Skip to main content

American Modern Abstract Paintings

to
33
29
53
61
52
63
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
218
40
1
11
20
15
37
32
18
13
37,660
11,048
1,597
1,503
727
524
465
350
324
279
141
64
29
5
122
116
19
10
9
5
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
240
120
84
83
82
35
11
7
5
4
139
20
251
6
Style: American Modern
Rainbow Curves, Painter's Palette Translucent Shapes, Large Diptych on Paper
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is a modernist-inspired painting, drawing influence from the bold creativity of 1950s, 60s, and 70s art. The composition features overlapping painter’s palette silhouettes, crea...
Category

2010s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Paper

Cubist Musician, Abstracted Figure by American Modernist in France Woman Artist
Located in Norwich, GB
A touch of Chagall and a lot of individuality in this singular work by American modernist artist Genevieve. A free spirit, Genevieve White, born 1913 in Idaho, left home at 14 to mov...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil

"Cubist Landscape" Albert Heckman, American Modernist, Fractured Landscape
Located in New York, NY
Albert Heckman Cubist Landscape Signed lower right Oil on canvas 21 3/4 x 30 inches Albert Heckman was born in Meadville, Western Pennsylvania, 1893. He went to New York City to tr...
Category

1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Important Early Painting by Spokane, WA Artist Robert Gilmore, Titled Metropolis
Located in Chicago, IL
Important, large & early (1963) painting by Spokane, WA artist Robert David Gilmore, titled "Metropolis". The painting depicts the interstate highway system. Artwork size: 46 1/2...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Colorful Abstracted Landscape in the Style of Diebenkorn
Located in Soquel, CA
Colorful Abstracted Landscape in the Style of Diebenkorn by Ellis Hopkins (American, b. 1952). This dynamic piece features textured blocks of color which resemble an abstracted lan...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Stretcher Bars, Oil

Modernist Beach Scene Painting, Playing Ball in Surf, WPA Jewish Woman Artist
Located in Surfside, FL
Modernist beach scene; signed lower right; image size is 11.5 x 8.5 inches, framed it measures Ruth Gikow (January 6, 1915 Ukraine - 1982 New York City) was an Important American Jewish woman visual artist known primarily for her work as a genre painter. Her paintings often depict human figures interacting with an urban environment. Ruth Gikow was born in 1915 in the Ukraine. Her father, Boris, was a photographer and her mother was named Lena. In 1920 she emigrated to New York City due to civil war and pogroms against the Jewish community. The pilgrimage took around two years. Once in New York City, the Gikow family found themselves in poverty, rather than the middle-class comfort they enjoyed in Ukraine. Ruth Gikow's skill was prominent even in youth, as she excelled in drawing in elementary school and entered Washington Irving High School at age thirteen in which she furthered her art prowess. Later, she studied at the Cooper Union Art School, where she studied under school director Austin Purvis, Jr. and regional artist John Steuart Curry. In her second year of Art School, she was awarded a scholarship which she used to work with fellow painter Raphael Soyer. She joined the New York City WPA Federal Art Project in 1935, where she was allowed to dedicate herself to her artwork full-time. In 1939, inspired by the muralists Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, she applied and later won a commission to paint murals for Bronx Hospital, Rockefeller Center and the New York World's Fair. After the events of Pearl Harbor and once the Federal Arts Project was abandoned, Gikow's murals were sought after by New York department stores wishing to commission wall paintings. Gikow became disillusioned with mural painting due to the commercial aspect of these commissions. With other associates, she founded the American Serigraph Society (along with Anthony Velonis, Lena Gurr, Robert Gwathmey, Leonard Pytlak, Harry Shoulberg, Russell Twiggs...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paint, Paper

Patch of Cyan, Vintage Electric Blue Geometric Abstract by Eleanor Perry
Located in Soquel, CA
Patch of Cyan, Vintage Electric Blue Geometric Abstract by Eleanor Perry A bold modernist abstract painting by San Francisco, California artist Eleanor Perry (American, 20th Centu...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Acrylic

