Items Similar to The Demagogue or Tale in a Tub

Honora Berg - Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Figurative -- Nude Woman and Red Chair

Narcissus Robert Quagliata - "Morning Towers" Contemporary Figurative Self Portrait

Hazel Finck - “Family”

Joseph Stella - Reclining Nude

Stephen Basso - Warm Reflections pool theme sunny colors florida suburbia human condition

Anton Refregier - “Girl in the Grass”

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 6

Bendor Mark
The Demagogue or Tale in a Tub
1952

About the Item

The Demagogue or Tale in a Tub, 1952, oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches, signed, titled, and dated verso, presented in a newer frame The Demagogue is an iconic Bendor Mark painting from the prime of his post-war period. Beginning early in his career, Mark was fascinated with depictions of the human figure and their capacity to tell stories of the world around him. Mark was a keen observer of his times and in The Demagogue we see Mark’s portrayal of a faithless politician holding up a “V” for victory sign as he appeals to the wanton desires and prejudices of the masses. Below the demagogue is a swirl of humanity representing the common man who is being pushed down by the powerful, while the robed figure of liberty with her scales of justice held high is brushed aside. Behind the demagogue, Mark places two other powerful supporting institutions which were often co-opted by the world’s dictators, the church and the military. Mark was an internationalist, so it is difficult to know exactly which demagogue inspired him to create this work, but in 1952 there were many to choose from. Whether depicting Argentina’s Peron (the demagogue and the women to the right resemble Juan and Eva Peron), Spain’s Franco or the United States’ homegrown fear mongers like Joseph McCarthy, Mark tells a universal story that unfolded in dramatic fashion during the post-war period as nations and their peoples grappled with authoritarianism and anti-democratic impulses. Stylistically, The Demagogue draws on the elements which make Mark’s work from this period immediately recognizable, a saturated palette, a closely packed and frenetic composition, exaggerated figuration and stylized facial features. But, above all, we see Mark’s ability to tell the stories of the rich and powerful and their ability to oppress. Like Mark’s work in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art (The Hourglass - 1950-51) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Execution – 1940), The Demagogue pulls no punches, as the artist lays bare the threats to freedom and basic human rights. Bendor Mark was an American modernist and social realist painter. Born as Bernard Marcus on June 5, 1912, in Brooklyn, New York, Mark trained at The Cooper Union during the 1920s where he studied with William Brantley van Ingen and became a prize-winning artist with a focus on painting the human figure. After his time at Cooper, Mark continued to live in New York and worked as a commercial artist and textile designer in addition to his pursuit of a career in painting. Like many Depression Era artists, Mark engaged with social progressives and in 1934, he joined the Artist’s Union which had the goal of advancing artists’ position as “worker.” Mark’s painting, Restaurant, which is now in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, appeared in the February 1936 edition of the Union’s publication, Art Front, as part of a review of an exhibition at ACA Gallery in New York. Mark worked on the Federal Art Project and by the mid- to late-1930s, began a series of paintings exploring the working conditions and hazards of the mining industry. Mark believed that miners were “in the forefront of the struggle for emancipation” and that the mere “struggle for existence is like moving mountains.” He became passionate about the Spanish Civil War and painted sympathetic images in support of the Spanish Republic. Mark was a premature anti-fascist and throughout his career painted works critical of dictators and other oppressors. During the late 1930s, Mark entered mural competitions with designs influenced by the Mexican muralists, taught adult art education in Queens, New York, and was an instructor at the WPA’s Queensboro Art Center. He was so committed to socially progressive art that by 1934, he had changed his name to Bendor Mark, in part, to distinguish his social realist paintings from his earlier work. During World War II, Mark worked as an artist for military contractors. After the war, he was employed as a graphic artist and in the printing industry before moving to Southern California in 1948, where he returned to a fine art practice the following year with politically and socially charged images which reflected his view of the shortcomings of the post-War period, the continued threat of fascism, and the international tensions of the Cold War. As the mood of the country shifted towards the right during the McCarthy Era and the art world’s attention focused on abstraction at the expense of figuration, Mark’s career as a painter suffered. From the 1950s through the 1980s, Mark continued to depict the events that shaped the world around him, often employing a highly stylized approach characterized by dynamic multi-figure compositions, a subtle muted palette, and exaggerated expressive features. A review of Mark’s oeuvre suggests that few people escaped Mark’s attention. He painted presidents, prime ministers, royalty, evangelists, musicians, and dictators (and their henchman), along with miners, farm workers, the urban poor, protesters, the unemployed and dispossessed. He laid bare the arrogance, cruelty, and hypocrisy of the world’s elites. Mark noted, “A work of art cannot be fully appreciated or wholly understood without considering the socio-political and cultural ambience that gave it birth.” He continued, “I have the ability to foresee the direction of social and political events while they are actually taking place.” He was not himself a direct political activist, however. Although Mark commented, “It’s a misconception to separate art from the social aspect of life,” he viewed artists as being neutral. According to Mark, “An apolitical attitude reflects the fact that the artist is passive. . . An artist never affects society; he merely reflects it.” In addition to the Mexican Muralists, Mark was influenced by the old masters Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Masaccio, as well as the more modern master, Van Gogh. Mark’s writings directly acknowledge these influences and archival material from his estate includes magazine articles, pamphlets and transparencies related to these artists. Mark also collected materials related to several of his social realist contemporaries, including Reginald Marsh, Ben Shahn, Leonard Baskin, and Raphael Soyer, who was Mark’s good friend. For years, Soyer sent Mark holiday cards and Soyer inscribed a message of friendship on a self-portrait he gifted to Mark in the 1970s, all of which are still held in the collection of Mark’s family. From the late 1920s through the mid-1950s, Mark’s work was well received. His paintings won prizes and were accepted into major juried exhibitions including at the Brooklyn Museum, the New York World’s Fair and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He gained national recognition for paintings depicting the oppressed and the common worker. Despite the decline in popularity of representational art during the 1950s and 1960s, Mark stayed true to his interest in depicting the human figure and by the last two decades of his life, his work underwent a reassessment as curators included Mark’s paintings in exhibitions showcasing the role of labor in art during the Depression Era. This recognition continued in recent years when Mark was honored by having his work included in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s ground-breaking exhibition, Vida Americana, which explored the pioneering role that the Mexican muralists played in the development of modern American art during the inter-war period. The influence of Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco on Mark is unmistakable and his paintings from the 1950s (and beyond) sit comfortably in dialogue with other Los Angeles artists who continued to paint in the social realist tradition long after the mainstream art world had moved toward abstraction. Mark’s concern for underserved Brown and Black communities was shared with artists such as Charles White and his ally, Edward Biberman. Moreover, Mark’s stylization of the human form, his tightly packed compositions, and the exaggerated facial expressions of his subjects merit comparison to White’s work from this period. There is an other worldly quality to Mark’s work which combines elements of social realism, modernism, magic realism and political cartooning. Mark’s synthesis of these genres and the resulting paintings are unique testaments to his distinct artistic vision and the times in which he lived. Many of his paintings have an overt narrative quality with clear references to his subjects and the underlying messages of his art. Once a viewer becomes familiar with the work, Mark’s paintings are immediately recognizable, as no other artist pursued a similar style. Whether portraying the famous, the infamous or the common, Mark’s work leaves little doubt about his concern for the individual and the fundamental rights of humanity. Although many of the topics he depicted were visually hard-hitting and troubling, his goal was to provide a sense of “hope, dignity, and a determination to better things.” He was an intellectual artist. Mark stated, “Painting for me is more than meets the eye, its what’s on the brain.” For Mark, his observations of the world around him where just as valid as any essay, lecture, or scholarly book and he prophesized that if the world did not destroy itself in a nuclear holocaust, then his paintings would forever be a part of American history. Mark is listed in Who was Who in American Art and other standard references, and his paintings are in the permanent collections of major institutions, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Butler Institute of American Art. Mark’s paintings have rarely been offered and no major paintings have been presented at auction.

