Mid-20th Century Abstract Paintings

Abstract watercolor composition bearing the influence of the earlier color-block compositions of Paul Klee. Pawel August Kontny, (Polish-German-American artist) He was born in Laurahuette, Poland, in 1923, the son of a wealthy pastry shop owner. In 1939 he began studying architecture in Breslau where he was introduced to the European masters and to the work of some of the German Expressionists, soon afterward banned as "degenerate artists" and removed from museums throughout Germany by the Nazi regime. His studies were interrupted by World War II. Drafted into the German army, traveling in many countries as a soldier, he sketched various landscapes but in 1945, he was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Italy. After the war, he studied at the Union of Nuremberg Architects to help design buildings to replace ones destroyed in the war. He recorded his impressions of the local population and the landscapes through his watercolors and drawings. Pawel Kontny thereafter moved to Nuremberg, Germany, becoming a member of the Union of Nuremberg Architects and helping to rebuild the city's historic center. He soon decided to concentrate on his professional art career. He married Irmgard Laurer, a dancer with the Nuremberg Opera. Pavel Kontny 's career as an artist was launched with his participation in an all German exhibition, held at the Dusseldorf Museum in 1952. He held one-man shows in Germany, Switzerland and the United States. During his trip to the United States in 1960, Kontny became instantly enamored with Colorado, and decided to relocate to Cherry Hills with his wife and two children. He quickly established himself in the local art community, being affiliated for a time with Denver Art Galleries and Saks Galleries. His subject matter became the Southwest. During this time he received the Prestigious Gold Medal of the Art Academy of Rome. His extensive travel provided material for the paintings he did using his hallmark marble dust technique. he also worked equally in pastel, watercolor, charcoal and pencil-and-ink. in a style which merged abstraction and realist styles, influenced by Abstract Expressionist painting and South Western American landscapes. In the early 1960s he was one of only a few European-born professional artists in the state, a select group that included Herbert Bayer (1900-1985), a member of the prewar Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, Germany, and Roland Detre (1903-2001), a Hungarian modernist painter. As a Denver, Colorado resident, Pavel Kontny exhibited at galleries and museums throughout the United States, Germany and Japan. There, he was inspired by frequent trips to Native American pueblos in the Southwest, as well as by the study of the Plains Indians of Montana and Wyoming. Over the years Kontny had a number of students and generously helped young artist by hosting exhibitions at his Cherry Hills home. For many years he generously donated his paintings to support charitable causes in Denver. Influences during his European years included German pastelist C.O. Muller, German Informel painter Karl Dahmen and Swiss artist, Hans Erni. In the early 1950s his painting style showed the influence of the Die Brücke (The Bridge), a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905 who had a major impact on the evolution of modern art in the twentieth century in Germany. By the middle of the decade his style incorporated more referential abstraction and total abstraction, resulting in part from his study of Hans Hartung, a German artist based in Paris who exhibited his gestural abstract work in Germany. The American moon landing in 1969 inspired Paul Kontny...

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...

Antique American modernist oil painting. Oil on board, circa 1950. Housed in a vintage frame. Image size, 16L x 11H. Signed.

An Abstract Expressionist cum Surreal painting by Kenneth Morrow Martin, American (1911-1983). Storm by Keith Morrow Martin, American (1911–1983)...

Professor George De Goya. PhD. MA. FRSA. Born In Budapest, 1915-1992, related to the Spanish artist Goya on his mother’s side. Educated in Budapest and France where he received a de...

Colorful Indian metallic thread abstract wall hanging or shisha . Enormous amount of hand work. Excellent quality. Shisheh or abhla bharat embroidery (Persian شيشه, abhala bharat; ...

"Untitled" is a painting by American artist David Smith. David Smith’s paintings from the 1930s rarely come to market, and when Untitled (Billiard Players) surfaced at a Christie’s auction in 2018, it created quite a stir, realizing an impressive price of $1.15 million. Painted around the same time, Untitled shares many similarities with Untitled (Billiard Players). Both paintings affirm Smith’s place among the American artists when ideas and style began to intermingle and coalesce around Picasso’s innovations. Uniquely positioned in temperament and ability, Smith was a man of considerable ambition whose direct-metal configurations would have much to do with achieving new ideas about abstraction. Yet all along, he insisted he was a painter, not a sculptor who painted. Paintings by Smith...

