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Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

ABSTRACT STYLE

Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.

Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.

Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.

Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.

Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.

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Style: Abstract
Period: 1990s
Detail Sketch from January 1986, Pure pigment collage, acrylic painting; Signed
Located in New York, NY
Robert Petersen Detail Sketch from January 1986, 1991 Pure pigment collage, acrylic painting and drawing Hand-signed by artist, Hand signed, hand initialed, annotated, dated by hand ...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Acrylic, Graphite

Untitled (unique) signed gouache painting (Framed) renowned Provincetown artist
Located in New York, NY
James Balla Untitled gouache painting, 1992 Mixed Media Oil on Linen Signed and dated on the front of the work; the verso of the frame bears the UFO (Albert Merola) gallery label. F...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Oil, Gouache, Pencil

1990s Mixed Media "Micro Biomorphic Abstract Drawing"
Located in Arp, TX
Bill Shields "Micro Biomorphic Abstract Drawing " 1990's Pastel, pencil charcoal on illustration board Site measures 3"x3" silver wood frame 9.75"x10.75" Unsigned came from artist's ...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Pastel, Illustration Board, Pencil

1990s Mixed Media "Micro Biomorphic Abstract Drawing II"
Located in Arp, TX
Bill Shields "Micro Biomorphic Abstract Drawing II" 1990's Pastel, pencil charcoal on illustration board Site measures 3.5"x2.5" silver wood frame 10.5"x10.5" Unsigned came from arti...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Pastel, Illustration Board, Pencil

Untitled
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled molded mud-dried paper with collage elements, 1996 Signed and dated lower edge (see photo) Annotated and titled verso Sheet size: 24 x 7 inches Provenance: Ralph Drake, fir...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

Untitled t-nail drawing, unique geometric abstraction hand signed framed
Located in New York, NY
James Siena Untitled t-nail drawing (reference: two against two), 1999 Graphite on paper Pencil signed, titled, annotated and dated on the reverse of the sheet (see photos) also penc...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Graphite, Pencil

composition 1 - gouache on paper, 95x70 cm., framed
Located in Nice, FR
Very impressive gouache on paper by the french (nice) painter Gerard Seree in the scale of pink and green. Framed
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Abstract Watercolor Painting, 'Design for Sculpture', C. 1995 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Abstract Watercolor Painting, 'Design for Light', C. 1997 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Big Candy Grid
Located in Burlingame, CA
'Big Candy Grid' features abstracted candy shapes with vivid and florescent colors within a dazzling contemporary "pop art" composition. Monotype ev edition...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Monotype

Emergence. Contemporary Mixed Media Abstract painting
By Kate McKennan
Located in Brecon, Powys
Intricate and lively work Watercolour, Acrylic paint and Ink. On paper framed
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Watercolor

Abstract Watercolor Painting, 'Design for Space', C. 1998 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Untitled (P95.93) White Brown abstract
Located in Greenwich, CT
From his most desirable period, this restrained in color palette Fonseca is for a collector and room where sophistication is key. Long held that his works on heavy paper are the mos...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink, Gouache

Lyrical Abstraction Abstract Expressionist painting for Sonoma CA (signed heart)
Located in New York, NY
Robert Natkin Lyrical Abstraction for the Sonoma Mission Inn, Sonoma, California, 1990 Acrylic on paper painting with collaged element Signed twice by the ...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Pencil

