Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 7

Tobias Musicant
"House in Fragments"

About the Item

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Tobias Musicant (1921 – 2004) A new discovery in the art world is something always searched for and rarely found. Surely there was no shortage of artists during the twentieth century, but to find someone of immense talent and individuality that has seemingly slipped under the radar of galleries, critics, and collectors is rare. An instance where this might occur is when an artist may have been his or her own harshest critic and, for fear of rejection or criticism, such an artist might choose to never show their work in major venues. Somewhere along the way in the promising career of Tobias “Ted” Musicant, his personal insecurity kept his artistic genius from the field of his peers. After participating in numerous prestigious exhibitions early in his career, Musicant became reclusive and kept his art from the public eye. Since the relatively recent death of this artist, a small but powerful body of Modernist paintings has been discovered. These works range in date from 1940 to 1965 and begin in a representational modernist style, evolving into a very interesting and appealing semi-representational hard-edged geometric series that incorporate a flavor of Native American influence. The latest of his paintings are of a surrealist style where the artist includes elements such as birds, fruit, a myriad of unusual objects, and architecture into his compositions. His work bears similarities to that of Marsden Hartley, Stuart Davis, Louis Stone, and Salvador Dali. Tobias Musicant was the son of a carpenter and born in Philadelphia in 1921. An artist since childhood, after high school, Musicant attended the Pratt Institute in New York from 1939-1941. However, his art studies would be interrupted by World War II as he served his country in the United States Army Air Force, seeing action in England. After the war, Musicant continued his studies at the Art Students League from 1945-1948. He lived in Brooklyn in the 1940s and 1950s, eventually moving to Plainsboro, New Jersey, with his sister Alice Musicant, also an artist, where they would both remain throughout their lives. His paintings were exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Print Club, the Newark Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Butler Institute, and the Princeton Art Council, among other venues. He also had one-man shows at Heffers Gallery in Cambridge, England, and the Contemporary Arts Gallery in New York City. In addition to his paintings, Musicant worked in enamels and made silver jewelry. Sources: New Hope for American Art by James Alterman Art News, October, 1964 Town Topics, February 18, 2004 Princeton Public Library Art I. F. Reference, Newark Library
  • Creator:
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 33 in (83.82 cm)Width: 29 in (73.66 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    Framed Size 32" x 28"Price: $23,125
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Lambertville, NJ
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: PB01651stDibs: LU3745435451
More From This SellerView All
  • "Bottles and Fruit"
    By Mercedes Matter
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Mercedes Matter (1913 - 2001) Born in New York in 1913 to famed Philadelphia Modernist, Arthur B. Carles, Mercedes Matter g...
    Category

    1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Board, Canvas, Oil

  • "Blue Fish"
    By Vaclav Vytlacil
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to New York when he was 20. From 1913 to 1916, he enjoyed a scholarship from the Art Students League, and worked with John C. Johansen (a portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent), and Anders Zorn. He accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art in 1916, remaining there until 1921. This enabled him to travel to Europe to study Cézanne’s paintings and works of the Old Masters. He traveled to Paris, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Munich seeking the works of Titian, Cranach, Rembrandt, Veronese, and Holbein, which gave him new perspective. Vytlacil studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, settling there in 1921. Fellow students were Ernest Thurn and Worth Ryder, who introduced him to famous abstractionist Hans Hofmann. He worked with Hofmann from about 1922 to 1926, as a student and teaching assistant. During the summer of 1928, after returning to the United States, Vytlacil gave lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on modern European art. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Art Students League faculty. After one year, he returned to Europe and successfully persuaded Hofmann to teach at the League as well. He spent about six years in Europe, studying the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Dufy. In 1935, he returned to New York and became a co-founder of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He later had teaching posts at Queens College in New York; the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California; Black Mountain College in North Carolina; and the Art Students League. His paintings exhibit a clear inclination toward modernism. His still lives and interiors from the 1920s indicate an understanding of the art of Cézanne. In the 1930s, his works displayed two very different kinds of art at the same time. His cityscapes and landscapes combine Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. Vytlacil also used old wood, metal, cork, and string in constructions, influenced by his friend and former student, Rupert Turnbull. He eventually ceased creating constructions as he considered them too limiting. The spatial challenges of painting were still his preference. During the 1940s and 1950s, his works indicated a sense of spontaneity not felt in his earlier work. He married Elizabeth Foster in Florence, Italy, in 1927 and they lived and worked in Positano, Italy for extended periods of time. Later on, they divided their time between homes in Sparkill, New York and Chilmark, Massachusetts, where Vyt, as he was affectionately called, taught at the Martha's Vineyard Art...
    Category

