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American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

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Style: American Modern
Still Life with Tromp L'Oeil
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Still Life with Tromp L'Oeil Graphite and watercolor on a book page. Signed in ink by the artist lower right corner (see photo) Provenance: Estate of the artist (Estate No. 00916 verso) Ray Sommer (the artist's son) Joseph M. Erdelac (No. 18 JME verso) Book page verso is an illustration of a Durer woodcut...
Category

1920s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Alongside
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
William Thon, 'Alongside', watercolor, c. 1990. Signed, lower right; titled verso. A fine, expressionist work, on off-white watercolor paper; the image extending to the sheet edges, ...
Category

1950s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

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 Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Pen

Cows in a Field, Early 20th Century American Modernist Landscape Watercolor
Located in Beachwood, OH
William Sommer (American, 1867-1949) Cows in a Field Watercolor on paper Signed lower left 11.5 x 15.5 inches 17.5 x 21.5 inches, framed William Sommer is seen as a key person in br...
Category

Early 20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Rare 1950s Vintage 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 5.5 X 19.5 Dated August 13, 1954 in top right corner. Like her contemporaries, Aggie Mack, Candy and Patsy Walker (before her conversion to a superhero), Susie Q. Smith was a female Archie-type — not exactly an imitator, because Archie, who had started only four years earlier, hadn't yet become popular enough to spawn imitators, but part of his genre. She attended high school, where her teachers often seemed unreasonable to her, interacted with the opposite gender in a typically adolescent way, and her parents didn't completely understand her. And she was cute and perky as only a teenage girl can be. Susie was the star of a comic strip distributed by King Features, the biggest of the comic strip syndicates, whose other offerings have ranged from Jackys Diary to Prince Valiant. King launched the strip in both daily and Sunday form in 1945. Daily, she was only in a panel at first, but it expanded into a full, multi-panel strip on February 7, 1953. In a very odd turn of events, in 1953 the Walters chose to leave King Features behind and hitch their wagon at the McNaught Syndicate. The creators were Harold "Jerry" Walter and his wife, Linda. Jerry was also responsible for Jellybean Jones, who has nothing to do with Jughead Jones's young sister, a modern-day addition to the Archie cast of characters. Together, they did The Lively Ones during the 1960s. Though each was capable of doing both major jobs in comic strip production, their usual working method was for Jerry to dream up the ideas and write the dialog, while Linda did the artwork. The Walters also collaborated on a series of Susie Q. Smith comic books for Dell Comics. Instead of reprinting newspaper strips, these ran new stories by the Walters. Between 1951 and '54, four issues were published as part of the Four Color Comics series, where many minor comic strips, including Dotty Dripple, Timmy and Rusty Riley had found a home. It had no other media spin-offs. Susie Q. Smith had a respectable run in the newspapers, but it ended in 1959. Jerry Walter (1915 - 2007) was an abstract expressionist artist whose output of energetic and colorful paintings were the products of the rich artistic milieu of post-war New York City. He was born Harold Frank Walter in Mount Pleasant, Iowa on November 25, 1915. After graduating from Colgate University in 1937, Walter moved to New York City, where he studied drawing and painting at the New School and the Art Students’ League. Before concentrating seriously on his art, he spent several years as a successful copywriter and idea man for the advertising agencies of J. Walter Thompson, McCann Ericson, and BBDO. During this time, he also worked as a syndicated cartoonist. Collaborating with his wife, Linda, his best-known series was Susie Q. Smith, which first appeared in 1945 and described as a “female Archie type.” Very popular, the cartoon was later the subject of a series of comic books published from 1951 to 1954. After serving in the United States Army for three years during World War II, Walter began to paint seriously. He ascribed his earliest artistic influence to Joan Miró, whose Dog Barking at the Moon (1926) he viewed when he was twelve, the year he published his first cartoon. Walter later wrote that jazz, “the first native expression of so-called modernism” was a strong influence on his work. During the later 1940s, Walters spent time at the Research Studio in Maitland, Florida. Founded in 1937 by artist and architect J. André Smith and supported by the philanthropist Mary Curtis Bok, the Research Studio was a lively colony that hosted prominent artists, including Milton Avery, Ralston Crawford, and Doris Lee. While at the Studio, Walter’s work was purchased by Frank Crowninshield. A founding trustee of the Museum of Modern Art and editor of Vanity Fair, Crowinshield was a noted collector; his collection included important works by Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, George Bellows, and Pierre Bonnard. Returning to New York after his time at the Studio, Walter became an active member of the New York school of the abstract expressionist movement, and in the summer of 1956, Walter exhibited 13 paintings and a selection of drawings at New York’s Chase Gallery. The adroit manipulation of both color and composition evident in his work shows the influence of Abstract Expressionism, particularly Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, and Hans Hofmann. illustrator and female cartoonist Linda Walter was the talented female mind behind the beloved "Susie Q. Smith" comic strip. She played an instrumental role in shaping the cultural landscape through her vibrant illustrations. Known for the timeless charm of the "Susie Q. Smith" comic strip, Linda's artistry brought joy and laughter to countless readers during the 1950s and continues to resonate with fans across generations. She was part of the Woodstock artists community. from Women in Comics: Linda Walter was the artist of newspaper strip Susie Q. Smith, which was written by her husband, Jerry. It was syndicated by King Features Syndicate and ran from 1945 to 1959. The Walters also contributed original Susie Q. Smith stories to Dell's Four Color comic books from 1951 to 1954. From 1964-1965, they created a singled panel comic called The Lively Ones. Vintage Golden Age of Comics era. The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in the history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created. Between 1939 and 1941 Detective Comics (DC) and its sister company, All-American Publications, introduced popular superheroes such as Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Doctor Fate, the Atom, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Aquaman. Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics, had million-selling titles featuring the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America. Another notable series was The Spirit by Will Eisner. Dell Comics' non-superhero characters (particularly the licensed Walt Disney animated-character comics) outsold the superhero comics of the day. The publisher featured licensed movie and literary characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Roy Rogers and Tarzan. Additionally, MLJ's introduction of Archie Andrews in Pep Comics #22 (December 1941) gave rise to teen humor comics, with the Archie Comics...
Category