Untitled, Plate Six from Novecento (Mixed media lithograph with chalk pastel)
Located in New York, NY
Nam June Paik Untitled, Plate Six from Novecento, 1992 Mixed Media: Color offset lithograph with unique chalk pastel drawing 13 3/10 × 18 inches Edition 104/130 Pencil numbered 104/130, hand signed in pastel chalk on the front Edizioni Carte Segrete, Rome, Italy Excellent condition; held in matting which can be easily removed The matting measures 18" x 21" This was part of a series of works produced for the Nam June Paik retrospective at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 1992, Nam June Paik: Arti Elletroniche. This is one of the editions which bears unique hand coloring with pastel chalk. A comparable work sold at auction in 2015 for US $12,583. (see details below): Nam June Paik Title Novecento Description Nam June PAI K Novecento 1930-1940, 1992 Pastel sur offset en couleurs, épreuve signée et numérotée 104/130 Edizioni Carte Segrete, Rome 23,5 x 39,5 cm EH Oeuvre réalisée a l'occasion de la rétrospective Paik au Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 1992, Nam June Paik: Arti Elletroniche, cinema e Media Verso il XXI Secolo Medium pastel Year of Work 1992 Size Height 9.3 in.; Width 15.6 in. / Height 23.5 cm.; Width 39.5 cm. Misc. Signed Sale of Millon & Associés: Monday, June 22, 2015 [Lot 00090] Design Sold For 11,057 EUR Hammer (12,583 USD) Nam June Paik Biography Nam June Paik was born in 1932 in Seoul. He received a BA in aesthetics from the University of Tokyo in 1956 where he also studied music and art history. After graduating, he studied for a year with composer Thrasybulus Georgiades Georgiades at the University of Munich and for two years with composer Woflgang Fortner at the International Music College in Freiburg. He attended the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt in 1957, when he met Karlheinz Stockhausen, and in 1958, when he met John Cage. Cage, and through him Marcel Duchamp, had a significant influence on Paik as he became a major force in the avant-garde through performances. In Hommage à John Cage (1959), Paik employed audiotape and performance to attack traditional musical instrumentation and compositional practices, splicing together piano playing, screaming, bits of classical music, and sound effects. Realizing that taped sound was not enough, he decided to move into performance, first by introducing performative actions into his audio works. In 1961 Paik performed Simple, Zen for Head and Étude Platonique No. 3, in which he became a volatile figure, thrashing about in unexpected patterns and sudden movements to his signature soundtracks. In 1962 Paik participated in the Fluxus International Festival of the New Music in Weisbaden. Paik's first exhibition, entitled Exposition of Music - Electronic Television, in 1963 at Galerie Parnass at Wuppertal, launched his transition from composer and performance artist to the inventor of a new art form: an engagement with the material site of television as an instrument. In the exhibition, thirteen televisions lay on their backs and sides with their reception altered; for example, Zen for TV (1963) reduced the television picture to a horizontal line and Kuba TV (1963) shrank and expanded the image on the television set according to the changing volume. In 1964 Paik traveled to the US. He quickly settled in New York and became a leading innovator among an emerging generation of artists seeking new modes of artistic expression and distribution. That same year, Paik collaborated with Shuya Abe to create Robot K-456 (1964), a remote controlled robot that played audiotaped speeches by John F. Kennedy and defecated beans in Paik's Robot Opera (1964). In the interactive work Magnet TV (1965), Paik invited viewers to modify the television's output into swerving abstract lines through the movement of a magnet over the TV. In 1967 Paik and frequent collaborator Charlotte Moorman were arrested when Moorman performed Paik's Opera Sextronique (1967), a striptease as she played the cello at the Filmmakers' Cinematheque in New York. Paik's TV Bra for Living Sculpture (1969), which Moorman wore in performances, featured two television tubes...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Chalk, Offset, Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Graphite, Lithograph

