Paula Melcher

'Man Playing a Banjo', American Mid-Century Cubist-Derived Figural Oil, Fifties

1956

Signed lower left, 'J.da Silveira' for Jose Da Silveira (French-American, born 1965), titled, 'The Soul is Music' and painted circa 2002. Additionally signed and titled, and with figural drawing, verso; Previously with: Chabot Gallery, Campbell, California Born in a tiny jungle village in Mozambique to a Portuguese bullfighter and the daughter of one of the leaders of the French Resistance...

Signed lower left, 'Giambastiani' for Lida Marian Casentini Giambastiani (American, 1911-1973) and painted circa 1965. We are pleased to offer a large and powerful oil painting that...

Signed lower left, 'Ide' for Tom Ide (Canadian-American, 1919-1996) and dated 1965. Ide first studied at the Art Institute of Chicago (1951-1955) before movin...

Signed lower right, "Cucaro" for Pascal Cucaro (American, 1915-2003), additionally signed, verso, and dated 1959. An icon of the Beat years in San Francisco's North Beach, Pascal ...

Signed lower right, 'Z. Kavin' for Zena Kavin (American, 1912-2003) and dated 1966. Born in Berkeley, California, Zena Kavin studied at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and, privately, with Kravchenko in Moscow. She lived in Berkeley and in Oakland her entire life, except for four years spent in New Mexico in the late 1930s. In 1949, she married artist Jon Cornin and settled with him in Oakland. Under the peudonym Corka, the Cornins produced cartoons for the Saturday Evening Post and the New Yorker. Kavin worked in various media, including wood engraving, lithography and sculpture. She was a member of the San Francisco Artists Association and exhibited with them as well as at the San Francisco Museum of Art Inaugural (1935), the California–Pacific International Exposition, San Diego (1935), the Golden Gate International Exposition (1939). Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Davis Art Center, the New Mexico Museum of Art and the Oakland Museum of California. Reference: Artists in California 1786-1940, Third Edition, Edan Milton Hughes: Crocker Art Museum, Sheridan Books 2002, Vol. 1, page 610; Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 2, page 1801; Mallett’s Index of Artists, Supplement, Daniel Trowbridge Mallett, Peter Smith...

A delicately-observed, three-quarter length oil portrait of a young woman in society, fashionably dressed in a pinch-waisted, embroidered chiffon ball-gown and wearing a gold pendant and teardrop earrings with tea roses in her hair; the subject shown gazing towards the viewer with candor and good humor. Displayed in a period, black-walnut frame with period gilt liner. Danish School...

"Spirit" a bold and thoughtful cubist oil on canvas was painted in December of 2001 by African American artist William (Bill) Cooper. William Y. Cooper was a writer, painter, muralist, illustrator, and art teacher. He moved to Western New York in 1954 from Birmingham, Alabama, to pursue work, and Buffalo has been his home ever since. In 1975, he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University at Buffalo; he was also a state certified art teacher. Cooper woked primarily in oils and acrylics, but also creates drawings on paper. He has painted several commissioned murals and has had more than fifteen one-man shows in Western New York and Ghana, West Africa, and has participated in more than twenty-five group exhibitions since he began his professional career in 1969. His paintings and drawings address both his African heritage and his experience as an American through symbolism and metaphor. He observes, “I am an Afrocentric artist. My worldview is rooted in an African frame of reference and a deep, abiding sense of the creator from whence I draw my inspiration, strength, and a sense of who I am. The use of symbols allows me to explore literal ideas.” Among Cooper’s published works are two children’s books, 77 Jackson Street, Rear and Nakai and the Red Shoes, and a novel for adults, The Mopane Tree. Cooper founded the Afrocentric Artists’ Collective and ran the organization from 1979 to 1981. In 2013 he was designated a “Living Legacy” artist by the Burchfield Penney Arts Center, the latest in a series of honors which has also included awards from the Arts Council of Buffalo & Erie County, the New York State Council on the Arts, and Alpha Kappa Alpha...

Beautiful cubist portrait of a woman by unknown Russian artist. Oil on canvas measures 17 x 25 inches. Signed and dated lower right. Label fragments affixed on verso.

Osborne was born in Portsmouth, England in 1919 and died in 2016. He served in WW2 with the Royal Artillery and was a prisoner of war in Italy and Germany for over three years. After the war he pursued his art studies with a grant from the London County Council, and studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. After Camberwell, it was his affinity for Irish landscape that brought him in 1950 to live in Donegal, Ireland. In this year he exhibited in the Royal Academy. In 1952 he emigrated to Ontario, Canada with his first wife the late artist Jean Osborne...

The Southern City by Josine Vignon (French 1922-2022) oil painting on canvas, unframed canvas: 29 x 41 inches Very good condition. Provenance: from the artists estate, France Jo...

Predominantly recognized as a self-taught painter, he also worked in architectural murals, sculptures, ceramics, prints and drawings. Vigas is one...

Predominantly recognized as a self-taught painter, he also worked in architectural murals, sculptures, ceramics, prints and drawings. Vigas is one...