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Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

MODERN STYLE

The first decades of the 20th century were a period of artistic upheaval, with modern art movements including Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dadaism questioning centuries of traditional views of what art should be. Using abstraction, experimental forms and interdisciplinary techniques, painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and performance artists all pushed the boundaries of creative expression.

Major exhibitions, like the 1913 Armory Show in New York City — also known as the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” in which works like the radically angular Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp caused a sensation — challenged the perspective of viewers and critics and heralded the arrival of modern art in the United States. But the movement’s revolutionary spirit took shape in the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution, which ushered in new technology and cultural conditions across the world, transformed art from something mostly commissioned by the wealthy or the church to work that responded to personal experiences. The Impressionist style emerged in 1860s France with artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas quickly painting works that captured moments of light and urban life. Around the same time in England, the Pre-Raphaelites, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, borrowed from late medieval and early Renaissance art to imbue their art with symbolism and modern ideas of beauty.

Emerging from this disruption of the artistic status quo, modern art went further in rejecting conventions and embracing innovation. The bold legacy of leading modern artists Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and many others continues to inform visual culture today.

Find a collection of modern paintings, sculptures, prints and other fine art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Modern
Mermaid - Original ink and pencil drawing, 1953
Located in Paris, IDF
Marie LAURENCIN Mermaid, 1953 Original ink and pencil drawing Signed by artist stamp On paper 24.5 x 19.5 cm (c. 9.6 x 7.6 inch) Very good condition, marks of the manipulation on ...
Category

1950s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Pencil, Charcoal

The Struggle, Early 20th Century Figural Group
Located in Beachwood, OH
August Frederick Biehle (1885-1979) The Struggle, c. 1936 Pastel and graphite on illustration board 17 x 26 inches 20 x 28.5 inches, framed A versatile painter who worked in a varie...
Category

1930s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel, Graphite

Figures - Drawing by Mino Maccari - Mid 20th century
Located in Roma, IT
Figures is an artwork realized by Mino Maccari  (1924-1989) in the Mid-20th Century. Watercolor on paper. Hand-signed by the artist. Good conditions.
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Watercolor

Woman - Drawing by François Guiget - Early-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Figure  is a drawing realized by François Guiget in the Early-20th Century. Charcoal white lead and watercolor. Good conditions with slight foxing. The artwork is realized through...
Category

Early 20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Paper

The Family
Located in London, GB
'The Family', gouache on fine art paper (1984), by Raymond Dèbieve. In a clear nod to Picasso's influence both stylistically and in terms of subject matter ...
Category

1980s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

The Family
The Family
$1,330 Sale Price
30% Off
Snow in Forest, Mid-Century Winter Landscape, Cleveland School Artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Snow in the Forest, 1945 Watercolor on paper Signed and dated lower right 19 x 23.75 inches 24 x 29 inches, framed Clarence Holbrook C...
Category

1940s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

The Dancer - Drawing - Mid 20th century
Located in Roma, IT
The Dancer is a drawing realized by an anonymous in the mid-20th century. Charcoal drawing on paper. Written on the lower "EN DEUXIEME" Good conditions.
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal

Pensatori - Original Drawing by Gabriele Galantara - 1910s
Located in Roma, IT
Pensatori is an original drawing in mixed media on creamy cardboard realized by Gabriele Galantara (1865-1937). In good conditions. This is an original drawing representing two me...
Category

1910s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

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...
Category

1950s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Paper

A Fine, Modern 1930s Academic Anatomical Figure Study Drawing of a Male Model
Located in Chicago, IL
A Fine 1930s, Modern Academic Anatomical Figure Study Drawing of a Standing Male Nude Model (Shoulder and Arm) by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exception...
Category

1930s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Canyon with Bridge
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Gordena Parker Jackson (1900 - 1993), Canyon with Bridge, 1939, watercolor on paper, signed and dated lower right, 17 ½ x 13 inches (sight), inscription verso reads: “Watercolor Competition Show / Washington D. C. 1940 [or 1941] F. W. A.” Gordena Parker Jackson was a California painter, graphic artist, craftsperson, and designer. A native of Pleasanton, Jackson studied at the California College of Arts & Crafts and lived much of her life in the Bay Area. In 1925, she married fellow artist Frederic Osman Jackson...
Category

1930s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Sketch of woman by Henri Fehr - Drawing
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper Golden wooden frame with glass pane 85 x 68 x 2,7 cm
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Crayon

