Katherine Wiggins

Colliers Magazine 1947 American Scene Social Realism Modern Families in the Snow

1947

Kevin Weckbach's (US based) "The Grinder" is an original, hand made egg tempera painting that depicts an industrial Gristmill made up of metal buildings, a elevator and a grain silo ...

This charming rural winter scene of ice skaters fully displays Norman Rockwell's America, but it was painted by female artist Charlotte Joan Sternberg. She combines the mid-century A...

New York City scene of two women walking down a sidewalk with a park in the background, in the foreground a man is walking a small dog. American life is captured in this Clyde Sing...

Gregory Sumida (American, b.1948) 'Pick-Up Crossing' Oil paint on masonite board. Hand signed lower right 1976 Depicting a rural landscape and buildings, in a linen-lined pickled w...

This mural study is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Industry and Commerce, 1936, tempera on panel, 16 ½ x 39 ½ inches, signed verso “John Ballator, Portland Ore.” provenance includes: J.C. Penney Company, represented by Russell Tether Fine Arts Assoc.; presented in a newer wood frame About the Painting Industry and Commerce is a prime example of WPA Era muralism. Like a Mediaeval alter, this mural study is filled with icons, but the images of saints and martyrs are replaced with symbols of America's gospel of prosperity through capitalism. Industry and Commerce has a strong narrative quality with vignettes filling the entire surface. Extraction, logistics, design, power generation, and manufacturing for printing, chemicals, automobiles and metal products are all represented. To eliminate any doubt about the mural's themes, Ballator letters a description into the bottom of the study. Ballator also presents an idealized version of industrial cooperation, as his workers, lab-coated technicians and tie-wearing managers work harmoniously toward a common goal in the tidy and neatly designed environments. Although far from the reality of most industrial spaces, Ballator's study reflects the idealized and morale boosting tone that many mural projects adopted during the Great Depression. About the Artist John R Ballator achieved success as a muralist, lithographer, and teacher during the Great Depression. Born in Oregon, he studied at the Portland Museum Art School, the University of Oregon and at Yale University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Art. In 1936, Ballator was commissioned to paint a mural panel for the new Department of Justice Building in Washington DC, an important project that spanned five years with several dozen artists contributing a total of sixty-eight designs. Ballator completed murals for the St. Johns Post Office and Franklin High School, both in Portland, Oregon. He also contributed to the 1938 murals at Nathan Hale School in New Haven, Connecticut. During the late 1930s, Ballator taught art for several years at Washburn College in Topeka, Kanas, where he completed a mural for the Menninger Arts & Craft Shop before accepting a professorship at Hollins College...

Honore Sharrer (1920 - 2009) Woman Listening Signed lower right Caseine on paper 15 x 20 inches Provenance: Forum Gallery, New York Private Collection ...

Alan Bray’s Neighbors is a masterful casein tempera painting capturing the quiet beauty of winter. Delicate, snow-covered branches contrast against a crisp blue sky, while two bird n...

As the artist states about this painting: "I first photographed this farm because it had one of the last living Elm trees in our area. Most began dying in the 70's and there are very...

“Water is soft and supple, but also hard and inflexible.It flows or is still. It is silent and loud; it possesses every nature. Pure and clear, muddy and blind, wet and dry, salty an...

Egg tempera on canvas, Shadow joint frame Frank Suplie is a German artist born in 1950 lives and works in Berlin, Germany. He is a member of the Painters Association of the North Ge...