Large Scale Modernist Abstract Square and Circle
Located in Soquel, CA
Wonderful large scale natural toned mixed media abstract comprising a rectangle of antiqued white texturized with gesso'd hemp sacking and set above second ivory rectangle in pale ivory with circle of scumbled grey by British contemporary artist Richard Lawrence...
Category

1980s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gesso, Canvas, Oil

Divided By Time, Large Modern Abstract Painting
Located in Grand Rapids, MI
Robert Sealock (American, 20th Century) Signed: RWS 93 (Canvas Verso) " Divided By Time ", 1993 Oil on Canvas 48 1/4" x 40" This large modern painting is in nice original condi...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage Abstract Expressionist Standing Pensive Figurative Nude - Heavy Impasto
Located in Soquel, CA
Vintage Abstract Expressionist Standing Pensive Figurative Nude - Heavy Impasto Abstract expressionist figurative composition of a nude woman by California artist Harald "Harry" Dr...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Inevitable Day – Birth of the Atom oil and tempera painting by Julio De Diego
Located in Hudson, NY
Julio De Diego’s Atomic Series paintings made an extraordinary statement regarding the shock and fear that accompanied the dawn of the nuclear age. In the artist’s own words, “Scientists were working secretly to develop formidable powers taken from the mysterious depths of the earth - with the power to make the earth useless! Then, the EXPLOSION! . . . we entered the Atomic Age, and from there the neo-Atomic war begins. Explosions fell everywhere and man kept on fighting, discovering he could fight without flesh.” To execute these works, De Diego developed a technique of using tempera underpainting before applying layer upon layer of pigmented oil glazes. The result is paintings with surfaces which were described as “bonelike” in quality. The forms seem to float freely, creating a three-dimensional visual effect. In the 1954 book The Modern Renaissance in American Art, author Ralph Pearson summarizes the series as “a fantastic interpretation of a weighty theme. Perhaps it is well to let fantasy and irony appear to lighten the devastating impact. By inverse action, they may in fact increase its weight.” Bibliography Art in America, April 1951, p.78 About this artists: Julio De Diego crafted a formidable persona within the artistic developments and political struggles of his time. The artist characterized his own work as “lyrical,” explaining, “through the years, the surrealists, the social-conscious painters and the others tried to adopt me, but I went my own way, good, bad or indifferent.” [1] His independence manifested early in life when de Diego left his parent’s home in Madrid, Spain, in adolescence following his father’s attempts to curtail his artistic aspirations. At the age of fifteen he held his first exhibition, set up within a gambling casino. He managed to acquire an apprenticeship in a studio producing scenery for Madrid’s operas, but moved from behind the curtains to the stage, trying his hand at acting and performing as an extra in the Ballet Russes’ Petrouchka with Nijinsky. He spent several years in the Spanish army, including a six-month stretch in the Rif War of 1920 in Northern Africa. His artistic career pushed ahead as he set off for Paris and became familiar with modernism’s forays into abstraction, surrealism, and cubism. The artist arrived in the U.S. in 1924 and settled in Chicago two years later. He established himself with a commission for the decoration of two chapels in St. Gregory’s Church. He also worked in fashion illustration, designed magazine covers and developed a popular laundry bag for the Hotel Sherman. De Diego began exhibiting through the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929, and participated in the annual Chicago Artists Exhibitions, Annual American Exhibitions, and International Water Color Exhibitions. He held a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in the summer of 1935. Though the artist’s career was advancing, his family life had deteriorated. In 1932 his first marriage dissolved, and the couple’s young daughter Kiriki was sent to live with friend Paul Hoffman. De Diego continued to develop his artistic vocabulary with a growing interest in Mexican art. He traveled throughout the country acquainting himself with the works of muralists such as Carlos Merida, and also began a collection of small native artifacts...
Category

1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil, Tempera

Green Landscape, Abstract Countryside, Fields, Modern, Contemporary, Oil, French
Located in LANGRUNE-SUR-MER, FR
Abstract landscape with colored plots in a dominant green. The landscape evolves in modulations with blurred contours, to suggest volumes more than to draw a precise pattern. The pal...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Weehawken Sequence
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Weehawken Sequence, c. 1910-16 Oil on canvas board, 9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Framed dimensions: 13 3/8 x 16 1/4 inches John Marin’s long and prolific career is best marked by ...
Category

