Art Nouveau Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

A finely tuned oval drawing by the Finnish artist Ester Helenius depicting a young woman in profile seated on a chair. The room is suggested only by a diffuse background. Signed and ...

This early 20th-century mixed media by K & K Hof Atelier Pietzner of Vienna depicts a respectable family within a neoclassical garden setting. With the advent of photography, afflue...

Fantasy illustration for children's book - "Princess Signelill and her brother” from “Sagobok av Elsa Beskow” Ink on paper, High-end archival matted. Unsigned Provenance: The Artis...

Framed Cuban Artist/Caricaturist Conrado Walter Massaguer presents Hollywood star Adolphe Menjou in a satirical dual portrait. In the foreground, the subject is seen in a dapper top hat, tux, fashionable cigarette and boutonnière, and is shown as being the epitome of being stylishly debonair. To make a larger point about this subject, Massaguer paints a cast shadow of Menjou as a burning red devil who studies his alter ego from above. Keeping with the artist's sarcasm, we see the good and bad in one image. Works by Massaguer are rare and this work is in keeping with his signature style. This work was most likely done on assignment for Life Magazine, Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker or Vanity Fair. Signed upper right. Inscribe lower right. Titled on verso. Unframed, Slight bend to board; toning to board; scattered faint foxing; pin point abrasions to margins, not affecting image. 19-1/2 x 15-1/8 inches board size. Conrado Walter Massaguer y Diaz was a Cuban artist, political satirist, and magazine publisher. He is considered a student of the Art Nouveau. He was the first caricaturist in the world to broadcast his art on television.He was first caricaturist to exhibit on Fifth Avenue. He was the first caricaturist in the world to exhibit his caricatures on wood. He, and his brother Oscar, were the first magazine publishers in the world to use photolithographic printing. Self portrait of Conrado Walter Massaguer, depicted on a carrousel ride, with the devil over his left shoulder and an angel over his right. (1945) He created the magazine Social with his brother Oscar to showcase Cuban artistic talent. The duo later created the magazine Carteles, which became for a period the most popular magazine in Cuba, which was purchased by Miguel Ángel Quevedo in 1953. In his life, he met and drew caricatures of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, the King of Spain, and many others.[ In sum total, he was the author of more than 28 thousand caricatures and drawings.Ernest Hemingway once had to refrain himself from punching Massaguer in the face after the artist drew an unflattering caricature of him. The dictator Gerardo Machado, however, did not punch Massaguer for his own unflattering caricature - he had the artist deported. He was one of the most internationally renowned Cuban artists of his day, and his art is still regularly featured in galleries across the Western Hemisphere and Europe. Early life Massaguer was born on October 18, 1889, in Cárdenas, Cuba.[In 1892, his family moved to Havana. When the Cuban War of Independence broke out, Massaguer's family escaped the country. From 1896 to 1908, he lived in Mérida, Mexico. However, during this time, his parents enrolled him in the New York Military Academy, where he stayed during school years. In 1905, after graduating the military academy, he briefly attended the San Fernando school in Havana, where he was tutored by Ricardo de la Torriente and Leopoldo Romañach. In 1906, less than a year later, he returned to the family home in Mexico. Career as artist Early career While living in Yucatán, Mexico, Massaguer published his first caricatures in local newspapers and magazines. These included La Campana, La Arcadia, and the Diario Yucateco. In 1908, he moved back to Havana. After returning to the island in 1908, Massaguer began mingling with Havana's aristocratic circles, forming close friendships with some of the city's most powerful and influential men, as well as winning the favor of many women who were quickly charmed by him. Massaguer, largely self-taught, honed his style using the avant-garde techniques he studied from the European and American magazines that were widely available in Cuba at the time. Cover of the immensely popular Cuban magazine El Figaro, drawn by Massaguer in 1909. This cover depicts two bumbling, incompetent American tourists to the island. He started drawing for El Fígaro, and was featured prominently on the cover in 1909. After two years of refining his craft, Havana announced a poster contest aimed at attracting North American tourists to stay in the city during the winter months. Notable figures like Leopoldo Romañach, Armando Menocal, Rodríguez Morey, Jaime Valls, and others also entered the competition. The jury was particularly impressed by the modern execution and creative solution of one piece, signed by Massaguer, who was relatively unknown at the time. The jury deliberations caused a great controversy.