Skip to main content

Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

to
328
1,444
216
282
1,147
Still-life Drawings and Watercolors For Sale
William Kerry - Early 20th Century Graphite Drawing, Gladiator's Left Foot
Located in Corsham, GB
A very fine graphite study of the well-known sculpture 'Gladiator's Left Foot' by Agasias of Ephesus. The artist has signed to the upper right corner. Well presented in a vintage thi...
Category

20th Century Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite

Mug on a tray. 1970s, paper, watercolor, 76x55 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Mug on a tray. 1970s, paper, watercolor, 76x55 cm Jekabs Arturs Springis (1907– 2004) Painter, Latvia 1924 – 1927 – he learned at Aizpute Secondary School 1927 – 1930 – learning ...
Category

1970s Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Jebez Bligh - 19th Cent British Still Life watercolour of Mushrooms in a Basket
Located in London, GB
JEBEZ BLIGH (1832-1900) Mushrooms in a Basket Signed and dated l.r.: J BLIGH / 74 Watercolour Framed 22.5 by 31.5 cm., 9 by 12 in. (frame size 42.5 by 51 cm., 16 ¾ by 20 in.) Jeb...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Wildflower Bouquet Still-Life
Located in Soquel, CA
Beautiful mid-century floral watercolor still-life of a bouquet of colorful wildflowers by Jane Boyd (20th Century), c.1960s. The beautiful bouquet features a coral pink flower in fu...
Category

Mid-20th Century Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Spring Iris, floral art, landscape drawing, still-life, affordable art
Located in Deddington, GB
Spring Iris by Ellen Williams [2022] original Coloured pencil on 150gsm paper Image size: H:29.7 cm x W:21 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:29.7 cm x W:21 cm x D:0.01cm Sold Unframed Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look This drawing is one in a series of...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Color Pencil

Still Life - Original Pastel on Paper by Herta Hausmann - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Still Life is an original pastel drawing on ivory-colored paper realized by Herta Haussmann (1892-1972). Not signed. The state of preservation is very good. Stamp of the artist's ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

Abstract Still Life with Bouquets and Fruit in Watercolor on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstract Still Life with Bouquets and Fruit in Watercolor on Paper Colorful still life with two bouquets of flowers by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). A tall, b...
Category

1980s American Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Still Life - Drawing by Mino Maccari - 1950s
Located in Roma, IT
Still Life is an original drawing in pencil on paper realized by Mino Maccari in the 1950s. Monogrammed in pencil. Good condition with diffused foxing. Mino Maccari (1898-1989) wa...
Category

1950s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Lilacs - Botanical Study
Located in Soquel, CA
Vibrant watercolor, pen and ink floral study of lilacs, with brilliant attention to detail and a signature delicate style, by California artist Deborah Eddy (American, b.1943). Signe...
Category

1980s American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Kim Page - Framed Contemporary Watercolour, Still Life of White Lilies
Located in Corsham, GB
Kim Page - still life of white lilies and other flowers. Watercolour heightened with white. Signed in pencil to the lower right. Presented in a decorative frame with bead course to t...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Trompe L'oeil [untitled]. Homage... Ter Nagedachtenis van S. G. Wezel oud 76 Jar
Located in New York, NY
Trompe l'oeil [untitled]. Homage.... Ink drawing, multimedia, 1837. Paper size 13.13 x 16.44" (33.3 x 41.8 cm). On watermarked paper "Blauw and Briel." Overall good condition. Small tears and the occasional bit of paper missing at the paper edge. Original color. Center paper crease - as issued. We believe the artist created this artwork on a sheet of paper that had been previously bound in a book. Dutch trompe l'oeil drawing with pen & ink, pencil, sepia, and black chalk, wax seal, and painted pigment. This montage of early 19th century ephemera depicts sheet music, scenic views, a sealed letter, cards, a portrait of an unknown sitter, and a penned sheet noting ... van S. G. Wezel Wassenaar, October 1837. Is this a homage to the individual portrayed, a metaphorical self-portrait, or just a random assortment of ephemera beautifully composed? The artist keeps us wondering and visually appeased by a striking harmony created through contrast. This piece starts with sheet music entitled; Romance Larghetto No 2. There is a Psalm and Op Jezus Geboorte (On Jesus Birth...
Category

Mid-19th Century Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Conté, Ink, India Ink, Watercolor

Dual Purpose Vehicle Design Concept - Stat Photograph on Cardstock
Located in Soquel, CA
Design-quality blueprint of a concept vehicle by Edward T. Liljenwall (American, 1943-2010). Top and side views are highlighted, with a partial rear view to the left hand side. The v...
Category

