René Seyssaud

'The Couple in Front of the Fireplace' by René Seyssaud, Watercolour c. 1930s

Circa 1930s

'Chinatown, San Francisco', gouache on fine art paper, by Edward Wilson Currier (1903). Spofford Alley in San Francisco's Chinatown is best known for an address (number 36) where Dr. Sun Yat-Sen plotted the overthrow of China's last dynasty. During Prohibition, it was the site of turf battles over local bootlegging and protection rackets. Today it is lined with seniors' community centres. However, the quiet alley livens up in the evenings when a Chinese orchestra strikes up a tune, mah-jongg games begin with a cascade of clicking tiles, and barbers and florists use the pretence of sweeping their doorsteps to gossip. In this artist's depiction, a man smokes a long-stemmed Chinese pipe under the awning and colourful lanterns hanging from the wooden supports while a child looks on. The artwork is interesting from several standpoints including architectural, cultural and historical. Shortly after this work was painted, the neighbourhood was completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake that levelled most of the city. From 1910 to 1940, Chinese immigrants were detained at the Angel Island...

'Emile's Tavern', gouache on paper (circa 1930s), by Lucien Génin. A tavern in French is called a 'guinguette'. With the rise in living standards from the 1860s along with the develo...

'The Church of Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet, Paris', gouache on art paper by Lucien Génin (circa 1930s). In Paris' 5th Arrondissement the site in which Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet is ...

'Sacré-Coeur, Montmartre at Willette Square, Paris', gouache on art paper (circa 1930s), by Lucien Génin. Created by the Director of Public Ways and Promenades under Napoleon III, Sq...

'Paris, la Bourse', gouache on paper, by Lucien Génin (circa 1930s). Created at the beginning of the 19th century by Napoleon, la Bourse, or the Stock Exchange, was intended to assert and encourage France’s prosperity in industry and trade. In 1826 the Stock Exchange was installed in the palace that the architect Brongniart had begun in 1808. Surrounded by a large peristyle of Corinthian columns, the rectangular structure reflects the official neo-classicism of the Empire Period. The artist, Génin, depicts a typically lively 1930s day in front of the building with cars of the period zooming by pedestrians on the walkway and others on the stairs leading to the entrance. He has an extremely charming, almost childlike style particularly the way he renders the people and the vehicles. The building, on the other hand, is accurate in its detail and more seriously presented. Our gallery has held and has sold over a dozen of Genin's paintings but this one stands out for its pure stylish appeal and ability to captivate while inducing a smile in the viewer. The artwork is in good overall condition - there are some minor blemishes not on the artwork itself but on the edges of the mount to which it is attached. The frame is in fair condition showing some nicks and scratches. Please enjoy the many photos accompanying the listing. Upon request a video can be provided. Signed by the artist in the lower right hand. About the Artist: After the devastation of the First World War, Lucien Génin (1894 - 1953) left his provincial home in the autumn of 1919 to find his fortune among the lively Parisians in the heart of Montmartre. Génin befriended the painters Frank Will, Gen Paul, Émile Boyer...

'Cabaret in an Asian Banquet Hall', pencil, gouache and metallic paint on card stock by an unnamed artist of the French School (20th Century). This is a fantastical port visit of the artist's imagination. It is a naive, but strangely compelling painting discovered in Paris. It depicts French sailors dancing with a cabaret performer in a Chinese-style banquet hall while onlookers enjoy the spectacle. On the left hand of the scene an Asian musician...

Late Mid Century French watercolour and Gouache on handmade paper of a pair of dancers by Damien Hermellin. Signed and dated bottom right. Pres...

A modernist landscape featuring a pair of figures and a rainbow. Signed but without a determination of the maker this charming painting is utterly unique. Original period frame.

Donald Stacy "Mark" c.1950s Oil pastel and gouache paint on paper 14x17" unframed Unsigned Came from artist's estate Donald Stacy (1925-2011) New Jersey Studied: Newark School of ...

Donald Stacy "At the Table" c.1950s Gouache and oil pastel on paper 24"x18" unframed Came from artist's estate *Custom framing available for additional charge. Please expect framing ...

Bob Thompson Untitled, 1964 Felt tip pen on printed paper 11 x 20 1/2 inches Provenance: The artist Kathy Komaroff Goodman (gift from the artist) Hollis Taggart, New York Exhibited...

Eugene Higgins In Foreign Parts, circa 1913 Signed lower right Watercolor on paper Sight 17 x 13 inches Born William Victor Higgins in 1884 to a Shelbyville, Indiana farm family where the only art Victor was aware of as a child was his father's love of flowers. "He loved their forms and their colors, and he tended his garden as a painter might work a canvas." At the age of nine, Victor met a young artist who traveled the Indiana countryside painting advertisements on the sides of barns. He purchased paints and brushes so the young Higgins could practice his own artwork on the inside of his father's barn. He also taught Victor about art museums and especially about the new Chicago Art Institute. This information never left the young artist, and he saved his allowance until his father allowed him at the age of fifteen to attend Chicago Art Institute. He worked a variety of jobs to finance his studies both there and at the Academy of Fine Arts. Victor Higgins traveled to New York in 1908, where he met Robert Henri, who became a significant influence by depicting every-day scenes and stressing the importance of the spirit and sense of place as important factors in painting. Higgins was also greatly affected by the New York Armory Modernism Show of Marsden Hartley in 1913. While Victor Higgins was in Chicago he met former mayor and avid collector Carter H. Harrison who was to prove instrumental in the growth of Higgins career for several years. Harrison agreed to support Higgins for four years to go to Paris and Munich and paint and study in the great museums in Europe. While at the Academie de la Grande Chaumier in Paris (1910-1914) he met Walter Ufer, who was another Chicago artist being sponsored by Carter Harrison. This meeting was not only a life-long friendship, but the beginning of a great change in the way Higgins looked at "American" art. He decided that America needed it's own authentic style rather than the 19th Century classic style he was taught in Europe. Very soon after returning to Chicago in 1914, Harrison sent him and Walter Ufer on a painting trip to Taos, New Mexico for a year in exchange for paintings. Higgins made other similar agreements and was able to support himself with his painting. This trip was a life-changing experience and introduced Higgins to the authentic America he had been looking for. In 1914 Taos was an isolated village about twelve hours from Santa Fe on an impossible dirt road. But the colorful life of the pueblo people and the natural beauty drew a collection of artists who became the Taos art colony, from which the Taos Society of Artists was founded in 1915. Victor Higgins became a permanent resident within a year of his arrival and a member of the society in 1917, exhibiting with Jane Peterson in 1925 and with Wayman Adams and Janet Scudder in 1927. The members would travel around the country introducing the Southwest scenes with great success. He remained a member until the Society's dissolution in 1927. Higgins was the youngest member of the group of seven. Other members were Joseph Henry Sharp, Bert Phillips...