1950s Figurative Paintings

This charming naivist painting by Swedish artist Olof (Olle) Casimir Ågren (1874–1962) depicts a horse standing gracefully beside a tree. Executed with bold, textured brushstrokes an...

Signed oil on canvas figures in landscape circa 1950 by French post impressionist painter Marcel Dyf. The work depicts workers tending to a field beside a rural village. Signature: ...

"Sunday Service, a lovely mid-century figurative village street scene by Frank Serratoni (American, 1908-1970), c. 1940s. A family is shown strolling through the tree-lined street of a quaint village towards a red church...

White Horse Carousel, 1956 - Oil On Canvas Oil painting of an empty carousel ride, a single white horse gleams in the center. Three doorways are seen to the right, with sunlight ema...

Artist André Strauss was known for painting outdoors, on the motif. It gives his paintings a wonderful freshness and immediacy - you feel as if you were right there, in the grounds o...

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...

3074 Italian Fisherman Portrait, oil on canvas applied to a board, displayed in a wood frame, signed lower left by E.Mori

'The Banana Plantation Guadeloupe', oil on canvas, by Robert Humblot (1959). In 1959, when the artist visited French Guadeloupe, he painted several colo...

Frame size 70x61 cm. José Muntané Balaguer (1889 - 1963) Immerse yourself in the spiritual beauty of "Woman Praying," a sublime work by the acclaimed Spanish artist José Muntané Balaguer. This oil on canvas captures the serenity and introspection of faith, showcasing a masterful use of light and shadow reminiscent of great masters such as Joaquín Sorolla, Ignacio Zuloaga, and even the emotional restraint of Diego Velázquez in his most intimate portraits. The painting depicts the purity of a devotional moment, where the female figure seems to transcend the canvas, inviting the viewer to reflect on spirituality and human connection. The meticulous attention to detail and subtlety in expressions place Muntané Balaguer in the tradition of artists who immortalized scenes of everyday life with unique sensitivity, much like Julio Romero de Torres...

C. Hjalmar Cappy Amundsen (1911 - 2001) was an American painter best known for his Gloucester Scenes. He painted all over the New England areas. Here we have an extraordinary paint...

Original post impressionist oil on canvas painting of the landmark Cafe Weber in Paris by C.H. Duval. Circa 1950. Signed by the artist lower left. Condition is excellent. Titled and signed again verso on top left wood stretcher. The painting is housed in its original gold over wood frame in fine condition. Overall framed measurements are 20.75 by 24.75 inches. Cafe Weber was located on Rue Royale near Le Madeleine and adjacent to the outdoor flower...