20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

Reclining Figures
Located in Dallas, TX
Born in 1933, Otis Huband declared his intention to be an artist at age 6. He earned his BFA and MFA at Richmond Professional Institute of the College of William & Mary, now Virginia...
Category

2010s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

1950s "Curled Up Cubist" MidCentury Figurative Gouache University of Paris
Located in Arp, TX
Donald Stacy "Curled Up Cubist c.1950s Gouache on paper 24" x 18" unframed Unsigned Came from artist's estate Donald Stacy (1925-2011) New Jersey Studied: Newark School of Fine Art The Art Students League Pratt Graphic Arts Center University of Paris 1953-54 University of Aix-en-Provence 1954-55 Faculty: Art Department of the New School Museum of Modern Art School of Visual Arts Stacy Studio Workshop Exhibitions: Grand Central Moderns George Wittenborn The New School Print Exhibitions, Chicago University of Oklahoma Honolulu Museum Monclair Museum Wisconsin State College Louisiana Art Commission Philadelphia...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Dichotomy, mid-century figural abstract green oil painting
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Dichotomy, 1962 Oil on paper Signed and dated upper left 20 x 25 inches Mid-century figural abstract green painting of woman swimming ...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Personage" Heavy Impasto Expressionist Portrait of Lady with a Hat
Located in Soquel, CA
"Personage" Heavy Impasto Expressionist Portrait of Lady with a Hat Abstract expressionist portrait of a woman wearing a hat by California artist Harald "Harry" Dry Schmidt (America...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Woman and Child in the Woods - Midcentury Abstracted Landscape in Oil on Canvas
Located in Soquel, CA
Woman and Child in the Woods - Midcentury Abstracted Landscape in Oil on Canvas Dramatic abstracted painting of a woman holding a child in the woods by Maley (20th Century). This pi...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Colorful Samurai, Large-Scale Modern Figural Geometric Abstract
Located in Soquel, CA
Colorful Samurai, Large-Scale Modern Figural Geometric Abstract Colorful modern figural abstract of a samurai figure fractured into fields of color and pattern by S. Baker (Susan Baker...
Category

1990s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

A Dynamic Mid-Century Modern Horse Race Painting by Chicago Artist, Rudolph Pen
Located in Chicago, IL
A Large, Dynamic Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Horse Race by noted Chicago Artist, Rudolph Pen. Artwork size: 24" x 36"; Framed size: 25" x 37". Signed "Pen" lower right and ti...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Medieval Heads, mid-century figural surrealist acrylic painting
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Cicada, c. 1960s Watercolor on scintilla 30 x 20 inches Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of national artistic success that wa...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Mid-Century Modern Abstract Geometric Trapeze Artists by Hilda Arp
By Hilda Arp
Located in Soquel, CA
Fanciful mid-century modern abstract of trapeze artists by Brooklyn artist Hilda Dora Pape Arp (b. 1909). This 1962 highly abstracted depiction of trape...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Linen

Vintage Expressionist Portrait of a Man with a Bowtie Oil on Wood
Located in Soquel, CA
Expressive portrait, a caricature of a man with bowtie by Michael Pauker (American, b. 1957). Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Another version of th...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Fiberboard

Joseph Wolins WPA Artist Dancing, Torah Modernist Judaica Cubist Oil Painting
Located in Surfside, FL
Joseph Wolins 1915-1999 Subject: Jewish, Dancing with the Torah (New Torah, Simchat Torah) Hand signed oil painting In this painting, Joseph Wolins uses vibrant and complimentary co...
Category

20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstract
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This painting is part of our exhibition Charles Goeller: A Wistful Loneliness. Oil on canvas, 29 x 22 inches, Signed on frame verso “Painted by Charles L. Goeller” Exhibited: (Perh...
Category

