Mid-20th Century Abstract Paintings

James Brooks (1906-1992). Plantlike, c.1945. Oil on canvas measures 18 x 24 inches; 24 x 30 inches in a painted wood frame of the period. Signed "J. David Brooks" lower right, Signed...

Vintage American school abstract expressionist oil painting by Ray Prohaska (1901 - 1981). Oil on board. Very nice period frame. Signed. Exhibited at Mortimer Levitt Gallery. Im...

Title: Original Oil Painting of Mediterranean Landscape with Cypress Trees Artist: Roland Pichard Signed: Bottom right Medium: Oil on oil paper, mounted on card Size: 9.5 (height...

Antique American modernist landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas board. Framed. Measuring: 21 by 27 inches overall, and 18 by 24 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. Ha...

AMIDST THE BLOOM Size: 48 x 57 cm (including frame) Oil on canvas A vibrant mid-century abstract composition with bold colours and expressive brushwork, painted in oil onto canvas.....

Very impressive early American abstract expressionist painting. Oil on board. Framed. Signed. Housed in a wonderful period wide modernist frame.

It's 1951. Who was doing painting like this? Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell, Lee Kra...

Murray Hantman (1904-1999). Untitled, ca. 1950-55. Oil on canvas measures 20 x 26 inches, 26 x 32 inches in silver leaf vintage frame.. Signed lower right. Excellent condition with ...

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

Modernist mixed media abstract portrait. Framed. Mixed media original collage. Signed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a wood molding. Excellent condition, r...

This superb sixties large British abstract oil painting is by noted female artist Anne Dunn. Painted in 1966 it is an abstract composition in a palette of brown orange and blacks on white showing British St Ives School influences of Terry Frost and British Abstraction. An interesting sixties vibrant abstract and an excellent example of Dunn's work. Signed and dated 66 lower right. Provenance. London estate. Condition. Oil on board, 30 inches by 25 inches unframed, in good condition. Framed in a gallery float mount frame 40 inches by 35 inches. Excellent condition. Anne Dunn (born 4 September 1929) is an English artist associated with the second generation of the School of London. Born in London, England, Dunn is the daughter of the Canadian steel magnate Sir James Dunn, 1st baronet (1874–1956) and his second wife, Irene Clarice Richards, a former musical-comedy actress who had previous been married to Francis Douglas, 11th Marquess of Queensberry. Dunn studied in London at Chelsea School of Art (1949–50) and at the Anglo-French Centre (1952) under Henry Moore and guest artist Fernand Léger before going to the Académie Julian in Paris, France in 1952. Dunn's art has been exhibited in Europe and North America and can be seen at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, the Arts Council Collection in London, and many private collections. Two drawings and two paintings are in the Government Art Collection: U.K. Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Her first solo show was at the Leicester Galleries of London in 1957, with subsequent shows there in 1959, 1960, 1962, and 1964. Thereafter her major exhibitions took place in New York with shows at the Fischbach Gallery in 1967, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1989. In 1990 Dunn had a solo show at the Christopher Hull Gallery in London. Her most recent solo show was in 2005 at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York. Her close friendships with poets resulted in illustrations and covers for books by John Ashbery, William Corbett, Barbara Guest and James Schuyler...

Tristan Fabris 1950's, French Surrealist artist Abstract Surrealist Figurative study oil on canvas, framed signed and dated 55' inscribed verso framed: 25 x 33 inches canvas: 23 x 32...

Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Signed. Measuring: 19 by 23 inches overall, and 17 by 21 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. H...

This vertical format abstract painting by Modernist artist Stanley Bate measures at 26" x 50" framed. The original gold-hued floater frame pulls out the vibrant and warm pops of yell...

A magnificent 1931 Art Deco painting by master artist John Storrs. Artwork size: 18" x 12". Framed Size: 21 1/4" x 21 3/4". In a handsome, dark fram...