1950s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

Rare Charles Burchfield Drawing Book plate Rare Black and White Museum Framed
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original rare bookplate drawing by Charles Burchfield featuring his most famous motifs of sunflowers.
Category

1910s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Archival Ink

1950s "Rectangle" Mid Century Abstract Gouache Painting
Located in Arp, TX
Opper Estate Maroon Abstract c. 1940-1950's Gouache on Paper 15" x 18" Unframed From the estate of Ruth Friedmann Opper & Jerry Opper. Ruth was the daughter of Bauhaus artist, Gustav Friedmann. San Francisco Abstract Expression A free-spirited wave of creative energy swept through the San Francisco art community after World War II. Challenging accepted modes of painting, Abstract Expressionists produced highly experimental works that jolted the public out of its postwar complacency. Abstract Expressionism resulted from a broad collective impulse rather than the inspiration of a small band of New York artists. Documenting the interchanges between the East and West Coasts, she cites areas of mutual influence and shows the impact of San Francisco on the New York School, including artists such as Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt. San Francisco's Beat poets...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Audience
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork titled "Audience" 1983 is a watercolor on hand made paper by noted artist Ruth Weisberg, born 1942. It is hand signed at the lower right corner by the artist. The artwor...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

"Barns" Watercolor Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Realism Excellent Provenance
Located in New York, NY
"Barns" Watercolor Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Realism Excellent Provenance Arthur Dove (1880-1946) "Barns" 5 x 7 inches Watercolor on paper, 1940 Singed lower center Framed: 9...
Category

1940s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

A 1930s Drawing of a Woman Seated at a Lunch Counter by Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1930s charcoal on paper drawing of a woman seated at a lunch counter by artist Francis Chapin. Artwork size: 10 3/4" x 14". Archivally matted to 20" x 16". Provenance: Estate ...
Category

1930s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

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

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

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 Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

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 Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Graphite

A Fabulous 1945 Mid-Century Modern Cubist Drawing of a Standing Female Nude
Located in Chicago, IL
A Fabulous Mid-Century Modern Cubist Drawing of a Standing Female Nude by Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). This visually striking figure study depicts a standing...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