Abstract Watercolor Painting, 'Design for Space', C. 1998 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Contemporary Watercolor Painting, 'Fire Series', C. 1998 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Abstract Watercolor Painting, 'Design for Land', C. 1997 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Abstract Watercolor Painting, 'Fire Series', C. 1996 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Abstract Watercolor Painting, 'Fire Spirit', 1992 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Abstract Watercolor Painting, 'Fire Series', C. 1992 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Crossing (Gemini 1776) Unique signed hand-colored paper assemblage with collage
Located in New York, NY
Elizabeth Murray Crossing, 1999 Unique hand-colored paper assemblage with collage on Rives BFK on white Rising 4-ply museum support board Signed and dated in pencil 19 1/2 × 30 × 4 inches Framed: held in acrylic shadow box frame Unique hand-colored paper assemblage with collage on Rives BFK on white Rising 4-ply museum board support, signed and dated in pencil. This mixed media paper construction with hand coloring is housed in an acrylic box shadow frame, part of the "Crossing Series" of 33 works, each entirely unique, published by Gemini G.E.L., Catalogue Reference: Gemini 1776 Provenance: the Family Collection of Harry W. and Mary M. Anderson Artist Biography: Elizabeth Murray (b. 1940, Chicago, IL—d. 2007, Granville, NY) was an artist at the forefront of American painting for five decades and is considered one of the most important postmodern abstract artists of her time. Her drive and determination produced a singularly innovative body of work characterized by a Cubist-informed Minimalism and streetwise Surrealism. Throughout her career, she reveled in the physicality of paint and approached her work through the constructive vocabulary of sculpture, warping, twisting, splintering, and knotting her canvases. In her innovative and deeply imaginative body of work, Murray not only reclaimed the medium of paint as her own but shared personal evocations of birth and death, laughter and confusion, fullness and loss. From an early age, Murray wanted to be an artist—a cartoonist actually. With the support of her high-school art teacher, Elizabeth Stein, Murray enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with the aim of becoming a commercial artist. However, she would spend more time learning from the works on view in the museum than in the classroom, gravitating toward the paintings of El Greco, Francisco de Zurbarán, Georges Seurat, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. Above all, it was the work of Paul Cézanne and Willem de Kooning that fueled her commitment to becoming a painter. After graduating in 1962, she went on to continue her studies at Mills College in Oakland, California. In 1967, she moved to New York City, where she would live and work until her death in 2007. Murray’s works from the 1960s reflect an irreverent embrace of the materiality of paint. Here, the artist experimented with elements of sculpture while maintaining allusions to the figure informed by her long-standing affinity for cartooning. Murray’s childhood love of Walt Disney and comics would underpin many aspects of her art throughout her career. During the 1970s, Murray dismantled—then rebuilt—many of the compositional strategies and theories associated with Minimalism. Using curved lines and complex shapes loosely informed by mathematical ideas, she introduced geometries that transform scale, shape, and form to her thickly painted and layered compositions. In the following decade, Murray introduced three-dimensionality to her canvases, bringing about a complete break from traditional, flat, rectilinear compositions. Muddied, moody, and gestural, the paintings of the 1980s blazed a course of international recognition and notoriety. In these works, interiors, tables, coffee cups, shoes, and other signature themes emerge from skeins of spray paint and graffiti-like markings. During the 1990s, Murray’s works became flatter while retaining a high degree of compositional elaboration and chromatic exuberance. In the final years of her career, the artist offered new visions of her characteristic motifs in vibrantly painted, multipaneled paintings. Throughout her stellar career, Murray was a much sought-after instructor, visiting artist, and lecturer. Appointments include instructor at Rosary Hill College (1965–67), visiting artist at Wayne State University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1973), instructor at Bard College (1974–77), visiting instructor at California Institute of the Arts (1975–76), lecturer at Princeton University (1977), instructor at Yale University (1977–80), instructor at School of Visual Arts in New York (1978–80), lecturer at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (1979, 1985, and 1992), lecturer at Maryland Institute College of Art (1981), lecturer at New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture (1987), guest curator of Artist’s Choice: Elizabeth Murray at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1995), visiting professor of studio arts at Bard College (1999–2003), and instructor at Brooklyn College (2003–07). Murray received numerous honors in recognition of her work, including the Walter M. Campana Award from The Art Institute of Chicago (1982), an award from American Academy of Arts and Letters (1984), Medal for Painting from Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (1986), an honorary doctorate from School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1992), induction as an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York (1992), Larry Aldrich Award (1993), an honorary degree from Rhode Island School of Design (1993), MacArthur Fellowship (1999), an honorary doctorate from The New School (2001), National Artist Award from Anderson Ranch Art Center (2002), Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement from College Art Association (2007), and an award from CITYarts (2007). Significant public commissions include two New York City Transit mural projects: Blooming (1996) at Lexington Avenue/59th Street and Stream (2001) at 23rd Street/Ely Avenue. Monographic institutional presentations include Elizabeth Murray: Drawings 1980–1986 at Carnegie Mellon University Art Gallery (1986), Elizabeth Murray: Paintings and Drawings at Dallas Museum of Art (1987, traveled to List Visual Arts Center at MIT; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Des Moines Art Center; Walker Art Center; and Whitney Museum of American Art), Elizabeth Murray: New Work at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1988), Elizabeth Murray Prints: 1979–1990 at Barbara Krakow Gallery (1990, traveled to Bates College Museum of Art, David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, Davison Art Center at Wesleyan University, and Florida Gulf Coast Art Center), Elizabeth Murray: Recent Work at Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University (1991), Elizabeth Murray at Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson County Community College (1993), and Elizabeth Murray: Works on Paper, Virginia Commonwealth University (1998). In 2005, Murray earned the distinction of becoming only the fifth woman to receive a career retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, following Louise Bourgeois, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, and Jackie Winsor...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media, Acrylic

