1940s Figurative Paintings

Basketball Player Gouache on card stock, c. 1940 Signed by the artist in ink lower center A study for the fresco mural in the Social Security Buildin...

Hudson River School Style - The Homestead and Grist Mill 1942 In the Hudson River School style by A (K) Mathieu (American, 19th-20th C). Harvest time at the Homestead with a hay wago...

Dazed dancers are seen twirling languidly on primal rock formations. The rocks, eroded by the sands of time, are shown as cutaways and serve as a platform or outdoor stage for the d...

A vivid mid-century impasto figurative cityscape oil painting of New York during the 1940s by Dorothy Rossen Greenberg (American, 1915-2005). A Fishmonger plies his trade amidst a ha...

Rabbit Hunters, egg tempera on Masonite, 12 x 9 inches, 1947, signed and dated lower left, signed, titled and dated verso “Rabbit Hunters Egg Tempera Roger Medearis 1947,” exhibited at Medearis' solo show at Kende Galleries, New York, in 1949 (Medearis’ record book, a copy of which is held by Vose Galleries in Boston, MA, indicates this is painting “No. 23” and that is was completed in 1947 and sold via Kende Galleries (at Gimbel Brothers...

This is a highly stylized circus acrobat scene. Done “en grissille” or shades of grey, it portrays an acrobat on a trapeze high above the crowd, abstractly shown lower right. The stark composition, enhanced by the theatrical lighting...

Julio De Diego’s Atomic Series paintings made an extraordinary statement regarding the shock and fear that accompanied the dawn of the nuclear age. In the artist’s own words, “Scientists were working secretly to develop formidable powers taken from the mysterious depths of the earth - with the power to make the earth useless! Then, the EXPLOSION! . . . we entered the Atomic Age, and from there the neo-Atomic war begins. Explosions fell everywhere and man kept on fighting, discovering he could fight without flesh.” To execute these works, De Diego developed a technique of using tempera underpainting before applying layer upon layer of pigmented oil glazes. The result is paintings with surfaces which were described as “bonelike” in quality. The forms seem to float freely, creating a three-dimensional visual effect. In the 1954 book The Modern Renaissance in American Art, author Ralph Pearson summarizes the series as “a fantastic interpretation of a weighty theme. Perhaps it is well to let fantasy and irony appear to lighten the devastating impact. By inverse action, they may in fact increase its weight.” Bibliography Art in America, April 1951, p.78 About this artists: Julio De Diego crafted a formidable persona within the artistic developments and political struggles of his time. The artist characterized his own work as “lyrical,” explaining, “through the years, the surrealists, the social-conscious painters and the others tried to adopt me, but I went my own way, good, bad or indifferent.” [1] His independence manifested early in life when de Diego left his parent’s home in Madrid, Spain, in adolescence following his father’s attempts to curtail his artistic aspirations. At the age of fifteen he held his first exhibition, set up within a gambling casino. He managed to acquire an apprenticeship in a studio producing scenery for Madrid’s operas, but moved from behind the curtains to the stage, trying his hand at acting and performing as an extra in the Ballet Russes’ Petrouchka with Nijinsky. He spent several years in the Spanish army, including a six-month stretch in the Rif War of 1920 in Northern Africa. His artistic career pushed ahead as he set off for Paris and became familiar with modernism’s forays into abstraction, surrealism, and cubism. The artist arrived in the U.S. in 1924 and settled in Chicago two years later. He established himself with a commission for the decoration of two chapels in St. Gregory’s Church. He also worked in fashion illustration, designed magazine covers and developed a popular laundry bag for the Hotel Sherman. De Diego began exhibiting through the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929, and participated in the annual Chicago Artists Exhibitions, Annual American Exhibitions, and International Water Color Exhibitions. He held a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in the summer of 1935. Though the artist’s career was advancing, his family life had deteriorated. In 1932 his first marriage dissolved, and the couple’s young daughter Kiriki was sent to live with friend Paul Hoffman. De Diego continued to develop his artistic vocabulary with a growing interest in Mexican art. He traveled throughout the country acquainting himself with the works of muralists such as Carlos Merida, and also began a collection of small native artifacts...