The Knight and the Lady - Drawing by Mino Maccari - mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Charcoal and watercolor drawing on paper realized by Mino Maccari in the mid-20th Century. Hand signed in pencil. Some minor signs of the time on edgex.
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Nude - Original Watercolour by Jean Delpech - Mid 20th century
Located in Roma, IT
Nude is an original drawing in watercolor, realized in the Mid-20th Century by Jean Delpech (1916-1988). Good conditions. Jean-Raymond Delpech (1988-1916) is a French painter,...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

ballerina pointe shoes
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this delicate composition, the ethereal elegance of ballet is conveyed through the image of pointe shoes against a soft pink background. Pointe shoes, symbols of grace and dedica...
Category

2010s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mediterranean Landscape II
Located in London, GB
Mediterranean Landscape II', ink on art paper, by Pierre Dionisi (circa 1930s). Sepia-toned, original drawing in a compelling style depicts a view of a ...
Category

1930s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

Young naked woman by Emile Chambon - Pencil on paper 43x30 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper
Category

1950s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Crayon

Figure - Drawing by Mino Maccari - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Figure is a charcoal drawing realized by Mino Maccari  (1924-1989) in the Mid-20th Century. Hand-signed. Good conditions with slight foxing. Mino Maccari (Siena, 1924-Rome, June 1...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Cubist French Abstract Geometric Composition With Spheres Figures
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Cubist French Abstract Geometric Composition With Spheres Figures Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 15.75 inches (height x width)...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Winged Figure - Pencil Drawing by J. Bodley - 1940
Located in Roma, IT
Winged Figure is a pencil drawing dated in the 1940s, realized by the British artist Josselin Bodley. The state of preservation is very good, except for...
Category

1940s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pencil

Untitled
Located in Dallas, TX
Fred Nagler was born in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he first studied wood carving. From 1914 to 1917, he studied at The Art Students League of New York, where his prof...
Category

20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Graphite, Paper, Watercolor

1951 Ink on Paper Still Life in an Interior by Artist Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1951 detailed ink on paper drawing of a still-life in an interior by artist Harold Haydon. Artwork size: 12" x 9". Archivally matted to 16" x 20". Harold Emerson Haydon was bo...
Category

1950s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

Christ on the cross - Drawin- Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Christ on the cross is a modern artwork realized in the style of George Rouault in mid-20th Century. Mixed colored watercolor and tempera. Includ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Tempera, Watercolor

Portrait - Original Pencil Drawing by A. Grevin - Late 19 Century
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait is an original drawing in Pencil realized by Alfred Grévin in the Late-19 Century. Applied on a Passeprtout:49x 32 cm. With the stamp of atelier "Grevin" on the lower righ...
Category

Late 19th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pencil

A ca. 1940s Graphite on Paper Mural Study of a City Scene by Rudolph Weisenborn
Located in Chicago, IL
A ca. 1940s graphite on paper mural study of a Chicago city scene by notable Modern artist Rudolph Weisenborn. Artwork size: 12 1/2" x 9 1/4". Archivally matted to 18" x 16". Provenance: Estate of the artist. Rudolph Weisenborn was born in Strassburg, Germany in 1881, but was orphaned at the age of nine. He was taken-in by Mid-Western farmer Thomas Westaby and spent his early years in Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota. Weisenborn first attended the University of North Dakota in 1898, then the Students School of Art in Denver. Various accounts have him working out west as a gold miner and cowboy. Around 1912, he settled in Chicago and worked as a window designer for Marshall Field’s. Weisenborn is best known as the founder of the Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists. The group was founded because many artists could not get their work accepted into the mainstream Art Institute shows. Weisenborn is quoted as saying that he harbored feelings of disdain for any jury and that his own paintings were frequently rejected by conservative jurors. He was also involved and helped found other radical artist’s groups such as the Salon des Refuses, Cor Ardens and Neo-Arlimusic. In 1936, he helped found the New York-based American Abstract Artist’s Group. He created the only abstract mural for the 1933 Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago and also worked for the Federal Arts Project in the Easel Division. His WPA murals can be found in Crane Technical High School and Nettlehorst Elementary School in Chicago, IL. In 1945, Chicago businessman Herman Spertus...
Category

1940s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Graphite

A Fine 1930s, Art Deco Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing, Seated Male Model
Located in Chicago, IL
A Fine 1930s, Art Deco Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing of a Seated Male Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 193...
Category

1930s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

The Couple - Drawing by Mino Maccari - 1958
Located in Roma, IT
Watercolor drawing realized by Mino Maccari in 1958. Hand signed and dated lower right. Very good condition.
Category