"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...

Antique American school modernist abstract still life oil painting. Oil on board. Signed verso. Framed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a paintedwood molding...

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

Stunning and expressive large scale oil painting by mid-century San Francisco artist Louis Earnest Nadalini (American, 1927-1995). Signed "Nadalini" lower right. Unframed. Image size...

Andre Lanskoy 1902-1976, French "Composition sur fond rouge", Circa 1962, Oil on canvas Signed lower left Certificate from Comittee Lanskoy Canvas : 25 5/8" high x 19 5/8" wide Frame: 37 3/8" high x 31 1/2" wide André Lanskoy (31 March 1902 – 24 August 1976) was a Russian painter and printmaker who worked in France. He is associated with the School of Paris and Tachisme and abstract painting movement that began during the 1940s. He was born in Moscow. After 1905, the family moved to St. Petersburg, the capital in 1909. In 1918, he went to Kiev where he painted his first paintings. During the Russian Civil War he fought in the White Army...

A Painting depicting an amusement park exploding in vibrant colors. The painting is signed "William Wright" lower right. Oil on Canvas. 20 x 24. Nicely framed.

Juanita Guccione (1904 - 1999) Study for Ladders, 1948 Gouache on paper 17 x 13 inches Signed lower left, dated, and inscribed “Study for Oil Painting...

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

Peter Sword Vintage Abstract Triptych Oil Paintings C.1970s Oil on recycled wood panels Each painting varies slightly in size Largest dimensions 24.5" w...

Voile N.3 is an original artwork realized by the Italian contemporary artist Marisa Busanel (1933-1990) in 1968. Mixed media artwork on panel (collage ...

This superb British Abstract Expressionist oil painting on board is by noted artist Bernard Kay. It was painted in London in 1955. This striking painting is a mix of shades of black ...

Diana Kurz Thelo #8, circa 1959 Signed lower left Signature and address on verso Oil on canvas 47 x 41 inches Diana Kurz (born 1936) is an Austrian-born feminist painter. In 1938, ...

Abstract Composition is a beautiful original painting in oil and mixed media on paper, realized at the beginning of the XX century by the Greek-French artist Mathéos Alkis. Hand-sign...

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...

A mid century modernist oil painting. No signature found. Circa 1960. Image size, 48"L x 32"H

Impressive early American fauvist landscape oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Image size, 25H by 30L.

Helene McKinsey Herzbrun: 1922-1984. Well listed second generation abstract American artist. She studied at the art Institute of Chicago, and under Jack Tworkov at American Universi...

Nicely painted early American modernist abstract landscape. Oil on canvas. Framed.

This stunning mid-20th-century oil and spackle painting by Henriette "Yetti" Stolz captures a bold, abstract cityscape with a dramatic bridge and towering buildings. The striking com...

Impressive early American modernist urban backyard scene. Framed. Oil on board. Signed. Image size, 18H by 24L.

This superb British Abstract Expressionist oil painting is by noted artist Bernard Kay. It was painted in 1958 and is titled Blue Psalm. It is painted in a palette of blue tones with...

"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...

Title: Battle of Constantine Artist: Antoni Pitxot i Soler (1934–2015) Technique: Oil on board Dimensions (unframed): 9 x 12.6 in Dimensions (framed): 17.3 x 20.9 in Signature: Signed in the lower right corner Period: Second half of the 20th century Provenance: Galeria d’Art Àmbit, Barcelona Description Battle of Constantine is a symbolic and fragmented composition that showcases the dreamlike world so characteristic of Antoni Pitxot. Through an array of rock-like, anthropomorphic forms, the artist constructs a mythical and dramatic landscape that suggests an epic confrontation. The vivid pink sky and tactile textures reinforce the visual tension, evoking ruins, bodies, and reliefs that seem to emerge directly from the earth. In this piece, Pitxot applies his meticulous technique and unmistakable visual language, where ambiguity is a tool for the viewer's imagination. The boundary between figure and landscape blurs, creating a poetic vision that feels both ancient and surreal. About the Artist Antoni Pitxot i Soler (1934–2015) was a prominent Catalan painter born in Figueres, Girona, into a family with a long artistic tradition. He spent much of his life in Cadaqués, where he developed a highly personal style centered on compositions of stone-like forms that resemble human and animal figures, blending nature with mythology and memory. Pitxot was a close friend and collaborator of Salvador Dalí. Their artistic connection led to Pitxot playing a key role in the creation of the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, where he later served as the museum's lifelong director. After Dalí’s death...