Gene Davis (1920-1985) American, Washington, D.C. “Batman” 1975 Graphite and acrylic on raw canvas Signed on reverse: Gene Davis 1975 Batman Davis is known primarily for the stripe...

Martin Rosenthal "House with Yellow Windows" c. 1960s Encaustic & Oil paint on paper 20"x13" unframed Signed and dated in ink lower left Martin Rosent...

Abstract Expressionist Sky Composition by Gerard Guegueniat (French 1970's) signed oil painting on board, framed framed: 21.5 x 27 inches board: 18 x 12 inches provenance: private co...

A Transendental Abstraction by famed Chicago Modernist, William S. Schwartz titled "Impressions of the West #7". Anecdotally, Schwartz's notable "Impressions of the West" series wer...

Monumental Red Abstract Milburn Smith March 1969 Acrylic paint on canvas 65 x 64 x 1.25 Signed and dated lower right in ink Very Good Condition: Consistent with age and history. Fro...

Ken Scott (American, 1918 – 1991) Dreamscape Pen and ink on paper Signed ‘Ken Scott’ (on the reverse) 10.7/8 x 7.3/8 in. (27.8 x 18.5 cm.) Ken Scott was a fashion designer known fo...

His first name sounds like a concerto. Vivacious, its name is reminiscent of an aperitif or a cyclist. The addition of the two evokes the Italianate. Indomitable and unavoidable. Mor...

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

Pure mid century abstract expressionist painting. Great colors and movement. Oil on canvas. Framed. No signature found.

Three Freedoms - Worship, Communication and Assembly, February, 1960, mixed media on paper, signed lower right, 28 x 19 3/4 inches, exhibited Portrait of Freedom, Lehigh Art Alliance...

George Dannatt (1915-2009) Aigues - Mortes 1961 Gouache on paper Image: 11.4 x 22.8 cm Frame: 38.7 x 48.9 cm Exhibition 1981 May. Newlyn Gallery: Retrospective Exhibition Pr...

A commanding piece of Mid-Century abstraction, this painting composition by American artist Canthi—signed and dated 1961—exudes raw, architectural energy layered over a vivid color f...

Antique American modernist New England barn oil painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1960. Signed illegibly. Image size, 24L x 20H. Framed in a period f...

A modern abstract collage and oil on panel by American artist James Koenig. This Untitled work created in 1969 will be featured in our exhibition "Draw Near" which will run from Mar...

* No US duty or taxes to pay on this item * A beautiful c.1950 French abstract gouache on canvas depicting a desert landscape. Excellent quality work in vibrant colours. Presented in its original painted pine frame. Artist: French School, mid 20th century...

“PORT CORSE” BY CHARLES LEVIER (1920-2003) Oil on Canvas ⚜ Signed ⚜ Framed A MASTERPIECE OF POST-IMPRESSIONISM & CUBISM An exquisite example of Charles Levier’s signature style,...

Colorful mid century abstract expressionist painting by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). From the estate of Les Anderson in Monterey, California. Unframed. Titled...

Painted by Victor di Gesu (American, 1914-1988) circa 1955, and with Di Gesu estate stamp verso. Winner of the Prix Othon Friesz, Victor di Gesu first attended the Los Angeles Art C...

Large Scale Mid 20th Century Acrylic Painting by Vanguard Studios Signed Van Gaard Classic 1950s to 1960s acrylic painting of a guitar against a colorful ab...

French modernist artist, circa 1970's signed oil on canvas canvas: 19.5 x 23.5 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: very good and sound condition

Portrait of a Child French abstract artist, circa 1960's circle of Pablo Picasso oil on board, unframed board: 26 x 21 inches provenance: private collection, Luberon Valley, Provence...

CHARLES LEVIER – "[MÉLODIE COSMIQUE]" ⚜ Oil on board ⚜ Hand signed lower right ⚜ Custom frame SURREALIST-INFLECTED MID-CENTURY ABSTRACTION In [Mélodie cosmique], Charles Levier depa...