Charming mid century watercolor painting of late 19th Century Paris street scene circa 1950. Signed lower left "Julius" , attributed to Julius Rosenbaum...

Signed by Artist Lower Left The present work was published on the cover of the September 4th, 1948 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. An accompanying “Keeping Posted” article about Norman Rockwell’s process behind the painting was printed on page 10 inside the issue. (Image above) The Post described, “Boston baseball fans saw a strange spectacle at Braves’ Field early this summer. As the stands filled, two respectable-looking men stood on the field staring at the spectators. Every now and then they would point to someone, run up into the stands and invite the man or woman to sit in a box above the dugout. Then the thinner of the two would contort his face into an expression of wild delight or disgust and invite the spectator to do the same, while a photographer made pictures. The explanation is on our cover. The two suspicious characters were Kenneth Stuart, the Post’s art editor and the artist, Normal Rockwell. For a detailed description of how Boston...

Serenity is an impressive, giant oil painting realized by the Italian painter Felice Carena in 1948. Signed lower left. Not framed, framing optio...

Surreal Full Moon Hawaii Cliff House Nocturnal Hawaiian 1940s Landscape Symbolic and surreal mid century nocturnal landscape of a lone house on a s...

5146 Antique Italian Hand painted ceramic tile of two sisters Hanging hardware on back

Beatrix Sherman Hialeah Park Race Track, Florida, 1947 Signed lower right Oil on canvasboard 16 x 20 inches Beatrix Sherman (1894-1975), who changed her first name from Beatrice by...

A rare and breath taking work, with masterful bursh work and sublime execution of light. We are drawn to the subtle beauty and elegant pose. The tasteful compostion lends an intimate scene into the artists studio where Philip has captured her effortlessly. This piece comes displayed in a wonderful frame and hanging wire on verso. Art measures 24 x 20 inches Frame measures 30 x 26 inches Robert Philipp was born on February 2, 1895 in New York City. He was an American painter influenced by Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and known for his nudes, still lifes, and portraits of attractive women and Hollywood stars. Moses Solomon Philipp showed early talent and grew up in a family atmosphere that fed and cultivated his creativity. At age of 15, he entered the Art Students League for four years and then continued his training at the National Academy of Design. His teachers at the League included George Bridgeman and Frank DuMond, and at the National Academy he studied with Douglas Volk...