Vintage and usual American school painting. Oil on board.

#5-2815 A vintage fauvist style French village, oil painting on artist board displayed in a wood frame,signed lower left by Groendain

Predominantly recognized as a self-taught painter, he also worked in architectural murals, sculptures, ceramics, prints and drawings. Vigas is one...

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...

This superb large abstract oil painting is by Italian born but South African based artist Armando Baldinelli. It was painted circa 1958 after Baldinelli left Italy for South Africa a...

Sylvia Rutkoff (1919-2011) "Traffic" c.1950s Oil, sand, grout, gesso on masonite 48"x36" wood period frame Signed on reverse in pencil Collection acquired from family estate Sylvia ...

Red Optical Composition is an original artwork realized by the Italian contemporary master, Carlo Montesi in 1966. In good conditions. Tempera, oil pai...

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

Abstract Expressionist Portrait of Nude Lady by Gilbert Pelissier (French born 1924) signed, circa 1960's-1970 period oil painting on canvas, unframed canvas size: 20 x 24 inches con...

A burst of pure delight in primary colors, by a notable artist who's been exhibited at many of America's most important museums. It was painted during the mid-century resurgence of c...

3809 Floating world surreal figurative painting signed on verso Mury

Modernist abstract composition signed Geist. Oil on board, circa 1950. Signed lower right. Displayed in a wood frame. Image size, 7"L x 10"H, overall 15"L x 17"H.

This very striking exhibited Scottish Abstract oil painting is by influential Scottish artist Jack Knox. Painted in 1964, it is a vivid mix of autumnal colours, textures and brushwork that work perfectly. A brilliant example of his work from the early sixties and which was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1965. Titled and dated 21.2.64 lower right. Provenance. Exhibited Royal Scottish Academy, Exhibition 1965, Edinburgh. Condition. Oil on canvas, 51 inches by 36 inches unframed and in good condition. Housed in a gilt sixties surround frame, 53 inches by 38 inches framed and in good condition. Jack Knox RSA (1936-2015) was one of the most influential artists to work in Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century. Born John Knox to a family of tailors in Kirkintilloch, Knox studied at the Glasgow School of Art (1953-57) where his drawings were noted for their mature draughtsmanship. After graduating, Knox went to Paris to attend the atelier of Cubist artist, André L’Hȏte. During his time in Europe Knox digested the various art movements of the moment, including Surrealism, Tachisme, Colour Field and Pop Art. Visiting the great museums, he was particularly interested in Analytic Cubism and Georges Braque’s intimation, rather than description, of object. He also went to Brussels to visit the first major show of American Abstract Expressionism in Europe. He returned to Scotland eager to establish his own style, drawing on everything he had seen in Europe. In 1960 the Glasgow Herald presented an exhibition during the Edinburgh Festival of young artists from the west of Scotland. Knox was selected to show alongside George Devlin, Carole Gibbons, Anda Patterson, Douglas Abercrombie and Duncan...

Victor Brauner (1903-1966) La récapitulation de l'amour 1934 oil on canvas 50.2 x 61.2 cm Price: £85,000 GBP Provenance: Edouard Léon Théodore Mesens, Brussels Thence by descent N...

Syril Frank (American, 1929-2021) Untitled, c. 1963 Oil on canvas 44 1/2 x 47 3/4 in. Syril Harriet Frank was born in Brooklyn to Israel and Mina Kaplan. ...