A Fabulous, Beautifully Rendered 1945 Modern Seated Female Nude by Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A Fabulous, Finely Rendered 1945 Modern Seated Female Nude by Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). The drawing is charcoal on paper and dates from 1945. Artwork siz...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Paper

An Captivating, 1945 Mid-Century Modern Figure Drawing of a Standing Female Nude
Located in Chicago, IL
An Captivating, 1945 Mid-Century Modern Figure Drawing of a Standing Female Nude By Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). A finely rendered standing female nude studi...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Ink, Charcoal, Paper

A Striking Mid-Century Modern Ink Drawing of a Seated Female Nude by Rudolph Pen
Located in Chicago, IL
A Stunning Mid-Century Modern Ink Drawing of a Seated Female Nude by Noted Chicago Artist, Rudolph T. Pen. Completed in the 1960s, this compelling studio ink drawing is executed in ...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

Saint Rose on a Bed of Glass
Located in Dallas, TX
This is lithographic crayon and gouache on paper
Category

1950s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Crayon, Gouache

Oil Tanks, Alameda Street, Los Angeles
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Oil Tanks, Alameda Street, Los Angeles, c. 1930-33, watercolor on paper, 14 ¼ x 21 ¼ inches (image), inscribed verso: “watercolor by Ruth Zimmerman 1912 – 1968 / Practice work for sc...
Category

1930s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Shops in a Small Town - Original Watercolor on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
Shops in a Small Town - Original Watercolor on Paper Beautiful watercolor painting a small town main street by Ken L. Stephens (American, 20th Century). There are several colorful b...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Laid Paper

Richfield
Located in London, GB
Exceptional rare sketch by American modernist Oscar Bluemner. Very, very good condition. Framed beautifully.
Category

Early 20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Carbon Pencil

Standing Nude with Japanese Lanterns
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Standing Nude with Japanese Lanterns Ink drawing on wove paper, mounted on wove paper support, c. 1916 Signed with the estate stamp B Provenance: Estate of the Artist ...
Category

1910s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

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 Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Nude Woman in Chair
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Nude Woman in Chair Watercolor, gouache, ink, and pencil on heavy paper, c. 1930-35 Signed with the artist's Estate stamp lower right (see photo) Note: "Matchstick" ink drawing of fe...
Category

1930s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Flower
Located in Dallas, TX
Robert Peterson, "Flower," pastel on paper, 19 x 26 1/4 inches paper size, 27 1/4 x 35 inches including white mat and frame. The artwork is floated in the mat and only hinged at the...
Category

20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Eve, female, nature, animals elephant giraffe
Located in Brooklyn, NY
These collages were created first in the presence of a model, working quickly, in charcoal and pastel, and again, later, alone, furiously tearing and pasting images from magazines, v...
Category

2010s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Archival Paper

Two Wood Ducks on a Flowering Branch
Located in New York, NY
Joseph Stella was a visionary artist who painted what he saw, an idiosyncratic and individual experience of his time and place. Stella arrived in New York in 1896, part of a wave of Italian immigrants from poverty-stricken Southern Italy. But Stella was not a child of poverty. His father was a notary and respected citizen in Muro Locano, a small town in the southern Appenines. The five Stella brothers were all properly educated in Naples. Stella’s older brother, Antonio, was the first of the family to come to America. Antonio Stella trained as a physician in Italy, and was a successful and respected doctor in the Italian community centered in Greenwich Village. He sponsored and supported his younger brother, Joseph, first sending him to medical school in New York, then to study pharmacology, and then sustaining him through the early days of his artistic career. Antonio Stella specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis and was active in social reform circles. His connections were instrumental in Joseph Stella’s early commissions for illustrations in reform journals. Joseph Stella, from the beginning, was an outsider. He was of the Italian-American community, but did not share its overwhelming poverty and general lack of education. He went back to Italy on several occasions, but was no longer an Italian. His art incorporated many influences. At various times his work echoed the concerns and techniques of the so-called Ashcan School, of New York Dada, of Futurism and, of Cubism, among others. These are all legitimate influences, but Stella never totally committed himself to any group. He was a convivial, but ultimately solitary figure, with a lifelong mistrust of any authority external to his own personal mandate. He was in Europe during the time that Alfred Stieglitz established his 291 Gallery. When Stella returned he joined the international coterie of artists who gathered at the West Side apartment of the art patron Conrad Arensberg. It was here that Stella became close friends with Marcel Duchamp. Stella was nineteen when he arrived in America and studied in the early years of the century at the Art Students League, and with William Merritt Chase, under whose tutelage he received rigorous training as a draftsman. His love of line, and his mastery of its techniques, is apparent early in his career in the illustrations he made for various social reform journals. Stella, whose later work as a colorist is breathtakingly lush, never felt obliged to choose between line and color. He drew throughout his career, and unlike other modernists, whose work evolved inexorably to more and more abstract form, Stella freely reverted to earlier realist modes of representation whenever it suited him. This was because, in fact, his “realist” work was not “true to nature,” but true to Stella’s own unique interpretation. Stella began to draw flowers, vegetables, butterflies, and birds in 1919, after he had finished the Brooklyn Bridge series of paintings, which are probably his best-known works. These drawings of flora and fauna were initially coincidental with his fantastical, nostalgic and spiritual vision of his native Italy which he called Tree of My Life (Mr. and Mrs. Barney A. Ebsworth Foundation and Windsor, Inc., St. Louis, illus. in Barbara Haskell, Joseph Stella, exh. cat. [New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994], p. 111 no. 133). Two Wood Ducks...
Category

