1960s Abstract Paintings

This striking conceptual abstract oil painting is by British artist Penelope Ellis. It was painted in 1963. A superb image and ahead of the conceptual ideas of the swinging sixties a...

An original mixed media painting and collage on board by American artist James Koenig. Created in 1970, this work is part of the Draw Near exhibition currently on view at Benjaman G...

"Abstraction" Mid 20th Century American Abstract 1960s Color Field James Daugherty (1887 – 1974) Abstraction 6 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches Estate stamp verso Oil on panel Provenance: Estat...

Nicely painted mid century abstract cubist oil painting. Great color and composition. Framed.

Jules Olitski (1922-2007) is one of the most collected and accomplished artists associated with the color-field movement, if not 20th-century American abstraction. Possibly one of ...

Antique American modernist abstract landscape painting by Ann Anderson. Oil on canvas, circa 1961. Signed. Displayed in a period modern frame. Image, 16"L x 20"H.

Antique American modernist abstract oil painting by Adele Becker (1929-2021). Oil on cavnas. Framed.

Dark Image, 1960 by Will Barnet (1911-2012) Oil on canvas 53 x 30 ½ inches unframed (134.62 x 77.47 cm) 55 ½ x 32 ⅞ inches framed (140.979 x 96.2152 cm) Signed and dated on top right on the reverse Description: This abstract oil painting by Will Barnet uses minute gradations in value to achieve a work that presents a contextual understanding of color. Upon first inspection, it looks as if Barnet has created a completely black canvas with some hints at forms in the darkness; however, upon a closer look, the canvas is, in fact, not black, but instead comprised of varied shades of dark, muted blues, grays, and purples. Barnet presents us with an illusion of vision, asking the viewer to question his perspective and understanding of color interplay. At the beginning of his career, Will Barnet was known for his figural depictions of domestic scenes. But, as he continued to stylistically develop, Barnet arrived at abstract geometric paintings far removed from his original career. A part of the Indian Space...

"Rectangle Abstraction" Mid 20th Century American Abstract 1960s Color Field James Daugherty (1887 - 1974) Rectangle Abstraction 13 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches Oil on canvas, c. 1960s Signe...

Acrylic on canvas. Signed verso. 36.5 x 36 in. 42.75 x 42.25 in. (framed) Custom framed in a solid maple tray frame with an heirloom white finish. Provenance Private Collection, C...

Edward Avedisian ( 1936-2007 ) 7.5 X 5.75 Oil paint on wood panel This is not signed on front. It bears his name verso. Provenance: Hudson, N.Y. estate of noted Art Collector Albert...

Dynamic abstract landscape painting in the San Francisco Bay Area Abstract Expressionist School-style by an unknown California artist (American, 20th Century), c.1965. Unframed. Imag...

Richard Anuszkiewicz Metallic Water, 1964 Painting with Liquitex on canvas. (1964 Art Institute of Chicago Exhibition and J.L. Hudson Gallery) Signed boldly and dated 1964 on the ver...

Syril Frank (American, 1929-2021) Untitled, c. 1963 Oil on canvas 44 x 48 in. Provenance: Estate of the Artist Syril Harriet Frank was born in Brooklyn t...

Nicely painted mid century abstract cubist oil painting. Great color and composition. Framed.

Impressive early American modernist abstract oil painting by Alton S. Tobey (1914 - 2005). Framed. Oil on board. Signed. Image size, 48H by 36L.

In this composition, Sylvia Spiczza works in the manner of color field artists like Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler, presenting a gradation of colors shifting from yellow to red ...

Waterline Fine Art, Austin, TX is pleased to present the following work: Oil on canvas. Signed and titled verso. 40.25 x 56.25 in. 40.75 x 56.75 in. (framed) Custom framed in a wh...

Waterline Fine Art, Austin, TX is pleased to present the following work: Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower right; signed, dated, and titled verso. 38.25 x 51.25 in. 39.75 x 52....

