Charles Edward Chambers

The Good Earth

Circa1930's

Mid-century female illustrator/artist Gladys Rockmore Davis paints a compelling portrait of a contemplative beauty who looks like Elizabeth Taylor. Frontal and lateral forces work together in this pyramidal composition. The sitter stares down at the viewer creating a frontal tension. Her hypnotic gaze is counterbalanced by the lateral movement of her crossed hands and triggers an emotional response. Gladys Rockmore Davis is both a work-for-hire illustrator and a fine artist- She was an illustrator for clients such as Upjohn, Munsingwear, Elgin Watches, and Johnson & Johnson. Davis had a show at the prestigious Midtown Gallery and Babcock Gallery in New York. She studied at the California School of Fine Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, and Art Students League. William R. French Gold Medal...

Pruett Carter captures the quintessential look of the 1950's in this loosely rendered but charming work for Redbook. Bright, punchy colors define each object and are arranged in a simplified but complex composition of intersecting and overlapping planes of color. The double portrait of the girl expresses a peak moment of introspection. She ponders her situation while preparing to get dressed for her special occasion. The whole scene is imbued with suspense about her future. Carter is a great academic painter. With just a few light touches of the brush, he quickly defines the form of the subject and achieves the X factor of the work. The profile and frontal view of the girl clearly are the same person. He nails her look. This is hard to do. Do not underestimate it. Sadly, there is a reason why there are very few contemporary artists can actually paint and draw without tracing photographs or resort to naive painting. It's hard to do. It's hard to be a painter. You can not fake...

With eyes obscured and hat lowered, this figure is both iconic and unknowable—a faceless cowboy adrift in a pale, open void. Kosow distills the visual codes of Americana and cinemati...

Monumental, important WPA painting by Percy Albee. The painting is oil canvas measuring 36" x 48". Titled verso "New Americans", this WPA painting was exhibited at the Carnegie Insti...