Oil on canvas by Edouard Goerg (1893-1969), France, 1958. Life is always the same. Acquired in 2017 from the personal collection of Edouard Goerg. Measurements : with frame : 62.5x53.4 cm - 24.6x21 inches, without frame : 55x46 cm - 21.7x18.1 inches, format 10F. Signed "E.Goerg" (see photo). Preserved by the painter, then by his family since his death in 1969, this painting appeared in 2017. Entitled "Always life begins again", it is a crepuscular work. Testamentary one could say, so much the statement which is made there is definitive. The fact that he kept it until his death tends to consolidate this vision. Far from the empty looks and death faces of the rebellious era of sarcastic expressionism, the terrifying and compassionate testimony of the Spanish war, and the post-WWII flower women, we are dealing here with a a form of reasonable abdication, but honest. This idea that although everything changes, nothing changes. Changed times, actors, ideas, the same comedy occupies the society. Having given up the idea of ​​changing the latter, Goerg accepts the fact that the only alternative is to stay there or get lost. But stay afloat with his values, completely independent, whatever the cost is. This work is similar to La Vie Recommence of 1935, reproduced on page 54 of Gaston Diehl's book devoted to the painter (Éditions de Clermont, 1947). On the latter, the artist depicts his vision of life, from birth to death, made of hope, fear, cruelty, resignation and fatality. 23 years later, Toujours La Vie Recommence shows us the road traveled by the painter. It is no longer a matter of denunciation, but ultimately of acceptance of reality and the difficulty of staying there yourself. The admirer of Hieronymus Bosch gives us an inspired composition. The hand of God, the only expression of physical beauty in this work, comes down from heaven to give life. Symbolically, it holds an egg that dispenses the element from which the human protagonists find their birth, and in which they move and tangle more than they impose. Beautiful allegory of society. Four characters, two women and two men evolve in this societal marigot. The man in the foreground, ruddy face, evolves with ease. His body is supple, flexible, adaptable. The woman on the left observes him with admiration. Obviously, this man is in his place and causes rapture. The right man with massive shoulders and wrapped, shows a physical maladjustment to the activity he is doing. He struggles to stay afloat, his face expresses effort, even exhaustion. But he assumes. He does with what he has, with what he is. The other woman shows him the greatest indifference. What is not the case of the demonic archangel (recurrent in the works of Bosch) with the stunted body, who leads the dance and holds this character, we understand the painter, under his control as to have fun. As this character cannot change bodies, Goerg cannot change values. He does it with. Had he not said to the critic Roger Brielle: "Independents, sensitive and just men, that's what we must strive to stay in this world in disarray". Goerg will have come to narrative expressionism to give us a balance sheet allegory of his deep self and his condition. Édouard Goerg is one of the major artists of his generation. Coming from a Champagne family, he was born in Sidney, Australia, in 1893, during a professional stay of his father. After passing through London, he arrives in Paris at the age of seven. At twenty, between 1913 and 1914, he studieds painting at the Académie Ranson with Maurice Denis and Paul Sérusier. He travels to Italy and India. Mobilized in 1914, he is sent to Artois, then to Argonne. From 1920, he exhibits at the Salon des Independants, then at the Salon d'Automne where he joins with Laboureur. At Berthe Weil, in 1924, he participates in the exhibitions of the Gromaire group, a prelude to a series of exhibitions in Paris (Berthe Weill, Bernheim Jeune), as in Brussels (Le Centaure). Goerg illustrates books including Table of the beyond by F.Boutet. In 1928, he meets Paul Guillaume who exhibits his works in Boston and the Art Institute of Chicago. He continues to show his works, satires of the bourgeois manners, at Bernheim Jeune, then at Lucie Krogh. In 1934, he travels to Belgium and Holland where he paints surrealist paintings that will be exhibited at Jeanne Castel. In 1935-1936, he meets Aragon, who opened the doors of the houses of the cultures created by the Association of Writers and Revolutionary Artists. The Spanish war and the Second World War mark it deeply. He must protect his daughter and his Jewish women...

A vibrant composition or portrait in a constructivist style by artist Lars Englund (born 1933), signed and dated "LED 56" (1956). This is an early work by the artist in which he has ...

Original Mid Century Pen and Ink on Paper "Cowboy and Bronco" Western Genre Compelling pen and ink western picture of Cowboy wrangling the bro...

Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Torre di Tiberio, 1951 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower left 21 x 18 inches 28.5 x 26.5 inches, framed Clarence Holbrook Carter ac...

Blue Nude, 1953 Oil on canvas Signed and dated upper right Edgardo CORBELLI (Turin, 1918 - 1989) From the traditional composition of the 1930s, the painting of Corbelli leads to tec...

Artist: William Skilling, After Giuseppe Arcimboldo Title: Vertumnus Year: circa 1950 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed l.r. Size: 42 in. x 36 in. (106...

'Self-Portrait of the Artist', oil on canvas, by Lilian E. Whitteker (1952). This may be the only self-portrait (or portrait) of Lilian Whitteker as her favourite subjects to paint w...

Frameless. Pascual Roch Minue (1899-1977), promoter of Spanish impressionism. His work is in several museums, national and international collections. Roch Minue settled in Pollens...

For Norman Rockwell's Four Seasons calendar series for Brown & Bigelow By the end of World War II, Norman Rockwell was a household name throughout the United States and considered...