Antique American abstract expressionist mixed media painting by Bernyce Alpert Winick 1922-2022. Watercolor and collage paper. Signed. Framed. ...

This original vintage 1960 abstract painting by Hilaire Hiler (1898-1966) showcases the artist's structuralist style, created in the mid-20th century while Hiler was based in New Mexico. Signed lower right, this striking piece is painted in soothing tones of pink and blue, capturing the essence of Hiler’s unique modernist approach. The framed dimensions measure 15 ½ x 18 ¾ inches, with the image size measuring 14 x 17 ½ inches. About the Artist: Hilaire Hiler was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, where he began his art education at the Rhode Island School of Design. His artistic journey led him to study at several prestigious institutions, including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art, Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, and the University of Paris in 1919. In Paris, from 1919-1934, Hiler supported himself as a jazz musician and pianist for The Jockey Club, all while immersing himself in the European art scene. After returning to the U.S. in 1934, Hiler made San Francisco his home, where he was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to paint murals in the Aquatic Park...

Striking mid century modern abstract with black, brown and orange by an unknown artist (American, 20th Century). Signed "Kimball" lower right. Unframed. Image size: 36"H x 36"W.

Antique American abstract expressionist mixed media painting by Bernyce Alpert Winick 1922-2022. Watercolor and collage paper. Signed. Framed. I...

Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Image size, 30L x 24H.

Mid Century Textural Color-Field Abstract in Royal Blue-Purple by Peter Witwer A striking mid-century textural color-field abstract in a bold color palette of royal blue-purple by San Francisco artist Peter Witwer (American, 1928-1968). This highly textured mixed media piece, c.1960's, uses a monochromatic palette that is divided into two areas of varying textural depths. The lower part of the canvas verges on sculptural, as the textured surface becomes almost three-dimensional and haunting forms emerge from the abstract purple-blue plane. Unsigned. From a collection of the artist's works. Displayed in a painted wood slate frame. Frame has been painted by the artist and is considered part of the artwork. Linen size: 26"H x 22"W. Framed size: 27"H x 23"W x 1.2"D Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Provenance: Without a will and a family that had little interest in his art, nearly all of his possessions and close to 100 paintings were turned over to SF’s Conservators Office. His friend, Albert Richard Lasker, purchased all of Peter’s possessions (including the art) and has taken care of them until this day, always sensing there was something remarkable about the collection. Wanting Peter’s work to finally be seen, Richard came to Lost Art Salon with Peter’s story after reading about the new gallery in a July, 2005 issue of the SF Chronicle. Born George Peter...

"La Liseuse" (the reader) by Magali Lucas (French b. 1915) signed, titled verso oil on canvas, in original period mirror lined frame framed: 28 x 21.5 inches canvas : 25 x 18 inches...

Seymour Fogel Untitled Oil on illustration board construction 10 x 7 1/2 inches Provenance: Estate of the artist Charles and Faith McCracken Larry and Trish Heichel Private Collection Seymour Fogel was born in New York City on August 24, 1911. He studied at the Art Students League and at the National Academy of Design under George Bridgeman and Leon Kroll. When his formal studies were concluded in the early 1930s he served as an assistant to Diego Rivera who was then at work on his controversial Rockefeller Center mural. It was from Rivera that he learned the art of mural painting. Fogel was awarded several mural commissions during the 1930s by both the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, among them his earliest murals at the Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York in 1936, a mural in the WPA Building at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair, a highly controversial mural at the U.S. Post Office in Safford, Arizona (due to his focus on Apache culture) in 1941 and two murals in what was then the Social Security Building in Washington, D.C., also in 1941. Fogel's artistic circle at this time included Phillip Guston, Ben Shahn, Franz Kline, Rockwell Kent and Willem de Kooning. In 1946 Fogel accepted a teaching position at the University of Texas at Austin and became one of the founding artists of the Texas Modernist Movement. At this time he began to devote himself solely to abstract, non-representational art and executed what many consider to be the very first abstract mural in the State of Texas at the American National Bank in Austin in 1953. He pioneered the use of Ethyl Silicate as a mural medium. Other murals and public works of art done during this time (the late 1940s and 1950s) include the Baptist Student Center at the University of Texas (1949), the Petroleum Club in Houston (1951) and the First Christian Church, also in Houston (1956), whose innovative use of stained glass panels incorporated into the mural won Fogel a Silver Medal from the Architectural League of New York in 1958. Fogel relocated to the Connecticut-New York area in 1959. He continued the Abstract Expressionism he had begun exploring in Texas, and began experimenting with various texturing media for his paintings, the most enduring of which was sand. In 1966 he was awarded a mural at the U.S. Federal Building in Fort Worth, Texas. The work, entitled "The Challenge of Space", was a milestone in his artistic career and ushered in what has been termed the Transcendental/Atavistic period of his art, a style he pursued up to his death in 1984. Painted and raw wood sculpture...

