20th Century Abstract Paintings

Claire Burch (American, 1925-2009) Untitled, 20th century Oil on canvas 24 x 30 in. Framed: 31 2/3 x 37 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. Signed lower right: Claire Burch After attending grade school in Brooklyn, Burch completed a commercial art course at Washington Irving High School in Manhattan and received her B.A. in English from NYU. In the suburbs of Great Neck, New York, she first began writing poetry and articles which were published in Life magazine, The New Republic, Mademoiselle, McCall's, Saturday Review, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, and numerous literary quarterlies and anthologies.[1] Burch also developed a career as a psychiatric writer, publishing two books on the subject: Careers in Psychiatry and Stranger in the Family. In the early 1970s Burch became a playwright and painter. Her play Ten Cents a Dance was optioned to be directed by José Quintero, the famous O'Neill interpreter. Burch wrote a total of seven plays and several folk operas, but eventually moved on to filmmaking and video anthropology—she was an early adapter of video as a medium. In 1978, Burch moved to California with her longtime companion Mark Weiman, publisher and owner of Berkeley's Regent Press. She had endured a series of illnesses and wanted to escape the harsh climate of Manhattan. Burch gained insight and inspiration from insanity and the often unexpected behavior associated with it. She would often videotape homeless people in People's Park and Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, which were collected in her film People's Park in Berkeley: Then and Now. The film documented the dispute between homeless activists and the University of California from the riots of 1969 through 1996 by interviewing park "regulars," and profiling the events surrounding the deaths of park supporters James Rector and Rosebud Denovo.[2] She also produced documentaries on noted cultural figures such as James Baldwin (whom she knew as a teenager), Timothy Leary and Country Joe McDonald. Also of note was Oracle Rising, a film about the legendary psychedelic newspaper The SF Oracle published in the Haight-Ashbury district during the Summer of Love. Her last completed film was Elegy for the Naked Guy...

Herbert Siebner (1925-2004) was a German-born Canadian painter whose work is characterized by its expressive use of color and texture, and its exploration of themes of war, exile, an...

Abstract Composition signed by Serge Guerin (b. 1916), French oil painting on canvas, unframed size: 26 x 20 inches provenance: private collection, Paris, France condition: overall g...

Artist/ School: Albert Coste (French 1896-1985), signed lower right. Born 8 November 1895, in Marseilles; died 22 August 1985, in Marseilles. Albert Cos...

Perfect example of Meanwell’s work. Amazing texture. Framed in a gold wood frame. The piece measures 17.75 x 22 inches framed, 13.5 x 17.5 inches unframed. Signed and dated lower l...

Antique American abstract mixed media painting. Oil gouache and crayon on board. Signed. Framed. Measuring 24 by 29 inches overall and 15 by 20 painting alone.

Abstract drawing of a blue house in a yellow field by German-American painter, Wolf Kahn. Signed and dated by the artist in the lower right corner. Framed and matted in a silver wood...

Antique American school modernist still life painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed.

Desert. 1974, oil on canvas, 95,5x116 cm Painting in orange colors Provenance Maxwell gallery

Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Pastoral Landscape Year: 1970 Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 50 x 72 inches Condition: Good Inscription: Unsigned, estate stamped, verso. Prove...

Stunning original oil painting by the French abstract artist, Yvette Dubois-Habasque (1929-2016). The painting has excellent provenance having come from the artists studio sale in Pa...

Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Image size, 24L x 36H.

Beautiful ca. 1955 oil painting by American artist, Eve Peri. Oil on illustration board, panel measures 10 x 15 inches; 15.75 x 20.75 inches framed. Signed lower left. Excellent condition. Vintage...

Abstract Composition signed by Serge Guerin (b. 1916), French dated 1970 verso ink painting on artist paper, unframed size: 20 x 26 inches provenance: private collection, Paris, Fran...

Richard Saba Birthplace: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1946 Education: Minneapolis College of Art & Design, B.F.A. 1968 Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, 1967 University of Washington...

