American Realist Figurative Paintings

Wang Kun's "Portrait of Qiang Woman" is an oil painting created in 2023 that depicts a traditional Qiang woman. kun Wang(王琨), was born in Jilin Province of China in 1970. His legs...

"Child Star" Mid Century Portrait of a Boy with Brown Eyes Oil on Canvas Stately portrait of a boy by William Robert Shulgold (Russian-American, 1897-1989). The subject is looking o...

The blue sky merges with the color of the ocean. The feeling of sea wind, sea freshness. This painting is dedicated to courage, strength and beauty. Man and horse, interaction, love....

Men Working Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern Jo Cain (1904 – 2003) Men Working: WPA Mural Study 17 ½ x 10 ½ inches Oil on ...

Arctic Stream in Forest Landscape with Lush Greens & Blues by 20th Century British Artist, Jack Strickland Art measures 16 x 20 inches Frame measures 19 x 23 inches Original, Oi...

An amazing, magical realism painting by renowned artist, Herbert Laurence Davidson (1930-2018). This painting depicts a young boy’s innocent discovery on the beach of a sand sculptur...

Gammell Trust #W126. Signed and dated in pencil lower right: "R.H. Ives Gammell, Paris, 1917". This is a very early work and despite the fact that it is squared off for enlargement,...

Trailblazing Gay Female illustrator of the Golden Age Ida Waugh paints and powerful narrative of a woman cowering in a tree while a hungry pack of wolves wait beneath her for dinner feast. Signed lower left. Framed under glass, Ida Waugh (October 24, 1846 – January 25, 1919) was an American illustrator of children's literature who often collaborated with her lifelong companion, Amy Ella Blanchard. Personal life Ida Waugh was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 24, 1846, the daughter of painter Samuel B. Waugh and his first wife, Sarah Mendenhall, therefore she was half-sister of painter Frederick Judd Waugh. Her step-mother was Mary Eliza Young Waugh, a miniaturist. She attended Académie Julian and Académie Delécluse in Paris, studying with Georges Callot, Paul-Louis Delance, and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant.In 1868 she attended the first "Ladies Life Class" at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; in the same class there were Emily Sartain and Catherine Ann Drinker. Career Ida Waugh collaborated with her partner Amy Ella Blanchard in publishing children's books, Waugh as illustrator and Blanchard as writer. Waugh also published books on her own Other than a children's book illustrator, Waugh was an award-winning painter. In 1869 she exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts two works, "The Bargain" and a portrait bust of Carl Gaertner. Her self-portrait and another painting, "Little Cosette" (1870), are in the permanent collection of the Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, both donated by Mrs. John S. Haug in 1961.They were part of the exhibition "Women and Biography" in 2014, including: Elizabeth Shippen Green, Violet Oakley, Edith Emerson, Anne Minich, Catherine Mulligan, Mitzi Melnicoff, Alice Kent Stoddard, Aubrey Levinthal, Martha Armstrong...

William Gropper Senator Signed lower center Oil on board 16 x 12 1/4 inches ACA Galleries, New York Private Collection, New York Bonhams, American Art Online, August 23, 2023, Lot 3...

