Bernard Bécan

Double Study for the Affiche "La Quinzaine du Sac de Fr" - 1940s - Bernard Bécan

1940

Suburbs is an original modern artwork realized by Renso Vespignani in 1970s. Mixed colored tempera on canvas. Stamp behind the artwork. Provenance: Vivaldi Collection.

Hunter's funeral is a modern artwork realized in the early 20th Century. Tempera painting on board. Hand signed on the lower margin. Includes frame: 60 x 86 cm

This painting is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Refreshment and Intermission, tempera on board, 11 x 19 inches, c. 1930/40s, signed lower middle, exhibited at Groom's one person show at Closson’s Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, March, 1943 (see The Cincinnati Enquirer, March 7, 1943, section 3, p. 4); provenance includes a private Ohio collection; presented in a period gold painted frame About the Painting Refreshment and Intermission is part of a series of paintings of Amish subjects Grooms started in 1938 based on his travels in Pennsylvania. These tempera works reflect the Regionalist impulse to paint local scenes far away from big cities. Focusing on both people and landscape, Grooms' compositions tell the stories of the uniquely American experience of the Amish. “Grooms paints the Amish people with as much understanding of type and appreciation of the plastic quality as any artist who has approached this challenging subject," noted the art critic for The Cincinnati Inquirer when reviewing Grooms' solo exhibition at Closson' Gallery, "In his current show, ‘Refreshment and Intermission,’ is a case in point. Here the absorbed concentration of people eating is described without an ounce of sentimentality. He has made the most of the interest between groups and of the conversations, both humorous and serious. The work has the quaint simplicity of a Lord’s Supper...

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...