Fredric Karoly (1898-1987). Etude III, 1950. Oil on masonite panel measures 18 x 24 inches. Unframed. Signed, titled, dated on reverse. Good condition with minor paint loss at edges. Biography: An abstract painter, Karoly was born in Hungary and studied painting in Paris, architectural eingineering in Berlin, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1926. He began a successful career as a fashion and fabric designer. In 1948 he was working as a fashion director for Simplicity Patters, when he had a solo exhibition of of his oil paintings, wire montages, dry-pen drawings and abstract photography. Solo Exhibitions: Hugo Gallery (Alexandre Iolas) New York 1948; Gallery Mai. Paris 1949; New Gallery (Eugene Thaw) New York 1950; Museu de Arte, Sao Paulo, Brazil 1951; Miami Museum of Modern Art, Miami, Florida 1959; Loft Gallery, New York City, 1966.Group Exhibitions: Hugo Gallery, New York 1947; Salon des Realities Nouvelles, Paris 1949-1953; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (Annual) 1951-1953, 1963; Biennale of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1951; International Independent Exhibition, Tokyo, 1951; Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, 1959; The Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, Ohio, 1960; Stuttman Gallery, New York, 1960; The Art Institute of Chicago (Annual), 1960; International Watercolor Exhibition, Brookyln Museum, 1961; Westchester Art Museum, White Plains, NY, 1963; Whitney Museum, Annual, NY 1963; Cleveland Art Festival, Park Synagogue, Cleveland, 1963; Whitney Museum, Sculpture Annual, NY, 1964.Works in Institutional Collections: Museu de Arte, San Paulo, Brazil; Museu de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina; New York University, New York; Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; Finch College, NY; Barnard College, NY; Metropolitan Museum, Whitney Museum and Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL. Awards: National Council Arts Awards, 1968. Frederic Karoly died on December 15, 1987 at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Manhattan, where he had made his home for many years. Fredric Karoly was born in Budapest in 1893. According to Karoly’s own vitae, his exhibition history began in New York in 1947, when at the age of 54 he took part in a four-person group show at Hugo Gallery. His involvement with visual art however was apparently life long. In a brief introduction to his solo show at Galerie Mai in Paris in June of 1949, Jen Luc de Rudder, reports that Karoly began painting at the age of 12 in Budapest. After several years of studying, then working in London, Paris and Berlin, Karoly emigrated to the United States in 1925 or 1926 (he probably first came to the US on a work visa in 1925). In New York, Karoly worked in women’s fashion as a designer. In 1948 Karoly worked in a manner than was clearly influenced by the work of such European surrealists as Max Ernst, creating spiked automatic bi-chromatic paintings. His style progressed into a progressively more biomorphic vein, similar to explorations by Theodore Stamos, Daphnis, Milton Avery and Mark Rothko around the same period. He was supported with patronage during this period by Mrs. Mimi Baliff, who apparently supported the “Industrial Design Workshop” that she helped open to feature Karoly’s designs in 1948. By the early 1950’s (1951) Karoly started experimenting with the drip and splatter process as well. Drip paintings dominated his process until the late 50’s-early 60’s, when linear compositional elements began to reemerge. By the late 50’s multi-layered drip grid motifs asserted a masque of spatial organization over looser washed fields and splatters of paint that Karoly worked off of. This development was consistent with concurrent explorations into the grid by artist Agnes Martin and others. By the mid-50’s Karoly’s style began another transition into a more surface concerned “Color Field” style of painting. There are elements still reminding one of Abstract Expressionist concerns as such painters as Clifford Still. But the works that began to emerge from Karoly’s studio in 1958 presaged the Morris Lewis fan motifs and Friedl Dzubas’s epic and romantic color spewing expanses of canvas. In 1959 Karoly began experiments using washes of turpentine diluted oil paint directly onto raw linen, and all of these subsequently suffered the consequences of oil oxidation and acidity upon the surfaces. However, many of Karoly’s washes in color field happily occurred on lightly prepared primed canvas surfaces as well. By 1960 Karoly began reintroducing imagistic references to his visual content. There were also various references to Japanese and Zen influences. He experimented with a variety of processes that included mixed media and marbleized surfaces achieved by the intermixture of oil and water mediums. A calligraphic element also enter Karoly’s work in the early 60’s. Then in 1961 glued and assembled objects begin to show up in Karoly’s work in earnest. The influence of early POP artists, particularly Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg, become apparent. From 1961-63, a series of the assemblage works transition from canvas to the sculptural to pieces obviously intended for full scale installation. Many of these pieces were among the most fragile of his works primarily due to their reliance upon the of gluing of objects such as plastic or paper cups on flexible surfaces of stretched linen or canvas. In the mid-60’s Karoly apparently produced a number of photo-silk screened series of Picasso, De Kooning and other significant artists of his generation. These were executed in a style somewhere between Rauschenberg’s and Roy Lichtenstein’s, primarily because of their reliance upon half tones and Ben-Day dot effects. Then Karoly began a series of paintings conflating his drip and grid styles with super imposed and painted over string. In the late 60’s Karoly embarked upon a series of multi-paneled stretched linen constructions often with slits and fiber optic back-lit elements that were prescient of the work of Dan Flavin and others. It was this body of work that was shown at Hofstra University’s Emily Lowe Gallery, and it was these works that suffered perhaps the most irreparable damage from a steam/water infiltration in a space where they were being stored. The late professional start that Karoly had into the art world was balanced by his long life span and early immersion into the design issues of modernism as it emerged in turn of the century Europe and later evolved in America. He was clearly an artist who subscribed to the ethos of the new in abstraction and was obviously impressionable and in some instances prescient with regard to various trends in abstraction. Several noteworthy and influential collectors and institutions during his 40 years of professional engagement acquired his work. The Whitney Museum of American Art had and may still own a large Karoly canvas from 1960, but this is doubtful as the artist failed to list it on the vitae he filed with MoMA in 1965. His work was recognized and honored by the Whitney with its inclusion in four of their annual survey shows (1951,1953, 1963 and 1964). The artist’s surrealist influenced paintings from 1948-1950 were the focus of a solo exhibition held of his work by the Museo de Art in Sao Paulo and eight years later a ten year survey of his work was the focus of a solo show at the Miami Museum of Modern art. The Sao Paulo Museum in Brazil, and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, Argentina each acquired Karoly paintings for their collections in the 1950’s. One of Karoly’s surrealist pieces was apparently purchased by Christian Zervos, Picasso’s designated chronicler, who apparently also wrote a piece on Karoly in Cahiers D’Art in 1949. A 60’s piece of Karoly art that is in the New York University’s permanent collection is included in the MoMA Library’s catalog...