Creator:
Bendor Mark (1912, American)
Creation Year:
1952
Dimensions:
Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
More Editions & Sizes:
24 x 20 inchesPrice: $15,000
Medium:
Canvas,Oil
Movement & Style:
American Modern
Period:
1950-1959
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Los Angeles, CA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1859215629342

More From This Seller

View All

The Landing/Dawn Landing

Located in Los Angeles, CA

This painting is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s. The Landing/Dawn Landing, 1944, oil on canvas, signed lower left, 20 x 30, titled verso; exhibited in the Twelfth Annual Exhibition of Trends in Southern California Art at the Foundation of Western Art, Los Angeles, from early November to December 30, 1944 (see Millier, Arthur, Trends Show Attracts Best Southland Art, The Los Angeles Times, part III, p.6, November 4, 1944, illustrated in Edward Biberman, Time and Circumstance: Forty Years of Painting by Edward Biberman, The Ward Ritchie Press, Los Angeles (1968), p. 57, presented in its original frame The Landing/Dawn Landing is a rare and critically acclaimed example of Edward Biberman's World War II paintings...

Category

1940s American Modern Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Edward Biberman
The Landing/Dawn Landing

Price Upon Request

Untitled (Elevated Platform)

Located in Los Angeles, CA

This painting is part of our current exhibition - America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s Untitled (Elevated Platform), 1950, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 30 x...

Category

1950s American Modern Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Trew Hocker
Untitled (Elevated Platform), 1950

$18,000

Riders of Pigeon Hill

By Jon Corbino

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Riders of Pigeon Hill, c. 1940s, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 24 x 36 inches, label verso with title, artist’s name and address; same information inscribed verso; ex-collection...

