1950s Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Flowers were one of Culver's favorite subject. This stunning portrait of a red flower draws the viewer into its very center as powerfully as any flower portrait by Georgia O'Keeffe. It is the idyllic flower that can be described as in the romantic style wherein the subject depicted is a more desired or dramatic version of what actually is. It is signed and dated by the artist on the lower left. This piece has been professionally reframed with acid-free matting and museum glass. In a 1952 Detroit Free Press article, entitled “Artist Explains His Work,” Culver was asked why he painted the way he did. He stated: “I try to ‘see’ though not too exactly; I try to think though not too ponderously; I feel emotion yet I try not to become overwrought. I interpret rather than describe, and design rather than depict. I work with values, not light and shade; hence, when I am successful, I achieve substance rather than three-dimensional form, and this satisfies me as being wholly sufficient. In my work I wish to be serious without becoming a bore, exuberant without being frivolous, humorous without being silly. I believe that good paintings are conceived, not contrived; and I am interested in art much more than in pictures.” Charles Culver...

"Vase of Flowers on Chartreuse Tablecloth" is a watercolor signed by Sylvia Spicuzza. This watercolor is of a simple flower arrangement. There are red tulips, blue, red, and pink chr...

Signed, lower right, 'Di Gesu' for Victor Di Gesu (American, 1914-1988) and painted circa 1955. A mid-century Post-Impressionist oil still-life showing a book and a candlestick arra...

This still life is an unusual example of Sylvia Spicuzza's work, as most of her most significant output are geometric and biomorphic abstract images. The objects in the image - a sea shell, a pitcher, a heavy necklace - are objects the artist likely had at home and staged for the image. But of particular significance is the insertion of the artist's hand, as though she was reaching into the still life while she was painting. The hand has been a significant symbol of the artist throughout art history as a source of creation: Albrecht Dürer's 'Self Portrait at the Age of Twenty-Eight' (1500) highlights the artist's hand much like traditional images of Christ giving gestures of blessing. Likewise, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 'Self Portrait as a Soldier' (1915) shows the artist in military uniform but with a severed hand as a symbol of helplessness during the First World War. Another important comparison, given Spicuzza is a Midwestern artist, is Ivan Albright's magic realist work 'That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door)' at the Art Institute of Chicago. The massive painting...

14.75 x 17.75 inches, artwork 22.88 x 25.75 inches, frame Born in 1908, Sylvia Spicuzza was the daughter of noted painter Francesco Spicuzza. Sylvia devoted herself to teaching art ...

From a series of works we have listed by Clifford Ellis and his wife Rosemary Ellia. To see them or our other Modern British Art, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it ...

Charming c1950s watercolour depicting two boats in the city harbour signed R? (LR) in a gilt bamboo frame Image Sz: 15"H x 40"W Frame Sz: 22"H x 47"W

Gallery tags on verso. Work is frame an in very good condition.

Fernand Leger's depiction of a still life with a pitcher and bowl of fruit starts in simplistic and tangible reality on the right side of the composition before quickly devolving int...

An original oil pastel on paper drawing by Benjamin Benno, American (1901 - 1980) measuring 19 x 25 inches. By the early 1930s he had established a reputation as a member of the inte...

An original oil pastel on paper drawing by Benjamin Benno, American (1901 - 1980) measuring 19 x 25 inches. By the early 1930s he had established a reputation as a member of the international avant-garde and exhibited with the most significant European artists including Paul Klee, Max Ernst, Wassily Kandinsky, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Hans Arp, and Fernand Léger. Pablo Picasso sponsored Benno's first one-man show in Paris in 1934. Still Life with Mandolin...

An original pastel on paper by Benjamin Benno, American (1901 - 1980) measuring 19 x 25 inches. Nicely framed to 31 x 36 inches. By the early 1930s he had established a reputation ...