    1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • “Woman in Black”
    By Vaclav Vytlacil
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to New York when he was 20. From 1913 to 1916, he enjoyed a scholarship from the Art Students League, and worked with John C. Johansen (a portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent), and Anders Zorn. He accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art in 1916, remaining there until 1921. This enabled him to travel to Europe to study Cézanne’s paintings and works of the Old Masters. He traveled to Paris, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Munich seeking the works of Titian, Cranach, Rembrandt, Veronese, and Holbein, which gave him new perspective. Vytlacil studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, settling there in 1921. Fellow students were Ernest Thurn and Worth Ryder, who introduced him to famous abstractionist Hans Hofmann. He worked with Hofmann from about 1922 to 1926, as a student and teaching assistant. During the summer of 1928, after returning to the United States, Vytlacil gave lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on modern European art. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Art Students League faculty. After one year, he returned to Europe and successfully persuaded Hofmann to teach at the League as well. He spent about six years in Europe, studying the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Dufy. In 1935, he returned to New York and became a co-founder of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He later had teaching posts at Queens College in New York; the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California; Black Mountain College in North Carolina; and the Art Students League. His paintings exhibit a clear inclination toward modernism. His still lives and interiors from the 1920s indicate an understanding of the art of Cézanne. In the 1930s, his works displayed two very different kinds of art at the same time. His cityscapes and landscapes combine Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. Vytlacil also used old wood, metal, cork, and string in constructions, influenced by his friend and former student, Rupert Turnbull. He eventually ceased creating constructions as he considered them too limiting. The spatial challenges of painting were still his preference. During the 1940s and 1950s, his works indicated a sense of spontaneity not felt in his earlier work. He married Elizabeth Foster in Florence, Italy, in 1927 and they lived and worked in Positano, Italy for extended periods of time. Later on, they divided their time between homes in Sparkill, New York and Chilmark, Massachusetts, where Vyt, as he was affectionately called, taught at the Martha's Vineyard Art...
    Category

    1960s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • “Woman on the Rocks”
    By Josef Zenk
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Josef Zenk (1904-2000) Josef Zenk was born in New York City in 1904. After graduating from high school, he studied for thre...
    Category

    20th Century Abstract Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • "Sea and Sky, Deer Isle"
    By Mercedes Matter
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Best known as a painter of abstract still life and founder of the New York Studio School, Mercedes Matter was also a disting...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil, Board

  • "Agitation in the Agora"
    By Tobias Musicant
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Tobias Musicant (1921 – 2004) A new discovery in the art world is something always searched for and rarely found. Surely th...
    Category

    20th Century Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

You May Also Like
  • Committed to the Earth: Black and Pink Minimalist Painting
    Located in Petaluma, CA
    This diptych painting of black and pink is slightly recessed within a black frame. The left side depicts simple marks using graphite pencil. The image on the right conveys a circul...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Board, Oil, Acrylic

  • Antonio Buonfiglio - CENERE ALLA CENERE - Black/white
    Located in Stienta, IT
    Mixed media oil and ash on canvas. In Antonio Buonfiglio's works, the pictorial surface takes on a thick, vibrant consistency, almost stretching ou...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Antonio Buonfiglio - DOUBLE TROUBLE - Neutral color
    Located in Stienta, IT
    Mixed media and oil on board. In Antonio Buonfiglio's works, the pictorial surface takes on a thick, vibrant consistency, almost stretching out to ...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Antonio Buonfiglio - OUT OF RED - Red - Oil Painting
    Located in Stienta, IT
    Technique Mixed oil on wood. The artist, In order to give more character and personalization to this work of great effect and color, decorates the painting with his own fingerprints. In Antonio...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Untitled
    Located in Milano, MI
    negli anni approfondisce anche lo studio della storia dell’arte e, in particolare, si appassiona ai pittori che lui stesso ama definire “fuori dall’onda”, per lo “spirito di novità” ...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media

    Materials

    Mixed Media, Oil, Board

  • From the beginning (Sin dall'inizio)
    Located in Milano, MI
    In the compositions, the gaze is attracted by an interplay of harmonious balances between full and empty spaces, which compel the regarding to an observation dynamic approach in orde...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media

    Materials

    Mixed Media, Oil, Board

Recently Viewed

View All