Untitled, 1991, Oil on paper, Analytical Painting, Abstract
Located in Milano, IT
In this masterpiece Claudio Olivieri experimented with palette darkening, using a spray gun to distribute the oil and achieve an unprecedented result. In addition, this painting give...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

Contemporary Watercolor Painting, 'Fire Series', C. 1995 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Profil Orange
Located in CANNES, FR
Paco Rabanne ( 1934 -2023 ) " Profil Orange " 41 X 31 cm 49 X 39 cm framed . colored pencil , Gouache, felt-tip pen and graphite on paper . signed and dated 1999.
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Felt Pen, Color Pencil, Graphite

Contemporary Watercolor Painting, 'Untitled', c. 1990's by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Contemporary Watercolor Painting, 'Fire Series', C. 1996 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Contemporary Watercolor Painting, 'Design for Panel', C. 1994 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Edge of the Universe - British Abstract art watercolour painting St Ives Newlyn
Located in London, GB
This British abstract watercolour is by noted artist David Gwyther Irwin. Painted circa 1990 it is one of a series of paintings and is entitled Edge of the Universe. A superb paintin...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Water to Land
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This intimately scaled watercolour grid is a quiet contemplation of color: washed charcoal, blue, cyan, kelp green, lime and white. The poetic title may hint at the literal ratio of water to land in the world that is represented through color in this elegant artwork. Milly Ristvedt, RCA, began her career in Toronto in 1964 after studies with Takao Tanabe at the Vancouver School of Art. At 24, her work was included in the Centennial Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Crayon, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Color Pencil

Contemporary Watercolor Painting, 'Untitled', c. 1990's by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Contemporary Watercolor Painting, 'Fire Series', C. 1994 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Abstract Mixed Media environmental art collage with Andre Emmerich Gallery label
Located in New York, NY
Judy Pfaff Untitled, 1994 Collage, Mixed media, Gouache and Leaves on paper, in Artist's Frame. Signed with Andre Emmerich & Bellas Artes Gallery Labels - accompanied by original shi...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Gouache

6/21/96.9 (hand signed and dated original graphite drawing; unique)
Located in New York, NY
PETER HALLEY 6/21/96.9, 1998 Graphite and ink drawing Hand-signed by artist, signed and dated in graphite lower right front; lower left front bears title: 6/21/96.9 Frame included: e...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Graphite

