencil on Paper, signed lower right Paper Size: 8 x 5 inches Frame: 11.5 x 9.5 i...
Category

1950s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Archival Paper

Mixed Media Portrait Painting of a Man
Located in Houston, TX
A mixed media painting of an older man deep in thought in black and white on a yellow background circa 1990s by Theadius McCall. Signed in lower right ...
Category

1990s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Mixed Media

Meryl Streep & Cher, Caricature Watercolor Painting by Marshall Goodman
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Marshall Goodman, American XXth Title: Meryl Streep and Cher Year: circa 1980 Medium: Watercolor on Paper, Signed Image Size: 20 x 25.5 inches
Category

1980s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Nude Pencil Drawing pair of Portraits
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
Nude Pencil Drawing pair of Portraits Pencil and pastel on paper, unsigned from the artist portfolio. George Kenneth Hartwell painter and illustrator was born in Fitchburg 1891-1949...
Category

1920s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel, Pencil

A Finely Drawn, 1946 Modernist Portrait of a Young Woman by Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A Finely Drawn, 1946 Modernist Portrait of a Young Woman by Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). A beautifully executed and introspective charcoal portrait drawing o...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

A Striking Modern 1946 Vermont Studio Scene, Standing Female Model in a Doorway
Located in Chicago, IL
A Striking Modern 1946 Vermont Studio Scene of a Standing Female Model in a Doorway by Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Depicting a finely executed portrait of t...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Ink

A Dynamic, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Abstract Male Portrait by Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A Dynamic, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Abstract Male Portrait by Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). A finely executed studio figure study portrait of a young male model, charcoal on paper...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

A Striking Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Handsome Young Black Man in Profile
Located in Chicago, IL
A Striking Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Handsome Young Black Man by Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). A wonderful executed studio figure study portrait depict...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel, Graphite

A Delightful 1930s Portrait Sketch of a Young Boy in a Baseball Cap
Located in Chicago, IL
A Delightful, 1930s Portrait Sketch of a Young Boy in a Baseball Cap by Noted Chicago Modern Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Full of Character! A charming little gem of a po...
Category

1930s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

The Scapegoat II, Court Drawing by Marshall Goodman
Located in Long Island City, NY
The Scapegoat II Marshall Goodman, American (1916–2003) Watercolor on paper Size: 10 x 10 in. (25.4 x 25.4 cm) For the last ten years of his life Mr. Goodman worked as a Courtroom Illustrator. for high profile trials such as John Gotti...
Category

1990s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Headdress Procession
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Headdress Procession Watercolor, c. 1950's Signed by the artist in ink, lower right The Headdress Procession occurs every year as part of the Christmas celebrations in Oaxaca. Guilbe...
Category

1950s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Flapper Fanny - Female Cartoonist of the Golden Age
Located in Miami, FL
Flapper Fanny - Female Cartoonist of the Golden Age Sylvia Sneidman was originally a fashion illustrator, but assumed the helm of the famous jazz-age panel cartoon "Flapper Fanny Sa...
Category

1940s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Archival Paper

Female Nude in Profile
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Woman Pen and ink on paper, c. 1925-1928 Signed in pencil lower left Exhibited: Akron Art Institute (Akron Art Museum), William Sommer Retrospective, Oct. 25 to Nov. 29, 1 970 Illu...
Category

1920s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Nine-O-One, dark colors, monochromatic, moody female figure, maps, text, time
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Paper charcoal collage These collages were created first in the presence of a live model, working quickly, in charcoal and pastel, and again, later, alone in the studio, furiously te...
Category

2010s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Mixed Media, Charcoal

UNTITLED PORTRAIT
Located in Portland, ME
Heliker, John. (American, 1909-2000). UNTITLED PORTRAIT. Ink on paper, not dated, likely 1930s. The image is of a man, likely a factory worker, seated, wearing a cap, leaning his face on one hand, with factory structures in the background. Signed, lower right. c. 8 x 8 inches 0n a larger sheet. In excellent condition. Heliker was born in Yonkers and spent his adult life dividing his time between Manhattan, where he taught art for decades, and Great Cranberry Island...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Reefer Madness, Marajuana - Pot - Cannabis - Cover Atlantic Monthly Magazine
Located in Miami, FL
Gouache, Crayon, Pencil, Film on Paper, not framed Cover Atlantic Monthly Magazine August 1994
Category

1990s American Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache

American Modern portrait drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic American Modern portrait drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add portrait drawings and watercolors created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Alfred Bendiner, Irene Pattinson, Albert Al Hirschfeld, and Andy Warhol. Frequently made by artists working with Ink, and Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large American Modern portrait drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 3.5 inches across are also available. Prices for portrait drawings and watercolors made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $85 and tops out at $34,000, while the average work sells for $1,375.

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