1930s Figurative Paintings

Simka Simkhovitch (Russian/American 1893 - 1949) This came with a small grouping from the artist's family, some were hand signed some were not. These were studies for larger paintings. This is a miniature watercolor and gouache vibrant, colorful bouquet of flowers in a vase. Simka Simkhovitch (Симха Файбусович Симхович) (aka Simka Faibusovich Simkhovich) (Novozybkov, Russia May 21, 1885 O.S./June 2, 1885 N.S.—Greenwich, Connecticut February 25, 1949) was a Ukrainian-Russian Jewish artist and immigrant to the United States. He painted theater scenery in his early career and then had several showings in galleries in New York City. Winning Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissions in the 1930s, he completed murals for the post offices in Jackson, Mississippi and Beaufort, North Carolina. His works are in the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Born outside Kyiv (Petrograd Ukraine) into a Jewish family who owned a small department store. During a severe case of measles when he was seven, Simcha Simchovitch sketched the views outside his window and decided to become an artist, over his father's objections. Beginning in 1905, he studied at the Grekov Odessa Art School and upon completion of his studies in 1911 received a recommendation to be admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts. Though he enrolled to begin classes in architecture, painting, and sculpture at the Imperial Academy, he was dropped from the school roster in December because of the quota on the number of Jewish students and drafted into the army. Simchovitch served as a private in the 175th Infantry Regiment Baturyn [ru] until his demobilization in 1912. Re-enrolling in the Imperial Academy, he audited classes. Simka Simkhovitch exhibited paintings and sculptures in 1918 as part of an exhibition of Jewish artists and in 1919 placed 1st in the competition "The Great Russian Revolution" with a painting called "Russian Revolution" which was hung in the State Museum of Revolution. In 1922, Simkha Simkhovitch exhibited at the International Book Fair in Florence (Italian: Fiera Internazionale del Libro di Firenze). In 1924, Simkhovitch came to the United States to make illustrations for Soviet textbooks and decided to immigrate instead. Initially he supported himself by doing commercial art and a few portrait commissions. In 1927, he was hired to paint a screen for a scene in the play "The Command to Love" by Fritz Gottwald and Rudolph Lothar which was playing at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. Art dealers began clamoring for the screen and Simkhovitch began a career as a screen painter for the theater. Catching the attention of the screenwriter, Ernest Pascal, he worked as an illustrator for Pascal, who then introduced him to gallery owner, Marie Sterner. Simkhovitch's works appeared at the Marie Sterner Gallery beginning with a 1927 exhibit and were repeated the following year. Simkhovitch had an exhibit in 1929 at Sterner's on circus paintings. In 1931, he held a showing of works at the Helen Hackett Gallery, in New York City and later that same year he was one of the featured artists of a special exhibit in San Francisco at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park. The exhibit was coordinated by Marie Sterner and included four watercolors, including one titled "Nudes". He is of the generation of Russian Soviet artists such as Isaac Pailes, Serge Charchoune, Marc Chagall, Chana Orloff, Isaac Ilyich Levitan, and Ossip Zadkine. In 1936, Simkhovitch was selected to complete the mural for the WPA Post office project in Jackson, Mississippi. The mural was hung in the post office and courthouse in 1938 depicted a plantation theme. Painted on the wall behind the judge’s bench, “Pursuits of Life in Mississippi”, a depiction of black workers engaged in manual labor amid scenes of white professionals and socialites, was eventually covered over in later years during renovations due to its stereotypical African American imagery. Simka painted what he thought was typical of Jackson. His impression of pre-civil rights Mississippi was evidently Greek Revival column houses, weeping willow trees, working class families, and the oppression of African Americans. He painted African American men picking cotton, while a white man took account of the harvest and a white judge advised a white family, calling it Pursuits of Life in Mississippi. Though clearly endorsed by the government and initially generally well-received, the mural soon raised concerns with locals as the climate toward racial segregation began to change. The main concern was whether depictions that show African Americans in subjugated societal roles should be featured in a courtroom. The following year, his painting "Holiday" won praise at an exhibition in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1940, Simkhovitch's second WPA post office project was completed when four murals, "The Cape Lookout Lighthouse and the Orville W. Mail Boat", "The Wreck of the Crissie Wright", "Sand Ponies" and "Canada Geese" were installed in Beaufort, North Carolina. The works were commissioned in 1938 and did not generate the controversy that the Jackson mural had. The main mural is "The Wreck of the Crissie Wright" and depicts a shipwreck which had occurred in Beaufort in 1866. "The Cape Lookout Lighthouse and the Orville W. Mail Boat" depicted the lighthouse built in 1859 and the mail boat that was running mail during the time which Simkhovitch was there. The boat ran mail for the area until 1957. "Sand Ponies" shows the wild horses common to the North Carolina barrier islands and "Canada Geese" showed the importance of hunting and fishing in the area. All four murals were restored in the 1990s by Elisabeth Speight, daughter of two other WPA muralists, Francis Speight...

Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scevola (1871-1950) A Bouquet of anemones Pastel on paper Signed upper left 44.5 x 36.5 cm Framed : 53.5 x 45.5 cm Lucien Victor Guirand de Scévola was ...

Marie RÉOL (Massiac 1880 – Douarnenez 1963) Seaside in Douarnenez ? Oil on canvas H. 54 cm; L. 65 cm Signed lower left Provenance : Private collection, Périgord Born in the heart o...

'Nude at the Window Overlooking Sacré-Coeur', oil on paper mounted on canvas, by Louis Latapie (circa 1930s). Although later in Latapie's career he embraced cubism and abstraction, t...

Dramatic, monumental oil painting laid to Masonite by George Matthews Harding (1882-1959). Painter, illustrator and muralist, Harding was born in Philadelphia. He was an illustrator ...

FRANCISCO BORES Spanish, 1898 - 1972 JOURNÉE CLAIRE signed and dated "Borès 34" (lower left) oil on canvas 18 x 15 inches (46 x 38 cm.) framed: 26 x 23 inches (66 x 58 cm.) BIBLIOGR...

Oil on wood, 1930. Signed lower right. Framed. Height 31.10 in ( 79 cm ), Width 25.19 in ( 64 cm ) The Hungarian artist Hugó Scheiber lived 1922-1934 in Berlin, that's where he pain...

Pierre-Albert BÉGAUD (Bordeaux 1901 – 1956) End of game Oil on canvas H. 27 cm; L. 46.5 cm Signed lower right Pierre-Albert Bégaud is a French portrait and landscape painter born in...

Jacques Martin-Ferrières (French, 1893-1972) Le marché de Raguse en Yougoslavie, avec la fontaine, circa 1938 Oil on canvas Measures: 22-3/4 x 29-1/4 inches (57.8 x 74.3 cm) Framed: ...

Jozef Popczyk, Cubist Art Deco Painting Female Forms of Geometric Shapes. Joseph Popczyk is a Polish artist known for his vivid palette and love of Cubism. In this case, the chevrons...

Ann Brockman (1895–1943) was an American artist who achieved success as a figurative painter following a successful career as an illustrator. Born in California, she spent her childh...

Chess Players WPA Depression Era Mid-20th Century American Scene Realism Modern. Signed upper right and verso 8 x 10 inches oil on board. BIO The son of a men's haberdasher, Mervin ...

Excellent figurative oil painting of a man seated in an armchair with papers strewn about the interior space by Charles Ross Kinghan (American, 18...

Jean-Marcel POUSSARD (1891-1972) Portrait of a woman in hunting attire in front of a vine H. 80 cm; L. 53 cm Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right - 1932 Painter of portraits a...

Date: 1938 Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Left Dimensions: 27.00" x 25.00" Calendar Illustration

Country yard in spring. Oil on canvas, 74x96 cm Oto Pladers (1897.8.III – 1970.2.V) Oto Pladers learned in Riga city school of art (1913 – 15). He was called into the army in 1916 a...

An original antique watercolor painting by well listed Austrian artist Franz Weidinger. This work is signed and titled lower left and housed in a be...

Hans Baluschek ( 1870-1935 ), Germany. "New Objectivity" Style. Mixed media on paper, 1934. Signed and dated lower right: HBaluschek.34. Framed. Height: 26.18 in ( 66,5 cm ), Width:...

Jean Louis Marcel Cosson (1878-1956) Marcel Cosson was born in Bordeaux, France in 1878. Cosson exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français where he won an honorable mention in 19...

"History of US Postal Service" American Scene Social Realism WPA Modern Chicago Harold Haydon "History of the U.S. Postal Service" 21 x 25 1/2 inches Oil on canvas, c. 1938 Estate s...

Mystery Artist Untitled, 1993 Watercolor on paper Sight: 13 x 19 1/4 in. Framed: 25 1/2 x 29 1/2 x 1 1/4 in. Signed and dated lower right

Figurative 1930's illustration of a just married couple in a classic car by Charles Kinghan (American, 1895-1984). Signed "Kinghan" in the lower left c...

