Modern Abstract Paintings

Title: Abstract Vegetable Still Life with Squash Melon and Greens Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24.25 inches (height x width) Provenance: Artists estate, France Condition: Good overall with light edge wear and small handling marks consistent with age. There are small tears where staples have been removed from the corners of the piece. Description: This vivid modernist still life by Guy Nicod presents an energetic arrangement of vegetables and sliced produce, rendered in his distinctive abstract gouache style. Across the composition, curved orange and yellow forms suggest squash and melon halves, their seeds and interiors picked out in warm tones that glow against passages of cool grey and blue. Rich greens appear as broccoli heads, leafy herbs, and courgette-like shapes, adding texture and a sense of freshness to the scene. Rather than depicting the kitchen table in a strictly realistic way, Nicod breaks the still life into angular planes and overlapping colour fields. White and pale grey areas imply folded cloth or a table covering, while blocks of magenta, red, and deep purple hint at chopping boards, tabletops, or background textiles. The produce appears both recognisable and abstract, inviting the viewer to move between reading the vegetables as real objects and appreciating them as interlocking shapes of colour. Typical of mid-century French modernism, the painting balances spontaneity with careful structure. Nicod’s gouache application creates a velvety opacity, allowing him to layer bright citrus yellows over earthy underpainting, and to carve out highlights that give the vegetables volume. Ideal for collectors interested in food and kitchen still lifes, vegetable paintings...

Title: Artichokes Blue Drapery and Still Life Vegetables Gouache Painting Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 25.75 x 19.5 inches (height x width)...

Title: Abstract Vegetable Still Life with Squash Broccoli and Courgettes Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache and oil paint on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24 inches (height x width) Provenance: Artists estate, France Condition: Good overall with light edge wear and small handling marks consistent with age. There are small tears where staples have been removed from the corners of the piece. Description: This vibrant and engaging gouache by Guy Nicod depicts an abstracted kitchen still life filled with colourful vegetables and organic forms. Dominating the composition are several large slices of squash or gourds, including a distinctive halved yellow squash at the top centre, its seeds and curved interior rendered in bold green and orange. Additional orange forms throughout the scene resemble whole or cut butternut squash, their warm tones balancing the cooler blues and greys of the background. Clusters of textured green shapes suggest broccoli, leafy greens, or bunches of herbs, adding lively movement and organic rhythm to the arrangement. Long vertical yellow and green forms resemble courgettes or marrows, while darker oval shapes read as avocados or aubergines, their rich brown and deep green tones grounding the composition. The vegetables sit across a series of angled tabletops and draped surfaces painted in red, ochre, and pale grey. These geometric fields enhance the sense of depth and create a dynamic contrast with the rounded, natural shapes of the produce. Nicod’s use of gouache produces velvety opacity and layered textures, allowing him to push the boundaries between representation and abstraction. This work is ideal for collectors interested in modernist food still lifes, kitchen interiors, vegetable paintings...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Bowls Plates Red Grapes and Jug Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 18 inches (height x wid...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Pears Apples and Oranges Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 19.75 inches (height x width) ...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Pineapples Pomegranates and Drapery Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 19.5 inches (height...

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.” Exhibited 1950 University of Illinois at Urbana "Contemporary American Painting" 1964 Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas This work retains its original frame which measures 54" x 36" x 2". About this artist: 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...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Flowers Lemons Jug Cup and Cloche Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 1...

Title: Abstract Blue Floral Still Life with Vases and Purple Tulips Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 14.75 inches (he...

Title: Abstract Harvest Still Life with Wheat Basket and Decorative Textiles Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.5 x 24 inches (height ...

Title: Abstract Red Flowers with Bottles and Fruit French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 19.75 inches (height x width)...

Title: Abstract Draped Fabrics and Vertical Forms French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 15.75 x 19 inches (height x width) ...

Title: Abstract Red Flowers with Fruit and Draped Fabrics Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24.25 inches (height x wid...

Title: Abstract Red Flowers and Bottles Still Life French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24.25 x 19.75 inches (height x wid...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Plates Bowls and Kitchen Utensils Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24 inches (height ...

Title: Vibrant Abstract Expressionist Colour Field French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24.25 inches (height x wid...

Title: Abstract Interior with Womens Shoes Colourful French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 18 inches (height x width) ...

Title: Abstract Sunflowers Still Life French Modernist Gouache Painting Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24.25 inches (height x width) ...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Books Papers and Apples French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 27.75 x 19.5 inches (height x...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Bottles Nuts and Frames French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 18 inches (height x widt...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Cherries Silver Trays and Berry Containers Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 18.25 inches (height x...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Fruit Grapes Pears and Melon French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 19.75 inches (heigh...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Melons Bold Colourful French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24 inches (height x wid...

Cubist Portrait by Bernard Labbe (French mid 20th century) original watercolour/ gouache painting on artist paper, unframed size: 17 x 7 inches condition: very good and ready to be e...

Title: Grapes Wine Bottles Long Serving Platter and Jug Golden Drapery Modernist Piece Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 25.75 inches (h...

Title: Grapes Wine Bottles Jug and Plate Golden Drapery French Modernist Still Life Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 25.75 x 19.75 inches (heig...

Title: Colourful Draped Fabrics Hanging Hats and Red Flower Pot Modernist Still Life Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 25.25 x 18.25 inches (hei...

Title: Modernist Blue Draped Fabrics Abstract Studio Objects Red White Background Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24 inches (height x ...

Title: Green Bottle Looping Rope Draped Fabrics and Yellow Red Forms French Modernist Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 15.75 inches (he...