1950s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

20th Century Fish Bowl and Blue Fish French Interior Modernist Painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
French Expressionist by Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) watercolour on artist paper, unframed painting : 12.5 x 9.5 inches provenance: artists estate, France condition: very good and ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Geneva countryside
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame Good condition
Category

1940s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache

"New York Harbor Nocturne" Leon Dolice, New York Harbor Scene Mid-Century
Located in New York, NY
Leon Dolice New York Harbor Nocturne Signed lower right Pastel on paper 12 x 19 inches The romantic backdrop of Vienna at the turn of the century had a life-long influence upon the...
Category

1930s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Respite
Located in London, GB
Pencil on paper Signed and dated (lower right) 29cm × 21cm (48cm × 39cm framed) A truly original artist, Lear spent most of his 70 year career exploring beautifully proportioned mal...
Category

1980s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pencil

The Landscape - Drawing - Late 19th century
Located in Roma, IT
The Landscape is a drawing realized by an anonymous artist in the late 19th century. Pastel on paper. Good conditions. Poetic and beautiful drawing.
Category

19th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel

Paris modernist scene mixed media drawimg
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Joan Cardona Lladós (1877-1957) - Modernist Paris scene - Mixed media (charcoal and white wax). Drawing measurements 40x29 cm. Frame measurements 66x54 cm. He was born in Barcelona on June 30, 1877, he was registered with the name of Juan Bautista José Pedro. His parents Josep Cardona i Farré (Sant Salvador, 1852-Barcelona, ​​?) and Maria Lladós i Vidal (Isona, 1855-Barcelona, ​​1935) came from Sant Salvador de Toló and Isona, respectively, two towns very close to Tremp, in the Pallars Jussà region, close to the Lleida Pyrenees. The Cardona Lladós family was of humble origins, linked to the rural and peasant world. José Cardona and María Lladós married around 1876, when they were twenty-five and twenty-one years old respectively. The couple decided to improve their precarious situation by moving to live in Barcelona. In 1877 Joan Cardona was born in the family home, at 62 Mediana de San Pedro Street, in the Ribera neighborhood of Barcelona and very close to the Rec Comtal. Joan Cardona was the firstborn of three brothers. When he was six years old, his sister Consuelo was born (1883) and later his younger sister, María (1888), was born. Josep Cardona i Farré was a day laborer and lived at least until the birth of his third daughter, María, in 1888. Her death, for reasons unknown to us, would occur shortly after. After the death of Josep Cardona, León Farré i Duró (Isona, 1867-Barcelona, ​​1932) became part of the family nucleus with his mother María Lladós, who took care of the child Cardona and his sisters Consuelo and María. Farré learned to play the guitar and was the most extraordinary disciple of the composer and guitarist Francesc Tàrrega i Eixea (Vila-real, 1852-Barcelona, ​​1909). Joan Cardona had in her stepfather the man who instilled in her a special musical and artistic sensitivity. The young Cardona took classes at the Academia Baixas, inaugurated in 1892 by the painter Joan Baixas i Carreter and installed on Carrer del Pi, a private center where a good batch of leading Catalan Modernisme artists were trained. Cardona married Clemencia Parade Cazabat at the beginning of the century. Daughter of Carles Parade and Amara Cazabat, she was born in 1870 in Bagnères de Bigorre...
Category

1890s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

Figures - Original Pencil Drawing - 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
"Figures" is an original drawing in tempera on paper glued on ivory-colored cardboard, by an Anonymous Artist of XX Century. In excellent conditions: as good as new. Sheet dimension: 41.8 x 58 cm. This is an original drawing representing two men figures.
Category

20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pencil

Veduta Prospettica di un Ponte - Drawing by Carlo and Adolfo Coppedè - 1911
Located in Roma, IT
Outstanding drawing realized fro Expo Roma by Carlo and Adolfo Coppedè in 1911. Charcoal on paper mounted on stretcher. Includes a beautiful iron frame by Roberto Fallani, realized...
Category

1910s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal

"Empire State Building" Leon Dolice, New York City Street Scene, Mid-Century
Located in New York, NY
Leon Dolice Empire State Building Signed lower right Watercolor on paper 19 x 12 inches The romantic backdrop of Vienna at the turn of the century had a life-long influence upon th...
Category

1930s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

1960's Original French Pastel Sketch Reclining Nude Study
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Portrait of a Nude Lady French School, circa 1960's chalk and pastel on artists paper, unframed size: 12.5 x 19 inches condition: very good and ready to be enjoyed provenance: priva...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Chalk, Pastel