1980s Photorealist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Photographic Paper, Postcard

2000 Toke, photorealist graphite graffiti drawing, 2014
Located in New York, NY
In her photorealist graphite drawing "Toke," Mary Reilly elegantly merges weed culture with high art. Her drawing is a graphic homage to cannabis culture. Mary Reilly works with both...
Category

2010s Photorealist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Archival Paper, Pencil, Carbon Pencil, Graphite

The Pears - Original Pastel on Paper by Herta Hausmann - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
The Pears is original drawing in pastel on paper realized by Herta Hausmann. With the stamp of "Atelier Herta Hausmann" on the rear. Good conditions except for folding at the top. ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

XXX. 2002. acrylic on canvas, 80x100 cm
Located in Riga, LV
This sizeable work is a combination of fauvist and impressionist style. It shows a hurricane of different feelings and moods that each one of us interprets differently Ingrida Irbe ...
Category

Early 2000s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Wild Geranium 1, gold acrylic ink botanical still life drawing
Located in New York, NY
Margot Glass’s rendering of detail demands close attention. Her play with positive and negative space—the almost imperceptible shade of translucence between leaf veins, or the rich p...
Category

2010s American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Mid Century Amaryllis Blossom Watercolor
Located in Soquel, CA
Highly detailed watercolor of an amaryllis blossom by Joe Yeager (American, early-mid 20th Century). Signed "Joe Yeager" in pen under one of the petals. Pre...
Category

1940s American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

Red Roses - Botanical Study
Located in Soquel, CA
Vibrant watercolor, pen and ink floral study of deep red roses, with brilliant attention to detail and a signature delicate style, by California artist Deborah Eddy (American, b.1943...
Category

1980s American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

"Aubergines I" Still Life Watercolor Painting 10" x 14" inch by Inji Efflatoun
Located in Culver City, CA
"Aubergines I" Still Life Watercolor Painting 10" x 14" inch by Inji Efflatoun Stamped by artist's estate. Not Signed. Inji Eflatoun pursued free studies in art. Since 1942, she ha...
Category

20th Century Post-War Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

Roses, Violet, Line Drawing by Jeffry Mitchell, 2010
Located in Orange, CA
Roses, Violet, Line Drawing by Jeffry Mitchell, 2010 Additional information: Dimensions: 20 x 16 in About artist: Jeffry Mitchell’s primary medium is ceramic and he is well versed ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Vase of Flowers - Drawing In Pen by Giovanni Omiccioli - 1957
Located in Roma, IT
Vase of Flowers is a beautiful drawing in pen, realized in 1957 by the Italian artist Giovanni Omiccioli (Rome, 1901-1975). Hand-signed in pencil on the lower right and dated. In v...
Category

1950s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pen

"Aubergines II" Still Life Watercolor Painting 10" x 14" inch by Inji Efflatoun
Located in Culver City, CA
"Aubergines II" Still Life Watercolor Painting 10" x 14" inch by Inji Efflatoun Stamped by artist's estate. Not Signed. Inji Eflatoun pursued free studies in art. Since 1942, she h...
Category

20th Century Post-War Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

W. A. Martin - Framed Mid 20th Century Watercolour, Still Life with Ceramic Jug
Located in Corsham, GB
Signed lower left. Well-presented in a gilt frame with card mount. On watercolour paper.
Category

20th Century Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Marjorie Best (1903-1997) - Watercolour, Still Life of Flowers in a Glass Jug
Located in Corsham, GB
Marjorie Best (1903-1997)- original watercolour. Still life of coneflowers. Signed to the lower right. Presented in a fine gilt-effect frame. On watercolour paper.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Franklin Adams (New Orleans) "Camisole" - Modern Graphite Sketch Drawing
Located in New Orleans, LA
(Photographed behind the glass of the frame, so please pardon reflections.) As you can see from the receipt, this fine drawing was originally purchased for $3,500 on Julia Row in New Orleans. A New Orleans legend, Franklin Adams moved to the city in 1958 to teach painting and drawing at Newcomb College. Over the following years, he applied his wide-ranging talents to architecture, set design, logo design and other diverse projects. He was good friends with Mignon Faget...
Category

1990s Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite

The Plough - Original Pen Drawing - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
The Plough is an original pen drawing realized by an unknown artist of the Mid-20th Century. The artwork is in very good conditions and mounted on a white cardboard (49x34). There ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pen

