Skip to main content
  • Design Credit: Samantha Todhunter Design Ltd., Photo Credit: Oliver Clarke. Dimensions: H 24 in. x W 18 in.
  • Design Credit: Lucy Harris Studio, Photo Credit: Francesco Bertocci. Dimensions: H 24 in. x W 18 in.
  • Design Credit: Timothy Godbold, Photo Credit: Karl Simone. Dimensions: H 24 in. x W 18 in.
  • Want more images or videos?
    Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Donald S. Vogel
Portrait of Harriet Toby, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo

1946-1949

About the Item

Donald Vogel’s paintings reflect his interest in seeking beauty in life and in sharing pleasure with his viewers. Vogel entreats us to "rejoice and celebrate each new day, knowing it is a gift in itself, and produce something of worth to be shared. That is the life that has served this artist's pilgrimage." Donald S. Vogel was a set designer and technical director in the theater, a fine art dealer, and a writer, but first and foremost he was a painter. From a young age he was intrigued by the possibilities of creating images. The excitement and pleasure derived from the act of creation continued to be the force that compelled him to paint throughout his life. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Donald S. Vogel began his formal art training at the Witte Memorial Museum in San Antonio when he was seventeen. His training, under the watchful eye of Eleanor Onderdonk, was briefly interrupted by a move to Washington, DC , where he took drawing classes at The Corcoran School of Art . He returned to San Antonio to finish high school and continued studying under Onderdonk. After graduation, he moved to Chicago in 1936 to enroll in The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist rooms of the Institute, a new world opened up to him, one that would forever influence the direction of his work. He saw art that dealt with the effects of atmosphere and light. The subjects and techniques used by these painters conveyed a sense of happiness, exuberance, and pleasure, which offered a stark contrast to the world outside stifled by the Great Depression. While studying at the Art Institute, Vogel roomed at the Artist Community House where many students lived. This environment served as a counterpoint to the academic training he received at the Institute. It afforded the students the freedom to discuss issues in contemporary art, and freely experiment with unconventional ideas and techniques. Most importantly, this fertile environment intensified Vogel's commitment to paint. Feeling the pinch of the Depression, Vogel left the Art Institute in 1940, and was accepted on the WPA Easel Project. This allowed him the luxury of drawing and painting from dawn to dusk. The freedom to paint at all hours focused his interest on the seemingly endless variations of light and atmosphere. With unlimited use of a model, he produced thousands of figure drawings until, eventually freed from the necessity of working from life, he began to paint purely from his imagination. In 1942, Vogel moved to Dallas. The previous year, while he was still living in Chicago, the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts had given Vogel a one-person show; in 1943, shortly after his arrival in Dallas, the DMFA gave him another. While working first as a set designer and then as technical director at the Dallas Little Theater, Vogel spent his free time at the easel. During the 1940's he gained recognition in the art community by promoting the work of fellow artists and winning coveted purchase awards and prizes in the Texas General and Allied Arts Exhibitions for his own paintings. In 1951, Vogel and his wife Peggy, alongside Dallas arts patron Betty McLean, opened the Betty McLean Gallery. It was the first gallery in Texas to deal in modern art on an international level. In 1954, the Vogels moved to a five-acre site north of Dallas and opened Valley House Gallery. The new setting at Valley House deeply inspired Vogel, serving as a source for ideas, and providing a place of serenity and contemplation. Vogel's work is characterized by his love of color, and his fascination with the changing qualities of light. A favorite subject, often revisited during the latter part of his career, is the greenhouse. He first experimented with this subject in 1976, and began using it in earnest in 1978. Having worked in a hothouse during his youth, he found it a natural subject for exploring the effects of atmosphere, light, and color. Like Monet's pond at Giverny, Vogel's greenhouses have become his signature: an imaginary place of endless fascination. Vogel produced many catalogues for gallery artists but he had never written for himself. In 1989, he penned two autobiographical short stories and published them under the title Charcoal and Cadmium Red. He found writing to be as challenging a process as painting. During his eighth decade, he wrote and painted with equal intensity. “The agony and ecstasy I felt while producing each work was welcomed, as each required the other to fulfill the quest. And the quest remains to produce works that should delight the eye, give pause for thought, heighten the spirit, and sense the awareness of our being,” wrote Donald S. Vogel in 1998, on the occasion of his Retrospective exhibition and catalogue. Donald S. Vogel's work is included in the following collections: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois Beaumont Museum of Fine Art, Beaumont, Texas Charles Goddard Center, Ardmore, Oklahoma Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas Fine Arts Museum of the South, Mobile, Alabama Ft. Worth Art Association, Ft. Worth, Texas Old Jail Foundation, Albany, Texas Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma The Pennsylvania Trust, Radnor, Pennsylvania Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas
  • Creator:
    Donald S. Vogel (1917-2004, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1946-1949
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 18 in (45.72 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Dallas, TX
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: C01151stDibs: LU2572308451