Vintage Male Erotica 1951 Figure Study by Artist Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A black and white figure study of a standing nude male, from 1951, by artist Harold Haydon. Artwork size: Archivally matted to 24" x 20". Provenance: Estate of the Artist. Esta...
Category

1950s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Graphite, Paper

Couple - Drawing by Mino Maccari - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Charcoal and watercolor drawing on paper realized by Mino Maccari in the mid-20th Century. Hand signed in pencil lower right. Very good condition.
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Watercolor

The Figures Sketches - Drawing By Norbert Meyre - Mid 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
The Figures Sketches is an original Drawing on paper realized by French painter Norbert Meyre in the mid-20 century. Drawing in pencil and pen and pa...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel, Pen, Pencil

A Vibrant, Colorful Mid-Century Watercolor of Village Rooftops by Rudolph Pen
Located in Chicago, IL
A Vibrant, Colorful Mid-Century Watercolor of Village Rooftops by Noted Chicago Artist, Rudolph T. Pen. Depicting a tropical hillside village of terracotta rooftops nestled beside a...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Nude - Drawing by Mino Maccari - 1932
Located in Roma, IT
Pen drawing on paper realized by Mino Maccari in 1932. Not signed.. Published on "Il Selvaggio", n.12, p.83, 1932. Very good condition.
Category

1930s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pen

Bowling
Located in Los Angeles, CA
(Note: This work is part of our exhibition Connected by Creativity: WPA Era Works from the Collection of Leata and Edward Beatty Rowan) Watercolor on paper, 7 ¾ x 10 ½ inches unframed, 14 ½ x 16 ½ inches framed, signed, dated, and located lower left as follows: “David McCosh...
Category

1920s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Mother Cat and her Two Kittens - Handsigned Original Ink Drawing
Located in Paris, IDF
Laszlo TIBAY Mother Cat and her Two Kittens Original India ink and lavish drawing Handsigned Bearing the stamp of the artist On light board 20 x 30cm (c. 7.8 x 11.8 inch) Excellent...
Category

2010s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

India Ink

A Vibrant Modern Watercolor, "Garden in a City Park" by Noted Artist Rudolph Pen
Located in Chicago, IL
A Vibrant, Colorful Modern Watercolor, "Garden in a City Park" by Noted Chicago Artist, Rudolph T. Pen. Painted in the 1960s, most likely depicting a city garden in Europe, Mexico o...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Watercolor

Hopeless - Lithograph by Jean Cocteau - 1930 ca
Located in Roma, IT
Hopeless is a Colored lithograph realized on japan paper by Jean Cocteau (1889 -1963) in 1930 ca. French draftsman, poet, essayist, playwright, librettist, ...
Category

1930s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Lithograph

Porcelain Lamp - Original Watercolor and Ink drawing - 1880s
Located in Roma, IT
"Porcelain Lamp" is an original watercolor and ink drawing on ivory-colored paper realized in 1880ca. by Anonymous french Artist of 19th Century. In very good conditions. The artw...
Category

1880s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Bull Fighter, Modern Ink Painting by Charles Burdick
Located in Long Island City, NY
Charles Burdick, American (1924 - ) - Bull Fighter, Year: circa 1970, Medium: Ink on paper, signed, Size: 9.5 in. x 14.5 in. (24.13 cm x 36.83 cm), Frame Size: 16.5 x 22 inches
Category

1970s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

Horseman, Modern Ink and Acrylic Painting on Paper by Charles Burdick
Located in Long Island City, NY
Charles Burdick, American (1924 - ) - Horseman, Year: circa 1970, Medium: Ink and Acrylic on Paper, signed, Size: 20 x 14 in. (50.8 x 35.56 cm), Frame Size: 28 x 22 inches
Category

1970s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Acrylic

1950's Modernist/ Cubist Painting - Autumn Tree Landscape
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
French Landscape by Bernard Labbe (French mid 20th century) original gouache on artist paper, unframed size: 20 x 12.75 inches condition: very good and ready to be enjoyed. provena...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Boats in Harbour, Looking out to the Sea, Colourful French Watercolour, The Port
Located in Cotignac, FR
Watercolour view of boats in a port, looking out to sea, by French Painter Jean-Paul Claveau. The painting is signed and dated bottom left and presented in painted wood frame, with c...
Category

Late 20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Lovers - Drawing - Mid 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Lovers is a modern artwork realized in the Mid-20th Century. Charcoal drawings. Good conditions.
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper

"Boats in Berlin Harbor, " Pastel on Cheesecloth by Francesco Spicuzza
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Boats in Berlin Harbor" is an original pastel painting on cheesecloth. Small tugboats push across the Berlin harbor as a gauzy cityscape watches from behind. Image: 25" x 33" Frame...
Category

1920s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel

Nude - Watercolor by Jean Delpech - Mid 20th century
Located in Roma, IT
Nude is an original drawing in watercolor, realized in the Mid-20th Century by Jean Delpech (1916-1988). Good conditions. Jean-Raymond Delpech (1988-1916) is a French painter, eng...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Fisherman's Island, Boothbay, Maine, early 20th century landscape watercolor
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) Fisherman's Island, Boothbay, Maine, c. 1925 Watercolor on paper Signed lower left 15 x 20 inches 20.75 x 25.75 inches, framed 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 painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox...
Category

1920s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

The Parade of Fairground Wrestlers, Modern French School
Located in London, GB
'The Parade of Fairground Wrestlers', India ink on art paper, Modern French School (early 1900s). Traveling shows often held promotional events before opening in local areas to generate enthusiasm for the spectacle. This is an intriguing depiction of the various acts on stage strutting their stuff before an audience of potential customers. On the platform, fairground wrestlers mix with clowns, dancers, a percussionist in bolero hat...
Category

Early 20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, India Ink

Portrait of Woman - Original Drawing - Early 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait of Woman is an original black marker drawing realized by and Unknown artist and signed in pencil "Borély". Hand signed, good condition. Included a white cardboard passpart...
Category

Early 20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pencil

Man Smoking Pipe, Modern Watercolor and Graphite by Paul Kohn
Located in Long Island City, NY
Paul Kohn - Man Smoking Pipe, Year: 1969, Medium: Watercolor and Graphite, signed and dated in pencil lower right, Size: 11 x 8.5 x 3 in. (27.94 x 21.59 x 7.62 cm), Frame Size: 1...
Category

