20th Century Abstract Paintings

Roland Ayers (1932-2017). Untitled, 1983. Ink on paper, measures 17 x 23 inches. Unframed and unmounted. Signed and dated lower left. Ayers holds the distinction of having participated in the first important survey of African-Americans, Contemporary Black Artists in America, a 1971 show at The Whitney. Biography: Artist and art educator, Roland Ayers was born on July 2, 1932, the only child of Alice and Lorenzo Ayers, and grew up in the Germantown district of Philadelphia. Ayers served in the US Army (stationed in Germany) before studying at the Philadelphia College of Art (currently University of the Arts). He graduated with a BFA in Art Education, 1954. He traveled Europe 1966-67, spending time in Amsterdam and Greece in particular. During this period, he drifted away from painting to focus on linear figurative drawings of a surreal nature. His return home inaugurated the artist’s most prolific and inspired period (1968-1975). Shorty before his second major trip abroad in 1971-72 to West Africa, Ayers began to focus on African themes, and African American figures populated his work almost exclusively. In spite of Ayers’ travel and exploration of the world, he gravitated back to his beloved Germantown, a place he endowed with mythological qualities in his work and literature. His auto-biographical writing focuses on the importance of place during his childhood. Ayers’ journals meticulously document the ethnic and cultural make-up of Germantown, and tell a compelling story of class marginalization that brought together poor families despite racial differences. The distinctive look and design of Germantown inform Ayers’ visual vocabulary. It is a setting with distinctive Gothic Revival architecture and haunting natural beauty. These characteristics are translated and recur in the artist’s imagery. During his childhood, one of the only books in the Ayers household was an illustrated Bible. The images within had a profound effect on the themes and subjects that would appear in his adult work. Figures in an Ayers’ drawing often seem trapped in a narrative of loss and redemption. Powerful women loom large in the drawings: they suggest the female role models his journals record in early life. The drawings can sometimes convey a strong sense of conflict, and at other times, harmony. Nature and architecture seem to have an antagonistic relationship that is, ironically, symbiotic. A critical turning point in the artist’s career came in 1971 when he was included in the extremely controversial Whitney Museum show, Contemporary Black Artists in America. The exhibition gave Ayers an international audience and served as a calling card for introductions he would soon make in Europe. Ayers is a particularly compelling figure in a period when black artists struggled with the idea of authenticity. A questioned often asked was “Is your work too black, or not black enough?” Abstractionists were considered by some peers to be sell-outs, frauds or worse. Figurative* work was accused of being either sentimental or politically radical depending on the critical source. Ayers made the choice early on to be a figurative artist, but considered his work devoid of political content. Organizations such as Chicago’ s Afri-Cobra in the late 1960‘s asserted that the only true black art of any relevance must depict the black man and woman...

Abstract Geometric Composition Date: Second half of the 20th century Medium: Gouache on paper Dimensions: H 50 cm x W 65 cm approx. Description: Modular geometric structure with ove...

Mosaic abstract French School, (unsigned) late 20th century work oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 21.5 x 15 inches Provenance: private collection, France Condition: a few minor surfa...

Antique American impressionist beach scene oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Measuring 27 by 31 inches overall and 20 by 24 painting alone. In excellent original condition...

George Dannatt (1915-2009) Painting 1960 1960 Gouache on paper Image: 25.4 x 28.9 cm Frame: 48.0 x 50.3 cm Provenance: The George and Ann Dannatt Estate, The George Dannatt Trust...

Louis CARMEIL (1920-1999) Untitled, anthropomorphic composition, 1971 Oil on canvas Signed and dated on the back 48 x 36 cm Nothing predestined the man nicknamed the “painter butch...

Abstract Portrait French School, mid 20th century oil on board, unframed 36 x 25 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: very good and sound condition though there i...

Antique American modernist abstract expressionist oil painting. No signature found.

Abstract Expressionist Original Gouache on paper and Collage Abstract Gouache and Paper Collage by Harold Winer (American, 1913-2006). Image 30"H x 40"W Slat with white paint .25" ...

Title: Original Oil Painting of Vibrant Still Life with Fruit Bowl and Sliced Fruit Artist: Roland Pichard Medium: Oil on oil paper, mounted on card Size: 13 (height) x 9.5 (width...