Untitled Abstract Expressionist painting (inscribed & hand signed twice)
Located in New York, NY
Michael Gallagher Untitled Abstract Expressionist painting on paper (inscribed & hand signed twice), 1990 Acrylic on paper painting Hand-signed by artist, Signed twice, dated and war...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Edge of the Universe - British Abstract art watercolour painting St Ives Newlyn
Located in London, GB
This British abstract watercolour is by noted artist David Gwyther Irwin. Painted circa 1990 it is one of a series of paintings and is entitled Edge of the Universe. A superb paintin...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Touch of Fall watercolor and pastel painting by Nell Blaine
Located in Hudson, NY
Signed "Nell Blaine" upper left in pencil. Signed, titled, dated verso on sheet. Signed, titled, dated verso on backing panel. The artist. Exhibited at Fischbach Gallery, NYC, in 1994 (Gallery label verso, and wall label affixed verso). Purchased by private collectors c.1994. By descent. Tibor de Nagy Gallery, NYC (the artist's estate representative), exhibited 2020 (label verso). Exhibited at Fischbach Gallery, NYC, in 1994 (Gallery label verso, and wall label affixed verso). Tibor de Nagy Gallery, NYC (the artist's estate representative), exhibited 2020 (label verso). From her November 15, 1996 NYT obituary: Nell Blaine, a widely respected New York landscape painter and watercolorist, died yesterday at Mount Sinai Hospital. She was 74 and had homes in Manhattan and Gloucester, Mass. Ms. Blaine, who had been hospitalized since July, had been confined to a wheelchair since 1959, when she contracted polio. Ms. Blaine was born in Richmond, Va., in 1922, and first studied at the Richmond School of Art, now part of Virginia Commonwealth University. She moved to New York in 1942 to study painting with Hans Hofmann and later studied etching and engraving at Atelier 17 with Stanley William Hayter. During her first years in New York, her work, which had previously been tightly realist, turned abstract, inspired by Mondrian, Leger and Jean Helion. At one time she was the youngest member of the American Abstract Artists. She was also a founding member of the Jane Street Gallery, one of Manhattan's earliest artists' cooperatives, and had her first solo show there in 1945. Just as Ms. Blaine was becoming known as a promising abstract painter, and gaining the admiration of such critics as Clement Greenberg, she started to shift back to representation. Inspired in part by a trip with Larry Rivers in 1950 to Paris, where she was especially impressed by the work of Vuillard and Bonnard, she immersed herself in the tradition of 19th-century European painting. From the mid-1950's, she cultivated an increasingly painterly and colorful style, usually working directly from nature, or still life, with particular emphasis on the forms and hues of flowers. Her work retained a sense of all-over structure and pulsating energy that she nonetheless credited to abstract art. ''It all goes back to Mondrian,'' she would say. In the 1950's, Ms. Blaine was prominent among a circle of New York artists and poets that included John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch, Mr. Rivers, Jane Freilicher, Leland Bell, Louisa Matthiasdottir, Robert De Niro Sr. and Rudy Burckhardt. She had her first solo show of representational work at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in 1953 and was represented by the Poindexter Gallery until it closed in 1978, and, in recent years, by the Fischbach Gallery. During the 1950's she supported herself as a commercial artist, designing brochures for art galleries. In 1955, she designed the original logo, column heads and layout for The Village Voice. In 1957, Ms. Blaine was featured in Life magazine as one of five leading young female artists in America. In 1959, after several months of traveling and painting in Greece, she contracted severe bulbar polio on the island of Mykonos. ''To Nell Blaine,'' an exhibition organized at Poindexter to raise money for her hospital bills, included the work of 79 artists, including Saul Steinberg, Robert Motherwell, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Mr. Rivers, Ms. Freilicher and Robert Rauschenberg. After eight months in a New York hospital, including five months in an iron lung...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pastel

Bicycle drawing
Located in New York, NY
Arman Bicycle Drawing, 1991 Original bicycle drawing done on fold-out invitation "Archeology of the Future" Arman's signature within the drawing in bla...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Permanent Marker

Project for Sculpture in Chalon-sur-Saône (unique sculptural drawing for France)
Located in New York, NY
Mark di Suvero Project for Sculpture in Chalon-sur-Saône, 1992 Marker, Watercolor and Ink Wash on Paper. Hand signed and dated by artist on lower right front Frame included The rare ...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Permanent Marker

"Fernando's Sleeve" Black and White Abstract Organic Shape Charcoal Drawing
Located in Houston, TX
Black and white abstract charcoal drawing by Houston artist Paul Forsythe. The work features a large, abstract, organic shape in the upper right corner of the composition. Currently ...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Pencil

Abstract Expressionist Rue de Paris Oil on paper - Transfer Monotype
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstract Expressionist Rue de Paris Original transfer Monotype painting by California artist Heather Speck (American 20th C) abstract scene using oil and...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Oil, Paper, Monotype

Modern Black and Yellow Abstract Organic Botanical Charcoal Drawing
Located in Houston, TX
Black and yellow abstract charcoal drawing by Houston artist Paul Forsythe. The piece features an abstract, organic shape floating against a white background. Currently hung in a lig...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pencil, Charcoal

Diptych Large Abstract Painting On Paper
Located in Delray Beach, FL
Diptych Large Abstract Painting On paper Abstract watercolor on French Arches rag paper artist signed. Framed under plexiglass. Frank Monaco. Studied and worked with Marilyn Stiles of The Art Institute of Chicago/ Art History Painting, Museum Restoration and Preservation, 1972 – 1976 New York...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper, Lucite

Untitled Geometric Abstraction (unique graphite drawing gifted to fellow artist)
Located in New York, NY
Peter Halley Untitled Geometric Abstraction, ca. 1990 Graphite and Ink Signed in graphite pencil by Peter Halley; lower right front Frame included: floated and framed in wood frame U...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Graphite