Seated Nude Woman American Figurative School 1940s Mid-century American impressionist painting of a woman by American artist Frederick "Fred" Yost (American/Swiss, 1888-1968). He studied: at Mt. Union Col., Alliance, OH; American Students League, New York, and with Homer Boss, John Sloan, Robert Henri, R. Lahey. The painting gleans much form his studies with John Sloan and Robert Henri in the French post-impressionist style. Image 24"H x 18"W Frame, 30"H x 24"W x 1.5"D Signed "Yost" lower right Painter, lithographer, teacher, lecturer About Fred's life: by Hal Fry of the Herald “Fred Does Whatever He Likes” was a title given to a biography written about Fred Yost by Hal Fry of the Herald. The following is taken directly from this column: “Fred Yost’s living style is like his painting style. He has fun with it. Fred John Yost was born in Switzerland, he’ sure, on November 6, 1889, he thinks. His father John brought the family to his country when Fred was about a year old—first to New York and later to Canton, Sebring and finally Alliance, where Yost Sr. loaded freight for a railroad. Fred like drawing and painting so far back he can’t remember how or when it started—it was always that way. But through the public schools in Alliance he didn’t think of this as a career possibility. He wanted to be a newspaperman. He worked his way through Mt. Union College, finishing, he thinks, about 1912. Then he beat it for New York and after kicking around for a time got a job as a proofreader for the Wall Street Journal. He combined this and art school until World War I took him into the Army. In infantry, field artillery and ordnance duties he served with the 27th New York Division through St. Mihiel and the Argonne and the rest—in the process getting his hearing clobbered by blasts from his outfit’s own guns. Coming out a Sergeant in 1919, he went back to the Wall Street Journal briefly—then caught on as a staff artist for the (New York) Herald. For several years, when he felt like it, Yost would take a bus to the Mexican border and switch to a Mexican bus to carry him way down south, then make it any way he could to the places he wanted to see. On these trips he virtually becomes a peon, disappearing totally from those who know him—living with, like and clearly thoroughly liked by the people among whom he moves.” Yost was a graduate of the Art Students League and past president of the Ohio Watercolor Society. Fred Yost, a man who eminently loved the Mexican landscape, Exhibited: S. Indp. A., 1928, 1930-33; MMA, 1945; AIC; Butler AI, 1947-1951; Ohio WC Soc.; PAFA, 1948-1950; Akron AI, 1947-1951, 1958; Fla. Southern Col., 1952; Ohio Univ., 1950; Columbus Gal. FA, 1947-50; AWCS, 1958; Salons of Am.; 3 solo: Canton AI; Akron AI, Springfield Mus. A. Contributor to Ford Times, 1958-59. Awards: prizes, Massilon Museum, 1944; Ohio Watercolor Society, 1944, 1948; Indianapolis, Ind., 1944; Tri-State Pr. M., 1945, 1946; Butler AI, 1946; Youngstown Pub. Schools, 1946 (prize); Ohio Univ., 1950; Ethel Printz award, 1950; Fla. Southern Col., 1952; Akron AI, 1952, 1956-1958; Canton AI, 1961, 1963; medal, Phila. Pa., 1950 Member: Ohio Watercolor Society (president) Work: Massillon Mus.; Youngstown Pub. Sch. Coll.; Butler AI; Akron AI; Kennedy & Co., NY; Beaver Col., Beaver Falls, Pa.; Block Gal., Indianapolis; Prospect Park, NY; murals, Sioux City Steak House; Sioux City A. Center; City Hall, Sioux City; Akron AI; Evangelical Church, Akron; Rockefeller Center; Radio City, NY; Brooklyn Zoological Park. Affiliated with NYC Park Dept. Mural Projects. Comments: Came to U. S. in 1889. Position: teacher, Butler AI; Akron AI; instr., Akron AI, Akron, Ohio; cur. Historical House of Refuge...

5-3494 Oil on canvas figurative traveling to orient. Set in a silvered wood frame

Ignasi Mundó Marcet (1918-2012) - woman in white - Oil on canvas Canvas measures 73x60 cm. Frame size 76x63 cm. MUNDO Ignasi Ignasi Mundó trained at the School of La Lonja, with Joa...

A sadistic laughing Devil grinning a big smile is pictured hovering over a Hellfire. He is reveling while witnessing tiny ant-like sinners engage in eternal torture, torment, and co...

Medium: Gouache on Paper Dimensions: 19.50" x 21.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right "There's Two Kinds of Heroes," by Maurice Beam and illustrated by Peter Helck for the Saturday Eve...

'Market Day in Piazza Grande, Locarno, Switzerland', oil on board, by unknown artist (1947-48). Locarno is an utterly charming Italian-speaking resort located on the northern shore o...

Mid Century Hawaiian Symbolism -- Stairway to Destiny Symbolic figurative abstract with climbing stairway in bright spring colors by Marguerite Loui...

Hawaiian Symbolism Figurative & Landscape Oil painting of Mauna Uhane (Mountain Spirit) Symbolic and surreal landscape with a figure of spirit ascen...

Fantastic magazine cartoon illustration by American Artist, Leo Nowak (1907-2001). Ink, gouache and crayon in illustration paper, image measures 7.5 x 9.5 i...

The Beach Modern Impressionist Oil Painting Marguerite Rousseau was born in 1888 in Belgium died in 1948. She is known​ for her French Impressionist style in her earlier work, she was painting parks...

