Kathy Osborn

Man at the Desk

2015

Guy Pene du Bois' "Two Figures in Courtroom" is a WPA era American scene oil painting created in a realistic style. Modernism at its best The work is framed by Heydenryk. Pène du Bois descended from French immigrants who settled in Louisiana in 1738 and was raised in a Creole household. He was born in 1884 in Brooklyn, NY and first studied with William Merritt Chase at the New York School of Art and later continued his training with Robert Henri. Pène du Bois was greatly impressed with Henri's credo that "real life" was subject matter for art and throughout his life a realist philosophy informed his art as well as his parallel career, art criticism. In 1905, Pène du Bois made his first visit to Paris where he painted scenes of fashionable people in cafes rendered in the dark tonalities and impasto associated with the Ashcan School. By 1920, he had achieved his mature style, which was characterized by stylized, rounded, almost sculptural figures painted with invisible brushstrokes. The subjects of his paintings were often members of society whom he gently satirized. In 1924, Pène du Bois and his wife, Floy, left for France where they would remain until 1930. Returning to America showcases pictures the artist produced after this very productive period abroad. After five years of living in France, Pène du Bois was able to observe American life with fresh eyes. His work becomes more psychologically intense and less satirical. In Girl at Table a slender, blond is shown gazing at a small statue that she holds at arm's distance. The meaning is elusive, but a powerful sense of longing is evoked. Similarly, paintings such as Dramatic Moment and Jane are taut with unresolved dialogue. Both pictures depict mysterious interiors in which a lone woman anxiously awaits the denouement of a suspenseful scene. Other pictures, for example, Chess Tables, Washington Square and Bar, New Orleans, recall Pene du Bois's Ashcan origins in their depiction of urban entertainment. During this period, landscape becomes an important subject for Pène du Bois. Girl Sketching...

Evocative and expressive contemporary self portrait titled "Unfinished Story" by Alexander Gore (Russian, b. 1958), 2010. Signed upper left edge. Unframed. Image, 15"H x 11"W. Ale...

Abstract impressionist oil on paper on board by French artist Chantal Payet. Signed and dated April '96 to the reverse. An interesting and challenging Abstract Impressionist work in...

MARKET SQUARE Size: 37 x 42 cm (including frame) Oil onto paper laid to board A richly coloured mid century modernist figure scene, painted in oil onto paper laid on board, by the ...

In his couture series, Peter Hoffer explores the theater of fashion through a reinterpreted runway. In this mixed media painting, a realistically rendered model for the Italian luxur...

"Femme Rousse Sur Fond Vert" is an original oil on canvas impressionistic portrait of a woman by Albert Bertalan. A red-headed lady in a purple and white striped collared coat sits in front of a green background daydreaming about something personal. The painting is framed with an ornate gold frame. From the late 19th century until World War Two, Paris was the center of the art world. Artists and intellectuals from around the globe descended on Paris, drawn by the atmosphere of creative freedom established by the French Impressionists. Because of the Impressionists’ innovations the direction of art had changed forever, the times were ripe for another Renaissance. The School of Paris, as this broad-based group of artists are referred to embodied the spirit of modernism. Albert Bertalan was born on September 21, 1899 in Jaszbereny, Hungary. He is known for painting compositions of figures in unique environments, including women by the sea, among other similar subject matters. He studied at the Nagybanyai Art School under some of the most important Hungarian artists, including Ivànyi Grünwald...