Monochromatic Still Life Drawing of Stacked Bowls
Located in Houston, TX
Monochromatic abstract still life drawing by Janice Redman. The piece depicts what appears to be a stack of bowls joined by strings. Signed by the artist at the lower right corner. Framed and matted in a modern wooden frame. Dimensions With Frame: H 11 in. x W 8.75 in. Artist Biography: Janice Redman, sculptor, was born in Huddersfield, England and received her BFA from Kingston University, Surrey, and her MFA from the University of Ulster in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is a former Fellow of the Fine Arts Work Center In Provincetown, Massachusetts,and has been the recipient of many awards, including The Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Purchase Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Massachusetts Cultural Council award in sculpture. Her residency programs include Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York,and the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts In Houston, Texas. Redman’s work has been shown nationally and is represented by Clark Gallery in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Her work can be found in the permanent collections of the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln and the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum in East Lansing, Michigan. "My work,” Redman says, “is rooted in my everyday experience and my personal history. My mother was a seamstress and a lace maker; my father restored antique clocks...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pencil, Paper, Graphite

“Untitled” Orange, Blue & Yellow Abstract Portrait of George Washington
Located in Houston, TX
Orange, blue, and yellow abstract figurative portrait by Texas artist Ike E. Morgan. This pastel drawing depicts an abstract figure of George Washington against a yellow halo on a re...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel, Archival Paper

Untitled
By Dorothy Heller
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled Watercolor on paper, 1990 Signed lower left corner Provenance: Gift of the Artist to one of hr patrons Distinguished Midwest Private Collection Conditi...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Fauvist Pastel by Iranian American modernist Simon Samsonian
Located in Larchmont, NY
Simon Samsonian (1912-2003) Untitled, 1991 Poster color and pastel on paper Sight size: 19 1/2 x 14 3/4 in. Framed: 28 1/4 x 22 1/4 in. Signed lower le...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Magiche putrelle le tensioni danno equilibrio frammento di rotor
Located in Milano, IT
Magiche putrelle le tensioni danno equilibrio frammento di rotor 1990 Drawing on paper CM 50x70 With hand and with fire, on metal. With hand and thought on paper. Drawing is insepa...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

Rotor-Archi-Equilibrio
Located in Milano, IT
"Rotor-Archi-Equilibrio" 1990 Drawing on paper CM 59x70 With hand and with fire, on metal. With hand and thought on paper. Drawing is inseparable from sculpture and cannot be les...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

Untitled
Located in Surfside, FL
Michael Brennan (b.1965, Pine Island, FL; lives Brooklyn, NY) has exhibited his work nationally and internationally for the past two decades, including in the United States, Mexico, Belgium, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. His paintings and works on paper have been reviewed in publications, including The New York Times, Art in America, ARTnews, Art New England, The Brooklyn Rail, ArtNet Magazine, and NY Arts. His writings and reviews have been published by The Brooklyn Rail, ArtNet Magazine, The Village Voice...
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

1999 "February" Abstract Landscape Drawing
Located in Arp, TX
Elaine Kaufman Feiner (1922-2018) "February" 1999 Oil pastel on paper 40"x30" unframed Signed and dated in pencil lower right, signed, titled and dated on reverse
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil Pastel

Center of power, yellow and green
Located in La Canada Flintridge, CA
The gallery certificate is available, stamp signed lower right Pinajian.
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Armenian Contemporary Art by Mariam Khachatryan - La Passe
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolor on paper, Framed 54 x 44 x 2 cm
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Armenian Contemporary Art by Mariam Khachatryan - Les Orphelins
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolor on paper, Framed 54 x 44 x 2 cm
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Armenian Contemporary Art by Mariam Khachatryan - La Confession
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolor on paper, Framed 54 x 44 x 2 cm
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Armenian Contemporary Art by Mariam Khachatryan - Romance de la Nature
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolor on paper, Framed 48 x 44 x 2 cm
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Armenian Contemporary Art by Mariam Khachatryan - La Rose
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolor on paper, Framed 40 x 30 x 2 cm
Category

1990s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Abstract drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract drawings and watercolor paintings 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 drawings and watercolor paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Martin Reyna , Mila Akopova, Jaanika Peerna, and Sumit Mehndiratta. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, 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 Abstract drawings and watercolor paintings, so small editions measuring 0.5 inches across are also available. Prices for drawings and watercolor paintings 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 $1 and tops out at $400,000, while the average work sells for $1,408.

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