What makes this work important? It's not that it's a commissioned artwork for a men's 60s pulp adventure magazine depicting the instant a soldier is shot. The big point of the painting is how brilliantly the formal elements are thought out, designed, and executed. John McDermott tells a story using a complex figural composition in an unexpected wide-angle vision. The work is as abstract as it is representation. His use of light is significant because it creates a high-contrast two-color style that bears the mark of its creator. This is a work done by a master artist/illustrator without peers compared to artists living today. If the contemporary art world gave awards for draftsmanship, painting technique, and graphic design .... John McDermott would win the highest accolades. Initialed lower left - unframed John McDermott (August 30, 1919 – April 20, 1977), also known under the pen names J.M. Ryan and Mariner, was an American illustrator and author noted for action and adventure illustrations.[1] McDermott worked as an in-between and effects animator for Walt Disney Studios and as a US Marine combat artist,before establishing himself as a cover illustrator for 1950s paperbacks and pulp magazines such as Argosy, American Weekly, and Outdoor Life. Under his J.M. Ryan pen name, he wrote the novels The Rat Factory (1971), a derogatory satire of Walt Disney and the Disney studio; Brooks Wilson Ltd (1967), on which the 1970 film Loving was based; and Mother's Day (1969) about Ma Barker. Under his own name, he novelized director-writer Bo Widerberg's screenplay for the 1971 film Joe Hill, which would be his final published book. Early life John Richard McDermott was born 30 August 1919 in Pueblo, Colorado, the younger of two sons of Henry McDermott, an oil broker. McDermott was a young child when his father committed suicide.[4] The family eventually moved to Los Angeles where McDermott's mother, Hazel, worked in a beauty parlor. He graduated from Hollywood High School in 1936. Although he had had no formal art education, he took a job as an artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Career Disney At Disney, McDermott worked as an in-betweener and effects animator on Brave Little Tailor, Pinocchio, The Reluctant Dragon and Fantasia. His experiences while working at Disney, particularly during the time of the 1941 Disney animators' strike, would later become the basis for his 1969 satirical novel The Rat Factory. McDermott left Disney to fight with US forces during World War II. US Marines McDermott World War II sketch titled "Buddy is Wounded" On September 29, 1942, McDermott enlisted with the US Marine Corps. He served as a "pistol and palette" combat artist assigned to the map-making section. As a sergeant with the III Amphibious Corps, McDermott was involved in battles in the South Pacific theater of war, documenting the Guam, Okinawa and the Guadalcanal Campaigns. McDermott considered his wartime years to be his art education. "In the Marines, as a combat artist, I traveled with the troops and for three years got all the drawing opportunity anyone could want. My work changed enormously during this time and I’m sure it was due to constant drawing, every single day, from life, just putting down what I saw around me. In a few instances it was a dangerous kind of scholarship." According to the Marine Corps history journal Fortitudine, McDermott was so prolific that his contemporary style pen-and-ink sketches became easily recognizable to both Marines, from published work in Leatherneck Magazine, and civilians, from glossy copies supplied by the Marine Corps to the nation's press.His wartime art appears in World War II history books and is displayed at the Pentagon and the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Illustration Following the end of World War II, McDermott moved from California to New York City to work as a freelance illustrator. McDermott made his reputation drawing modern action, war and adventure scenes. His work adorned the covers and inside story pages of popular pulp magazines of the 1950s such as Argosy, Adventure, Blue Book, Outdoor Life and American Weekly. McDermott's illustrations appeared on numerous covers of 1950s paperback novels published by Dell, Fawcett Gold Medal, Bantam Mystery and others. His action graphics were geared toward thriller and detective genres, such as Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm books Murderers' Row and The Betrayers. He also created covers for science fiction comic titles such as Voyage to the Deep[citation needed] and horror-themed paperbacks such as the classic 1955 science fiction novel The Body Snatchers...

Colliers Magazine 1947 American Scene Social Realism Modern Families in the Snow Katherine Wiggins (American 20th Century) "The Shrimp" 20 x 24 inches Egg tempera on masonite. c. 1...

Raymond Howell, Chinese Dim Sum Feast, 1979 Oil on masonite 28" x 36" unframed, 35.5" x 43. 75" framed Biography from Raymond Howell website: Raymon...

Manning de Villenueve Lee:1894-1980. Well listed American painter and illustrator with Auction records up to $22,500. This spectacular painting is one of our favorites. Probably pain...

Contemporary oil painting by American realist painter, Carl Bretzke. A snow covered winter landscape at night. A quaint residential neighborhood appears silent after a heavy snowfall...

This watercolor is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Circus Wagons, 1927, watercolor on paper, signed and dated lower left, 10 x19 ¾ inches (sight), provenance includes Stary-Sheets Art Gallery (Gualala, CA); J. Ralph & Louis Stone Foundation; presented in a newer metal frame behind glazing About the Painting Millard Sheets was only twenty years old and in his third year of studies at the Chouinard Art Institute when he painted Circus Wagons. Despite his youth, Sheets was already an accomplished artist who had publicly exhibited his work and won prestigious prizes. Within several years, he would have his first solo exhibition at one of Los Angeles’ premiere galleries and become a painting instructor at his alma mater. In Circus Wagons we already see Sheets deft handling of the watercolor medium and his interest in the California Scene. In this case, Sheets captures a back lot view of a traveling circus, a subject he sometimes returned to, including in a color screen print in the collection of the National Gallery. Sheets made a career by painting what he knew and observed firsthand. This approach allowed Sheets to capture with authenticity the details of each narrative. Even with a narrowly limited palette and an economy of brushstrokes, Sheets effectively depicts the southern California scene with its strong and mysterious shadows, as well as the workers and circus animals. Seen through the hindsight of his six-decade long career, Circus Wagons offers a fascinating insight into the early development of California Scene painting which would by the mid-1930s become the best recognized style on the West Coast. About the Artist Millard Sheets was the dean of California watercolorists. His list of accomplishments is so extensive that his entry in Who was Who in American Art is over forty lines. Born in Pomona, California, Sheets became a painter at an early age, winning a prize at the Los Angeles County Fair in 1918. By the mid to late-1920s, Sheets became a regular at art exhibitions in the western part of the United States, winning several additional prizes before he reached the age of twenty-five. Sheets studied at the prestigious Chouinard Art Institute from 1925 through 1929 with Frank Tolles Chamberlin and Clarence Hinkle and had his first solo show with Los Angeles’ Dalzell Hatfield Gallery in 1929. During the 1930s, Sheets was invited to exhibit at almost every major American Museum and in many ways, his work came to represent the California watercolor school...