Wonderful Spanish landscape of a humble farm in Rota, Cadiz, Spain with horses, a cow with two herons, one of which is on cow's back by San Francisco artist John Sackas (American, 1910-2004), circa 1950s. Signed lower Left "Sackas" and verso Rota Farm House Cadiz" "John Sackas" . Verso has location, attribution and full artist's biography. Presented in gilt-toned carved wood frame. Image size: 14"H x 18"W. Born in New Jersey on May 22, 1910. John Sackas studied at the San Francisco Art Institute (1934), Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and California School of Fine Arts, Jerry...

Unframed Manuel Monedero (n. Seville in 1925 - m. Carboneras (Aracena, Huelva) in 2002) is a Spanish painter. His first exhibition dates from 1961 a...

An atmospheric figural oil of a young woman, shown seated at a dressing table and gazing into a hand-mirror. Signed lower left, "H. Helme" for Helge Helme (Danish, 1894-1987) and pai...

Blue and green-toned modern abstract figurative portrait painting by Houston, TX artist David Adickes. The work features two men figures standing side by s...

Clyde Singer was a master of capturing the small and significant moments of everyday life. This painting, titled Girl Sitting on Wall, 1956, is one of those perfect scenes that he d...

Beautiful mid century plein air figural landscape of Laguna Niguel, California by an unknown artist (American, 20th Century). The morning sun gli...

Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) The Entertainment, c. 1955 Watercolor on paper Signed lower right 20 x 30 inches Exhibited: 1955 May Show, Cleveland Museum of Art "The first district schools were log houses...

Georges Dayez (French, 1907-1991). “Vendimia” Vintage / Grape Harvest / Wine Harvest , Oil on paper, 20”x 26 1/3, framed 27 1/4 x 33 1/4. Dayez was a...

Vaudeville Theatre by Edouard Cortes was painted circa 1955-60 and signed lower left. It is oil on canvas measuring 13x18 in original unlined condition. The piece is included in the ...

Charming mid century figurative landscape of two sisters on an opulent terrazza, complete with a fountain and villa in the distance by Ingvar Helgi (Swedish/American, 19th- 20th cent...

Eric Cederberg (1897-1984) Beach with pearls, ca. 1950 Oil on panel 9 1/10 × 14 3/5 in l 23 × 37 cm Frame included: 13 3/4 x 19 1/3 l 35 x 49 cm Exhibition history: Nordic Surrealis...

Paul F. Keene Jr. (1920-2009). Theater Lobby, ca. 1955-60. Oil on linen canvas, 20 x 24 inches. Original metal strip frame. Signed lower left. Excellent condition. Biography: ...

'Mountain Landscape', oil on canvas, by Louise-Jeanne Cottard-Fossey (circa 1950s). A very idyllic, verdant scene depicted by this renown French fem...

This piece is from my priate collection created by Jean Remlinger who has a figurative style reminiscent of the works of Francis Bacon. It is probably an acrylic gouache , as a print...

Nativity scene on an architrave of a cathedral, done in the style of Hummel figurines by Helen Gleiforst (American, 1903-1997). Signed "Gleiforst" in t...

Vaudeville Theatre by Edouard Cortes was painted circa 1955-60 and signed lower left. It is oil on canvas measuring 18x22 in original unlined condition....

A modern abstract expressionist oil painting signed illegibly and dated 1956.

This painting is part of our current exhibition - America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s Untitled (Elevated Platform), 1950, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 30 x...

Presenting an original oil on panel by American artist Robert McIntosh, c.1958. "Cubist Nude in White", is an original oil and collage on panel, signed,c.1958, a painting directly from the personal collection of the artist...