Category

1940s American Modern Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Jon Corbino
Riders of Pigeon Hill, c. 1940s

$15,000

Six O'Clock

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Six O-Clock, c. 1942, oil on canvas, 30 x 20 inches, signed and titled several times verso of frame and stretcher (perhaps by another hand), marked “Rehn” several times on frame (for the Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries in New York City, who represented Craig at the time); Exhibited: 1) 18th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings from March 21 to May 2, 1943 at The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. #87, original price $450 (per catalog) (exhibition label verso), 2) Craig’s one-man show at the Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries, New York City, from October 26 to November 14, 1942, #10 (original price listed as $350); and 3) Exhibition of thirty paintings sponsored by the Harrisburg Art Association at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg in March, 1944 (concerning this exhibit, Penelope Redd of The Evening News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) wrote: “Other paintings that have overtones of superrealism inherent in the subjects include Tom Craig’s California nocturne, ‘Six O’Clock,’ two figures moving through the twilight . . . .” March 6, 1944, p. 13); another label verso from The Museum of Art of Toledo (Ohio): original frame: Provenance includes George Stern Gallery, Los Angeles, CA About the Painting Long before Chris Burden’s iconic installation outside of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Urban Light, another artist, Tom Craig, made Southern California streetlights the subject of one of his early 1940s paintings. Consisting of dozens of recycled streetlights from the 1920s and 1930s forming a classical colonnade at the museum’s entrance, Burden’s Urban Light has become a symbol of Los Angeles. For Burden, the streetlights represent what constitutes an advanced society, something “safe after dark and beautiful to behold.” It seems that Craig is playing on the same theme in Six O-Clock. Although we see two hunched figures trudging along the sidewalk at the end of a long day, the real stars of this painting are the streetlights which brighten the twilight and silhouette another iconic symbol of Los Angeles, the palm trees in the distance. Mountains in the background and the distant view of a suburban neighborhood join the streetlights and palm trees as classic subject matter for a California Scene painting, but Craig gives us a twist by depicting the scene not as a sun-drenched natural expanse. Rather, Craig uses thin layers of oil paint, mimicking the watercolor technique for which he is most famous, to show us the twinkling beauty of manmade light and the safety it affords. Although Southern California is a land of natural wonders, the interventions of humanity are already everywhere in Los Angeles and as one critic noted, the resulting painting has an air of “superrealism.” About the Artist Thomas Theodore Craig was a well-known fixture in the Southern California art scene. He was born in Upland California. Craig graduated with a degree in botany from Pomona College and studied painting at Pamona and the Chouinard Art School with Stanton MacDonald-Wright and Barse Miller among others. He became close friends with fellow artist Milford Zornes...

Category

1940s American Modern Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Thomas Craig
Six O'Clock

$12,500

Judy and Rita on Porch at Afton

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Judy and Rita on Porch at Afton, c. 1936, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches, title inscribed on tacking margin; “Judy” and “Rita” inscribed verso, NB: purchased together with The New Roa...

Category

1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Lois Wilde Hartshorne
Judy and Rita on Porch at Afton, c. 1936

$4,750

The Show is On

Located in Los Angeles, CA

The Show is On, 1940, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 24 x 20 inches, exhibited: 30th Annual Exhibition of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Pitt...

Category

1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Ethel M. Dean
The Show is On, 1940

$3,500

1960s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Honora Berg
Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Figurative -- Nude Woman and Red Chair, c.1960s

$2,280 Sale Price

20% Off

"Morning Towers" Contemporary Figurative Self Portrait

By Narcissus Robert Quagliata

Located in Soquel, CA

Saturated, intimate depiction of sharing a bed with a partner by Narcissus Robert Quagliata (Italian-American, b. 1942). While four fingers dominate the composition, the focus of the...

Category

1960s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Narcissus Robert Quagliata
"Morning Towers" Contemporary Figurative Self Portrait, c. 1969

$6,800 Sale Price

20% Off

“Family”

By Hazel Finck

Located in Southampton, NY

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower right 1930 Biography Hazel Finck Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Hazel Finck studied art with Guy Wiggins and Sigismund Ivanowski, a Russi...

Category

1930s American Modern Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Hazel Finck
“Family”, 1930

$2,850

Reclining Nude

By Joseph Stella

Located in Palm Desert, CA

A painting by Joseph Stella. "Reclining Nude" is a figurative painting, oil on canvas in a bright palette of yellows, greens, and tans by American Modernist artist Joseph Stella. The...

Category

Early 20th Century American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Joseph Stella
Reclining Nude, c. 1935-39

$115,000

Warm Reflections pool theme sunny colors florida suburbia human condition

By Stephen Basso

Located in Brooklyn, NY

oil on stretched linen canvas framing not required signed and dated on reverse

Category

2010s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Stephen Basso
Warm Reflections pool theme sunny colors florida suburbia human condition, 2019

$3,600

“Girl in the Grass”

By Anton Refregier

Located in Southampton, NY

Original oil on canvas painting by Anton Refregier of a young girl resting in the grass. Signed upper right and dated 1962. Condition is very good. The painting is in its original oa...

Category