Shipping & Returns

  • Shipping
    Retrieving quote...
    Ships From: Dallas, TX
  • Return Policy

    A return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.

1stDibs Buyer Protection Guaranteed
If your item arrives not as described, we’ll work with you and the seller to make it right. Learn More
About the Seller
5.0
Located in Dallas, TX
Recognized Seller
These prestigious sellers are industry leaders and represent the highest echelon for item quality and design.
Established in 1954
1stDibs seller since 2013
141 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 1 to 2 days
Associations
Art Dealers Association of America
More From This SellerView All
  • Portrait of Young Girl
    By Donald S. Vogel
    Located in Dallas, TX
    Donald Vogel’s paintings reflect his interest in seeking beauty in life and in sharing pleasure with his viewers. Vogel entreats us to "rejoice and celebrate each new day, knowing it...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Panel

  • Portrait of Kevin's playmate
    By Donald S. Vogel
    Located in Dallas, TX
    Donald Vogel’s paintings reflect his interest in seeking beauty in life and in sharing pleasure with his viewers. Vogel entreats us to "rejoice and celebrate each new day, knowing it...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Panel

  • Study of Girl
    By Donald S. Vogel
    Located in Dallas, TX
    Donald Vogel’s paintings reflect his interest in seeking beauty in life and in sharing pleasure with his viewers. Vogel entreats us to "rejoice and celebrate each new day, knowing it...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century American Modern Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Panel

  • Walking Nude
    By Donald S. Vogel
    Located in Dallas, TX
    Donald Vogel’s paintings reflect his interest in seeking beauty in life and in sharing pleasure with his viewers. Vogel entreats us to "rejoice and celebrate each new day, knowing it...
    Category

    1960s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Panel

  • Two Girls in Green
    By Donald S. Vogel
    Located in Dallas, TX
    Donald Vogel’s paintings reflect his interest in seeking beauty in life and in sharing pleasure with his viewers. Vogel entreats us to "rejoice and celebrate each new day, knowing it...
    Category

    1960s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Panel

  • Girl in Green
    By Donald S. Vogel
    Located in Dallas, TX
    Donald Vogel’s paintings reflect his interest in seeking beauty in life and in sharing pleasure with his viewers. Vogel entreats us to "rejoice and celebrate each new day, knowing it...
    Category

    1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Linen, Oil

People Also Browsed
  • Portrait of an Elegant Young Woman in Warm Grays and Soft Ochers
    By Leon Kroll
    Located in Miami, FL
    Leon Kroll was above all an academician. To him "abstract art was merely the beginning of a picture. Structurally, "Portrait of a Young Woman recalls some of the portraits from the ...
    Category