“Floral Bouquet with Mandolin”
Located in Southampton, NY
Beautiful floral watercolor and gouache on paper with musical instruments by the German artist, Friedrich (Frederick) Jungling. Signed lower right and dated 1908. Excellent condition...
Category

Early 1900s Academic Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Archival Paper

Tiger Lily - Botanical Study
Located in Soquel, CA
Beautiful watercolor, pen and ink floral study of tiger lilies, with brilliant attention to detail and a signature delicate style, by California artist De...
Category

1980s American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Alberto Morrocco 'Tomatoes', gouache on board, Scottish
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Alberto Morrocco OBE RSA RSW RP RGI LLD DUNIV (Scottish, 1919 – 1998) Tomatoes gouache on board 11 x 15. ¾in. (28 x 40cm.) Provenance: Alberto Morroc...
Category

20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache, Board

Chrysanthemums 1985. Paper, watercolor, 44x57 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Dzidra Bauma (1930) Dzidra Bauma works in watercolor technique. She paint figural compositions, portraits, landscapes, flowers and still life. She is one of the most productive wate...
Category

1980s Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Country wedding Paper, watercolor, 54x74 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Dzidra Bauma (1930) Dzidra Bauma works in watercolor technique. She paint figural compositions, portraits, landscapes, flowers and still life. She is one of the most productive wate...
Category

1980s Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Gerberas 1987. Paper, watercolor, 49x55 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Dzidra Bauma (1930) Dzidra Bauma works in watercolor technique. She paint figural compositions, portraits, landscapes, flowers and still life. She is one of the most productive wate...
Category

1980s Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Flower in a Field, Modern Marker on Paper by Unknown Artist
Located in Long Island City, NY
Unknown Artist - Flower in a Field, Year: 1964, Medium: Marker on Paper, signed and dated in pencil, Image Size: 14 x 18.5 inches, Size: 16 x 20 in. (40.64 x 50.8 cm), Description: ...
Category

1960s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Permanent Marker

George Drittler, (Still Life)
Located in New York, NY
British-born, New Jersey-based, George Drittler was primarily know for landscapes. In this still life that expansive approach serves him well. Richly drawn, with pottery, books and a...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Francesca Henderson, Cox’s Apple 1, Original Drawing, Still Life Art, Art Online
Located in Deddington, GB
Francesca Henderson Cox’s Apple 1 Original Still Life Illustration Drawing Black Ink on Premium Acid Free Paper Image Size: H12cm x W17.5cm x D0.1cm Mounted Si...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Gladiolas - Botanical Study
Located in Soquel, CA
Delicate watercolor, pen and ink floral study of light pink gladiolas, with brilliant attention to detail and a signature delicate style, by California artist Deborah Eddy (American,...
Category

1980s American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Ann Bridges, The Woods are Lovely, Dark and Deep, Original Landscape Painting
Located in Deddington, GB
Ann Bridges The Woods are Lovely, Dark and Deep Original Still Life Painting Oil based ink Image size: 27 x 27 cm Sheet size: 39 x 39 cm Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm. Sold Framed (Dark Gr...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Banana - Original Pen Drawing on Paper - 1962
Located in Roma, IT
Banana is an original drawing in pen on paper realized by Mick Michel, in 1962, Hand-signed on the lower left, not readable. In good condition. Sheet dimension: 22x 27 cm.
Category

1960s Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pen

Poppies and strawberries 1982. Paper, watercolor, 60x58 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Dzidra Bauma (1930) Dzidra Bauma works in watercolor technique. She paint figural compositions, portraits, landscapes, flowers and still life. She is one of the most productive wate...
Category

1980s Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

The Unlived Midsummer Night 2006. Paper, mixed media, 75x55 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Dzidra Bauma (1930) Dzidra Bauma works in watercolor technique. She paint figural compositions, portraits, landscapes, flowers and still life. She is one of the most productive wate...
Category

Early 2000s Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Ray Banks - 20th Century Watercolour, Enigma
Located in Corsham, GB
A charming watercolour still life depicting a vase of flowers placed on layered patterned tablecloths. Areas of the composition have been left unfinished with the simple outline of p...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Cyclamen - Botanical Study
Located in Soquel, CA
Delicate watercolor, pen and ink floral study of a cyclamen blending into line drawing, with brilliant attention to detail and a signature delicate style, by California artist Debora...
Category

1980s American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Calla Lilly Still Life
Located in Soquel, CA
Colorful still life with calla lilies and a potted plant against a dynamic background of swirling colors by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). From the estate of Le...
Category