Waves is an original tempera and Cina ink drawing on paper, realized by Marguerite Callet-Carcano With pencil signature on lower right margin. In very good condition, except for a little missing of paper on lower left margin. Marguerite Callet-Carcano (Milan, 1878) Marguerite Callet-Carcano was an Italian-Belgian graphic artist, illustrated books like Drame and Savonarole. Drame by Iwan Gilkin (1926), Les Chimères by Georges Rency (1928), René by François-René Chateaubriand and a reprint by Adolphe by Benjamin Constant. In addition to the xilograph technique, she also used the linoleum one. She engraved the portrait of Charles De Coster...

LAYERED HORIZON Size: 50 x 70 cm (including frame) Oil on canvas An engaging and striking mid-century abstract landscape painting that captures a dynamic and expressive interpretat...

Nicely painted mid century hard edge abstract by Gabrielle Roos. Oil on canvas. Signed verso.

This is a one of kind Lucien Durand, signed by the artist. It is part of my private collection.

This painting by Lucien Durand is an original and part of my private collection since the 1970's.

Abstract Expressionist Composition by Gilbert Pelissier (French born 1924) signed oil painting on canvas, unframed inscribed verso dated 68' canvas size: 35 x 46 inches condition: ov...

In a poetic gesture and controlled chaos, this artwork by American painter Wesley Johnson navigates between dissolution and recomposition, offering an immersive, rhythmic exploration...

Title: Original Oil Painting of a Bouquet of Anemones in Full Bloom on a Glass Table Artist: Roland Pichard Medium: Oil on oil paper, mounted on card Size: 13.75 (height) x 10.75 ...

Antique American abstract expressionist painting. OIl on canvas. Framed. Finely painted with wonderful color palette.

Impressive early American modernist abstract still life oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed. Image size, 28H by 26L.

Title: Abstract Diptych: Still Life with Bottle and Chairs - Contemporary Oil Paintings Artist: Roland Pichard Medium: Oil on oil paper, mounted on card Size: Left piece: 13 (heig...

Erin Parish draws on patterns found in nature for the subject matter of her tactile, bold, and brilliant abstract paintings created with oil and resin on wood and canvas. Inspired by...

Untitled (Still Life), an original oil on canvas by Denis Paul Noyer, is a piece for the true collector. Noyer's use of red immediately captures the viewer, which serves as the backd...

This painting by Lucien Durand is part of my private collection. It is signed by the artist.