Post Office WPA Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Modern 20th Century Carlos Lopez (1910-1953) "Bounty" WPA Mural Study for Michigan Post Office 19 ½ x 22 ½ inches Oil on B...

Edward Zutrau Toucan, 7/29/1949 Dated on verso Oil on linen 30 x 23 inches Edward Zutrau (1922–1993) was an American painter whose career spanned from the 1940s through the early 1...

Original oil on masonite painting of Fleet Week with sailors flirting with young women on the dock by the American artist, Sarah Pace Carothers Rhode. ...

Signed on plate. Edition of 450 prints, belonging to the suite “Miserere”, considered as the most important religious graphic work of XX century. The single prints, realized with a s...

Work on canvas Frame in molding and beige gray wood 50 x 63 x 6 cm

The Pin-Up of ravishing young beauties in mid-century America was a widely popular art form. The assumption that Pin-Up art was the exclusive domain of men is a misnomer. Female illu...

Adolf Dehn: 1895-1968. Well listed American artist with a high auction record of $20,000 which was achieved this year. He was born in Minnesota and studied at Minneapolis School of F...

A long and quiet night in the hotel lobby is depicted by Clyde Singer in this moody and still painting. Entitled Hotel Night Lobby (1947), Singer paints a moment of solitude during ...

This original painting is hand signed by the artist "Scheiber H" in the lower left corner, and dated "1940" below the signature. Exhibited: Hugo Scheiber - Bela Kadar, Galerie Le Mi...

Hawaiian Symbolism Flowering Tree and Acolytes Symbolism Landscape Symbolic landscape with four figures worshiping flowering tree by Marguerite Louis Blasingame (American; 1906-1947)...

A diminutive & humorous 1945 Painting titled "En Route to VT, Hotel Room" by artist Harold Haydon. Haydon called these diminutive paintings "Thumb Box" paintings. Image size: 6" x...

Road Less Traveled Hawaii Surrealist Mid Century Figurative Abstract Landscape Symbolistic and romantic Surrealist 1940s figurative abstract landscape with a figure journeying down a path in an idyllic landscape by Marguerite Louis Blasingame circa 1940-45. Signed Blasingame lower right corner; from a collection of her work. Unframed. Condition: Excellent; professionally cleaned and UV varnished. Image, 30"H x 20"W. Marguerite and her husband Frank Blasingame...

Na Kumuwaiwai Hohonu, Underwater Spirt - Hawaiian Symbolist Figurative Hawaiian symbolist nocturnal figurative of glowing whispy figure underwater with mountains and red coral garden by Marguerite Louis Blasingame (American; 1906-1947), circa 1940-45. Marguerite and her husband Frank Blasingame...

Symbolic and surreal landscape with figure eminating life force by Marguerite Louis Blasingame (American; 1906-1947), circa 1940-45. Marguerite and her husband Frank Blasingame...

Wonderful 1940s genre landscape of traditional English cottage painted in the European style by Henry T. Harvey (English/American, 1908-2000). Signed lower right corner. Presented in...

A beautiful Modern figure painting of two bathers in a boathouse by noted Chicago Modern artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Painted at the Ox-Bow School of Saugatuck, Michigan ...

Third Class Carriage (Down South), c. 1942 - 45, oil on canvas, 24 x 29 inches, labels verso read: "Painting by Mervin Honig [with address included]" and inscribed verso: "Title: Thi...

A dreamy watercolor of two figures in repose Gertrude Klares Bedell. Artwork size: 18" x 13 1/2". Framed size: 26 1/2" x 22". Biography from Askart: An Austrian countess born i...