Abstract Expressionist Composition by Jacques COULAIS (1955-2011) gouache painting on paper/ card unframed: 10.75 x 8.25 inches condition: excellent provenance: all the paintings we ...

Antique American modernist street scene painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a late 19th century fluted cove giltwood molding. E...

Wonderfully painted sunset coastal beach scene. Framed. Oil on canvas. Image size, 20"H by 24"L.

Title: French Impressionist Regatta Scene with Colourful Sails and Seaside Village By Fanch Lel Signed: Yes Size: 18 x 21.5 inches (height x width) Oil painting on cardboard, unframe...

Impressive early American impressionist landscape painting. Oil on board. Housed in a period impressionist giltwood frame. Excellent condition.

'Sailing at Kennebec, Maine' by Jason Schoener. Framed Abstract, Whitney Museum, Mills College, ASL, CCAC ---- Signed lower right, 'Schoener' for Jason Schoener (American, 1919-1997...

Beautiful abstract Minimalist painting by unknown artist. Dated 1977. Oil on canvas measures 36 x 60 inches. Signed and dated lower right.

Vintage American modernist abstract landscape oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Measuring: 4 by 5 inches overall, and 3 by 4.75 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. H...

Edward Avedisian (American, 1936-2007) Abstract Large Painting Acrylic on panel heavily textured with a 3D effect. Dimensions: 48"h x 75"w Circa late 1970s, early 1980s Provenance: ...

Budd Hopkins, American (1931-2011) 'City Sun II', 1969 Oil painting on canvas. Hand signed and dated lower left. Verso: Artist, title, and year in pencil on stretcher. Dimensions: 36" H x 52" w. Frame: 37.25" h x 53.25" w. Budd Hopkins was one of the leading proponents of the "hard-edge" abstract minimalist school of painting in the 1950s and 1960s, Budd Hopkins (born 1931) created works that show the strong influence of Jackson Pollock and other leading painters of the Abstract Expressionism movement. Hopkins' paintings are now in numerous major collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Hirshhorn Collection in Washington, DC. Recently, he has also been recognized for his research into the matter of UFOs and one of his books, "The Intruders", printed by Random House, was on the New York Times best-seller list and was the basis for a television show on CBS. Born in 1931, he is a graduate of Linsly Military Institute (now Linsly School) in 1949 and Oberlin College in 1953. He first displayed artistic abilities when, as a child recovering from a long-term illness, he began to create sculptures of ships made out of modeling clay. But it wasn't until he arrive at Oberlin that he made a serious study of art. Later, Hopkins included abstracted figures in his sculptural pieces. While moving away from Abstract Expressionism, Hopkins retained in his work the use of intense colors and hard-edged forms. His works of the 1980s, including Temples and Guardians, featured these "sentinels" who were, according to Hopkins, "participating in a frozen ritual, fixed – absolutely – within a privileged space..." Though Hopkins denied any connection, some critics viewed these ritualistic pieces as an extension of Hopkins' fascination with alien beings. Hopkins viewed his sculpted guardians not as human per se, but as magical, fierce, noble robots of the unconscious. He settled in New York after obtaining his degree and has had a residence there ever since. He and his wife, April Kingsley, and their daughter, Grace, divide their time between their home at Cape Cod, Mass., and that in New York City. In his work, he travels widely. He has exhibited in England, Finland, Italy and Switzerland. In 1963, Hopkins was selected by the Columbia Broadcasting System as one of the 15 painters featured in the network's first television special on American art. In 1958, Art News picked him as one of 12 Americans for exhibition in Spoleto, Italy, in the "Festival of Two Worlds." His brilliance has won him a number of fellowships and awards. In 1972, the West Virginia Arts and Humanities Council awarded him its Commission Prize. In 1976, he received the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for Painting and in '79 he received a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts. He also won a special project grant from the New York State Council on the Arts in 1982. He was friends with Robert Ryman and many of the other 10th street avant garde artists. He was an original member of March Gallery which showed Alice Baber, Elaine de Kooning, Mark di Suvero, Lester Johnson, Matsumi Kanemitsu. His work was handled by Poindexter Gallery. (a major gallery founded in 1955 in New York City by Elinor Poindexter. The gallery specialized in sculpture, abstract, and figurative art and featured the works of such artists as Richard Diebenkorn, Jules Olitski, Nell Blaine, Al Held, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Earl Kerkam, Milton Resnick and Robert De Niro, among others. His art has been featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Bronx Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Whitney Museum, Corcoran Gallery, Guggenheim Museum, Queens Museum in New York, and the Public Library of New York. He was included in Young America 1960: Thirty American Painters Under Thirty-Six buy Lloyd Goodrich at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC. Artists included: Sonia Gechtoff, Edward Giobbi, Ron Gorchov, James Harvey, Budd Hopkins, Wolf Kahn, Alex Katz, Robert Natkin, Rudy Pozzatti, Dean Richardson, Frank Roth, William Wiley, and Noriko Yamamoto...