Trees in Bloom Along the River Landscape in Oil on Heavy Cardstock Bold oil landscape by Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985). Trees with pink and white blooms line the bank of a river. The river is shown in streaks of pink, green, and yellow, reflecting the surrounding landscape. At the far edge of the river, bright green mountains sharply rise from the bank. Acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Stamp from the Larry Miller Fine Art on verso. Unframed. Board size: 14.75"H x 22"W Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985) was an Abstract Expressionist and Bay Area Figurative School artist who studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with David Park, Elmer Bischoff and James Budd Dixon...

The Bridges over the River Seine French Expressionist artist, 20th century indistinctly signed/ titled verso oil on board, framed framed: 22 x 26 ...

French Surrealist artist, circa 1960’s oil painting on canvas with stuck on magazine art, unframed canvas: 15 x 18 inches provenance: private collection, Paris condition: overall good

Ron Stonier (1933-2001) was a dedicated Vancouver artist who was celebrated for his exploration of abstract painting. He was influenced by his mentors Gordon Smith and Jack Shadbolt ...

Antique American modernist abstract painting. Watercolor, and pastel on paper. Framed. Signed. Image size, 6.5H by 10L

Artist: Peter Stroud, British (1921 - 2012) Title: Blue on Brown Overlap Year: 1971 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, signed, dated and titled verso Size: 48 x 48 inches

Impressive early American modernist abstract oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas.

Work on wood This abstract work is distinguished by its dynamic curves and vivid colors. Dominated by shades of red, blue and green, it evokes a fluid dance of organic forms. The sin...

Incredible early American modernist still life oil painting. Housed in a great antique giltwood frame. Oil on board.

Blue Sky is an original artwork realized by Giorgio Lo Fermo (b. 1947) in 1990. Original Oil Painting on Canvas. Hand-signed and dated on the back of the canvas: G. Lo Fermo 90. V...

Joyce Kozloff Tepoztlan II, 1973 Gouache and colored pencil on paper Signed, dated and titled twice: once on the back of the work (shown) and once on the original board which has bee...

Abstract Composition signed by Serge Guerin (b. 1916), French oil painting on canvas, unframed size: 20 x 26 inches provenance: private collection, Paris, France condition: overall g...

Abstract Expressionist Composition by Gilbert Pelissier (French born 1924) signed, inscribed verso dated 78' oil painting on canvas, unframed canvas size: 16 x 31.5 inches condition:...

"First Rain at San Miguel de Allende", mixed media, acrylic and collage on canvas, signed lower left, titled, signed and dated 1984 verso, depicting a verdant tropical landscape with a pool with koi fish, in a n abstracted view with in an oak bullnose frame with burlap mat and gold liner, frame size: 53" x 37", canvas size: 48" x 32". Leonard Brooks (Canadian-Mexican artist) was born in Enfield, London, England, in 1911. He emigrated to Toronto, Canada with his parents. after seeing a lecture on Canadian art by Arthur Lismer, in which the Group of Seven painter described his love for the natural beauty surrounding them he decided he was going to become a painter. He took evening art classes at the Toronto Central Technical School (c. 1928); at the Ontario College of Art for six months under Frank Johnston. He then travelled and painted in England, France, Spain and in the United States at Woodstock, New York. On his return to Canada he settled in Toronto and in 1935 married Reva Silverman. He taught drawing, painting and graphic arts at the Northern Vocational School and was active in art circles and participated in most of the major exhibitions in Canada, and the U.S. and in the Canadian Section at the 1936 World's Fair. He began painting activities on the Great Lakes around 1939, visiting various docks and many of the ships that arrived and departed from the Great Lake ports. During World War II he left his teaching post in 1943 to enlist in the Navy (RCNVR) as an Able Seaman (1943). He was promoted to Petty Officer, then to Sub-Lieutenant in August of 1944. In September was appointed Official War Artist. Overseas he went aboard warships to paint the activities of minesweepers, motor torpedo boats off the coast of Normandy, in the Channel, off the East Coast and on the aircraft carrier HMS Puncher in waters off Scotland. On his return to Canada he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Following his army discharge he went to Mexico on a D.V.A. grant to study and decided to take up residence there with his wife Reva. The couple were early members of what became a well known colony of artists in that town, other Canadian artists such as York Wilson, Fred Taylor, Michael Forster and Fred Powell followed him there. He studied under Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros, while his wife Reva pursued photography. Their impressions of Mexico appeared in Canadian Art (Spring, 1950). Critic Rose MacDonald in the Evening Telegram wrote, "Like Siqueiros he paints in the abstract only as an exercise with a view to clarification, believing that this is the purpose of abstract painting . . . ." Since that time his figurative work evolved from abstract, to non-objective, to free-form collage acrylics with rich texture. Some of his paintings have been transposed into large tapestry works by five Mexican weavers under his direction. Leonard and Reva held a joint exhibition of their works in a number of centres including Eaton's Fine Art Galleries, Tor. (1949). Leonard Brooks has worked in a variety of media over the years including oils, acrylics, water colours, casein, duco, polymer, wax, and graphic mediums. He has written a number of books on painting techniques including: Watercolor A Challenge (1957); Oil Painting Traditional and New (1959); Wash Drawing and Casein (1961); Painting and Understanding Abstract Art (1964); Painter's Workshop (1969); Oil Painting, Basic and New Techniques (1971). He has had a lifelong love of music, is an accomplished player of the violin and has given free lessons to local Mexican children. He eventually was encouraged to head the music department at the Bellas Artes in San Miguel and as a result of his activity in music, an annual festival of chamber music is held which attracts players and listeners from around the world. He has held many solo shows during his career and his paintings have been exhibited at the following: Eaton's Fine Art Galleries, Tor.; Roberts Gallery, Tor.; the Cowie Galleries, L.A., Calif.; Childs Gal., Boston, Mass.; Ohio Univ., Athens; Kenyon College; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, San Francisco; San Antonio Biennial Interamericana, Mexico and at the 2nd Annual exhibition at San Miguel (1960) where he won 1st Prize. He is represented in the following collections: LAG, Lond., Ont.; U. Guelph; AGO, Tor.; NGC, Ott.; Can. War Museum, Ott.; Dartmouth College, N.S.; Worcester Art Museum, Mass.; Mus. of Modern Art, Mexico City; Ohio U., Athens; Slosberg Collection, Boston and in many private collections in Canada, Mexico and the United States. His teaching experience includes: Ohio U., Athens; Doon Sch. of Art, Ont.; UBC; Art Inst., San Antonio, Texas; Wells College, Aurora, N.Y. His wife Reva Silverman Brooks, began photographing his work to make a record, then gradually expanded her interest to record the Mexican people and their land. In 1952, Reva Brooks...