This Western illustrative painting by Gerald McCann depicts men with their horses on the frontier climbing through a snowy mountain pass and searching for shelter from a blizzard. Th...

American realist painter Carl Bretzke is particularly adept at nocturne scenes which ooze in darkness, reminiscent of Edward Hopper. Bretzke remarks: “What most people don’t notice i...

American realist painter Carl Bretzke is particularly adept at nocturne scenes which ooze in darkness, reminiscent of Edward Hopper. Bretzke remarks: “What most people don’t notice i...

The picture was painted in restrained tones. Minimalist style or Scandinavian style. • It is painted on a professional canvas with high quality oil paints. • Ready to hang • Two coat...

This artwork "Western Scene" c.1960, is an oil painting on canvas by noted Western artist Charles Damrow, 1916-1989. It is signed at the lower left corne...

This artwork "American Clipper at Sea" c.1990 is an oil painting on canvas by noted American artist Robert Sanders, b. 1950. It is signed at the lower r...

Zoe Hawk Artist Statement My work deals with the complex experience of girlhood, exploring adolescent anxiety, feminine identity, and belonging. These themes are tackled within scen...

St, Louis River Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century WPA Jo Cain (1904-2003) The Drama of the St. Louis Great River 23 1/4 x 25 ½ inches Gouache on board c. 19...

Antique American realist figurative Blue Jay on a branch. Oil on board. Framed.

Poker Players NYC Mid 20th Century Modern WPA American Scene Social Realism Philip Reisman (1904-1992) Poker Players 12 x 16 oil on board Signed and dated 1949 lower right BIO Phi...

Incredibly detailed Original illustration of Santa Claus on what I imagine is Christmas Eve. He must be falling behind schedule as he has commandeered planes instead of reindeers. I ...

This painting is part of our exhibition American Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Knight’s Lodging, 1941, oil on canvas panel, signed and dated lower left, 16 x 20 inches, exhi...

This mural study is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Industry and Commerce, 1936, tempera on panel, 16 ½ x 39 ½ inches, signed verso “John Ballator, Portland Ore.” provenance includes: J.C. Penney Company, represented by Russell Tether Fine Arts Assoc.; presented in a newer wood frame About the Painting Industry and Commerce is a prime example of WPA Era muralism. Like a Mediaeval alter, this mural study is filled with icons, but the images of saints and martyrs are replaced with symbols of America's gospel of prosperity through capitalism. Industry and Commerce has a strong narrative quality with vignettes filling the entire surface. Extraction, logistics, design, power generation, and manufacturing for printing, chemicals, automobiles and metal products are all represented. To eliminate any doubt about the mural's themes, Ballator letters a description into the bottom of the study. Ballator also presents an idealized version of industrial cooperation, as his workers, lab-coated technicians and tie-wearing managers work harmoniously toward a common goal in the tidy and neatly designed environments. Although far from the reality of most industrial spaces, Ballator's study reflects the idealized and morale boosting tone that many mural projects adopted during the Great Depression. About the Artist John R Ballator achieved success as a muralist, lithographer, and teacher during the Great Depression. Born in Oregon, he studied at the Portland Museum Art School, the University of Oregon and at Yale University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Art. In 1936, Ballator was commissioned to paint a mural panel for the new Department of Justice Building in Washington DC, an important project that spanned five years with several dozen artists contributing a total of sixty-eight designs. Ballator completed murals for the St. Johns Post Office and Franklin High School, both in Portland, Oregon. He also contributed to the 1938 murals at Nathan Hale School in New Haven, Connecticut. During the late 1930s, Ballator taught art for several years at Washburn College in Topeka, Kanas, where he completed a mural for the Menninger Arts & Craft Shop before accepting a professorship at Hollins College...

Jack Levine: 1915-2010. Well listed American social realist painter with auction results over $220,000. This fabulous gem was most likely painted between 1942 and 1945 as he was serv...

American realist painter Carl Bretzke is particularly adept at nocturne scenes which ooze in darkness, reminiscent of Edward Hopper. Bretzke remarks: “What most people don’t notice i...

Female artist Louise Lue Osborne paints a classic composition with an interaction of two women and a child soaked in golden late light. The figural gro...

Signed lower right: 'A.Brook '59'. Painted in Sag Harbor, Long Island in 1959. Adeline (Adaline) Glasheen was a writer. She was a friend of the artist and worked in literary circle...

NYC EL American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern WPA Era Figurative Cecil Bell (1906 – 1970) Street Life Under the EL 22 x 30 inches Oil on canvas, c. 1930s Signed upper...