[5] The prize was ultimately awarded to the Galician painter Mariano Miguel, who had recently married the daughter of Nicolás Rivero, the wealthy owner of the conservative newspaper Diario de la Marina. Although Massaguer received only an honorable mention, the fraud scandal caused such an uproar that his name quickly entered the public spotlight, and he became an overnight sensation. In 1910, he became co-owner of the advertising agency Mercurio, with Laureano Rodríguez Castells. At Mercurio, he led the Susini cigar campaign, and earned substantial wealth. Massaguer has been described as a restless man, in both mind and body.After earning enough money from his art to begin traveling, he was almost always doing so. He constantly traveled between New York City and Havana, Mexico and France, Europe and the Americas. In 1911, his reputation among the Havana socialites solidified when he organized his own first public caricature exhibit, and also the first Caricature Salon ever held in the Americas, hosted at Athenaeum of Havana (the Ateneo), and the Círculo de La Habana. Other exhibitors here included Maribona, Riverón, Portell Vilá, Valer, Botet, Barsó, García Cabrera, Carlos Fernández, Rafael Blanco, and Hamilton de Grau. "Messaguer Visits Broadway." Caricatures of theatrical and literary figures. Elsie Janis, Raymond Hitchcock, S. Jay Kaufman (columnist), Ibanez, author of The Four Horsemen, and Frances White In 1912, in the New York American Journal, he published his first Broadway drawings. From 1913 to 1918, he was an editor for Gráfico. Social Main article: Social (magazine) Cover of the magazine Social, July 7, 1923 In 1916, he created the magazine Social with his brother, Oscar H. Massaguer. Social's contributors included Guillén Carpentier, Chacón y Calvo, Enrique José Varona and others.Social has been described as Massaguer's great love in the magazine industry, and was the property that historians say he cared the most about. Social was an innovative magazine, being the first magazine in the world to use a modern printing process called photolithographic printing. Social set cultural trends, not only in the fashion of Cuba, but in art, politics, and Cuban identity.[11] Social catered to a certain aesthetic in Cuba - that of the sophisticated elite socialite - but Massaguer would also use this magazine to ridicule and jibe against that same class of society when he found their personalities worthy of his contempt. In Social, readers could find a variety of content, including short stories, avant-garde poetry, art reviews, philosophical essays, and serialized novels, as well as articles on interior design, haute couture, and fashion. Occasionally, the magazine also featured reports on sports such as motor racing, rowing, tennis, and horse riding.The cultural promotion efforts of both Massaguer and Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring are evident in the magazine. Notably, this period overlaps with their involvement in the Minorista Group, which was then at the forefront of the country's intellectual life.[5] Many contributors were devoted members of the group, leading some experts to consider Social as the cultural voice of the Minoristas. One of the features of Social magazine was its section called "Massa Girls," which was a play on his own name, and pronounced with a glottal 'g' in a similar fashion to the letter in Massaguer.[12] Massaguer drew women as independent and free-thinking, and never drew the woman celebrity as a caricature of herself, but as a free agent surrounded by caricatures.[11] However, Massaguer himself has been described as a womanizer in his personal life, and hesitant to fully embrace every facet of women's liberation. In 1916, he also established la Unión de Artes Gráficas and the advertising agency Kesevén Anuncios.[9] The art critic Bernardo González Barroa wrote: “Massaguer has solved the problem of working hard, living comfortably off what his art produces and not missing any artistic, sporting or social event. His broad, childish laugh, of a carefree individual who carries his luck hidden in a pocket, appears everywhere for the moment, disguising the pranks of pupils that lurk, mock and, finally, flash with satisfaction at finding the characteristic point after having analyzed a soul... Massaguer's personality is beginning to solidify now. He has been the best-known and most popular caricaturist for a long time, but his technique had not reached the security, the mastery of values that he presents in his latest works, which is very natural and explainable”[5] Carteles Main article: Carteles Cover of the magazine Carteles, November 29, 1931 In 1919, Massaguer and his brother created the magazine Carteles.[9] Carteles gained the widest circulation of any magazine in Latin America, and the most popular magazine in Cuba for a time, until that title was claimed by Revista Bohemia. Carteles remained in print until July 1960.This magazine showcased Cuban commerce, art, sports, and social life before the revolution. In 1924, Carteles took a more political turn, with articles criticizing Gerardo Machado's government. it became a prime example of the humor and graphic design employed by artists like Horacio Rodríguez Suria and Andrés García...

Jules Cheret (1836-1932) Two studies of a woman, 1921 charcoal on grey paper signed and dated 24 10 (19)21 on the bottom right 39.5 x 24 cm A varnish stain in the lower middle of t...

Jules Cheret (1836-1932) Three studies of women charcoal on paper signed on the bottom left 39 x 24.5 cm This drawing of studies was part of the artist's workshop as so it bears the...