This original 1940s grayscale watercolor by Charles Ragland Bunnell captures a semi-abstracted view of the Golden Cycle Mill in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Rendered in subtle blacks and grays, this striking WPA-era landscape melds industrial subject matter with a modernist aesthetic. The piece exemplifies mid-20th-century American regionalism, blending expressive abstraction with historical significance. The painting measures 8 1/8 x 9 5/8 inches (sight size) and is showcased in a custom black frame measuring 18 x 19 ½ x 1 ⅜ inches, making it an elegant addition to any collection of American art or industrial landscapes. The Golden Cycle Mining and Reduction Company was a vital part of Colorado’s early 20th-century mining boom, located in what is now Old Colorado City. Bunnell’s work documents this industrial heritage through a modernist lens, offering a unique narrative of regional development. About the Artist: Charles Ragland Bunnell (1897–1968) was a key figure in Colorado’s art scene and a pioneer of American Modernism and abstraction. Trained at Broadmoor Art Academy, he combined American Scene painting with abstract forms. Bunnell contributed to New Deal art...

ANTONI CLAVÉ Spanish, 1913 - 2005 STILL LIFE signed "Clavé" lower right also inscribed "Ce tableau a ete peint par moi vers 1946, Clavé" on the reverse oil on ...

A "Thumb Box" (or diminutive) painting of sailors in fort of a store front in Hanover, NH by artist Harold Haydon. Image size: 4 1/2" x 6". Fra...

Oil Painting of River Forest Landscape in Ireland by 20th Century Post War Irish Artist, Tobias Everet Spence Art measures 20 x 16 inches Frame measures in...

Gorgeous European figurative of a simpler time. Horses being watered in the plains by Janos Viski (Hungarian/American 1891-1965), circa 1940. Signed lower ...

Illustrated for the 1949 Four Seasons Calendar, published by Brown and Bigelow. A young girl holds a freshly-picked bouquet of flowers as she strolls alongside a boy who carries he...

Artist: Pál Fried (Hungarian, 1893-1976) Title: "Hortense (Ballerina)" *Signed by Fried lower left Circa: 1940 Medium: Original Oil Painting on Canvas Framing: Framed in a light gold...

Abstract Gouache on Paper by Minnesota/Chicago artist Richard Koppe (1916-1073). Simply titled “Woman,” the work is an excellent composition by the artist created 1941. The painting ...

An original oil painting by American artist Rudolph Wedow. This fantastic painting depicts Antelope Dancers in San Felipe Pueblo in New Mexico. Created...

Original oil on canvas painting of Les Halles de Paris by the London born artist, H.F. Root. Signed lower left. Circa 1945. Very good condition, no restorations. Les Halles de Paris was the largest food market...

Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Hospitalities Long Past, 1941 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right 37 x 27 inches "Looking into store front windows has always i...

Georgina Klitgaard Arroyo Seco, New Mexico Signed lower right Oil on canvas 28 x 42 inches Georgina Klitgaard’s art has sometimes gotten lost in the critical propensity to assign a...

Paul LUNAUD (Brantôme 1900 – 1949) The ironer Oil on wood H. 80 cm; W. 64 cm Signed and dated on the right in the center, formerly signed lower right. 1942 Provenance : Artist's stu...

A dramatic mid-century western figurative action scene depicting a shootout in an old western town by Randy Steffen (American, 1917-1977), 1947. Several ...

A unique, humorous and colorful landscape painting by Harold Haydon depicting the artist painting alongside cows. The painting dates from 1941. Harold Emerson Haydon was born in Fo...

1663 Over sized oil painting pf a parting couple during the Civil War

Vibrant mid century California landscape of the beautiful San Ynez Valley Indian Trail with Native American children walking towards the sunset by H. Hansen (American, 20th Century), 1944. The small figures walk through a majestic, sprawling landscape full of plants, rocks, and tall trees flanking this gorgeous trail that leads towards an epic mountain range in the distance. Signed and dated "H. Hansen 1944" lower left corner. Label on verso with title and "Rubicon Lodge" (an old California...

Surrealist Nocturnal Hawaiian Figurative Landscape w. Blue Skirted Woman & Moon by Marguerite Louis Blasingame Striking mid century modern Hawaiian noct...