20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Color Pencil

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 Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

Monhegan Path, Summer
Located in Greenwich, CT
Albert Wein had a retrospective and he was called a classical modernist by art critics. He is primarily regarded as one of America's great sculptors but he loved doing drawings, wat...
Category

1940s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

A Unique Mid-Century Modern 1960s Chicago Harbor Scene Watercolor by Rudolph Pen
Located in Chicago, IL
A Unique, Mid-Century Modern 1960s Chicago Harbor Scene Watercolor by Noted Artist, Rudolph T. Pen. Artwork is formatted in a trapezoid shape, an innovative compositional device for...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

A Large, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Ink Drawing of Quebec City by Rudolph Pen
Located in Chicago, IL
A Large, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Ink Drawing of Quebec City by Rudolph Pen. Artwork is formatted in a trapezoid shape, an innovative composition device for which the artist's work ...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

A Stunning Mid-Century Modern Watercolor, Harbor Scene & Rooftops by Rudolph Pen
Located in Chicago, IL
A Stunning Mid-Century Modern Cubist Watercolor, Harbor Scene & Rooftops by Noted Chicago Artist, Rudolph T. Pen. A vivid European harbor scene, depicting the whitewashed buildings ...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Watercolor

Dining Room Interior, Impressionist Pastel Drawing by Joseph Barber
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Joseph Barber, American (1915 - 1998) Title: Dining Room Interior Year: circa 1945 Medium: Watercolor and Pastel on Paper, signed l.l. Size: 15 x 21 inches (38 x 53.5 cm) Fra...
Category

1950s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Oil Pastel, Archival Paper

'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 Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel, Archival Paper

1950s Cubist Watercolor "Dry Dock, Burrard Shipyard, Vancouver" by Rita Duis
Located in Chicago, IL
A Cubist watercolor on paper, titled "Dry Dock, Burrard Shipyard, Vancouver" by Chicago and New York artist Rita Duis (Astley-Bell). Image size: 14 3/4" x 22". Archivally matted t...
Category

1950s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Paper

Watercolor Still life Painting Vegetables Claus Hoien Greengrocer Kitchen Series
Located in Surfside, FL
Delicate watercolor of vegetables. Japanese eggplant and radishes and a squash gourd. Framed 18 X 20 image is 11 X 13.5 Claus Hoie was a Norwegian-American...
Category

20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

SELF PORTRAIT IN A GERMAN MANNER - Large Monotype
Located in Santa Monica, CA
KARL SCHRAG (German - American 1912 - 1995) SELF PORTRAIT IN THE GERMAN MANNER, 1991 Monotype, Signed titled, dated and annotated "Monotype with touches of Oil color, I /I" Plate an...
Category