French modernist glazed ceramic monkey sculpture by Gabriel Beauvais,1930. This sculpture was made in a turquoise blue glaze ceramic, a stunning color most likely by Kaza Edition in ...

Jozef Popczyk, a Polish artist known for his vibrant palette and affinity for Cubism, demonstrates his skill in blending Cubist and Art Deco styles in this oil painting on paper. Lik...

Ivory and Ebony: two girls friends in a landscape. Art Deco Circa 1930 - 1940. Medium-large format painting from the Art Deco period.   The two girl friends.   Painting signed lower ...

Signed oil on board landscape circa 1930 by Russian impressionist painter Georges Lapchin. The work depicts a view of the quai at Martigues in the South of France. To the left of the...

A Yacht racing or sailing in the English Channel off the White Cliffs of Dover by Frank H Mason. Purchasing "Yacht Racing/Sailing off Dover Castle in the English Channel, UK" by Fra...

This lovely Art Deco Woodcut of Swimmer W/ Sailboats is by an Unknown artist, signed "WB" and originates from the United States, Circa 1930. Features a slender vertical rectangular c...

Maurice Asselin (1882-1947) A Bouquet of roses and nasturtiums Signed lower right Oil on cardboard canvas In good condition 39.5 x 31.5 cm Framed : 58.5 x 51.5 cm Maurice Asselin w...

Work on wood

CHARLES MARCH GERE, RA, RWS (1884-1963) A Cotswold Stonebreaker Signed l.l.: CHARLES GERE; signed and inscribed with title and the artist’s address on the stretcher Oil on canvas ...

Signed oil on canvas landscape circa 1930 by popular French impressionist painter Alexandre Louis Jacob. The piece depicts a fisherman in a small boat by the bank of the River Seine ...

Signed and dated oil on canvas divisionist landscape painting by French post impressionist painter Henri Andre Joubert. This distinctive piece depicts a worker tending to crops in a ...

Following two decades of successful impressionistic landscape painting, Wilson Henry Irvine became known for a new experimental style in the 1930s. In 1930, Irvine began making pris...

Large oil on canvas by Fernande Horovitz-Edwards, France, 1930s. "Bathers". With frame: 117,5x90x4 cm - 46.3x35.4x1.6 inches. Without frame: 114x87 cm - 44.9x34.25 inches. Signed low...

A good sized signed oil on canvas landscape circa 1930 by popular French impressionist painter Alexandre Louis Jacob. The piece depicts a view of the River Seine. The cold scene is s...

Oil on canvas by Yves DIEY (1892-1984), France. The Nude. With frame : 99x54 cm - 39x21.25 inches ; without frame : 90x45 cm - 35.4x17.7 inches. Signed "Yves Dieÿ" lower right (see p...