1980s American Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Garden Rose - Botanical Study
Located in Soquel, CA
Delicate watercolor, pen and ink floral study of a light pink garden rose, with brilliant attention to detail and a signature delicate style, by California artist Deborah Eddy (Ameri...
Category

1980s American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Still life with fish bones, pencil and pencil sharpener / - The irony of art -
Located in Berlin, DE
Manfred K. Schwitteck (*1948), Still life with fish bones, pencil and pencil sharpener, 1992. watercolor over pencil on handmade paper, 31.5 x 45 cm (visible size), 47 x 61 cm (frame...
Category

1990s Surrealist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Etching, Watercolor

Louis-Eugène Lambert (1825-1900) The Mountain and the mouse, drawing signed
Located in Paris, FR
Louis-Eugène Lambert (1825-1900) La Montagne qui accouche d'une souris (The Mountain and the mouse) Pen and black ink, ink wash on paper Signed lower ...
Category

1870s Romantic Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Gladiolas - Botanical Study
Located in Soquel, CA
Vibrant watercolor, pen and ink floral study of red gladiolas, with brilliant attention to detail and a signature delicate style, by California artist Deborah Eddy (American, b.1943)...
Category

1980s American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Tulips and daffodils 2007. Paper, mixed media, 70x50 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Dzidra Bauma (1930) Dzidra Bauma works in watercolor technique. She paint figural compositions, portraits, landscapes, flowers and still life. She is one of the most productive wate...
Category

Early 2000s Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Mixed Media, Paper

Peruvian Lily - Botanical Study
Located in Soquel, CA
Vibrant watercolor, pen and ink floral study of Peruvian lilies, with brilliant attention to detail and a signature delicate style, by California artist Deborah Eddy (American, b.194...
Category

1980s American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Still Life with Lemon and Hat - Oil Paste and Chalk Drawing - Late 19th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Still Life with Lemon and Hat is beautiful original oil pastel and chalk drawing on ivory-colored paper, realized by an anonymous French artist of the end of XIX century. On a table...
Category

Late 19th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal

Still life with a Herald's trumpet, a Neoclassical urn, a Mason's square, .....
Located in Middletown, NY
A classic Grand Tour composition. English School, 18th Century Still life with a Herald's trumpet, a Neoclassical urn, a Mason's square, and a protractor. Ink and wash in gray ink ...
Category

Late 18th Century Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Laid Paper

Persimmons & Tea Pot Still Life
Located in Soquel, CA
Charming still life of a teapot and fan with bright orange persimmons against a backdrop of bold watercolor color fields by Les Anderson (American, 1928-2009). Signed lower left. Acq...
Category

1980s American Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Two Cups and a Book
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA --RUSS HAVARD Artist Statement: I'm drawn towards nature imagery that depicts isolated elements in their continual struggle to flouris...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Letter from Louis Marcoussis to Countess Pecci Blunt
Located in Roma, IT
Autograph Letter Signed, on headed paper "61, Rue Caulaincourt", with initial and sentence "Chère Amie", painted in watercolours and decorated with tears, including an envelope with ...
Category

1930s Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

"Mohawk", Full Sail Black and Red Canadian Schooner Ink Drawing
Located in Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
This artwork depicts a Canadian schooner named Mohawk, hailing from Vancouver. The boat has blue booms, brown masts, black and white hull, red keel and bow. The artist can draw cus...
Category

2010s Other Art Style Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Lesley Fuller - Contemporary Watercolour, Tulips and Blue Vase
Located in Corsham, GB
With ink wash. Signed. Titled verso. Presented in a wooden frame. On paper.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Contemporary pastel realism drawing umbrellas symmetrical red signed
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Umbrella Drawing II" is an original oil pastel drawing on paper by Tom Shelton. The artist signed the piece lower right. It depicts four leaning red umbrellas. 23" x 25" art Tom ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Pastel

Old Doll, 10x6.5", pencil drawing, framed
Located in Loveland, CO
Old Doll by Lu Haskew Pencil 10x6.5" image size 12x10" framed as pictured, behind glass Still Life drawing of a doll from the artist's extensive doll collection. Shipping price incl...
Category

Early 2000s American Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite

Colorful Expressionist Still Life with Watermelon and Pears
Located in Soquel, CA
Vivid watercolor still life with colorful expressionist pink and purple hues, of a bright table with watermelon, pears, and flowers on heavy paper by Monterey artist Les Anderson (Am...
Category

