Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 15

Ruth Gikow
'Chorus Line', Cooper Union, WPA, MoMA, Metropolitan, Smithsonian, Woman Artist

1974

$7,500
£5,713.85
€6,588.30
CA$10,496.10
A$11,727.64
CHF 6,134.86
MX$143,818.47
NOK 78,391.82
SEK 74,336.21
DKK 49,172.04
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

Signed lower left, 'Gikow' for Ruth Levine Gikow (Russian-American, 1915-1982); with original New York, Kennedy Gallery gallery label bearing artist information and dated 1974. Photo of the artist courtesy of Wikipedia. Framed dimensions: 21.25 x 1.5 x 31.25 inches. Born in the Russian Ukraine, Ruth Gikow's family emigrated to the United States in 1920, settling on the Lower East Side of New York. She won early recognition for her artwork at Washington Irving High School, which then had one of the strongest art departments in New York City. At 17, Gikow entered Cooper Union Art School, studying initially under Austin Purvis, Jr. and John Steuart Curry. She continued her studies under Raphael Soyer holding a showing of her earliest paintings in the lobby of Greenwich Village's Eighth Street Playhouse. After graduating from art school, she was granted four years of WPA's Federal Arts Project funding. In 1939, under the auspices of the WPA, Gikow was commissioned to paint a series of murals, including for the children's ward at Bronx Hospital, Riker's Island and the Rockefeller Center. With a group of like-minded artists, she helped found the American Serigraph Society, which turned out high-quality, original graphics designed to be affordable to people of modest means. Following World War II and a brief career in commercial art, she met and married the expressionist artist, Jack Levine. Challenged by his dedication and commitment, she returned to her own painting and drawing with renewed vigor. She illustrated Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and began to exhibit at New York's Weyhe Gallery, Grand Central Galleries, Forum Gallery and at Kennedy Galleries, where this painting was originally exhibited. Described by the art-critic, Henry-Russell Hitchcock as one of the country's "ten outstanding women painters", Gikow evolved her own characteristic, figurative style influenced by her studies of the Old Masters, the wall paintings of Pompeii and the Byzantine mosaics at Ravenna. Gikow exhibited widely and with success and her work is represented in numerous private and public collections, including the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Portland Museum of Art, Maine, National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, and the Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, Ohio, among others.
  • Creator:
    Ruth Gikow (1915-1982, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1974
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 20 in (50.8 cm)Width: 30 in (76.2 cm)Depth: 0.75 in (1.91 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    painting: minor losses; frame: minor marks, minor losses. shows well.
  • Gallery Location:
    Santa Cruz, CA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3449015132

More From This Seller

View All
'Commedia Dell'arte Dancers', Bay Area Modernist Figural, SFMOMA, Oakland Museum
By Liz Maxwell
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
An energetic and dynamic figural work showing a parade of figures from the Commedia dell'arte marching in step. Signed lower right, 'Liz Maxwell' (American, born 1936) and dated 1987. This notable California artist lived in New York before settling in Napa, California. Influenced by the Bay Area Figurative Painters, Maxwell has exhibited widely and with success and is the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards, including first place in the 'Watermedia National' from Long Beach Arts in California in 1998. She has also exhibited at SFMOMA and at the Oakland Museum. EDUCATION 1976 BA, Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, California, BA SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2016 “Horizons”, Hang Art, San Francisco, CA 2013 “Pro Arts at Lathan Square”, Liz Maxwell, Oakland, CA 2011 “Liz Maxwell: Recent Paintings,” Montclair Gallery, Oakland CA 2006 “Interaction: New Paintings by Liz Maxwell,” Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA 2003 “Liz Maxwell: Paintings and Monotypes,” Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland CA 2003 “Liz Maxwell: Recent Monotypes,” The Corridor Project 410, San Francisco, CA 2002 “Unencumbered Views: Recent Paintings by Liz Maxwell,” Studio 7, Pleasanton, CA 2002 “Liz Maxwell: Landscapes Left Alone,” Hang Art, San Francisco, CA 2000 “Recent Paintings by Liz Maxwell,” Hang Art, San Francisco, CA 1999 “Liz Maxwell: Linoleum Block Prints,” The Albatross, Berkeley, CA SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2016 “GLASS SLIPPER TO GLASS CEILING”, City College of San Francisco, CA 2015 “Same, Same, But Different 4.0,” Hang Art, San Francisco, CA 2015 “EBB/FLOW”, Artist’ Annual Exhibition, Pro Arts, Oakland. CA 2014 “HERE”, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA 2014 “Collect”, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA 2014 “Same, Same, But Different 3.0,” Hang Art, San Francisco, CA 2013 “Same, Same, But Different 2.0,” Hang Art, San Francisco, CA 2012 “Shine,” Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA 2011 “Oscillating Landscapes,” Hang Art, San Francisco, CA 2011 “Statewide Painting Competition,” Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA 2011 “Arts on Fire XV,” Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA 2011 “Scapes Exhibition,” Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA 2011 “Green,” Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA 2011 “Untitled,” Caldecott Art Gallery, Oakland, CA 2010 “West Coast Prints...
Category