The Harbor signed by Léon Schwartz -Abrys ( 1905 - 1990) French School, expressionist dated 1983 verso oil on board, unframed board: 25.5 x 21.5 inches Provenance: private collecti...

Charming Garden Path Mid 20th Century signed by Regine David (French mid 20th century, female) oil on canvas, framed framed: 21 x 25 inches canvas: 19.5 x 24.5 inches Provenance: private collection, Paris Condition: very good condition Description: This vibrant oil painting by Régine...

Incredible early American modernist interior scene by Anthony Toney (1913 - 2004) . Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed. Measuring 26 by 32 overall and 18 by 24 painting alone.

Sam Maitin (1928-2004). Seated Figure, ca. 1970. Charcoal, gouache and decorative paper collage. Measuring 15.5 x 20.5 inches; 22.75 x 27.75 inches framed. Signed lower left. Excellent condition. Period frame original to the piece in mahogany with natural wood grain on sides and 22k gold leaf gilt face. After graduating from Simon Gratz High School, Maitin won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts). A painter, printmaker, sculptor, muralist, graphic designer, political activist, and beloved teacher, Maitin headed the Visual Graphics Communication Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication from 1965–1972 and served on the board of Woodmere Art Museum from 1995–2004. He received a number of awards, including a 1968 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. He created murals and other public art for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University’s Kornberg School of Dentistry, the Please Touch Museum, and Hahnemann University Hospital, among others. Maitin's work is museum collections in the United States and Europe, including (but not limited to): Philadelphia Museum of Art Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Museum of Modern Art, New York Tate Gallery, London Bauersche Geisserie, Germany Oakland Museum, California Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Currier Gallery of Art...

Roger Lersy, French (1920 - 2004) Oil on canvas Signed, R. Lersy, dated 1961 lower right Measuring 35 X 31 Matted and framed. sight 26 X 21.5 Roger Lersy was born in Paris, France ...

A fine abstract expressionist painting by well known Italian artist Afro Basaldella, known more as Afro (1912-1976). Afro was born in Udine, Italy, and showed his work when he was si...

Impressive early American modernist abstract oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed. Image size, 20H by 24L. Excellent ready to hang condition. Impressive colors and compo...

French Expressionist circa 1970's signed and dated oil on canvas canvas: 25.5 x 32 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: very good and sound condition, age related...

This superb Scandinavian abstract art oil painting is by Danish artist Borg Herman Hansen. It was painted in 1961 and is entitled verso Klippe Fragment meaning rock fragment. It is p...

John Costigan (1888-1972) oil on canvas, circa: 1950s. In excellent condition. Exciting Expressionist Painting of a lively Carnival Scene. Signed lower right: ''J.E. Costigan", Title...

Jennie Haddad (1906-1996) Dallas Artist Image Size: 40.5 x 26 Frame Size: 49 x 34.5 Medium: Mixed Media on paper. "Patch Work" Biography Signed and Estate Stamp Jennie Haddad (1906-1...

Cubist Interior Scene Marcel Seignobos (1892-1972) signed oil on canvas, unframed Canvas : 18 x 22 inches Provenance: private collection, Cote d'Azur, France Condition: good conditio...

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

A fine abstract expressionist floral still life oil painting by Vietnamese artist Jean Volang (1921-2005). Volang was born in Hue, Vietnam and received hi...

A pair of original mid century acrylic on canvas paintings. Wonderful as a pair but dynamic enough to occupy two distinct spaces. The reverse shows a mystery monogram and a date of...

This stunning Modernist Untitled Color Field Oil Painting in Earth Tones signed Herbert MacDonald originates from the United States, Circa 1968. Features a rectangular composition in...

This framed 26.5" x 31" oil painting by an unknown French constructivist artist uses a dynamic palette of bright colors in a geometric abstraction to create an industrial assemblage ...