Larry Zox Jean Jean, 1964 Signed, dated, and titled on the stretcher Liquitex on canvas 58 x 62 inches Provenance: Solomon & Co., New York Private Collection, NJ Estate of the above, 2023 Committed to abstraction throughout his career, Larry Zox played a central role in the Color Field discourse of the 1960s and 1970s. His work of the time, consisting of brilliantly colored geometric shapes in dynamic juxtapositions, demonstrated that hard-edge painting was neither cold nor formalistic. He reused certain motifs, but he did so less to explore their aspects than to “get at the specific character and quality of each painting in and for itself,” as James Monte stated in his essay for Zox’s solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1973. By the 1970s, Zox was using a freer, more emotive method, while maintaining the autonomy of color, which increasingly became more important to him than structure in his late years. Zox began to receive attention in the 1960s, when he was included in several groundbreaking exhibitions of Color Field and Minimalist art, including Shape and Structure (1965), organized by Henry Geldzahler for the Gallery of Modern Art, New York, and Systemic Painting (1966), organized by Lawrence Alloway for the Guggenheim Museum. In 1973, the Whitney’s solo exhibition of Zox’s work gave recognition to his significance in the art scene of the preceding decade. In the following year, Zox was represented in the inaugural exhibition of the Hirshhorn Museum, which owns fourteen of his works. Zox was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He attended the University of Oklahoma and Drake University. While studying at the Des Moines Art Center, he was mentored by George Grosz, who despite his own figurative approach encouraged Zox’s forays into abstraction. In 1958, Zox moved to New York, joining the downtown art scene. His studio on 20th Street became a gathering place for artists, jazz musicians, bikers, and boxers. He occasionally sparred with the visiting fighters. He later established a studio in East Hampton, where he painted and fished including using a helicopter to spot fish. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Zox’s works were collages consisting of painted pieces of paper stapled onto sheets of plywood. He then produced paintings that were illusions of collages, including both torn- and trued-edged forms, to which he added a wide range of intense hues that created ambiguous surfaces. Next, he omitted the collage aspect of his work and applied flat color areas to create more complete statements of pure color and shape. From 1962 to 1965, he produced his Rotation Series, at first creating plywood and Plexiglas reliefs, which turned squares into dynamic polygons. He used these shapes in his paintings as well, employing white as a foil between colors to produce negative spaces that suggest that the colored shapes had only been cut out and laid down instead of painted. The New York Times noted in 1964: “The artist is hip, cool, adventurous, not content to stay with the mere exercise of sensibility that one sees in smaller works.” In 1965, he began the Scissors Jack...

Syril Frank (American, 1929-2021) Untitled, 1963 Oil on canvas 50 1/4 x 48 x 3/4 in. Dated verso: June 1963 Provenance: Estate of the Artist Syril Harrie...

Vintage American modernist landscape painting. Oil on canvas. Framed.

Vintage American modernist abstract landscape painting. Oil on canvas. Framed in a great gold leaf molding. Impressive piece in person!