Pierre Marie Brisson is a French painter known for his Iconographic style. His work appropriates the forms, concepts, and imagery of art history. Spanning from prehistoric art to Roc...

Larry Poons Midget Racer, 1963 Colored Pencil on Graph Paper Signed, titled, and dated by the artist on the lower right front Original frame with gallery label included Provenance: H...

A unique abstract expressionist pastel drawing by an unknown artist. Depicting a mans face as the focal point with what appears to be chu...

Antique American school abstract expressionist painting. Oil on board. Signed. In excellent original condition. Nicely framed in a period wood molding. Excellent condition, read...

A rare color lithograph by late French artist, Éliane Thiollier. Edition of 275, certificate of authentication is provided. Minor acid staining from the old mat. Éliane Thiollier s...

Abstract Expressionist Composition by Gilbert Pelissier (French born 1924) signed, inscribed verso oil painting on canvas, unframed canvas size: 36 x 29 inches condition: overall ver...

This abstract expressionist painting is by Carol Sutton. At the age of only twenty-two years, a portfolio of sixteen serigraphs by Carol Sutton became part of a collection at the Sm...

Paul Laoria Reflections V, c. late 20th/early 21st century Spray paint and oil paint on canvas 24 x 30 in. Signed lower right, signed and inscribed verso Paul Laoria grew up in New ...

This signed painting by acclaimed African-American artist David Hammons displays an early experimental use of painted material during the artist’s formative years at Otis Art Institu...

Vintage abstract beach scene oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a wood molding. Excellent condition, ready to han...

American modernist abstract expressionist oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed verso.

Expressive black and white abstract, with scribbled linear patterns in the style of Jean-Michel Basquiat, by by Bay Area artist Michael Pauker (American, b.1957). circa 1977. Oil on canvas. Titled "Baldwin" and dated "Summer 77" on verso. Here he revisits a piece he did early in his carrier of the same title "Baldwin" in 1967. Unframed. Image size: 16"H x 12"W. “I’m driven by curiosity...where it comes from I can’t tell you; it’s just there. And early 20th-century modernist art is the thing that I keep returning to.” - Michael Pauker Bay Area artist and art educator Michael Pauker was born in New York in 1957 and knew he wanted to be an artist from the age of 15. He earned a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts at SUNY Purchase in his native state of New York. In 1989 he went on to earn an M.F.A at Mills College in Oakland and was awarded the City of Oakland Artist Fellowship in Painting. He has been a Bay Area resident since 1988. His work has been exhibited widely across the U.S., as well as in Japan and Costa Rica, and is included in the collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Exhibitions include: 2007 Contemporary Art Museum, San Jose, Costa Rica 2007 “The Ebay Art Project,” Works/San Jose, San Jose, CA 2003 “Found Imagery: The Art of Collage,” Fresno Art Museum,Fresno, CA 2003 “Cut, Copy, Paste,” De Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA 2003 “20th Annual Exhibition,” Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA 2002 “40 by 40,” Adam Baumgold Gallery, N.Y., NY 2002 “Works on Paper,” Bryant St. Gallery, Palo Alto, CA 2002 Dolby...

Impressive early American modernist abstract expressionist large oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed. Image size, 31H by 41L.

Superb Modern British abstract painting dating to 1969. The work is signed with the artists initials "RG" and dated 1969. The painting captures an amazing array of bright and colou...

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

Large and powerful French modern street scene. A paris view by Claude Aliotti (1925 - 1989). Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Image size, 18"L x 24"H.