De Hirsh Margules (1899-1965). Christopher Street, 1939. Watercolor on Arches wove paper. Signed and dated in pencil by artist lower margin. Sheet measures 15.5 x 20 inches. Window in matting measures 15 x 19 inches. Framed measurement: 23 x 30 inched. Bears fragment of original label affixed on verso. Incredibly vibrant and saturated color with no fading or toning of sheet. Provenance: Babcock Galleries, NYC Exhibited: The American Federation of Arts Traveling Exhibition. From the facade of The Waverly at Christopher is depicted One Christopher Street, the 16-story Art Deco residential building erected in 1931. It is not a casual coincidence that the structure appears in this cityscape: 1 Christopher Street is the subject. The original intention of this project was to transform the neighborhood, bring a bit of affluence and make a bid to rival the Upper West Side. Margules, a sensitive aesthete, understood how a massive piece of architecture such as One changes a neighborhood. Sound, scale and focal points are forever altered. A pedestrian's sense of depth and distance becomes pronounced. All of these factors contribute to the intent behind this image. Tall buildings disrupt the human scale, change the skyline and carve up space. In this piece, negative space conforms to the man-made geometries. Clouds become gems fixed in settings. De Hirsh Margules (1899–1965) was a Romanian-American "abstract realist" painter who crossed paths with many major American artistic and intellectual figures of the first half of the 20th century. Elaine de Kooning said that he was "[w]idely recognized as one of the most gifted and erudite watercolorists in the country". The New York Times critic Howard Devree stated in 1938 that "Margules uses color in a breath-taking manner. A keen observer, he eliminates scrupulously without distortion of his material." Devree later called Margules "one of our most daring experimentalists in the medium" Margules was also a well-known participant in the bohemian culture of New York City's Greenwich Village, where he was widely known as the "Baron" of Greenwich Village.[1] The New York Times described him as "one of Greenwich Village's best-known personalities" and "one of the best known and most buoyant characters about Greenwich Village. Early Life De Hirsh Margules was born in 1899 in the Romanian city of Iași (also known as Iasse, Jassy, or Jasse). When Margules was 10 weeks old, his family immigrated to New York City. Both of his parents were active in the Yiddish theater, His father was Yekutiel "Edward" Margules, a "renowned Jewish actor-impresario and founder of the Yiddish stage." Margules' mother, Rosa, thirty-nine years younger than his father, was an actress in the Yiddish theater and later in vaudeville. Although Margules appeared as a child actor with the Adler Family[11] and Bertha Kalich, his sister, Annette Margules, somewhat dubiously continued in family theater and vaudeville tradition, creating the blackface role of the lightly-clad Tondelayo (a part later played on film Hedy Lamarr) in Earl Carroll's 1924 Broadway exoticist hit, White Cargo. Annette herself faced stereotyping as an exotic flower: writing about her publicist Charles Bouchert stated that "Romania produces a stormy, temperamental type of woman---a type admirably fitted to portray emotion." His brother Samuel became a noted magician who appeared under the name "Rami-Sami." Samuel later became a lawyer, representing magician Horace Goldin, among others. A family portrait including a young De Hirsh, a portrait of Rosa and Annette together, and individual photos of Rosa and Edward can be found on the Museum of the City of New York website. At around age 9 or 10, Margules took art classes with the Boys Club on East Tenth Street, and his first taste of exhibition was at a student art show presented by the club. By age 11, he had won a city-wide prize (a box camera) at a children's art show presented by the department store Wanamakers. As a young teenager, Margules was already displaying a characteristic kindness and loyalty. Upon hearing that two friends (one of them was author Alexander King), were in trouble for breaking a school microscope, the nearly broke Margules gave them five dollars to repair the microscope . Margules had to approach a wealthy man that Margules had once saved on the subway from a heart attack. Margules didn't reveal the source of the five dollars to King until twenty-five years later. In his late teens, Margules studied for a couple