Oil on cardboard by Nandor VAGH WEINMANN (1897-1978), France, 1930s. Naked back. With frame: 64x56 cm - 25.2x22 inches ; without frame: 46x38cm - 18.1x15 inches. 8F format. Signed "Nandor V. Weinmann" lower left. In its Montparnasse frame. Very good condition. Born October 3, 1897 in Budapest, Nándor is the older brother of Elemer and Maurice Vagh-Weinmann. He came to Paris to present his work in 1931. He died on December 12, 1978 near Montereau (Seine-et-Marne) following an automobile accident. He is the most colorful of the three “expressionist” brothers. Painter of figures, landscapes, especially open mountains, and bouquets in bright colors. He is also a religious painter and then finds the tragic condition. Born in BUDAPEST on October 3, 1897, Nandor Vagh Weinmann belongs to a profoundly artistic people. Living in the heart of Central Europe where they came from Asia a millennium ago, the Hungarians have preserved a strong ethnic individuality whose mark is their very synthetic, non-Indo-European language. Resistant to secular invasions, they have kept the virtues of a very ancient humanity that have become rare in our modern world, especially since their way of life has remained essentially rural until today. In the arts they know how to express a generous, extreme sensibility and by the poetic verb, by the musical rhythms and also by a popular art of a richness, an exceptional harmony. Until the age of thirty-four, during the decisive years of childhood and youth, Nandor Vagh Weinmann was intimately imbued with popular life and the soul of Hungary. From the capital where his father was a jeweler and had a family of ten children, Nandor was the fifth, he knew first of all the suburbs, the populated districts, the rigors in winter of the cold and the snow. A very mobile existence made him acquainted with all of Hungary, from the Danube to Transylvania, its infinite plains and its wild mountains, its immense villages with ample low houses, and its towns which are still immense villages. The painter is passionate about rustic works, harvest scenes, beautiful folk costumes. Coming into direct contact with the peasants, he learned to know their soul. These contacts gave the artist a direct feeling for popular life and soul, as Millet once understood the peasants of Barbizon and Normandy whose existence he shared. What fascinated Nandor Vagh Weinmann above all were the festivals which enlivened the dreary life of the countryside, the circuses, the merry-go-rounds, the gypsies unleashing orgies of music, light and color. In the party, and especially the Hungarian party, the whole soul of a people, all its energy, its need for movement, for intensity, is expressed in its pure state and realizes the primary and essential form of what is called beauty. And as if melted at the party, there is the infinite steppe where herds of horses and oxen circulate where terrible storms sometimes roar where the seasons unfold their grandiose splendours. The young Nandor Vagh Weinmann nourishes his sensitivity to his inexhaustible shows, both eternal and always new, a sensitivity which very early declared itself that of a painter. Since the age of fourteen he painted, and since then he never stopped doing it. Two of his brothers Maurice, two years his junior, who had a remarkable career similar to that of Nandor and later Elemer who became Maurice's pupil, also devoted themselves to painting, despite family obstacles. And the three brothers united by a common passion worked together in Hungary and later in France. Painting was so much in the blood of the family, as in the past among the Veroneses, the Breughels, the Lenains, the Van Loos and so many other artistic dynasties, that three sons of the Vagh Weinmanns became painters in their turn. One of these, Emeric, son of Nandor, today occupies an important place in the contemporary school. Nandor, at fifteen, was a pupil of the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest where he worked diligently, then at that of Vienna. He painted many portraits, but also landscapes, compositions and, by his relentless work, managed to live from his brush, although married very young and having to overcome many hardships. He therefore knew the hardships and miseries of life. These strongly impregnated his vision as an artist and explain the thrill of humanity that runs through all his work. A particularly moving experience was reserved for him at the age of twenty. In the hospitals of Budapest he had to paint extraordinary cases, operations, frightful wounds, the deformations to which our poor body is subjected by traumas and physiological decompositions. In these circumstances, it is not a question of gratuitous art, of formal research but of immediate, authentic expressions of our flesh and our being. We know that Breughel Velázquez and Goya had been haunted by the sight of cripples and of madmen Géricault by that of corpses. But life is ultimately stronger than anything, and it is life that Nandor Vagh Weinmann has passionately observed and translated through all the places where he has always painted on nature. Nothing stopped him. It happened to him to paint, for example in front of the mill of Linselles by a weather so cold, that nobody could stay outside, and that he did not leave the place before having finished his work. Because he works constantly on the ground, under the sky, in the silence he loves. His reputation is established. He exhibited at the national fair in Budapest, in the big cities of Hungary Szeged, Szombathely, Veszprém, Kaposvar. In 1931, like all artists in the world, he came to France. But unlike the others, he did not settle in Paris. Because Nandor Vagh Weinmann does not belong to this group of cosmopolitans that we call the School of Paris. He settled in Toulouse, where he remained for a long time with his brothers, and traveled throughout France, eager for new ties, exhibiting in the most diverse cities, in Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon, Agen, Bayonne, Dax, Tarbes, Grenoble, Nice, Cannes, Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Colmar, Lille. He even crossed borders. He was in Saint Sebastian, in Geneva, and once in Egypt in 1927 where he painted King Fouad...

Oil on paper by Edouard Goerg (1893-1969), France, 1937-1938. Two young Spanish girls. Measurements : with frame: 61.3x51.8 cm - 24.1x20.4 inches, view: 39x28.6 cm - 15.4x11.25 inche...

Georges Louis Claude (1879-1963) Still life with fruits, 1938 oil on paper 32 x 40 cm In good condition In a vintage white frame, 41.5 x 49 cm, numerous lacks of white painting (see photographs please) Georges Louis Claude was born in Paris in 1879. The artist first studied at the Bernard Palissy School of Drawing in Paris. There he learned mythological and religious subjects, the art of portraiture, still life and of course, wall decoration, which became his favourite medium. His career began as an architectural decorator for the Galland house in Paris. He then collaborated with the orientalist architect Alexandre Marcel. Noticed at the at the 1900 Universal Exhibition, he decided to emancipate himself and presented his his own projects. It was at this time that Georges-Louis laude was to seduce some of the most influential personalities of their time with his talent. First of all King Leopold II of Belgium, followed immediately by Baron Empain became infatuated with the artist to decorate palaces and flats. In Belgium, Georges-Louis Claude was chosen to decorate the Royal Palace of Laeken (Japanese Tower...