Title: Green Bottle Abstract Draped Fabrics Bold Colour Modernist Still Life French Art Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19 x 15 inches (height...

Title: Hat Stand with Colourful Umbrellas Draped Fabrics and Jugs Modernist Still Life Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 20.5 x 16.25 inches (he...

Title: Stuffed Toy and Childrens Objects with Blue Drapery French Modernist Still Life Art Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 18.25 inches (...

Title: Yellow Draped Cloth Grey Bottles and Potted Plants French Modernist Still Life Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 19.5 inches (height...

Signed (on stretcher): Stanley/ Twardowicz Stanley Twardowicz (1917–2008), a one-time orphan, Golden Gloves boxer, professional baseball player and auto worker, emerged from a hard...

Ricky Hunt’s mixed media minimalist wall art is influenced by his tumultuous past that led to a paradigm shift in creativity and life. He covers the wood panel with layers of acrylic...

Title: Abstract Red Fruit and Green Foliage Large French Modernist Still Life Painting Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24.25 inches (h...

Title: Yellow Draped Cloth Bottles Glassware and Potted Plants Modernist Still Life Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 18.25 x 24 inches (height ...

Manfred Schwartz (American, b. Poland, 1909-1970), "Etretat", Oil on Canvas, 1961, signed and dated lower right, studio label to verso, wood frame. Image: 34" H x 30" W; frame: 34.75...

Ricky Hunt’s mixed media minimalist wall art is influenced by his tumultuous past that led to a paradigm shift in creativity and life. He covers the wood panel with layers of acrylic...

Ricky Hunt’s mixed media minimalist wall art is influenced by his tumultuous past that led to a paradigm shift in creativity and life. He covers the wood panel with layers of acrylic...

Vintage American modernist still life oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Measuring: 14 by 16 inches overall. Handsomely framed ...

Ricky Hunt’s mixed media minimalist wall art is influenced by his tumultuous past that led to a paradigm shift in creativity and life. He covers the wood panel with layers of acrylic...

Drawing inspiration from the vibrant California landscape, British artist Paul Westacott creates original abstract artworks that showcase a harmonious blend of minimalist geometry an...

Mixed Media Collage Painting . signed and dated. Blindman's White Adja Yunkers b. 1900, Riga, Russia; d. 1983, New York Adja Yunkers was born Adolf Junkers on July 15, 1900, in Ri...

Artist Commentary: This piece is an exploration of the concept of "the dark web". I envisioned a constant flow of binary numbers endlessly moving towards an u...

The Lady with the Moustache French School, late 20th century signed oil painting on canvas, unframed canvas: 36 x 29 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: very goo...

Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) On the Red Line, 1965 Acrylic on textured paper Signed and dated lower right 24 x 31 inches 32.5 x 39 inches, framed There is damage ...

This oil on canvas painting is by French artist Claude-Max Lochu (1951 -) and features an iconic Paris view with a poetic vision of the Eiffel Tower in yellow and purple tones. The a...

Vintage American modernist coastal seascape painting. Mixed media on board. Framed. Measuring: 17 by 20 inches overall. Excellent condition, ready to hang and enjoy.

This superb oil on canvas painting of a nude study is dated 1970 and signed lower left. We have not been able to decipher the artist's signature (please check the pictures for inform...

Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Torso No. 3, 1967 Acrylic on paper Signed and dated lower right 13 x 9 inches 21 x 17 inches A mid-century figural abstract painting. Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of national artistic success that was nearly unprecedented among Cleveland School artists of his day, with representation by major New York dealers...

This vibrant oil painting by Henry Varnum Poor (American, 1888–1970) captures a blooming spring landscape with barns, budding trees, and bright skies rendered in expressive, textural...

Horse Riders by Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) watercolour on artist paper, unframed painting : 15.5 x 19 inches stamped verso provenance: artists estate, France condition: very good...

Green landscape Huguette Ginet-Lasnier (French 1927-2020) inscribed verso framed signed oil painting on canvas framed: 13 x 11 inches canvas: 11 x 9 inches. All the paintings we have...

Stephen Harty, Untitled (Bird Abstraction), gouache, 1953. Signed and dated lower left. A fine, meticulously rendered, mid-century, modernist gouache painting, with fresh colors on 1...

A dynamic, Mid-Century Modern horse race painting by noted Chicago artist, Rudolph Pen. Artwork size: 27" x 23"; Framed size: 27 1/2" x 23 1/2". Signed "Pen" lower right. Provenan...

'Burmese Classical Dancers' by Aung Aung Taik, 1981. Kinnari and Kinnara, Myanmar, SFMA, San Francisco Art Institute, PFA ----- Signed lower left, 'Aung Aung Taik' (Burmese, born 1948) and dated 1981. Exhibited: San Francisco Cultural Center, 1981. A major painting by this celebrated Burmese Modernist, painted when the artist was 33 years old. This substantial work was prominently exhibited at the artist's inaugural one-man exhibition in the United States, held at the San Francisco Mission Cultural Center in 1981. A pioneer of modern art in Myanmar, Aung Aung Taik first attended the State Academy of Art in Rangoon where he studied under two of Burma's leading contemporary artists, U Ba Kyi and U Ngwe Gaing...

Vintage American modernist landscape oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Measuring: 15 by 14 inches overall. Handsomely framed i...

In German there is the saying that the color green stands for hope. And hope is what we need during the Corona-crises. Hope that we soon find a efficient medicine for the therapy of ...

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...