Oil on artist's board, 20th century, signed Paul Zimmerman Reminiscent of the Mid Century Social Realist and WPA works of Ben Shahn this captures a group of tenement children of mixe...

Oil on artist's board, 20th century, signed P. Zimmerman Reminiscent of the Mid Century Social Realist and WPA works of Ben Shahn this captures a still life table top kitchen scene. ...

"Unemployed" WPA American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern William Gropper (1898 - 1977) Unemployed 20 x 16 inches Oil on canvas, 1937 Signed lower right Provenance: E...

This painting is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Factory Worker, c. 1936, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 18 ¼ x 36 inches; exhibited in City ...

'Central Park, Spring Afternoon' 2009 by American artist, Lawrence Kelsey. Oil on panel, 19.5 x 13.5 in. / Handmade gold frame: 24 x 18 in. Depicting a view of Central Park in New Yo...

Street Scene WPA American Scene Mid-20th Century Modern Coin Tower California SF Victor Arnautofff (1896 – 1979) City Street 12 x 14 inches Oil on board, c. 1930s Signed lower left BIO Born in the Ukraine of Russia, Victor Arnautoff became one of the most influential muralists in San Francisco in the 1930s and worked for the Federal Arts Project, WPA, in the expressive, social protest...

Kevin Frank is represented by George Billis Gallery. Kevin Frank statement: For me, combining the techniques of the ancient Greco-Roman painters with those of the old and new master...

Kevin Frank is represented by George Billis Gallery. Kevin Frank statement: For me, combining the techniques of the ancient Greco-Roman painters with those of the old and new master...

Kevin Frank is represented by George Billis Gallery. Kevin Frank statement: For me, combining the techniques of the ancient Greco-Roman painters with those of the old and new master...

Kevin Frank is represented by George Billis Gallery. Kevin Frank statement: For me, combining the techniques of the ancient Greco-Roman painters with those of the old and new master...

Kevin Frank is represented by George Billis Gallery. Kevin Frank statement: For me, combining the techniques of the ancient Greco-Roman painters with those of the old and new master...

Kevin Frank is represented by George Billis Gallery. Kevin Frank statement: For me, combining the techniques of the ancient Greco-Roman painters with those of the old and new master...

Thomas Darsney’s paintings reveal a palpable tension between the tactile sensuousness of fabric and the subdued brushstrokes of paint made flesh. United by this visual juxtaposition,...

Kevin Frank is represented by George Billis Gallery. Kevin Frank statement: For me, combining the techniques of the ancient Greco-Roman painters with those of the old and new master...

Kevin Frank is represented by George Billis Gallery. Kevin Frank statement: For me, combining the techniques of the ancient Greco-Roman painters with those of the old and new master...

Kevin Frank is represented by George Billis Gallery. Kevin Frank statement: For me, combining the techniques of the ancient Greco-Roman painters with those of the old and new master...

Kevin Frank is represented by George Billis Gallery. Kevin Frank statement: For me, combining the techniques of the ancient Greco-Roman painters with those of the old and new master...

WPA Mural Study 1940 American Scene Modern Social Realism Figurative Mid Century Michael Loew (1907-1985) Detail for Mural (Social Security Building Washington D.C.) 24 x 24 inches ...

This powerful and graphically composed image of a black man with white angel wings was painted in a realist style by African American artist Thomas Blackshear...

*Painting is brighter than appears in first image* "Cloudy Day by the Pond" is a small oil painting, painted en plein air, at this verdant pond on a cloudy day. A single fisherman c...

A powerful depiction of a KKK member---signed lower right A reminder of the unfortunate history of behavior that this country has not yet ridden itself of.

A fine early work by the artist done while he was a student at the ART STUDENTS LEAGUE in the class of the noted teacher and artist Kenneth Hays Miller----Provenance: purchased direc...

ASHLEE SELBURG Flora and Pomona Ink and pencil on paper 42 x 68 inches

"Navajo Camp" is an oil on panel painting by Gerard Curtis Delano. The painting is signed lower left "Delano". The framed piece measures 31 x 36 3/4 x 1 7/8 inches. Delano was a pai...

"Old Shoemaker" Ashcan 20th Century Modernism 1924 California WPA Realism Worker. Signed “Otis Oldfield” lower left. 14 x 12 inches. Exhibited: Galerie des Beaux Arts, San Francisco, CA, 1925 Provenance: Estate of the Artist Born in Sacramento, CA on July 3, 1890, Otis Oldfield left high school at age 16 to work in a local print shop. In 1909 he arrived in San Francisco and enrolled at the Best Art School. After working for two years as a bellhop at the Argonaut Hotel and as a hat check boy at the Cliff House, he had saved enough money for further studies in Paris. In 1911 he sailed for France and enrolled at Académie Julian. Caught up in the activities of wartime Paris, he was an apprentice for a book...