1930s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

20th C. Figurative Abstract Painting Cleveland School African American Artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Beni E. Kosh/Charles Elmer Harris (American, 1917-1993) Untitled Oil on canvas board Estate stamped #611 verso 24 x 18 inches Charles Elmer Harris was born in 1917 in Cleveland, Oh...
Category

20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Shattered" WPA Mid 20th Century Modernism American Scene Surrealism Figurative
Located in New York, NY
"Shattered" WPA Mid 20th Century Modernism American Scene Surrealism Figurative Estate stamp on the stretcher, verso. Provenance: Estate of the artist. 20 x 24 inches. Look at the last two photos in the listing. A new book about Leon Bibel was just published and there's a photo of the artist taken in front of the painting. Amazingness. BIO Leon Bibel continued painting through 1941 and resumed work in both painting and especially wood sculpture by 1960. He worked until his very last day in 1995. His last series of large wood sculptures were modeled on spice boxes, which were miniature buildings...
Category

1930s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"On Guard" Heavy Impasto Expressionist Figure
Located in Soquel, CA
"On Guard" Vintage Abstract Expressionist Heavy Impasto Figure Abstract expressionist figurative composition of a man in a button down shirt with a brimmed hat by California artist ...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

"Chief Crazy Horse" Abstracted Fauvist Portrait with Heavy Impasto in Oil Paint
Located in Soquel, CA
Heavy Impasto Portrait of Chief Crazy Horse by Harald Dry Schmidt Abstract expressionist portrait of a man by California artist Harald "Harry" Dry Schmidt (American, 1933-1979). The...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Annette Cords, Crosstalk, 2013, Tapestry
Located in Darien, CT
Jacquard weaving is at once simple and complex. The language used to set up weave structures is straightforward and binary: the warp is either up or down. With the Jacquard loom, h...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Tapestry

Quadratic, Mid-Century Ovoid Figural Abstract Acrylic & Collage with faces
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Quadratic, 1979 Acrylic and collage on textured paper Signed and dated lower right 30 x 22 inches 31.5 x 23.5 inches, framed A surreal...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Carl Holty Abstract Oil Painting "Riviera" in Primary Colors
By Carl Robert Holty
Located in Detroit, MI
"Riviera" is an exquisite painting of American Modern - primary colors actively composed in energetic movement and structure on the painted surface. These colors formulate the painting, play both for and against each other and create a lively surface with hints of either an architectural structure or freeway. This painting hints to future Modernists such as Richard Diebenkorn "Driveway" and David Hockney "Garrowby." Unframed the piece measures 18 x 24. "Riviera" is signed on lower left. On verso is Provenance of over 70 years, 3 galleries in New York and one in Detroit, Michigan: Andrew Crispo Gallery, Sid Deutsch Gallery and Linda Hyman Gallery in New York and Collected Detroit Gallery in Detroit, Michigan. Abstractionist Carl Robert Holty was known for his biomorphic abstract forms as well as the geometric abstractions he painted with his vibrant color palette. Born in Frieburg, Germany his family immigrated to the United States settling in Wisconsin. In 1919, he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago, and shortly thereafter attended the Parsons School of Design. He spent a short time at the National Academy of Design and studied with Francis Coates Jones...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Mid Century Antica Roma Figurative Abstract Collage
Located in Soquel, CA
Stunning mid century mixed media collage of Roman travel items and photos by James A. Couglin, a Berkeley Abstract Expressionist (American, 1929-1979), c.1966. Painted during his Par...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic, Permanent Marker, Magazine Paper

Christopher Street (abstract Greenwich Village cityscape)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
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...
Category

1930s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Rag Paper

"Liberty" Heavy Impasto Expressionist Nude Portrait of a Lady Standing
Located in Soquel, CA
"Liberty" Heavy Impasto Expressionist Nude Portrait of a Lady Standing Abstract expressionist portrait of a woman standing with one arm raised over her head by California artist Har...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