Delovincourt: biography Delovincourt, is a poster artist. Delovincourt was an art nouveau artist. He was mainly active during the modern period. Delovincourt: his main works Delovinc...

French School circa 1900 Studies of characters, four drawings in a same frame Pencil on paper Sizes of the drawings (from left to right and from top to bottom) A couple at a table ...

Annie French was part of the Glasgow Girls group of artists and illustrators who worked in a delicate, feminine, and detailed Art Nouveau and Pre-Raphaelite style. This work, "Flora," is masterfully rendered and decorated with sumptuous floral patterns in the most detailed way. It is signed twice in the upper right quadrant. The mat has a hand-painted decorative border. The work presents better in person, and the viewer can marvel at the minute detail. The Video is overexposed and light and not representative of color. Use still...

France, early 20th century Head of a faun bears a monogram "P H" on the lower right Pencil on paper 24.5 x 13 cm In a period frame (in good condition except a small loss on the upper...

Jean-Gabriel Domergue (1889-1962) Paris, Les Bouquinistes sur les quais, (The booksellers on the banks) Signed and titled lower right Pencil on paper 17 x 27 cm In good condition, ...

America's greatest female illustrator draws a heartwarming picture of a mother putting to bed her child. Motherly love towards their children is the artist's most iconic theme. This ...

Circle of (or by?) Paul César HELLEU (1859–1927) Study of a Reclining Woman Red chalk, black charcoal, and white chalk highlights on toned laid paper 27 x 18.9 cm Illegible signatur...

This Illustration Boudoir style Illustration by Female Illustrator Suzanne Meunier was done on an assignment for a French Postcard. It's a very early ...

'Chez Maxim's', pastel and gouache on fine art paper, by André Meurice (circa 1950s - 60s). The artist depicts the glamorous clientele at the entryway to...

Scottish female illustrator Annie French renders a charming cropped portrait of a bride in an Art Nouveau / Aubrey Beardsley style with curved theme borde...

Attributed to Giovanni Boldini (1842–1931) Studies of Women: Cabaret Dancers, Horsewoman, and Female Profiles Circa 1900 Ink wash and brown wash on paper, 28.5 x 19.5 cm Unsigned I...

Women illustrators were alive, well, and quite active in the early 20th century. Most of their production was associated with topics that dealt with the home, children or fairy tales. In this masterfully rendered work in pen and ink, Jacobs displays great technical skill in presenting three maidens dressing a beautiful female member of the Court wearing a tiara. Signed in a cartouche lower right From: Stella Mead, Great Stories from Many Lands, London: James Herbert and Co, 1936, page 78 " Red and White Roses" Provenance: Chris Beetles Work is elegantly matted and not framed. Helen Mary Jacobs was born in Ilford, Essex, the sister of the writer W.W. Jacobs; she studied art at the West Ham...

Pastel on paper on canvas, initialled lower left "ND" Image size: 13 ¾ x 22 ½ inches (35 x 57 cm) Gilt frame This fine Art Nouveau picture executed around 1900, depicts an auburn ha...

Delovincourt: biography Delovincourt, is a poster artist. Delovincourt was an art nouveau artist. He was mainly active during the modern period. Delovincourt: his main works Delovinc...

keywords; surrealism, portrait, oil painting, earth tones, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, unsettling, contemporary figurative painting, dreams, symbolic composition, dream, flesh tones, portrait, earth tones, tonalist, nostalgia, early 20th century, naturalist, illustration, grey art, young woman, hair, hair bun...

keywords; surrealism, portrait, oil painting, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, unsettling, contemporary figurative painting, dreams, symbolic composition, dream, tones, portrait, tonalist, nostalgia, early 20th century, naturalist, illustration, grey art, young woman, hair, hair bun...

Lucien Victor Guirand de Scevola (1871-1950) Portrait of Marie-Thérèse Piérat in Les Marionnettes, 1910 Pencil on paper, signed, dated and annotated lower ...

Young boy at Loemboeng, 1918 Signed with initials and dated, bottom right Black chalk on paper, 25.7 x 10 cm Literature: W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, Zwerftochten door Timor en Onderhoori...

Il figurino di moda è firmato in basso a destra ESacchetti. Raffigura una donna in piedi, con le mani sui fianchi, che indossa uno spezzato con giacca e gonna larga, e un evidente co...

Woman With Red Poppies, 1905, by Philip Boileau (1863-1917) Pastel on paper 35 ½ × 22 ¾ inches unframed (90.17 x 57.785 cm) Signed, dated, and inscribed...