EMILIO GRAU SALA Spanish, 1911 - 1975 BOULEVARD OF PARIS signed Grau Sala (lower right) oil on canvas 25-1/2 X 32 inches (65 X 81 cm.) framed: 36-1/4 X 42-1/2 inches (92 X 108 cm.) PROVENANCE Sale: Sotheby´s Olympia London, 20 October 2006 Emilio Grau Sala came from a family of artists. He was born in Barcelona in 1911 and his father, a good cartoonist, had been one of the promoters of the "Salon des Humanistes" and made his exhibitions normally in the Parés Hall. His first works were exhibited at the Salon des Independents, in the years 1930-33. Grau Sala was essentially a Mediterranean painter, son of post-impressionism and enriched with French painting of the last fifty years. In this work Grau Sala has a loose, subtle brushstroke, in which the color shapes the entire work. The bright and transparent whites that give life to young schoolgirls contrast with the brushstrokes of blacks from the nun who accompanies them. The explosion of greens is refreshing, it surrounds us and transports us to an idyllic place, even if it is a citizen boulevard, which becomes friendly and beautiful. His works can be found in the Museums of the Villa de Paris, L'Ile de France Museum, at the Château de Sceaux, Honfleur Museum, La Rochelle Museum, Barcelona Museum, Tossa de Mar...

3981 Children's fantasy figurative oil painting set in a hand painted oak frame Image size 15.5x19.25"

Charming oil painting of the Wells Fargo Express Office building in the gold country town of Columbia State Historic Park in Columbia, California by Cecil ...

Restaurant terrace at evening in Montmartre, Paris. Oil on canvas, 46x38 cm

Jesus Ortiz Tajonar (1919-1990) Mexican Boy with Papier-Mâché Animal Warrior Mask c.1950s Fantastic mid century modern oil painting by listed Mexican artist Jesus Ortiz Tajonar. W...

André Vignoles (French, 1920-2017) Pears and Peppers, 1957 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower left 48 in. h. x 28 in. w., as framed 39 in. h. x 19 in. w., canvas André Vignoles wa...

This superb British Post Impressionist oil painting is by noted female artist Doris Clare Zinkeisen. Painted circa 1950 the painting echoes the French Impressionists in their style a...

Work on canvas Molded frame in plaster and gilded wood 72 x 56 x 6 cm

Claude WEISBUCH Two Women with Traditional Brittany Dress Original Oil on canvas Signed upper right Signed and Dated (19)54 on the back On canvas 46 x 55 cm at view (c. 18 x 22 in) ...

Flowers is an original oil painting on canvas realized by an anonymous artist in the 1950s. Good Condition with discoloration and aged margins. The artwork is represented beautiful...

Girl In The Armachair is an artwork realized in the 1950s by Anonymous artist. Original oil painting on canvas applied to cardboard. Includes wooden frame:60 x 7 x 50.5 cm Good co...

Marcel Dyf French, 1899-1985 Djeuner Champtre Oil on canvas 23 ½ by 28 ¾ in. W/frame 31 ½ by 36 ¾ in. Signed lower left Marcel Dyf (Marcel Dreyfus) was born in Paris on October 7,...

From the estate of Jerry Opper & Ruth Friedmann Opper Yellow Cubist FIgure c. 1940-1950's Gouache 15" x 18", silver wood frame 16"x19" Unsigned This striking gouache painting featur...

Painterly scene of boats and boats being built at the docks in old Pacific Grove, California by an unknown artist (American, 20th Century). Signed"WHM" lower left. Presented in a fau...

Original oil on canvas painting of the landmark Cafe Dome in Paris by Andre Picot. Adjacent to the Dome is another famous cafe, Cafe Tabac as seen in thi...

