Gerhard Morgenstjerne Munthe

Where are the Clams?

Children at the Seashore By Josef Israels (1824-1911) Unframed: 9" x 15" Framed: 17.5" x 23.5" Signed Lower Left Born in Groningen, Holland, in 1824, Josef Israels was brought up in the traditions of the Jewish faith and destined for the rabbinate. His interest in drawing grew stronger with age however, and in 1840 his father finally relented, sending him to Amsterdam. There he spent his days working in the studio of Jan Kruseman and his evenings painting at the Royal Academy under Jan Pieneman, both leading portrait painters. In Paris, Israels studied a short time with the historical painter Francois Picot...

Oscar E. Berninghaus (American, 1874-1952) "Winter Pasture" Oil on Canvas Unframed: 20 x 24 inches Framed: 25.5 x 29.5 inches Provo: Noonan-Kocian Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri, Dec. 23, 1954 (Copy of Original Receipt Included) * Will be included in Kodner Gallery's upcoming Oscar E. Berninghaus Research Project on the artist A founder in 1898 of the Taos Society of Artists, Oscar Berninghaus excelled at drawing animals and figures in contemporary garb in Southwestern landscapes. Many of his early paintings were Impressionistic, "suffused with color and light". (Gerdts 254) He was born in St. Louis, Missouri and developed an interest in art through his family's lithography business. He attended night classes at the St. Louis School of Fine Art. In 1898, he was on an illustration assignment for "McClure's" magazine, which took him for the first of many times into New Mexico and Arizona. He had heard of the special beauty of Taos and there met Bert Geer Phillips, who was already a resident, and Phillips invited him to return. This visit began a tradition of spending the winter months in St. Louis and the summers in Taos. He remained active in both communities, and for many years designed the costumes and floats for the Veiled Prophet parade, a famous annual event in St. Louis. He also did a series of western scenes commissioned by the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association to promote a manly, ruggedness theme in their products and to enhance their image as good Americans, an image that was being attacked by suffragettes. In this capacity and without visiting the area, Berninghaus did a painting titled "Old Faithful, Yellowstone" in 1914, which was used as a calendar illustration in the series. Berninghaus was a sketch artist for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad to depict landscape of Colorado...

Title: French Impressionist Oil Painting of Traditional Seaweed Harvesting Scene By Fanch Lel (French b. 1930) Size: 4.5 x 6.5 inches (height x width) Signed: Yes Oil painting on car...

Gaston Sebire French, 1920-2002 At The Seaside Oil on canvas 25 by 31 in. W/frame 33 ½ by 39 ½ in. Signed lower right Gaston Sebire (1920 – 2002) Gaston Sebire, was one of Europe’s leading landscapists, was born in the village of Saint-Samson in Normandy in 1920. A self taught artist, he began to paint seriously at the age of eighteen. For eight years he worked as a postal clerk in the Rouen, sorting letters at night in order to support his career as a painter. In 1952 Gaston Sebire had his first exhibition at the Galerie Gosselin in Paris. The following years he enjoyed the double triumph of winning both the coveted Prix de la Critique and the Prix Casa Velasquez. The Latter award made it possible for him to spend a year and a half in Spain. Of this formative period he said, “They were my first, wonderful years without worry. For fifteen years I had never known what the next day would bring.” The year 1957 marked another important stage in his career. His painting “La Dinde” won the Greenshields Prize in a field of 136 competitors, making it possible for him to paint for another two years without the worry of finances. Winning the awards naturally drew public attention to the artist from Normandy, and his works were presented in highly successful one-man shows in Paris. Sebire was a Norman, a man strongly attached to the soil, and after his exhibitions in Paris, he returned to Rouen to his large house overlooking the town and once again plunged into painting the countryside. Gaston Sebire was a strongly built man with square hands and a rather heavy walk. He had immense vitality, and used that to his advantage.  As he said of himself, “When the snow falls, I can’t stay indoors. I set out with my paint box. I paint outdoors from nine in the morning until five at night. If it were only a question of money, one could just as well paint in one’s own room.” But Sebire went into the countryside, or into the village, and sets up his easel. When there is a café into which people are going; there is a fence, a telegraph pole, a few buildings in the background. The scene takes on life, vivid life, with a sense of some event about to take place in the scene. Like many artists, and like a typical Norman, Sebire was silent and solitary by nature, with a personality as strong and frank as his paintings. A painting, he says, “must have an element of mystery, show an effort to look beyond the aura surface of things.” Sebire’s early paintings were somber with much use of black and white tones. In 1970 he turned to colour. The subtle light of the Normandy skies; the shifting light and color along the seacoast; the magnificent blues of the Rouen pottery...