1960s Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Graphite, Watercolor

Garden Flowers
Located in New York, NY
Charles Demuth was one of the most complex, talented, and deeply sensitive artists of the American modern period. Whether he was painting floral still lifes, industrial landscapes, or Turkish bathhouses, art was, for Demuth, fraught with personal meaning. A fixture of the vanguard art scene in New York, Demuth navigated the currents of Modernism, producing some of the most exquisite watercolors and original oil paintings in twentieth-century American art. Demuth was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the only child of a well-to-do family. He had an awkward and introverted childhood shaped by a childhood illness, Perthes, a disease of the hip that not only left him permanently lame, but, as part of the “cure,” bedridden for two years in the care of his mother. This long period of incapacitation had a deep impact on Demuth, who came to see himself as an invalid, an outsider who was different from everyone else. It was perhaps during this period of indoor confinement that his keen interest in art developed. Several relatives on his father’s side had been amateur artists, and, following his convalescence, his mother encouraged his artistic pursuits by sending him to a local painter for instruction. The majority of his early pictures are of flowers, a subject for which Demuth maintained a lifelong passion. Following high school, Demuth enrolled at the Drexel Institute of Art in Philadelphia, a school renowned for its commercial arts program. He advanced through the program rapidly, and, in 1905, at the encouragement of his instructors, he began taking courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The two leading teachers then at the Academy were William Merritt Chase and Thomas Anshutz. Anshutz, himself a former student of Thomas Eakins, was well liked by his students, and is best known as the teacher of Robert Henri, John Sloan, and several of the other artists of the Ashcan School. Demuth, too, adopted a similar idiom, working in a controlled, realistic manner while at the Academy, where he remained until 1910. In 1907, Demuth made his first trip to Europe, staying in Paris. He spent time on the periphery of the art scene composed of the numerous American artists there, including John Marin and Edward Steichen. He returned to Philadelphia five months later, and immediately resumed courses at the Academy. Despite his introduction to advanced modern styles in Europe, Demuth’s work of this period retains the academic style he practiced before the trip. It wasn’t until he had summered at New Hope, Pennsylvania, in 1908 and 1911, that his style began to evolve. New Hope was a prominent American Impressionist art colony whose members were largely affiliated with the Pennsylvania Academy. Demuth dropped the conservative tone of his style and adopted a freer and more colorful palette. Although he remained based in Philadelphia, Demuth frequently went to New York during this period. Many of the same American artists of the Parisian art scene Demuth had encountered on his earlier European trip now formed the nucleus of New York’s avant-garde, which centered around Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 gallery. It wasn’t long before Demuth began to apply modernist-inspired strategies to his work. He was particularly influenced by the watercolor work of John Marin, also a former student of Anshutz, whose bold use of color in the medium Demuth freely adapted into looser washes of color. In 1912, Demuth again left for Paris, this time studying in the Académie Moderne, Académie Colorossi, and Académie Julian. In Paris Demuth met the American modernist Marsden Hartley. Hartley, a principal figure in the expatriate art circle, acted as a mentor to Demuth, and introduced him to the wide array of modern styles currently practiced in Europe. Hartley also introduced Demuth to many of the members of the Parisian avant-garde, including Gertrude Stein. Demuth was an aspiring writer, and he spent many hours in conversation with Stein. He wrote extensively during this period, and published two works shortly after his return to America. He also developed an interest in illustrating scenes from literary texts. From 1914 to 1919, Demuth produced a series of watercolors of scenes from books such as Emile Zola’s Nana and Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. Upon his return to America, Demuth settled in New York. In 1914, Demuth had his first one-man show at Charles Daniel’s gallery, which promoted emerging modern American artists, including Man Ray, Rockwell Kent, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Stuart Davis, and Max Weber. Demuth drew closer to the artistic vanguard in New York, becoming friends with many in the Stieglitz and Daniel circles, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Marcel Duchamp, Carl Van Vechten, and Edward Fiske. New York’s cosmopolitan atmosphere and active nightlife appealed greatly to Demuth. In a sketchy style well suited to watercolor, he painted many vaudeville and circus themes, as well as nightclub, café, and bathhouse scenes. Often with Duchamp, Demuth took part in an urban subculture replete with nightclubs, bars, drugs, and sexual permissiveness, which, for a homosexual artist like himself, allowed room for previously unattainable personal expression. Demuth’s pictures of sailors, bathhouses, and circus performers embody a sensual and sexual undercurrent, expressing the artist’s sense of comfort and belonging in the bohemian subculture of New York. Simultaneously, Demuth deepened his interest in floral pictures, painting these almost exclusively in watercolor. His style evolved from the broad color washes of his earlier pictures to more spare, flattened, and sinuous compositions, inspired by the drawings of Aubrey Beardsley and other artists of the Aesthetic Movement. Demuth’s flower watercolors are moody and atmospheric, sensuous and elegant, introspective and yet full of expressive power. Moreover they are beautiful, and are unequivocally among the finest still lifes in American art. Despite numerous subsequent artistic undertakings that led him in a variety of directions, Demuth never stopped painting flower pictures, ultimately adding fruits and other still-life objects to his repertoire. In 1916, Demuth began to develop a style later known as Precisionism, a form of landscape painting infused with Cubism, in which space is divided into precisely drawn geometric regions of color. Demuth first began to paint the landscape in an appropriated Cubist mode while on a trip with Hartley to Bermuda. In these early landscapes, in which the curvilinear forms of trees intersect the geometrically articulated architectural forms, Demuth explored ideas that shaped the future development of modernism in America. The full realization of Demuth’s explorations came after his return to America in 1917, when he turned his attention to industrial subjects. These works derive from a “machine aesthetic,” espoused by New York artists such as Francis Picabia, Joseph Stella, Albert Gleizes, and Duchamp, by which artists viewed machines as embodying mystical, almost religious significance as symbols of the modern world. Rather than painting the skyscrapers and bridges of New York as did most of his like-minded contemporaries, Demuth returned to his home town of Lancaster, where he painted factories and warehouses in a Precisionist idiom. The titles for these pictures are often contain literary references, which serve as clues for the viewer to aid in the decoding of the artist’s meaning. In 1923, Demuth planned a series of abstract “poster portraits” of his friends and contemporaries in the New York art and literary scene. In these “portraits,” Demuth combined text and symbolic elements to evoke the essential nature of his sitters’ distinguishing characteristics. In this fashion, he painted portraits of such artists as Georgia O’Keeffe, John Marin, and Arthur Dove. His most famous poster portrait, I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold...
Category

20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

The Ghost and the Wheel - Drawing by Mino Maccari - mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Watercolor drawing on paper realized by Mino Maccari in the mid-20th Century. Hand signed lower right. Very good condition.
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Modern drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic 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 orange, blue, yellow, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Mino Maccari, Bernard Labbe, Flor David, and Gabriele Galantara. 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 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 $1 and tops out at $950,000, while the average work sells for $492.

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