John Edward Costigan, N.A. American, 1888-1972 Bathers Oil on canvas Signed ‘J.E. Costigan N.A.’ lower left 20 by 24 in. W/frame 26 by 30 in. John Costigan was born of Irish-American parents in Providence, Rhode Island, February 29, 1888. He was a cousin of the noted American showman, George M. Cohan, whose parents brought the young Costigan to New York City and was instrumental in starting him on a career in the visual arts. They were less successful in encouraging him to pursue formal studies at the Art Students League (where, however, he later taught) than in exposing him to the commercial art world through the job they had gotten him with the New York lithographing firm that made their theatrical posters. At the H. C. Miner Lithographing Company, Costigan worked his way up from his entry job as a pressroom helper, through various apprenticeships, to the position of sketch artist. In the latter capacity he was an uncredited designer of posters for the Ziegfeld Follies and for numerous silent films. Meanwhile, he had supplemented his very meager formal studies in the fine arts with a self-teaching discipline that led to his first professional recognition in 1920 with the receipt of prizes for an oil painting and watercolor in separate New York exhibitions. A year earlier, Costigan had wed professional model Ida Blessin, with whom he established residence and began raising a family in the sleepy little rural New York hamlet of Orangeburg, the setting for the many idyllic farm landscapes and wood interiors with which he was to become identified in a career that would span half a century. John Costigan’s first national recognition came in 1922 with his winning of the coveted Peterson Purchase prize of the Art Institute of Chicago for an oil on canvas, “Sheep at the Brook.” It marked the start of an unbroken winning streak that would gain him at least one important prize per year for the remainder of the decade. The nation’s art journalists and critics began to take notice, making him the recurring subject of newspaper features and magazine articles. The eminent author and critic Edgar Holger Cahill was just a fledgling reporter when he wrote his first feature, “John Costigan Carries the Flame,” for Shadowland Magazine in 1922. Costigan had his first one-man show of paintings at the Rehn Gallery on New York’s 5th Avenue in November, 1924, to be followed less than three years later by another at the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition, Costigan’s work has been—and continues to be included, side-by-side with that of some of America’s most high-profile artists, in museum and gallery exhibitions throughout the country. His renown had peaked in the early 1930s, by which time his work had been honored with nearly every major award then being bestowed in the fine arts and had been acquired for the permanent collections of several prestigious American museums, including New York’s Metropolitan (which only recently, in 1997, deaccessioned his “Wood Interior,” acquired in 1934). Although Costigan’s celebrity had ebbed by the late 1930s, the Smithsonian Institution saw fit in 1937 to host an exhibition exclusively of his etchings. And, in 1941, the Corcoran Gallery (also Washington, D.C.) similarly honored him for his watercolors. (Another Washington institution, the Library of Congress, today includes 22 Costigan etchings and lithographs in its permanent print collection.) During World War II, Costigan returned briefly to illustrating, mainly for Bluebook, a men’s pulp adventure magazine. A gradual revival of interest in his more serious work began at the end of the war, culminating in 1968 with the mounting of a 50-year Costigan retrospective at the Paine Art Center and Arboretum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Oils, watercolors and prints were borrowed from museums and private collections throughout the country, and the exhibition was subsequently toured nationally by the Smithsonian Institution. John Costigan died of pneumonia in Nyack, NY, August 5, 1972, just months after receiving his final prestigious award —the Benjamin West Clinedinst Medal of the Artist’s Fellowship, Inc., presented in general recognition of his “...achievement of exceptional artistic merit...” in the various media he had mastered in the course of his career. This painting depicts one of the artist's favorite themes --the farm family bathing...

Walter Emerson Baum Manayunk, 1953 Signed and dated lower right; titled and dated on the reverse Oil on board 12 x 14 inches Walter Baum was born December 14, 1884 in Sellersville,...

Signed lower left, "Di Gesu" for Victor Di Gesu (American, 1914-1988), with estate stamp, verso, and painted circa 1955. Winner of the Prix Othon Friesz, Victor di Gesu first attend...

Beautiful portrait of older woman, possibly a Nonna (Grandmother) with Gardenia by Raul (or Raoul) Viviani (Italian, 1883 - 1965), circa 1950. Lovely tex...

Charles Elmer Harris (Beni E. Kosh), Untitled (African Idol), watercolor, c. 1950s. Estate stamped verso, 'Beni E Kosh COLLECTION' and numbered '570' in ink. A fine, spontaneous wat...

Substantial California oil painting of a Navajo horseman in the New Mexico mountains. Stylistically similar to Constantine Cherkas Navajo Rider painti...