Everett Shinn Woman on a Staircase, Sketch, circa 1935 Signed on the reverse and on the stretcher Oil on canvas 30 x 25 inches Everett Shinn, a future member of the Eight and remark...

French school circa 1930 Portrait of a young man with blue eyes Oil on cardboard panel 27 x 21.5 cm Bears a signature (illegible) upper right Framed : 34.5 x 29.5 cm

Countryside Barn at Dusk - Oil Pastel On Paper Oil pastel drawing depicting a small wooden barn atop a country hillside by Oakland, California artist Grace Anna Pfister (American, 1...

Bellissimo paesaggio del paese della Normandia dove è avvenuto lo sbarco degli americani nel 1944 Spiaggia,Barche,Mare del Nord

Landscape river and barn _ from Georges Gratigny Georges Gratigny was a French painter from XIX -XX. (1881-1970) Normandy He was member of the society of Normans painters. There are influence in his art of his friends André Hardy...

*Dimensions include the frame This French watercolor dating from around 1930 conveys a serene maritime scene that resonates with the aesthetic principles of the Impressionists. The ...

"A Young Girl Reading a Book" is a captivating portrait by Swedish artist Gustaf Arnolds. Arnolds was a prolific painter whose roots began in Vingåker and later in Ronneby from his teenage years. His educational journey in art took him through prestigious institutions such as Althins målarskola and the Tallbergska grafikskolan in Stockholm, followed by a significant period at the Konstakademien, Stockholm, between 1904 and 1909. His talent and dedication were recognized early on, earning him a scholarship to Paris, a city that would deeply influence his artistic direction. This particular work, likely painted shortly after his return to Sweden, reveals a profound influence from his time in Paris. It portrays a young girl absorbed in reading a book, a simple yet profound subject that Arnolds imbues with a sense of tranquility and introspection. The background hints at a serene landscape, dotted with quaint houses, a nod to the everyday beauty surrounding us. What sets this piece apart is Arnolds’ technique, reminiscent of pointillism but distinguished by longer, more expressive brush strokes that add a vibrant texture and depth to the canvas. This method showcases Arnolds' unique adaptation of the techniques he encountered during his Parisian studies, particularly during his interactions with Nils Dardel...

Plump or fleshy and voluptuous nude... you can describe it as you see it. Signed, titled and dated lower left: John Steuart Curry / 1934 "Hilda Nellis", John Steuart Curry is best ...

Agusti Ferre Pino (1884-1960) - Children - Oil on burlap Oil measurements 100x97 cm. Frame measurements 107x104 cm. Painter trained at the La Lonja School of Fine Arts. He became kn...

"God Bless Our Home" is an interior and figurative scene of a woman sitting on her couch in serious and proper expression. The Americana style painting was created by American genre ...

*Dimensions include the frame This oil on canvas by Louis Jacques Vigon captures the essence of Impressionism, a movement originating in France in the 1860s. Impressionism is charac...

Beautiful WPA era ca. 1930s portrait of a ballet dancer signed F. Miller. Oil on canvas measuring 18 x 24 inches; 24 x 30 inches in contemporary frame. Signed on back.

Sea, France, Brittany France, Impressionist, 20th, 1930, Gray, Blue, Celestial Henry Maurice CAHOURS (Paris, 1889 – Vence, 1974) He was born in Paris but spent his childhood and ...

A wonderful oil on canvas by Louis Hayet depicting figures in a cityscape at evening time. Signed and dated 1932 lower left. Louis Hayet had a difficult and itinerant childhood, due to the instability of his father, an amateur artist. He began to draw and produce watercolours from the age of 12. By the age of 20 he produced works with great skill, as demonstrated by his pen drawing Boulevard, Evening, Paris. He made a living in Paris doing various jobs more or less to do with painting. He associated with Camille and Lucien Pissaro...

Louis Bosa (American, 1905–1981) Two Wagons, Bucks County, PA, 1934 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right 20 x 24 inches 30 x 34 inches, framed Born in Codroipo, a small villag...

As they take center stage, four acrobats are depicted, forming an architectural structure composed of contorted human bodies. The small gallery of onlookers displays a variety of ex...

*Dimensions include the frame This maritime scene is reminiscent of the Impressionist fascination with water, light, and atmosphere. The painting features a lighthouse and architect...

Large and impressive painting by Louis Harris, 1902-1970 Born in St. Louis, Harris moved to New York in 1920 and studied at the Art Students League with Max Weber. There he met other...