Josef Presser

Pair of African American Portraits

circa 1945

Signed lower right. Provenance: Khromin Estate. Victor Khromin, born in Gatchina City, near St. Petersburg, Russia explored his artistic abilities from the earliest years of his life. The Russian-Finish family into which Victor was born discovered and accepted his talent as something that flowed organically through their family tree. Victor's grandfather was an accomplished artist and a student of Repin at the Academy of Art in St. Petersburg, Russia. The scenery of childhood in a small Finnish village on the outskirts of St. Petersburg continues to inspire Victor throughout his life.Victor went on to study art professionally at the Serov School of Fine Art in Leningrad. While still a student, he actively participated in non-conformist exhibitions, which were illegal during the Soviet Regime. In 1976, Victor became a member of the USSR Union of Professional Artists. This was the only Soviet organization, which could recognize an individual as a career artist. Despite membership, he continued to exhibit his works as part of the Underground Art Movement, which contradicted the code of conduct outlined by the USSR Union of Professional Artists and rejected the only officially accepted style of Socialist Realist. Victor's works stopped being presented for exhibition within official circles of the Soviet Art League. Victor became a target for government harassment and monitoring. The 1985 solo exhibition at the Kudamm Gallery, in Berlin, served as a breaking point in the semi-tolerant relationship that had previously existed between Victor and the USSR Union of Professional Artists. According to the Union, an artist was not allowed to exhibit outside of the USSR without the permission of and censorship by that organization. That same year, Victor lost the position, which he had obtained through the Union. He relocated to a small village called Sinicheno, where over the course of 5 years, he created a series of lyrical pieces. The works were displayed at a solo exhibition at Dianart Gallery in Zurich in 1988, and at Arcole Auction, Paris in 1988-1990.The Perestroika finally opened doors for Victor to exhibit within Russia at "From Unofficial Art to Perestroika," in Leningrad in 1989 and The Stanislavski Actor's House in Leningrad in 1990. In 1990, Victor received an invitation to come to New York City for a Solo exhibition at Nahamkin Gallery. During this trip, Victor applied for legal residency within the United States and was granted this status for his Extraordinary Abilities in Art. In 1996, Victor's paintings become part of the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art at Rutgers University. From this point on, Victor and his family move to rural upstate New York. Here he continues the development of unique techniques for creating 3D casts for oil paintings and paper. Victor's recent works are hand-made paper reliefs, with acrylic used as a color addition to the texture. He also developed a relining technic, which allow him to transfer his reliefs to canvas, and then work with oil paint over the underlying relief. He has also been represented by Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum of The Norton & Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union (1956-1986) at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ; Dianart Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland; Kudam Gallery in Berlin, Germany; Codriorg Pallas Museum , Tallinn, Estonia; Urmala Exhibition Hall, Urmala, Latvia; Regional exhibition in Russia, and solo exhibitions in St. Petersburg, Russia, etc. The specific style category...

Signed lower right. Born in Mantorville, Minnesota, Arnold Blanch was a painter of scenes of social-realist American life with mystical overtones and a child-like seeming style. He was also a highly respected teacher, lecturer and visiting critic and was a spokesman for the art colony in Woodstock, New York. He was married to Lucile Blanch...

Signed lower left & titled verso. A printmaker and painter in abstract style who used wide brush marks, Henry Kallem was born in Philadelphia. His father was Morris Kallem, a portrait painter, with whom he studied, and his brother was sculptor Herbert Kallem...

Signed lower right. David Solot, a dentist and painter, was born in Falciu (Romania) and settled in Paris in 1928. His art was surrealistic dentally inspired plus portraits and city landscapes. **************************** Translated from an article by Luana Hrisanti Rigot: "In 1956, at the Charlotte Norberg Gallery (Paris), he presented his first personal exhibition, composed of an ensemble of surrealist paintings of professional inspiration (dental elements). Two years later, at Gallery Royale (Rochefort), he exhibits another 50 paintings on the subject. At that time, a decisive event for the painter David Solot was made: a great new-York-born antibiotic producer Lederle Cy learns about his work and contacts him through the US Ambassador to Paris, proposing an advertising contract and buying the reproduction right for 24 of its canvases. A year later, the same company bought the right to print three of its cloths in color. This was the starting point of his international notoriety. In 1959, the American Dental Association celebrated its centenary, and to make it brilliant, David Solot invites him to a large exhibition at Columbus Circle, in Manhattan New York. The press, television is doing a great deal of promotion, and in the end, the interest shown by the medical professionals in the beginning only reaches an echo in the world of passionate art collectors. It is the beginning of a major international adventure! David Solot is invited to Stockholm in 1960, then to Dublin and Belfast by the Cema Art Gallery. In 1962 his works are exhibited in Helsinki. In 1963 his life was disturbed by a very painful event ... His only son, a medical student in the last year, dies in an accident. For two years, overwhelmed by pain, David Solot neglects painting. His wife, Becutza Solot, encourages him to go to Israel. David accepts, and the voyage and exhibition (1965) are successful. When returning from the voyage, he makes material for an exhibition he will present at the Transposition Gallery, while at the Salon of Physicians his "Jerusalem" painting gets the Medal of Honor, the greatest possible reward. Continuing to work on all plans, he adds a new activity to his concerns: writing. In 1967, he was impressed by a passage in Maurice Goudeket book Prés...

This set of Sylvia Schuster portraits, each depicting a face in three-quarter profile rendered in black ink on paper, are quintessential examples of her profound ability to distill t...

Abstract Portrait, Two Paintings in one, Picasso Style, Original Oil Painting, Signed By French artist, Beatrice Werlie, 20th Century Signed by the artist on the lower right hand cor...

This pair of bold modernist paintings were painted by German / American artist Peter Robert Keil (b. 1942). Keil was born in Züllichau / Pomerania and studied at the University of the Arts, Berlin. His first mentor was painter Otto Nagel. He admired the works of the Expressionists, Picasso in particular, whom he later met in Spain. He was also influenced by Juan Miro...

Mixed media on canvas painting. Hand signed on front by the artist. Canvas size 48 x 72 inches. Frame size 58.5 x 82.75 inches. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of...