Hortense Mattice Gordon

'Abstract in Coral and Jade', Painters Eleven, Ontario, Canadian Modernist Oil

1949

Initialed lower left, 'RCW' for Richard Whitten (American, born 1958) and dated, lower right, in Roman numerals, 2009. Formerly in the collection of the Triton Art Museum, Santa Clara, California. Whitten's early work may loosely be termed geometric abstraction, but he is best known for his later representational paintings that combine his interest in architecture, invented machinery and toys. Whitten is also known for his toy-like sculptures. His paintings and drawings are essentially representational but have strong ties to geometric abstraction. A native of New York City, Richard Whitten first attended the Collegiate School before studying economics at Yale where he received his BA in 1980. He then constructed a personal painting program at Yale where he studied with Gretna Campbell...

Signed lower right, 'C G Nelson' for Carl Gustaf Simon Nelson (American, 1898-1988) and dated 1956. A substantial, Modernist oil showing a profusion of white and pink poppies contra...

An elegant still-life of apricot-pink roses shown informally arranged in a plum-colored vase contrasted against a scumbled ivory and parchment background. Signed lower left 'Jon Bl...

Signed upper right, 'G. Simonka' for Georges Simonka (Hungarian, 1916-2001) and dated 1955. A substantial, mid-century modernist, oil still-life showing an assemblage of items on a table-top Born in Budapest, Georges Simonka studied at the University of Applied Arts in Budapest. After his first solo exhibition in Budapest in 1943, he moved to Paris, where he became a regular exhibitor at several salons including the Salon d'Automne and the Salon Comparaison. An active member of several Parisian art groups, Simonka exhibited successfully throughout Europe and his work may be found in the permanent collections of numerous European museums, including that of the Centre Pompidou...

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...

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...

Ashley John is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899 - 1985) Gershon Benjamin is a painter of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene. He had a pro...

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to New York when he was 20. From 1913 to 1916, he enjoyed a scholarship from the Art Students League, and worked with John C. Johansen (a portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent), and Anders Zorn. He accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art in 1916, remaining there until 1921. This enabled him to travel to Europe to study Cézanne’s paintings and works of the Old Masters. He traveled to Paris, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Munich seeking the works of Titian, Cranach, Rembrandt, Veronese, and Holbein, which gave him new perspective. Vytlacil studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, settling there in 1921. Fellow students were Ernest Thurn and Worth Ryder, who introduced him to famous abstractionist Hans Hofmann. He worked with Hofmann from about 1922 to 1926, as a student and teaching assistant. During the summer of 1928, after returning to the United States, Vytlacil gave lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on modern European art. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Art Students League faculty. After one year, he returned to Europe and successfully persuaded Hofmann to teach at the League as well. He spent about six years in Europe, studying the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Dufy. In 1935, he returned to New York and became a co-founder of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He later had teaching posts at Queens College in New York; the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California; Black Mountain College in North Carolina; and the Art Students League. His paintings exhibit a clear inclination toward modernism. His still lives and interiors from the 1920s indicate an understanding of the art of Cézanne. In the 1930s, his works displayed two very different kinds of art at the same time. His cityscapes and landscapes combine Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. Vytlacil also used old wood, metal, cork, and string in constructions, influenced by his friend and former student, Rupert Turnbull. He eventually ceased creating constructions as he considered them too limiting. The spatial challenges of painting were still his preference. During the 1940s and 1950s, his works indicated a sense of spontaneity not felt in his earlier work. He married Elizabeth Foster in Florence, Italy, in 1927 and they lived and worked in Positano, Italy for extended periods of time. Later on, they divided their time between homes in Sparkill, New York and Chilmark, Massachusetts, where Vyt, as he was affectionately called, taught at the Martha's Vineyard Art...