of months in Pittsburgh with Edwin Randby, a follower of Western painter Frederic Remington. Thereafter he pursued a two-year course of studies in architecture, design and decoration at the New York Evening School of Art and Design, while working as a clerk during the day at Stern's Department Store. He was encouraged in these artistic pursuits by his neighbor, the painter Benno Greenstein (who later went by the name of Benjamin Benno). Artistic career In 1922, Margules began work as a police reporter for the City News Association of New York .Margules then considered himself something of an expert on art, and the painter Myron Lechay is said to have responded to some unsolicited analysis of his work with the remark "Since you seem to know so much about it, why don't you paint yourself?" This led to study with Lechay and a flurry of painting. Margules' first show was in 1922 at Jane Heap's Little Review Gallery. Thereafter Margules began to participate in shows with a group including Stuart Davis, Jan Matulka, Buckminster Fuller (exhibiting depictions of his "Dymaxion house") in a gallery run by art-lover and restaurateur Romany Marie on the floor above her cafe. Jane Heap, left, with Mina Loy and Ezra Pound During the 1920s, Margules traveled outside of the country a number of times. In 1922, with the intent of reaching Bali, he took a job as a "'wiper on a tramp steamer where [he] played nursemaid to the engine." He reached Rotterdam before he turned back. He would return to Rotterdam shortly thereafter. In 1927, Margules took a lengthy leave of absence from his day job as a police reporter in order to travel to Paris, where he "set up a studio in Montmartre's Place du Tertre, on the top floor of an almost deserted hotel, a shabby establishment, lacking both heat and running water." He studied at the Louvre and traveled to paint landscapes in provincial France and North Africa. Margules also joined the "Noctambulist" movement and experimented with painting and showing his artwork in low light.Jonathan Cott wrote that: the painter De Hirsch Margulies sat on the quays of the Seine and painted pictures in the dark. In fact, the first exhibition of these paintings, which could be seen only in a darkened room, took place in [ Walter Lowenfels'] Paris apartment. Elaine de Kooning remarked that studying the works of the Noctambulists confirmed Margules' "direction toward the use of primary colors for perverse effects of heavy shadow." It was also in Paris that Margules initially conceived his idea of "Time Painting", where a painting is divided into sectors, each representing a different time of day, with color choices meant to evoke that time of day. In Paris, his social circle included Lowenfels, photographer Berenice Abbott, publisher Jane Heap, composer George Anthiel, sculptor Thelma Wood, painter André Favory, writer Norman Douglas, writer and editor George Davis, composer and writer Max Ewing, and writer Michael Fraenkel. Upon his return to New York in 1929, Margules attended an exhibition of John Marin's paintings. While at the exhibition, he "launched into an eloquent explanation of Marin to two nearby women", and was overheard by an impressed Alfred Stieglitz. The famous photographer and art promoter invited Margules to dine with his wife, the artist Georgia O'Keeffe, and his assistant, painter Emil Zoler. Stieglitz thereafter became a friend and mentor to Margules, becoming for him "what Socrates was to his friends." Alfred Stieglitz Stieglitz introduced Margules to John Marin, who quickly became the most important painterly influence upon Margules. Elaine de Kooning later noted that Margules was "indebted to Marin and through Marin to Cézanne for his initial conceptual approach - for his constructions of scenes with no negative elements, for skies that loom with the impact of mountains." Margules himself said that Marin was his "father and ... academy." The admiration was by no means unreciprocated: Marin said that Margules was "an art lover with abounding faith and sincerity, with much intelligence and quick seeing." Stieglitz also introduced Margules to many other artistic and intellectual figures in New York. With the encouragement of Alfred Stieglitz, Margules in 1936 opened a two-room gallery at 43 West 8th Street called "Another Place." Over the following two years there were fourteen solo exhibitions by Margules and others, and the gallery was well-respected by the press. It was in this gallery that the painter James Lechay, Myron's