King Tut No. 2, Mid-Century Ovoid Geometrical Abstract Gouache on Paper
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) King Tut No. 2, 1968 Gouache on paper Signed and dated upper right 11.25 x 8.25 inches 25.5 x 20.5 inches A surrealist mid-century fig...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Like a Bird- Shadow Follows Light's Illusion
Located in Dallas, TX
Dallas artist David A. Dreyer’s eighth solo exhibition at Valley House Gallery was presented early in 2021, accompanied by an exhibition catalogue. His recent paintings are inspired ...
Category

2010s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Chalk, Charcoal, Oil, Graphite

Night Garden, mid-century figural surrealist acrylic painting, Cleveland School
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Night Garden, 1972 Acrylic on scintilla Signed and dated lower right 21.5 x 21.5 inches 24.25 x 24.25 inches, framed Clarence Holbroo...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

The Mayor, Mid-Century Ovoid Figural Abstract Acrylic & Collage with Eye
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) The Mayor, 1979 Acrylic and collage on scintilla Signed lower right 30 x 22 inches A surrealist mid-century figural abstract painting....
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

"People" - Mid-Century Ovoid Geometrical Abstract Black & White Drawing
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) People, 1964 Ink and crayon on paper Signed and dated upper right 36.5 x 24 inches Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of nation...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Crayon, Ink

Seeing Egg No. 2, Surrealist Ovoid acrylic painting, Figural Abstract
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Seeing Egg No. 2, 1965 Acrylic and collage on scintilla Signed and dated upper right 30 x 22 inches 34 x 29 inches, framed A surrealis...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Mid Century Yellow and Blue Large Scale Abstract
Located in Soquel, CA
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...
Category

1950s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Wood Panel

"So What How?" - Abstract Expressionist Earth Tone Abstract in Oil on Canvas
By John O. Thomson
Located in Soquel, CA
"So What How?" - Abstract Expressionist Earth Tone Abstract in Oil on Canvas Expressive abstract work in earth tones by Monterey Bay artist and gallery owner John O. Thomson (Americ...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Oceans Apart
Located in East Hampton, NY
fun with Color Theory As seen at Art on Paper 2024 at The Mannix Project East Hampton NY 12"x12" (14"x14" framed) each These come in a white frame. Acrylic on Paper Artist Statement...
Category

2010s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Archival Paper

Untitled
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on canvas painting by American artist James Koenig created in 1944.
Category

1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Chromatic, Ovoid Head, Geometric Figurative Abstract Acrylic & Collage Painting
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Chromatic, 1965 Acrylic and collage on scintilla Signed and dated upper right 30 x 22 inches A surrealist mid-century figural abstrac...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Johann Strauss & Artie Shaw - Mid Century Modern Abstract
By Clark Blocher
Located in Soquel, CA
Johann Strauss & Artie Shaw - Mid Century Modern Abstract Swirling vortex of color and the words: "Johann Strauss' Tale(s) from the Vienna (Woods) Artie Shaw & Orchestra" by Kansas ...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Shimmering Pond in the Woods - Surrealist Abstract 1960s
By Rose Herzog
Located in Soquel, CA
Shimmering Pond in the Woods - Surrealist Abstract 1960s Highly textured abstract composition by Rose Herzog (American, mid-20th Century). A multicolored pond is shown in the middle...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Cotton, Masonite, Mixed Media, Oil, Tissue Paper

1950s "Eve" American Modern MidCentury Figurative Gouache & Oil Pastel
Located in Arp, TX
Donald Stacy "Eve" c.1950s Gouache and oil pastel on paper 14x17" black wood frame 14.75"x17.75" Unsigned, Eve written in paint along right margin Came from artist's estate Donald S...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache, Oil Pastel

Phenomena Royal House
Located in New York, NY
Paul Jenkins American, 1923–2012 Paul Jenkins’s intuitive, chance-based painting techniques helped pioneer new approaches to Abstract Expressionism. Jenkins made his vibrant composi...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Large Mid-Century Yellow Mandala, Ovoid Figural Abstract Painting
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904–2000) Yellow Mandala, c. 1970s Acrylic on canvas 39 x 36 inches 41 x 38.25 inches, framed Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of natio...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Abstract Expressionist Artists Self Portrait
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstract Expressionist Self Portrait in Black and Grey Dynamic self portrait by Michael William Eggleston (American, b. 1948). Greyscale acrylic paint on paper. Unsigned, but acquire...
Category