Early 2000s Abstract Impressionist Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Plum Branches and Flowers
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Plum Branches and Flowers watercolor on wove paper, 1985 Signed and dated in pencil lower right corner From the artist's 1985 sketchbook Inspired by O'Sickey's love of Japanese and Chinese art and calligraphy. Provenance: Estate of the artist Condition: Excellent Image/Sheet size: 13 5/8 x 17 inches Joseph B. O’Sickey, Painter 1974 CLEVELAND ARTS PRIZE FOR VISUAL ARTS The title conferred on him by Plain Dealer art critic Steve Litt in a 1994 article, “the dean of painting in northeast Ohio,” must have pleased Joseph O'Sickey. It was more than 30 years since he had burst onto the local (and national) art scene. O’Sickey was already in his 40s in that spring of 1962 when he had his first one-man show at the Akron Art Museum and was signed by New York’s prestigious Seligmann Galleries, founded in 1888. In the decade and a half that followed, he would have seven one-man shows at Seligmann, which had showed the work of such trailblazing figures as Seurat, Vuilliard, Bonnard, Leger and Picasso, and appear in all of the group shows. O’Sickey took the Best Painting award in the 1962 May Show at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). He and would capture the same honor in back-to-back May Shows in 1964 and ’65, and again in 1967. The remarkable thing, noted the Plain Dealer’s Helen Borsick, was that he accomplished this sweep in a variety of painterly styles, even using that most hackneyed of subjects, flowers. “The subject doesn’t matter,” he told her, “what the artist brings to it is the important thing.” O’Sickey’s garden and landscape paintings were big and bold, eschewing delicate detail in favor of vitality and impact. The great art collector and CMA benefactor Katherine C. White, standing before one of O’Sickey’s vivid garden paintings, compared the sensation to “being pelted with flowers.” Though he might represent an entire blossom with one or two smudged brush strokes or a stem with a simple sweep of green, O’Sickey rejected the moniker of Impressionist—or Pointillist or Abstract painter or Expressionist. “My work,” he said, “is a direct response to the subject. I believe in fervor and poetic metaphor. I try to make each color and shape visible and identifiable within the context of surrounding colors and shapes. A yellow must hold its unique quality from any another yellow or surrounding color, and yet read as a lemon or an object, by inference. It does not require shading or modeling—the poetic evocation is part of the whole.” “The subject,” O’Sickey used to tell his students at Kent State University, where he taught painting from 1964 to 1989, “has to be seen as a whole and the painting has to be structured to be seen as a whole.” He liked to think of it as “a process of controlled rapture.” When, in the 1960s, fond childhood memories drew him to the zoo, he found himself responding to the caged animals in their lonely dignity (or indignity) with sharp-edged, almost silhouette-like forms that evoked Matisse’s paintings and cut-paper assemblages. One observer was left with the impression that the artist had “looked at these animals, past daylight and into dusk when they lose their details in shadow and become pure shapes, with eyes that are seeing the viewer rather than the other way around. This is a world of shape and essence,” wrote Helen Borsick. “All is simplification.” O’Sickey attributed his ability to capture his subjects with just a few strokes—in an almost iconographic way—to a rigorous exercise he had imposed upon himself over a period of several months. Limiting his tools to a large No. 6 bristle brush and black ink, he set himself the task of drawing his pet parakeet and the other small objects in its cage (cuttlebone, feeding dish, tinkling bell) hundreds of times. The exercise gave him “invaluable insights into painting. . . . Because of the crudity of the medium, every part of these drawings had to be an invention and every mark had to have its room and clarity.” Then he began adding one color at a time—“still with the same brush and striving for the same clarity”—and headed off to the zoo where “the world opened up to me. I learned how little it took to express the subject.” Born in Detroit at the close of the First World War, O’Sickey grew up in St. Stanislaus parish near East 65th and Fleet on Cleveland’s southeast side. (The apostrophe was inserted into the family’s proud Polish name by a clerk at Ellis Island.) An early interest in drawing and painting may have been kindled by the presence on the walls of Charles Dickens Elementary School, one of only three grade schools in the district with a special focus on the arts, of masterful watercolors by such Cleveland masters as Paul Travis, Frank N. Wilcox and Bill Coombes. As a youngster O’Sickey took drawing classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and he and his brother spent hours copying famous paintings; while a student at East Tech High School in the mid-’30s, he attended free evening classes in life drawing with Travis and Ralph Stoll at the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Institute, and Saturday classes at the Cleveland School (later the Cleveland Institute) of Art, where he earned his degree in 1940 under the tutelage of Travis, Stoll and such other legendary figures as Henry Keller, Carl Gaertner, William Eastman, Kenneth Bates...
Category

1980s Contemporary Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Recently Viewed

View All