    1930s Academic Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Camilla
    By Robert McIntosh
    Located in West Hollywood, CA
    Presenting a rare, early original oil painting, "Camilla", by American artist Robert McIntosh(1916-2010) McIntosh was extremely prolific and exhibited throughout his lifetime, inclu...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Portrait of Theresa Rogers
    By Leon Kroll
    Located in Miami, FL
    Portrait of Theresa Rogers Housed in a period hand carved wood frame. Some scatter minor paint loss and stretcher marks otherwise presents very well Signature: Signed lower right T...
    Category

    1930s Academic Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Original Vintage Movie Poster Ballet Russe Folk Dance Galina Oulanova Design
    By Boris Grinsson
    Located in London, GB
    Original vintage movie poster for a dance film featuring Galina Oulanova la plus celebre danseuse etoile Danses Populaires et les Ballet Russes rythme entrain gaite! / Galina Ulanova the most famous prima ballerina Popular Dances and the Ballets Russes cheerful lively rhythm! Great folk dance art depicting a lady in a colourful swirling skirt and a man in traditional costume dancing in the foreground, a row of ladies behind men cossack dancing in the background in front of a tree and wooden building in the countryside with a church spire against the blue sky, the text above and diagonally below in bold lettering. The award winning prima ballerina assoluta Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova (1910-1998) is considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Artwork by the notable French film poster designer Boris Grinsson (1907-1999). Large size. Good condition, folds, creasing, paper losses, tears, browning, staining, some restored tears, backed on old linen.
    Category

    Vintage 1950s French Posters

    Materials

    Paper

  • Claudius Linossier Dinanderie "Maenad" Charger
    By Claudius Linossier
    Located in New York, NY
    This French Art Deco Charger, by Claudius Linossier, was created using the technique known as dinanderie, which involved decorating hammering out copper vessels to produce subtle but...
    Category

    Vintage 1920s French Art Deco Decorative Art

    Materials

    Silver, Copper

  • Ballet dancer
    By Jean-Baptiste Valadie
    Located in New York, NY
    Beautiful drawing by Jean-Baptiste Valadie, hand-signed, museum frame
    Category

    2010s Romantic Nude Paintings

    Materials

    Engraving, Drypoint, Lithograph

  • The Red Dancer - Mid-Late 20th Century Figurative Elegant Ballet by Frank Hill
    By Frank Hill
    Located in Watford, Hertfordshire
    Frank Hill is a professional artist living and working in North Norfolk. He studied art at Waltham Forest School of Art and later at St Martins School of Art. Frank’s professional c...
    Category

    1970s Post-Impressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Serge Golovine, Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo, 1949
    Located in San Francisco, CA
    This artwork titled "Serge Golovine, Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo" 1949 is a watercolor and crayon on paper by noted French artist Jean Target, 1910-1997 It is signed at the lower rig...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Realist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor

  • 'Monte Carlo Pool' 1975 (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
    By Slim Aarons
    Located in London, GB
    'Monte Carlo Pool' 1975 (Slim Aarons Estate Edition) White umbrellas line a swimming pool in Monte Carlo, July 1975. (Photo by Slim Aarons) A new find in the Archive, this is an exceptionally beautiful, crisp and clear Slim Aarons photograph, with gloriously vivid colours - it is reminiscent of a David Hockney painting...
    Category

    1970s Modern Color Photography

    Materials

    C Print

  • Portrait, Two Women, Oil on Canvas
    By Anton Vorauer
    Located in Surfside, FL
    From the late 1920s to the eve of World War II, Anton Vorauer was an art professor at the Vienna Fine Art Academy. While painting at the Parthenon during the Nazi invasion of Greece,...
    Category

    20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like
  • Dora, 1920s Framed Modernist Portrait of a Girl at the Seaside Oil Painting
    By Peppino Mangravite
    Located in Denver, CO
    Original signed vintage 1928 oil painting by Peppino Mangravite (1896-1978), "Dora" is a figure of a girl in a modernist landscape with rocks, trees and ocean/sea. Presented in a cu...
    Category