20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Laid Paper

Modernist Abstract Still Life Painting with Red-Orange Zinnias, American Art
Located in Denver, CO
This captivating oil on board painting by Paul Kauvar Smith (1893–1977) showcases a vibrant American Modernist still life featuring zinnia flowers in hues of red and orange. Set with...
Category

20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

1950s "Sitting in Chair" Mid Century Figurative Pratt Graphic Arts Center
Located in Arp, TX
Donald Stacy "Sitting in Chair" c.1950s Gouache and oil pastel on paper 24" x 18" unframed Came from artist's estate *Custom framing available for additio...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil Pastel, Gouache

Cosmos and Tree Original Abstracted Composition
Located in Soquel, CA
The Cosmos and Tree - Original Abstracted Composition by Dave Francis Unique and thought-provoking abstracted composition with cosmos and oak tree by California artist Charles "Dave...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Laid Paper, Paper

"The Manifestation" Abstract Oil Painting on Canvas Illustrator Bill Shields
Located in Arp, TX
William Stephens Shields, Jr., 1925 - 2010 "The Manifestation" 1994 Oil on canvas 48"x36" artist framed Signed lower center William Stephens Shields, Jr., 1925 - 2010 He was born in san Francisco, in 1931, Bill moved to Texas, where he grew up. Moved to New York in 1940 and later joined the Naval Air Corps at the age of 18. He served as an Aviation Cadet in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1945. At the end of WWII, Bill returned to Texas. At 21, Bill re-focused his energy and enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Fine Art as an Illustration major. What followed was a whirlwind of success, great friendships and a sense of belonging he had never before experienced. Art was his calling and the art-world could not have been less prepared for the likes of Bill Shields...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Flight to Egypt
By Anna Walinska
Located in New York, NY
Oil on paper. Signed and dated 'Walinska 57' (lower left). image size 20 x 13 1/2 in. framed size 28 1/3 x 22 1/2 inches Provenance Martha Jackson Gallery Anderson Gallery, Buffalo...
Category

1950s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

American Modernist Abstract Autumn Landscape Oil Painting – Trees in Fall Colors
Located in Denver, CO
This mid-20th-century abstract landscape oil painting by American modernist Henriette "Yetti" Stolz beautifully captures a stylized forest scene, featuring trees rendered in rich, earthy tones of gold, brown, orange, and blue. The painting reflects Stolz's modernist approach, blending organic forms with abstract color fields. Signed on the back, this piece is presented in a vintage frame, with outer dimensions measuring 30 ¾ x 36 ¼ inches, and the image size is 30 ¼ x 35 ¾ inches. Provenance: Estate of the Artist, Henriette "Yetti" Stolz. About the Artist: Henriette "Yetti" Stolz was born in Serbia in 1935 and moved to Denver, Colorado, in the early 1950s after WWII. She studied art at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, where she was exposed to the modernist movements shaping the local art scene. Stolz was influenced by contemporary artists such as Mary Chenoweth...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Ink, Oil

1997 "Blue Heaven" Abstract Oil Painting on Canvas Illustrator Bill Shields
Located in Arp, TX
William Stephens Shields, Jr., 1925 - 2010 "Blue Heaven" 1997 Oil on canvas 48"x48" artist framed Signed lower right William Stephens Shields, Jr., 1925 -...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Soho Nights
Located in East Hampton, NY
fun with Color Theory As seen at Art on Paper 2024 at The Mannix Project East Hampton NY 12"x12" (15"x15" framed) These come in a white frame. Acrylic on Paper Artist Statement: Pa...
Category

2010s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Archival Paper

American Modern abstract paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic American Modern abstract paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add abstract paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of orange, blue, purple, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Annette Cords, David Hayes, Louisa Chase, and Valton Tyler. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Fabric and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large American Modern abstract paintings, so small editions measuring 5.5 inches across are also available.

Recently Viewed

View All