Jichak Pressburger, Painter. b. 1933, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. A concentration camp survivior. Came to Israel aboard the ship, "The Exodus". 1964 Went to Paris. In 1979 Returned as new immigrant. Education Tel Aviv University, B.A. in art, with Marcel Janco and Isidor Ascheim at Avni art school. Beaux Arts, Paris with Professor Coutaud. Itzchak Pressburger Stays in Paris from 1963 – 1979, Resident of the “Cité des Arts” 1969-1972. Lives and works in Jerusalem since 1979. One-Man Exhibitions 1963 Gallery Dugit, Tel-Aviv 1968 Cultural Center Enkhuizen, Netherlands 1968 Gallery Zunini, Paris (chosen by the art critic of « Opus : Jean-Jacques Lévèque) 1970 Gallery Zunini, Paris 1973 Gallery Maitre Albert, Paris. Cultural Center Verfeil sur Seye, France 1974 Gallery Maitre Albert, Paris 1976 Gallery Mundo, Barcelone 1980 Artists’ House, Jerusalem 1981 Gallery Alain Gerard, Paris Group Exhibitions 1966 Rathaus Charlottenburg, Berlin. (The first show of Israeli painters in Germany Artists Center of Silvarouvres, Nantes, Ffance XXXth Salon of Finances at “l’Hotel des Monnaies”, Paris 1969 Maison de Culture, Le Havre, France 1968 Gallery Zunini, Paris (chosen by the art critic of « Opus : Jean-Jacques Lévèque) Salon « Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui », Paris Museum of Fine Arts, Nantes, France Cultural Center Vitry, France Gallery Il Giorno, Milan Cité des Arts, Paris 1972 Salon “Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui”, Paris Salon de Mai, Paris 1973 Städtische Galerie, Siegen, Germany 1974 Jewish Cultural Center, Paris Publicis, Paris 1975 Réalitiés Nouvelles, Paris 1976 Salon de Mai, Paris 1977 “Perspectives Israeliennes”, Grand Palais, Paris 1981 Salon Alain Gerard, Paris 1984 Artists’ House, Jerusalem Publication 1990 Haggadah Yom Kippour (Hebrew/French) Abraham Bliah (private edition), Paris Acquisitions 1968 The City of Paris 1972 The State of France The Yitzchak Pressburger artist was born in Bratislava – known for centuries by its German name of Pressburg – but the outbreak of World War II found him and his family in Prague. His father realized they had to escape from the Nazi occupiers and tried to get the family across the border into Hungary. However, they were caught near the crossing point, arrested and incarcerated overnight at the nearby railway station. The Czechs put them on a train to Hungary early the next morning. That was their first miracle in their quest for survival. They survived with relative ease until late 1943, when the father was taken away to a forced labor camp. He subsequently died in a death march. Things became even more precarious in early 1944, when the Holocaust made its full-blown presence felt in Hungary. “It wasn’t the Germans, it was the Hungarian Nazis who did the dirty work,” Pressburger points out. The family lived in so-called “safe houses” that were protected by Switzerland, Finland and Sweden. The havens were dismantled in late 1944, and the Pressburgers moved into one of the two Jewish ghettos in Budapest. The Nazis had found two houses with Jews, including the one where we had been, and took them all out and shot them next to the Danube. Today there is a monument by the river [called Shoes on the Danube Bank]. We should have been with the Jews who were killed by the river,” he says. After the war, Pressburger and his siblings were farmed out to various orphanages run by the Jewish Agency, and things took a decidedly better turn. “We finally had food to eat,” he recalls. “After a while we were put on trains that were protected by the Jewish Brigade [of the British Army], and we were sent to Austria, and then to Germany.” “My uncle was a famous artist, and I learned a lot from him,” he says. While in Germany, Pressburger also took some lessons with a local artist. His mother managed to get him and two of his siblings berths on the Exodus, which set sail from Marseilles for Palestine in July 1947. Pressburger was 13 at the time and clearly recalls the aborted attempt to get to the Promised Land. “It was so crowded on the boat. This was a ship that was made to ply rivers in the United States, with a few hundred people on board, and we had over 4,500 passengers crammed in.” As we know, the British prevented the Exodus from docking in Palestine, and the passengers were shipped – in three far more seaworthy vessels – back to France. After the French government refused to cooperate with the British, Pressburger and the others found themselves back in Germany. The teenager eventually made it here in 1948, just one month before the Declaration of Independence. After a short furlough in Tel Aviv, during the first lull in the fighting in the War of Independence, he moved to Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin, where he worked in the cowshed. All the while he continued feverishly drawing and honing his artistic skills, which he says came in handy when he joined the IDF. After completing his military service, which included a spell as one of the founding members of the Flotilla 13 naval commando unit, he worked in Sdom for a while at the Dead Sea Works before starting his formal arts training in earnest. I was in the first group of students at the Avni Institute [in Tel Aviv],” he says. “There was quite a famous bunch of students and teachers like Moshe Mokadi and Isidore Ascheim and Aaron Giladi.” In such illustrious company, one might have thought Pressburger was set to unleash his burgeoning talents on art connoisseurs across the globe, but it was a while before that happened. Pressburger arrived in the French capital in 1964 and spent close to 15 years there, with a short interlude in Germany, before returning to Israel. His time in Paris was a professionally rewarding period of his life, and he also found love. “[Avni Institute teacher] Yochanan Simon gave me the name and address of a French-Israeli family in Paris, but when I got to the house, a young woman opened the door and told me the family was on vacation in Israel,” he explains. Despite missing his expected hosts’ welcome, he and the German-born young lady who greeted him soon fell for each other, and romance quickly led to wedding bells. By all accounts, Pressburger did well in Europe. He secured a rare three-year berth at Cité Internationale des Arts, where artists are normally provided with accommodation and studio space for between two months and a year. He was also accepted to the prestigious Beaux Arts academy of fine arts, mounted solo exhibitions, and took part in group shows all over Europe. One of these last was a group exhibition at Rathaus Charlottenburg in Berlin in 1966 – the first exhibition of Israeli artists in Germany after the Holocaust. When he arrived in Berlin, the lineup for the Israeli show was already signed and sealed, but somehow his work came to the attention of the German culture minister, who arranged for him to join. The Pressburgers’ year-long sojourn came to an abrupt end following an encounter he had one day while walking through the crowded Berlin streets...