1980s Figurative Prints

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

'Dance Class', Modernist Figural, Sir John Cass, Otis Art Institute, Parson's
By Pearl Took
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed middle right with monogram, 'P.T.'; additionally signed verso, dated 1974 and titled 'UCLA Dance Class'; accompanied by artist's business card. Born in England, Pearl Took fi...
Category

1970s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Carnival Figures', New York Exhibited Oil, Mid-century Woman Artist, Theater
By Dorothy Ebenstein
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower center, 'Ebenstein' titled verso, 'Seduction' and painted circa 1966. Accompanied by 1966 exhibition label from Barzansky Galleries, New York. A substantial, Expression...
Category

1960s Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Modernist Figural', California, New Mexico, Oakland Museum, SFAA, SFMA, GGIE
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
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...
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

'Couple Dancing', American Folk Art Figural Oil, WPA era
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed indistinctly, lower right, and painted circa 1935. A strongly animated, vertically stacked figurative painting filled with compressed energy and an atmosphere of psychologic...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

'Dynamic Figurative', California Post-Impressionist, Ruskin School of Art
By Robert Moesle
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right "Moesle" and painted circa 1975. Gouache and watercolor figurative showing numerous figures in dynamic interaction. Born in 1932, Robert Moesle studied painting ...
Category

1970s Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, India Ink, Watercolor, Gouache

You May Also Like

"Audience" Mid 20th Century American Figurative Theatre Performance Contemporary
By Leon Bibel
Located in New York, NY
"Audience" Mid 20th Century American Figurative Theatre Performance Contemporary Leon Bibel (1912 - 1995) "The Audience," 52 ½ x 41 ¼ inches. Oil on canvas, c. 1963. Signed lower right. Framed. BIO Painter, printmaker and sculptor, Leon Bibel was born in San Francisco in 1913. He trained at the California School of Fine Arts and received a scholarship to study under the German Impressionist Maria Riedelstein. He worked in collaboration with Bernard Zackheim, a student of Diego Rivera, to create frescoes for the San Francisco Jewish Community Center and the University of California Medical School. In 1936 Bibel moved from California to join the Federal Art Project at Harlem Art...
Category

1960s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Circus Performers by WPA Artist Arthur Smith
By Arthur Smith
Located in New York, NY
Arthur Smith (American, 1897-1972) Untitled (Circus Performers), 20th century Oil on board 21 x 18 7/8 in. Framed: 26 3/4 x 35 3/4 in. Signed lower right: A Smith Arthur Smith is a...
Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

New York Dancers, Lithograph by Lester Johnson
By Lester Johnson
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Lester Johnson, American (1919 - 2010) Title: New York Dancers (3) Year: Circa 1980 Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 1...
Category

1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

"Chorus Girl"
By Ruth Adele Mysel
Located in Southampton, NY
Watercolor on paper of a chorus or show girl by Ruth Adele Mysel. Mysel grew up in Boston and attended the New England School of Art. She was both a artist and sculptor as well as ...
Category

1940s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

American Circus Scene by WPA Artist Arthur Smith
By Arthur Smith
Located in New York, NY
Arthur Smith (American, 1897-1972) Untitled (Circus Figures), 20th century Oil on board 16 x 19 3/4 in. Framed: 20 x 24 in. Signed lower left: A Smith ...
Category

20th Century Modern Nude Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Vocal Harmony, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Irit Epstein
Located in Yardley, PA
From the series 'Unspoken Dialogues'. Human relationships are a captivating and intricate web of emotions, experiences, and growth. Each stage of a relationship holds its own uniq...
Category

2010s Contemporary Paintings

Materials

Oil