Stunning original oil painting by Elvic Steele depicting this surrealist fantasy abstract painting. Elvic Steele is a fascinating English painter. Her works entrance the observer, d...

Abstract Expressionist Composition by Gilbert Pelissier (French born 1924) oil painting on canvas, unframed canvas size: 16.5 x 13 inches condition: overall very good, a few minor s...

It is hard to reconcile Gershon Iskowitz's (1921-1988) aesthetic with his personal history. Born to a religious family in Poland, Iskowitz was allowed to leave Yeshiva (Jewish relig...

This painting by Lucien Durand is one of a kind and signed on the back. It is from my private collection since the 1970's.

This Modern painting by Abstract Expressionist Stanley Bate was made with oil on canvas circa 1960. In it, layers of red, yellow, white, and umber paint are expressively applied over...

Title: 1960's British Surrealist Oil Painting - Blooming Energy Abstract Artist: Elvic Steele Medium: Oil on board, unframed Size: 6 height x 4.5 width Condition: Good Provenance: a...

Nicely framed early American modernist cityscape painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed. Image size, 16 by 20 inches.

Large Aboriginal-inspired abstract oil on board. We have shown the painting hanging in 'portrait' form but it could also be hung 'landscape'. This painting shares some of the qualit...

Midnight Blue Abstract by John Horwill, ARCA (British, 1927-1997) signed oil on canvas, framed framed: 15 x 19 inches canvas : 12 x 16 inches Provenance: private collection, the Cots...

This textured, Modern Abstract Expressionist painting Stanley Bate features a neutral palette with both warm and cool undertones. Muted blues and reds seem to be incorporated into a ...

Abstract Expressionist Composition signed by Gilbert Pelissier (French born 1924) oil painting on canvas, unframed canvas size: 24 x 20 inches condition: overall very good, a few min...

Abstract Expressionist Composition signed by Gilbert Pelissier (French born 1924) oil painting on canvas, unframed canvas size: 35 x 45.75 inches condition: overall very good, a few ...

Paul Resika Skowhegan-Wesserunsett, 1976 Oil on board painting: Abstract Expressionist landscape Signed 'Resika' lower left, also signed, titled and dated on the reverse; verso also ...

Abstract Expressionist Composition by Marie Deloume (French born 1942) signed on back, inscribed verso oil painting on paper stuck on canvas, unframed canvas size: 34 x 42 inches con...