Charles Ragland Bunnell

1950s Abstract Expressionist Painting: Yellow Gold Red Brown Orange Blue

1955

This captivating original mixed media abstract painting, titled “The Embrace”, is a emotionally evocative work by renowned Denver modernist artist Wilma Fiori (1929–2019). Created us...

This captivating 1944 abstract oil on canvas by renowned artist Werner Drewes exemplifies mid-century modern art at its finest. Featuring bold, vibrant hues of green, blue, and red, ...

This original mid-century modern abstract oil painting by Watson Bidwell (1904-1964) features vibrant hues of orange, green, and white set against a bol...

This stunning 1951 oil painting on board by renowned American artist Charles Ragland Bunnell captures an abstracted New York City skyline in a rich nocturnal color palette of black, ...

Abstract figure in pink by by San Francisco, California area artist Daniel David Fuentes (American, 1978-2016), (AKA, Xavier Lundt) (American, 20th Century). From a collection of hi...

Bright, colorful abstract expressionist piece by Monterey, California artist Anthony Rappa (American, 20th Century). Heavy, textured pa...

Aleksandr Rodin (1922-2001) Painter Born in a family of farmers. Wife Rasma Lace - art scholar. Studied at the Stalingrad School of Art, Saratov Art School, graduated from the Depar...

Here for your consideration is a great example of the artwork of the well known American artist, Syd Solomon. Signed top left. Titled and dated verso 1978. The painting is oil and acrylic paint on mounted synthetic canvas. Condition is excellent. Overall framed measurements are 44.75 by 24.5 inches. Provenance: A Sarasota, Florida collector. SYD SOLOMON BIOGRAPHY American 1917-2004 Written by Dr. Lisa Peters/Berry Campbell Gallery “Here, in simple English, is what Syd Solomon does: He meditates. He connects his hand and paintbrush to the deeper, quieter, more mysterious parts of his mind- and he paints pictures of what he sees and feels down there.” --Kurt Vonnegut Jr. from Palm Sunday, 1981 Syd Solomon was born near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1917. He began painting in high school in Wilkes-Barre, where he was also a star football player. After high school, he worked in advertising and took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the war effort and was assigned to the First Camouflage Battalion, the 924th Engineer Aviation Regiment of the US Army. He used his artistic skills to create camouflage instruction manuals utilized throughout the Army. He married Ann Francine Cohen in late 1941. Soon thereafter, in early 1942, the couple moved to Fort Ord in California where he was sent to camouflage the coast to protect it from possible aerial bombings. Sent overseas in 1943, Solomon did aerial reconnaissance over Holland. Solomon was sent to Normandy early in the invasion where his camouflage designs provided protective concealment for the transport of supplies for men who had broken through the enemy line. Solomon was considered one of the best camoufleurs in the Army, receiving among other commendations, five bronze stars. Solomon often remarked that his camouflage experience during World War II influenced his ideas about abstract art. At the end of the War, he attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Because Solomon suffered frostbite during the Battle of the Bulge, he could not live in cold climates, so he and Annie chose to settle in Sarasota, Florida, after the War. Sarasota was home to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, and soon Solomon became friends with Arthur Everett “Chick” Austin, Jr., the museum’s first Director. In the late 1940s, Solomon experimented with new synthetic media, the precursors to acrylic paints provided to him by chemist Guy Pascal, who was developing them. Victor D’Amico, the first Director of Education for the Museum of Modern Art, recognized Solomon as the first artist to use acrylic paint. His early experimentation with this medium as well as other media put him at the forefront of technical innovations in his generation. He was also one of the first artists to use aerosol sprays and combined them with resists, an innovation influenced by his camouflage experience. Solomon’s work began to be acknowledged nationally in 1952. He was included in American Watercolors, Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. From 1952–1962, Solomon’s work was discovered by the cognoscenti of the art world, including the Museum of Modern Art Curators, Dorothy C. Miller and Peter Selz, and the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Director, John I. H. Baur. He had his first solo show in New York at the Associated American Artists Gallery in 1955 with “Chick” Austin, Jr. writing the essay for the exhibition. In the summer of 1955, the Solomons visited East Hampton, New York, for the first time at the invitation of fellow artist David Budd...