1990s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Monotype

'Muse', Mid-Century Modern, Dalzell Hatfield, Cleveland Ballet, Syracuse Museum
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Sascha Brastoff' (American, 1918-1993) and dated 1960. 1918 - Sascha Brastoff was born Samuel Brostofsky in Cleveland, Ohio. 1935 - At age 17, Brastoff studies dance and joins the Cleveland Ballet. 1940 - Attends Western Reserve School of Art in Cleveland and, subsequently, works for Macy's in NYC. 1942 - Brastoff enters the Army Air Force. Initially designing posters, he joins the ATC road show. 1944 - Brastoff moves to California and signs a seven year contract with 20th Century Fox as a designer and entertainer. 1947 - Brastoff opens his first ceramic plant in Los Angeles producing hand painted earthenware. 1948 - Brastoff is awarded Best of Show for Pottery at the Syracuse Museum. 1952 - With backing from Winthrop Rockefeller, Brastoff opens a new, larger factory in Los Angeles. The factory is destroyed by fire shortly after. 1953 - A larger 35,000 sq. ft. factory and show-room opens and employs more than 100 people. 1960 - Brastoff's company begins to suffer from financial losses after years of success. 1962 - Brastoff has a nervous breakdow, his company continues to sell items...
Category

1960s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Reclining Nude in black ink on buff paper
Located in Brookville, NY
John Begg studied art at Columbia University, with Arthur Wesley Dow, with Charles Martin, and studied sculpture with Jose De Creeft and Ossip Zadkine.  He was a member of the  Ameri...
Category

1950s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

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 Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Crayon

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 6.25 X 18.25 Like her contemporaries, Aggie Ma...
Category

1950s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

Glassblowers WPA American Scene Mid- 20th Century Modern Figurative Workers 1932
Located in New York, NY
Glassblowers WPA American Scene Mid- 20th Century Modern Figurative Workers. Dated and signed "32 Harry Gottlieb" lower right. Sight: 13 1/8" H x 18 1/4" W. Harry Gottlieb, painter, screenprinter, educator, and lithographer, was born in Bucharest, Rumania. He emigrated to America in 1907, and his family settled in Minneapolis. From 1915 to 1917, Gottlieb attended the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. After a short stint as an illustrator for the U.S. Navy, Gottlieb moved to New York City; he became a scenic and costume designer for Eugene O"Neill's Provincetown Theater Group. He also studied at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design. He was one of America's first Social Realist painters, influenced by that Robert Henri-led movement in New York City where Gottlieb settled in 1918. He was also a pioneer in screen printing, which he learned while working for the WPA. He married Eugenie Gershoy, and the couple joined the artist colony at Woodstock, New York. He lectured widely on art education. In 1923, Gottlieb settled in Woodstock, New York and in 1931, spent a a year abroad studying under a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1935, he joined the Federal Art Project...
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1930s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

A 1951 Ink on Paper Figure Study of a Conversation by Artist Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A ink on paper figure study by artist Harold Haydon depicting a conversation. Artwork size: 12" x 9 1/2". Archivally matted to 14" x 16". Provenance: Estate of the artist. Haro...
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1950s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Paper

Three Flowers
Located in New York, NY
Joseph Stella was a visionary artist who painted what he saw, an idiosyncratic and individual experience of his time and place. Stella arrived in New York in 1896, part of a wave of ...
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20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Crayon

A 1940s American Scene Watercolor of a Chicago Street Scene by Grace Spongberg
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1940s American Scene watercolor depicting a snowy Chicago Street Scene by artist Grace Spongberg. Image size: 12 1/2" x 17". Framed size: 18 1/2" x 22 1/2". This painting come...
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1940s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

1930s Cheerful Watercolor of a Chicago Street Scene by Constantine Pougialis
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1930s cheerful & colorful watercolor depicting a Chicago Street scene by artist Constantine Pougialis. Image size: 15" x 22". Painting bears its original frame, which measures 21...
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1930s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

'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...
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1940s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel, Ink

Kutschen (carriages); Group of four designs for hansom cabs.
Located in Middletown, NY
Four pencil drawings, each with hand coloring in watercolor, each 6 3/4 x 10 inches (sheet) (172 x 254 mm), full margins. Each with inscriptions and notations by the artist in the up...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Handmade Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

"Sons and Lovers" Drill Drawing, #5
Located in Dallas, TX
Signed by artist "M. O'KEEFE 2013" at lower left. Media is graphite on clay-coated panel. Overall dimensions including the frame are 18 x 15 inches.
Category

