Benny Collin

Symphonic Forms

1955

Bertha G. Davis (1911-1997) Untitled, ca. 1960's Oil on cradled masonite panel. 16 x 20 inches; 24 x 28 inches framed. Signed lower left. Artist estate stamp on verso. Vintage custom wormy chestnut frame. A painter of cityscapes, landscapes, and abstracts in Texas, Bertha G Davis was primarily a self-taught artist whose style was influenced by her early life experiences in pre-World War II Lithuania and later Mexico. Her style is expressionistic*, relying on color to denote her profound feelings. She works primarily in watercolor and acrylic with some mixed media*. She is the daughter of Abraham and Dvora Germaize of Vilna, Lithuania and grew up in Jewish ghettos in Vilna, Alita, and Kovno. Davis was influenced by her father who was a decorative wood-worker and carpenter in Lithuania. The family of five daughters and a son escaped to Mexico City in the late 1920’s because of Jewish oppression. The images and emotions she experienced had no outlet. She was known as a beauty, and at age 17 was named Jewish Miss Mexico, barely able to speak Spanish having just emigrated from Eastern Europe. Irving Davis, a merchant from Texas who had also come from Eastern Europe via Cuba, saw her at this event where she was crowned Jewish Miss Mexico, and three days later asked for her hand in marriage. They moved to a small town in Texas, raising a family. Her daughter, Sylvia, was born when Davis was 20 and they were inseparable. As Sylvia became an actress, painter, and sculptor, Davis was amazed at the capacity for creativity. Davis didn’t begin her own artistic journey until she was 47, when her daughter Sylvia Caplan encouraged her to try. She was inspired by this daughter who gave her a drugstore palette of watercolors, paper and brushes and told her to “just try.” Davis did not put down her palette and brushes until her death in 1997. Bertha G Davis was primarily self-taught but maintained a style oriented toward color and texture that reflected her strong feelings. Most of her early work was done while she lived in McAllen, Texas where she was known for her contribution to art and showed her work and the work of other artists at the Bertha Davis Gallery. She studied with Stewart Van Orden, at Pan American College in 1960-61; and was a student at the Art Institute San Miguel Allende, Mexico, 1965. She was also a student of Harold Phenix...

Budd Hopkins (1931-2011). Abstract, 1968. Oil on canvas, 30 x 52 inches; 31 x 53 inches framed. Signed and dated lower margin. Provenance: Timothy Collins (1940-2017), Palo Alto, CA...

Max Schnitzler (1903-1999). Untitled, ca. 1950's Oil on canvas measuring 18 x 24 inches. Unframed. Minor area of paint loss at margin upper left.

Chris Ritter (1906-1976). Abstract Composition ca. 1960. Watercolor on rag paper, sheet measures 17.5 x 22 inches. Sheet is loose and unmounted. Unframed. Estate stamps500 on v...

Superb original painting by the British abstract artist, John Chambers (1934-2015). The work is signed with his initials to the front and also signed and dated verso, April 2006 and ...

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower left. Rolph Scarlett (1889 - 1984) A major exponent of non-objective painting, Rolph Scarlett's career and art...

Abstract Composition British School, monogrammed/ dated lower corner gouache painting on paper laid over card, unframed actual painting: 22 x 15.5 inches Superb - bold - and very co...

Gregg Robinson, American (born 1948) "Cipher Bar 19" Oil on Canvasboard Panel. Artist signed, title and dated 1990 far right. Very minor rubbing to paint. Panel measures 15-1/4" H x 63-1/2" W, frame measures 24-1/4" H x 72-1/4" W GREGG ROBINSON The universe of visual art encompasses a huge spectrum of motivation and means of expression. Examples range from the most syrupy sentimentality to extremes of moral and intellectual confrontation. For me, the creative process is, on the simplest level, an aesthetic puzzle. Elements of the puzzle include contrast, color, visual texture, graphic pattern, and in some recent work, a simple cryptic symbolism. I have never been particularly interested in lyric or pictorial content, and though some of my work does contain undeniable spatial illusion, even that tends to be a by-product rather than a goal of the primary pursuit: the balance of light and dark, pure color and organic neutrals, energy and calm, strong pattern and subtle field. Having grown up in an environment of contemporary architecture, I have always valued the classic modern synthesis of form and function exemplified by the Bauhaus movement of the early 20th century. Hence, the simplest solutions are often the most satisfying. Obviously, the modernist ideal of efficiency in form and function requires that method of execution be as well adapted to the aesthetic goal as the visual language itself. The media before you is the result of many years of experimentation that came to its current form in early 1992. I work with dry pigment over a plaster surface. My tools are broad knives, sponges, rags and masking. The finish is a high gloss alkyd resin. CORPORATE COLLECTIONS: Allstate Insurance NBC Productions Alaska...