Alfonso Hüppi Untitled, 1962 Mixed media on canvas (paint, wood) 18 1/2 × 20 1/2 in 47 × 52 cm (without frame) Frame included

Mid Century Modern abstract expressionist oil painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1960. Unsigned. Unframed.

City 13. 1966, paper, monotype, varnish, 47x77 cm Soikans Nikolay, pseudonym Niklo de Martell (till 1953.) 1926. 9 IX Ludza – 1980. 21 II Lester, Great Britain – graphic artist. ...

An original abstract geometric painting by an unknown artist in an artist made natural wood frame.

Edward Avedisian ( 1936-2007 ) 17.5 X 8.75 Oil paint on wood panel This is not signed on front. It bears his name verso. Provenance: Hudson, N.Y. estate of noted Art Collector Alber...

Nicely painted mid century impressionist painting of New York. Great color and composition. Framed. No signature found.

Gouache on paper. Signed in pencil, lower right corner.

"Gravity Zero" Mid 20th Century American Abstract 1960s Color Field Abstraction James Daugherty (1887 – 1974) "Gravity Zero: 24 x 18 inches Signed on verso Oil on panel Provenance...

Provenance: Kootz Gallery, New York Private collector, Greenwich, CT Trinity Auction, Avon, CT, May 11, 2013, lot 23 Private collection, NJ Condition: Conditio...

An original mid century modern abstract expressionist painting by American artist Toma Yovanovich. Toma Yovanovich (1931-2016) Yovanovich was a painter/printmaker whose w...

Signed and titled oil on canvas by French cubist painter Camile Hilaire. The piece beautifully depicts a man at a port beside boats coloured in reds, blues and oranges. A wonderfully...

Manfred Schwartz (American, b. Poland, 1909-1970), "Etretat", Oil on Canvas, 1961, pointillist composition, signed and dated lower right, descriptive paper label to verso, gilt wood ...

Robert Mus Untitled 4 Oil on canvas / stretcher 1968 Signed and dated lower right 61 x 83 cms 1600 euros

To see our other Modern British Art, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" - or send us a message if you cannot find the artist you want. John Barnicoat MA ARCA (1924 - 2013) Harbour (1975) Tempera on card 26 x 26 cm Initialled B and dated '75. John Barnicoat was a painter of oils and works on paper using tempera, conté, acrylic, pen, and ink. He was brought up in Cornwall and educated at King’s College, Taunton. He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves and took part in D-Day, aged 29. He went on to read history at Lincoln College, Oxford, and also studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing. He attended the Royal College of Art in the early 1950s, eventually becoming the Senior Tutor at the RCA Painting School between 1976 and 1980. He was the head of Falmouth School of Art 1972 - 1976 and Head of the Chelsea School of Art 1980 - 1989. He wrote 'Posters: a Concise History' in 1972, and organised and curated exhibitions in the UK and Russia on the art of poster design. From 1989 onwards he produced numerous drawings and oils of the bridges of London, women’s heads, acrylic and conté works on paper, and pen and wash drawings of women dressing...

Pierre MONTHEILLET (1923-2011) Composition in green and yellow Watercolor and gouache on paper Signed lower left Dimensions of the work: 50 x 65 cm Dimensions of the frame: 60 x 80 c...