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

On board.

Roy Conn (1931–2018) 'Grater', 1968 23.5 x 41.0 cm Frame: 43.0 x 59.5 cm Painter, born in London. Trained as a structural engineer, he was mainly self-taught...

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...

An original oil on board painting by American modernist John W. Hatch. This incredible cubist landscape was created in 1952. Estate stamped and dated on the reverse. Titled, "Nahant Rocks, Lynn, MA " with a partial exhibition label on the reverse. The painting comes housed in a black wood frame presentation. John Woodsum Hatch 1919-1998 During his fifty-year career as an artist, John Woodsum Hatch explored the people, the landscape, and the seascape around him. From his extensive travels to his years in New Hampshire, he developed a body of work that captures a sense of place. Through watercolor, ink and sand, he depicted the grandeur of the White Mountains. The crisp light and distinct topography of the Isles of Shoals and Great Bay Estuary are precisely and clearly documented in acrylic and tempera paintings. His ability to convey the sheer scale and longevity of the mountains and sea, and by comparison the fleeting nature of human life, conveys in a not-so-subtle way that the natural environment is to be revered and preserved. Hatch took his first teaching job at the University of New Hampshire in 1949, the same year he graduated from Yale University. He never left. A former student, Sam Cady, described his contributions: “He was a wonderful mix of jokester and sage. A teacher who obviously loved people, loved teaching, and had a great gift for it.” After retiring in 1985, he was made an honorary Professor Emeritus at UNH. Hatch contributed to New Hampshire's cultural life in three areas: his teaching, his art, and his community service. His effectiveness in these three areas can be traced his commitment to give something of himself to help others. Many artists teach by necessity and resent it as a drain on their creative energies but Hatch found his greatest fulfillment from a combination of teaching, making art, and being deeply involved with his community as an art historian and as an environmentalist. Hatch’s work can be seen in numerous public collections, including: the Addison Gallery of American Art; DeCordova Museum; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; State of New Hampshire's Living Treasures Collection, and the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. John Woodsum Hatch, New Hampshire's 1997 Living Treasure Award recipient, died on August 6, 1998, at the age of 78. Hatch was a draftsman, an artist and a muralist. His works can be found in public and private collections throughout the region. He exhibited at the New Hampshire Art...

Hand signed by the artist lower right. Very good conditions. Certificate of authenticity of the Artist on the photograph.

Artist: George Cecil Carter (1908–1993) Medium: Oil on board Size: Image: 16 ⅞ x 9 ⅞ in Framed: 20 ⅝ x 13 ½ x 1 ⅞ in Style: Mid-Century Modern, Abstract Figurative This striking 1950s oil painting by celebrated Colorado abstract expressionist George Cecil Carter presents a modernist portrayal of a couple, believed to depict Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe. Rendered in bold brushstrokes and a rich color palette, the piece showcases Carter’s unique ability to merge abstraction with figurative expression, creating a sense of movement and emotion. Housed in a custom frame, this original mid-century artwork is a must-have for collectors of modernist and abstract figurative art. Provenance: From a private collection in Denver, Colorado. About the Artist – George Cecil Carter Born in Oklahoma in 1908, Carter became a leading figure in Colorado’s abstract expressionist movement, working alongside artists like Al Wynne, Mary Chenoweth...