    1920s American Modern Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Man Seated by Radiator by Norman Rockwell
    By Norman Rockwell
    Located in New Orleans, LA
    Norman Rockwell 1894-1978 | American Man Seated by Radiator Signed “Norman Rockwell” (lower right) Oil on canvas Combining Norman Rockwell’s remarkable talents for narrative and nostalgia, this oil on canvas by the great American illustrator was almost certainly created as an advertisement for a radiator company. Depicting a kindly old man and his feline companion warming themselves next to the heater, this delightful oil on canvas represents the artist’s immense talent for rendering the nuances of everyday life. The painting boasts extraordinary detail and endless charm, and it is heartwarmingly Rockwellian in all aspects. With his astute eye for narrative, Rockwell conveys the utility and convenience of a radiator, which was considered a luxury appliance in the early 20th century but was gaining in popularity around the time of this work’s creation circa 1935. Rockwell crafts an inviting setting, drawing viewers into the living space of his charming subject with believable and masterfully executed details, from the gentleman placing his book down for a moment to warm his hand over the radiator to the snow falling outside. The composition’s rich, warm palette enhances the coziness of the scene, and the subject’s friendly smile seems to invite the viewer into the scene. Rockwell's ability to capture the character of the nation was prized not only by magazine art editors from popular publications such as Life, Literary Digest and the iconic Saturday Evening Post, but also by advertisers. Nearly all major companies of the day sought the artist out for his highly appealing compositions, including Jell-O, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Ford, Post Cereals, and the U.S. Army. Taken together, his many paintings capture the essence of the American spirit. “I paint life as I would like it to be,” Rockwell once said. Mythical, idealistic, and innocent, his paintings evoke a longing for a time and place that existed in his rich imagination and in the hopes and aspirations of the nation. Norman Rockwell led a long and successful career as an artist. While history was in the making all around him, Rockwell chose to fill his canvases with the small details and nuances of ordinary people in everyday life. Taken together, his many paintings capture the essence of the American spirit. Rockwell said, "Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed." Rockwell's distinguished career earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the highest honor bestowed upon an American civilian. This work is pictured in Norman Rockwell: A Definitive Catalogue, Volume II, by Laurie Norton Moffatt. Circa 1935 Canvas: 40" high x 30 1/4" wide Frame: 49 5/8" high x 39 3/4" wide Provenance: Collection of Studio 53...
    Category

    20th Century American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Portrait of Eugene Higgins, Age 80.
    By Alphaeus Philemon Cole
    Located in Storrs, CT
    Portrait of Eugene Higgins, Age 80. 1954. Oil on canvas. 30 x 25 (framed 35 x 30). Signed and dated lower right. Cole and Higgins (1874-1958), both lived in Lyme, Connecticut. Higg...
    Category

    1950s American Modern Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • 'Man in Glasses', Post Impressionist oil study in Ochre and Coral
    By K.C. Collins
    Located in Santa Cruz, CA
    A study of a man's face, shown wearing horn-rimmed glasses and gazing to the viewers left. painted in monochromatic tones of ochre against a vibrant coral-red background. Signed low...
    Category

    Early 2000s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Oil

  • Portrait of a Charming Seated Woman Against Maroon Drapes
    By Arthur Beecher Carles
    Located in Miami, FL
    Charming portait with Modernest colors. Provenance: Christie's Mercedes Matter, daughter of the artist, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York. Private Collection. Sale: Skinner, Inc...
    Category

    1910s American Modern Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Portrait of a Seated Woman
    By Arthur Beecher Carles
    Located in Miami, FL
    Charming portait with Modernest colors. Provenance: Christie's Mercedes Matter, daughter of the artist, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York. Private Collection. Sale: Skinner, Inc...
    Category

    1910s American Modern Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

Recently Viewed

View More

The 1stDibs Promise

Learn More

Expertly Vetted Sellers

Confidence at Checkout

Price-Match Guarantee

Exceptional Support

Buyer Protection

Trusted Global Delivery