2010s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Clay, Panel, Graphite

"Sheepshead, Brooklyn, Long Island" Oscar Bluemner, Modernist Watercolor
Located in New York, NY
Oscar Bluemner Sheepshead, Long Island, 1907 Signed with the artist's conjoined initials "OB" and dated "4-30 - 5 - 30" / "Aug 3, 07" Watercolor on paper 6 x 10 inches Provenance: J...
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Early 1900s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Untitled (Industrial Street)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This work is part of our exhibition - America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s Untitled (Industrial Street), c. 1940s, watercolor on paper mounted on illustration board, estate stamp verso (signed by Peter Corbridge, the artist’s son); 14 x 21 inches; unframed Edgar Corbridge was a Massachusetts-based precisionist painter who mainly worked in watercolor. In 1916, three years after immigrating from England, Corbridge completed a course of study in sign painting at the Fall River, Massachusetts Technical High School and obtained an apprenticeship with the Armour Sign Shop. Throughout his career, Corbridge was mainly self-taught as a fine artist. In 1918, Corbridge received his first recognition as an artist for his entry in a Fall River Women’s Club poster competition. During much of his professional life, Corbridge worked as a self-employed window trimmer and operator of the Corbridge Display Service, supplemented by income from the occasional sale of his paintings. Corbridge gleaned the subjects for his works in and around his home in Fall River, Massachusetts, as well as Provincetown. In the 1940s, Corbridge began to exhibit frequently, including at the annual exhibitions at the Jordan Marsh Company...
Category

1940s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Board

"The Knockout" Boxing Sports American Watercolor WPA Mid-Century Modern 30s/40s
Located in New York, NY
"The Knockout" Boxing Sports American Watercolor WPA Mid-Century Modern 30s/40s. Robert Riggs (1896-1970) The Knockout 22 x 30 inches watercolor on paper Signed lower right Framed: ...
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1930s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Stevedores, Ohio River, Early 20th Century Cleveland School Artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) Stevedores, Ohio River, c. 1920 Watercolor on paper Signed lower right 21.5 x 29. 5 inches "The trip Otto Ege and I made from Pittsburgh to Marietta by riverboat and then by train to Mammoth Cave, was the next high spot in my artistic explorations. We saw something of the Old Southern river life on the way - the roustabouts, the showboat and river town life at Point Pleasant, and then to the sombre tonal mysteries of the Cave. These sights added much to my pictorial vocabulary..." - Frank Wilcox Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School...
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1920s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Cityscape Reflections - Study No. 1
Located in Storrs, CT
Cityscape Reflections - Misty Morning. 1980. Lithograph with pastel coloring. Czestochowski 42. Edition 40. 14 x 10 3/16 (sheet 18 x 14). Tape stains in the margins, not affecting th...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel

Morris Graves, Abandon Nest, 1950, drawing
Located in New York, NY
This is a complicated drawing, even for Morris Graves (1910-2001), known as the Mystical Painter of Nature. Graves tried to be sensitive to the slightest tremor or breeze that a sma...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Nude in Black ink Reclining, Black ink on ivory paper
Located in Brookville, NY
John Begg studied art at Columbia University, with Arthur Wesley Dow, with Charles Martin, and studied sculpture with Jose De Creeft and Ossip Zadkine.  He was a member of the  Ameri...
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1950s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

Ink and gouache drawing of a nude woman from behind
Located in Brookville, NY
A nude viewed from behind, with black hair , inscribed on the lower right by the artist John Begg "Mature Nude" c.1953 Outlined in black ink and with som...
Category

1950s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

Divertimento I (Picasso)
By Conger A. Metcalf
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Divertimento I (Picasso) Graphite, color wash and oil paint on coated glossy paper, c. 1940 Signed C. Metcalf lower left (see photo) Inscribed Matisse, Picasso, C. Metcalf lower left...
Category

1940s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Oil

American Modern drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic American Modern 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, green and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Donald Stacy, Frank Wilcox, Alfred Bendiner, and Irene Pattinson. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Watercolor 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 drawings and watercolor paintings, so small editions measuring 0.25 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 $85 and tops out at $950,000, while the average work sells for $1,640.

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