Edward Avedisian ( 1936-2007 ) 15 X 8.5 Oil paint on wood panel This is not signed on front. It bears his name verso. Provenance: Hudson, N.Y. estate of noted Art Collector Albert B...

An original abstract expressionist painting created in 1962 by American artist James Koenig. This work will be featured in our exhibition "Draw Near" which will run from March 11...

Artist: Oskar Maria D'Amico, Italian (1923 - 2003) Title: Red Surreal Abstract with Skull Year: 1967 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed Size: 54 x 60 in. (137.16 x 152.4 cm)

An original mid-century modern abstract expressionist painting by American artist Toma Yovanovich. Toma Yovanovich (1931-2016) Yovanovich was a painter/printmaker whose work is i...

Mid century modern abstract by artist Tommie (Thomas) Olson a student of Robert Preusser, when he was 16 and attending John Deagan High School in Houst...

Abstraction 1. 1964, paper, gouache, 83 x 59, 5 cm Gunars Klava (1933 – 1989) Gunars Klava was born in 1933 in Priekule. 1953 - graduated from J. Rosenthal Art School 1964 - began...

Edward Zutrau Kamakura, 4/19/1963 Signed, tiled and dated on verso Oil on linen 38 1/2 x 51 inches Edward Zutrau is among the American artists who worked within the whirlwind of di...

"Abstraction" Mid-20th Century American Abstract 1960s Color Field Modernist James Daugherty (1887 – 1974) Abstraction 24 x 20 inches Estate stamp verso Oil on panel Provenance: ...

A rare and funky 1960's oil painting of abstract forms that are reminiscent of southwestern rock formations.

Gorgeous large scale oil on paper by John von Wicht. Unframed, the piece measures 42.5 high by 33.25 wide. Signed lower right. There are two other pieces by von Wicht that would com...

Diana Kurz Studio Interior, 1964 Signed, titled, dated on verso Oil on canvas 52 x 72 inches Diana Kurz (born 1936) is an Austrian-born feminist painter. In 1938, Diana Kurz's fami...

Beautiful Mexican landscape painting by Alfonso Pena Oil on canvas created 1963. Mexican subject. Excellent condition, unframed. Measures: 19 3/4" H x 24 ...

Andre Raffin French, 1927-2005 Les Fruits Oil on Canvas 18 in. by 22 in. W/frame 25 ½ in. by 29 ½ in. Signed & dated 61 lower left André Raffin was bor...

Gene Hedge Inside Blue, 1966 Acrylic on canvas 61 1/4 x 43 3/4 inches (P124) Gene Hedge was born (1928) and raised in rural Indiana. After military service, he briefly attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. There he encountered the writing of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and the following year (1949) went to study at the Institute of Design in Chicago. He received a B.S. degree in Visual Design from the Institute of Design (1953), and he also took courses at the Art Institute of Chicago and began working in collage. During this period, the influence of Eugene Dana...

Witches Banner is an original mid-century abstract painting by celebrated Denver modernist Edward Marecak (1919–1993), created circa 1960s. This bold, expressionistic work features r...

A dreamy and expertly painted abstraction by this noted American/Asian artist. Presented in a contemporary and high quality silvered leaf float frame which allows it to breath. Wave of Ur...

"Abstraction" Mid 20th Century American Abstract 1960s Color Field James Daugherty (1887 – 1974) Abstraction 16 x 12 inches Estate stamp verso Oil on panel Provenance: Estate of t...

Abstract oil painting by the french artist Ange Falchi. Made in the early 60's. Ange Falchi, peintre-sculpteur, est né à Vence, Alpes-Maritimes. Diplômé ...

Roger Lersy, French (1920 - 2004) Painting on paper (not sure if this is watercolor, acrylic or oil, the paper has a velvet finish and texture to it and there is some texture to the ...

MIchail Grobman Gouache and watercolor on paper Hand signed Lower Left and Dated 1964. Described inn Cyrillic Russian verso. Dimensions: L:13.25" W: 11.75". Michail Grobman (Russ...

Alan Davie (1920-2014) Queen Emma June 1968 oil on canvas (triptych) 213.5 x 404 cm signed, dated and titled (on the verso) Price: £300,000 GBP (inc. 20% U...