Abstracted landscape by an unknown artist (20th Century). The landscape is made up of patches of color, reminiscent of viewing agricultural land f...

Stunning - bold - bright and colourful! All words that wonderfully describe this vibrant burst of colour on the wall! The painting is by the relatively undiscovered abstract painter...

Howard Daum Untitled, 1972 Signed and dated on verso Oil on board 10 1/8 x 8 inches Howard Daum was born in Poland. His family lived in Lodz until he turned 14, when he and his mother left the counrtry. They settled in Montreal, Canada, where Daum learned from the artist Alexander Bercovitch from 1934 to 1937. In 1938, Daum and his mom traveled to New York and chose the Bronx as their home. After finishing high school in 1940, Daum received a scholarship to the Art Students League. There, he learned from teachers like Will Barnet, Cameron Booth, Morris Kantor, Harry Sternberg, and Vaclav Vytlacil, who was a key mentor. Vytlacil had studied under modern painter Hans Hofmann in Munich in 1921 and helped start the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. In 1943 and 1944, Daum served in the U. S. Army in Mississippi before coming back to New York. During 1944 and 1945, he had lessons with Hofmann at his school in Greenwich Village. Daum's art during this time became more abstract, using bold and bright colors with clear brushstrokes. The space in his work was very shallow, with objects like figures and easels overlapping each other. Some of Daum’s artist friends, such as Robert Barrell, Peter Busa, and Steve Wheeler...

Vintage American modernist abstract expressionist figural painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed.

5-2738a Acrylic on artist board Displayed in a vintage gilt wood frame Image size 11x15"

Title: Original Oil Painting of Serene Landscape with Cypress Tree and Rolling Hills Artist: Roland Pichard Signed: Verso Medium: Oil on oil paper, mounted on card Size: 8.5 (hei...

This piece is part of my private collection of 20th Century artists that were part of the School of Paris era. This piece is original and signed by Pelayo and numbered.

Contemporary acrylic abstract using eye catching hues of orange, red, green and blue, circa 1970. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold border. Archival p...

"Abstract Design" by Arlette Martin (French, b.1924) signed and dated 85' gouache/watercolour painting on card, unframed painting: 12 x 8.75 inches Stunning original painting by t...

American modernist abstract cityscape oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed. Image size, 30H by 24L.

Désert (artist inventory no. 121) is a unique medium size contemporary modern abstract geometric painting on canvas by French artist Charles Bézie. The painting is an early career wo...

Title: French Impressionist Harbour Scene with Fishing Boats and Whitewashed Houses By Fanch Lel Size: 15 x 18.25 inches (height x width) Oil painting on cardboard, unframed Conditio...

'Expressions in Bloom: Portraits from the 20th Century III', oil on canvas mounted on board, Florentine School (circa 1980s-90s). This gallery has acquired a number of paintings thro...

Antique French modernist abstract portrait oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed. Measuring: 55 by 31 inches overall, and 24 by 48 painting alone. In excellent original condi...

A peaceful early 20th-century landscape by J.M. Livens, signed and dated 1924 on the reverse. The painting depicts a wide meadow under soft afternoon light, bordered by trees and pun...

Delicate layered collotype on heavy bond paper by Patricia A. Pearce (American, b. 1948). This piece is unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of other Pearce work. No frame. I...

Impressive early American modernist abstract oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed. Image size, 16H by 20L.

Artist: Thelma Speed Houston – American (1914-2000) Title: Trafalgar Year: unknown Medium: Watercolor on heavy watercolor paper Sheet size: 18 x 24 inches Signature: Signed lower lef...

Impressive early American modernist abstract oil painting. Framed. Oil on board. Signed.

Wonderful early American modernist abstract expressionist oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed.

Impressive early American modernist abstract oil painting. Framed. Oil on board. Image size, 36H by 28L.

Red and Black By French artist Gabriel Jenny, 20th Century Oil painting on canvas, unframed Signed by the artist on the lower right hand corner Canvas size: 25.5 x 32 inches Dramati...

This lithograph is part of my private collection. It is limited in edition artist pencil signed lower right and is in very good condition. Roger Bezombes a print maker born in Paris ...

'Prisms of Identity: A Portrait Series III', Florentine School (circa 1980s-90s). This new collection represents some of the most appealing works we have acquired to date from our Fl...