brother, exhibited his first painting. In 1936, Margules first saw recognition by major art museums when both the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston purchased his works. In 1942, Margules gave up working as a police reporter, and apparently dedicated himself thereafter solely to an artistic vocation. "The Baron of Greenwich Village"[edit] Margules made his mark not only as an artist, but also as an outsized personality known throughout Greenwich Village and beyond. To local residents, Margules was known as the "Baron", after Baron Maurice de Hirsch, a prominent German Jewish philanthropist. Margules was easily recognizable by the beret he routinely wore over his long hair. Writer Charles Norman said that he "dressed with a flair for sloppiness." He was said to "know everybody" in Greenwich Village, to the extent that when the novelist and poet Maxwell Bodenheim was murdered, Margules was the first one the police sought to identify the body. Margules' letters show him interacting with art world figures such as Sacha Kolin, John Marin and Alfred Stieglitz, as well as with prominent figures outside the art world such as polymath Buckminster Fuller and writer Henry Miller. Most of his friends and acquaintances found Margules a generous and voluble man, given to broadly emotionally expressive gestures and acts of kindness and loyalty. In 1929, he exhibited an example of this loyalty and fellow-feeling when he appeared in court to fight what the wrongful commitment of his friend, writer and sculptor Alfred Dreyfuss, who appeared to have been a victim of an illicit attempt to block an inheritance. The Greenwich Village chronicler Charles Norman described the bone-crushing hugs that Margules would routinely bestow on his friends and acquaintances, and speaks of the "persuasive theatricality" that Margules seemed to have inherited from his actor parents. Norman also wrote about Margules' routine acts of kindness, taking in homeless artists, constantly feeding his friends and providing the salvatory loan where needed. Norman also notes that Margules was blessed with a loud and good voice, and was apt to sing an operatic air without provocation. The writer and television personality Alexander King said I think the outstanding characteristics of my friend's personality are affirmation, emphasis, and overemphasis. He chooses to express himself predominantly in superlatives and the gestures which accompany his utterances are sometimes dangerous to life and limb. Of the bystanders, I mean. King also spoke with affectionate amusement about Margules' pride in his cooking, speaking of how "if he should ever invite you to dinner, he may serve you a hamburger with onions, in his kitchen-living room, with such an air of gastronomic protocol, such mysterious hints and ogliing innuendoes, as if César Ritz and Brillat-Savarin had sneaked out, only a moment before, with his secret recipe in their pockets." Margules was such a memorable New York personality that comic book writer Alvin Schwartz imagined him at the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria in a risible yet poignant debate with Clark Kent about whether Superman had the ability to stop Hitler. Margules' entrenchment in the Greenwich Village milieu can be seen in a photograph from Fred McDarrah's "Beat Generation Album" of a January 13, 1961 writers' and poets' meeting to discuss "The Funeral of the Beat Generation", in Robert Cordier [fr]'s railroad flat at 85 Christopher Street. Among the people in the same photograph are Shel Silverstein...

Antique American school modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1950. Unsgned. Image size 36L x 60H.

Na Kumuwaiwai Hohonu, Underwater Spirt - Hawaiian Symbolist Figurative Hawaiian symbolist nocturnal figurative of glowing whispy figure underwater with mountains and red coral garden by Marguerite Louis Blasingame (American; 1906-1947), circa 1940-45. Marguerite and her husband Frank Blasingame...

Antique American modernist cityscape oil painting. Oil on canvasboard. Framed. Measuring: 21 by 17 inches overall, and 12 by 16 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. Han...

Rare early American modernist cubist abstract by Anita F. Plumb. Framed. Pastel and gouache on paper. Signed. Image size, 20H by 26L.

Joseph Kardonne (1911-1985). Tugboat, 1939, 9 x 11.25 inches. Ink on paper. Signed, dated and titled lower right. Excellent condition. Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1911, Joe Kardo...