Modern Figurative Paintings

James Lechay was a painter of figures, landscapes, cityscapes and still lifes who played a notable role in the tradition of avant-garde painting in New York and in the Midwest. An ar...

Charming portait with Modernest colors. Provenance: Christie's Mercedes Matter, daughter of the artist, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York. Private Collection. Sale: Skinner, Inc...

Exhibitions: It's a Man's World, Illustration Art by and for Men: November 14-17 2012, Illustration House NYC

"Winter" American Modernism WPA Regionalism Landscape Mid-Century Magic Realism. 30 x 40 inches. Oil on canvas, c. 1960s, Signed lower right. As we list the painting now, the work is currently being cleaned, restored and a hand carved frame is being built. Additional photos will be uploaded as soon as possible. Our gallery, Helicline Fine Art, just launched our new digital exhibition: American Art: The WPA and Beyond. Three dozen paintings, works on paper and sculptures which are available here on 1stDibs. In person viewings can be arranged by appointment at our midtown Manhattan gallery. Provenance: "Winter" was originally purchased by Stanley Byer. Mr. Byer owned homes in Key West, New York City, and Washington, D.C. He purchased the painting from Dunning Auction in 1984 in Elgin, Illinois. Mr. Byer was related to Abraham Weiss from Florida. Saul Babbin, now deceased was a cousin of Mr. Weiss. I purchased the painting from Joy Babbin, Mr. Babbin's wife, now living in from New Mexico. Dale Nichols (1905 – 1995) Artist, printmaker, illustrator, watercolorist, designer, writer and lecturer, Nichols did paintings that reflected his rural background of Nebraska where he was born in David City, a small town. Although he did much sketching outdoors, most of his paintings were completed in his studio and often included "numerology, magic squares...

Crying Clown Portrait in Oil on Canvas Portrait of a sad clown by San Francisco artist John Peers (American, 1922-2009). This portrait is closely fra...

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed and dated lower right. Illustrated in "Charles Searles" 2013 exhibition catalog (La Salle University Art Museum / Tyler School of Art) pg. 195 Charles Searles (1937-2004) He was born in Philadelphia, PA and received his fine art education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (PAFA) from 1969-72. He also attended the University of Pennsylvania for liberal arts studies, where he worked in the labs beside the scientists and engineers creating technical illustrations for text books. His early paintings embraced the tumultuous 60's and also reflected his own family life and surroundings. Before graduating the PAFA, Searles received the Cresson Memorial Traveling Scholarship, and the following year, the Ware Memorial Traveling Scholarship. He was the first student to use these funds to travel to Africa. His travels in Africa marked his life and work forever -- the life, the rhythms, the patterns, and the energy. Searles returned to Philadelphia and began teaching at the Ile Ife Cultural Center. It was then that he began his "Dancer" Series. This series marked a change in his life, celebrating his new sense of renewal and the African experience. He was awarded his first mural commission at the William G. Green Federal Building. This work, entitled "Celebration" is still on view today. At that time, he was also hired as a drawing teacher at the (then) Philadelphia College of Art, where he remained a professor for over twenty years. In 1978, Searles moved to New York City. He found a large, raw space -- an old sewing factory -- on Broadway and Bleeker where he would remain for the rest of his life. He continued to commute to Philadelphia teaching part time. He met Kathleen Spicer, an art student, in 1983. They married in 1985. Together, they shared a wonderful, open, artistic, social, and creative experience. Searles gradually moved away from painting and into sculpture. His sculptures maintained the vibrant color and patterns from his paintings, but seemed to dance in three dimensions. These new works embodied a live sense of rhythm and energy -- trademarks that he maintained throughout his career, whether in wood, bronze, or aluminum. In his lifetime, Charles Searles participated in over 60 group shows, and 25 solo exhibitions. He was represented by the Sande Webster Gallery in Philadelphia for over 20 years. His paintings and sculptures can be found in innumerable public and private collections. Public commissions include the Delaware River Port Authority, the NYC Mass Transit Authority, the First District Plaza in Philadelphia, and the Amtrak station in Newark, NJ. He was the recipient of many awards, including ones from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Adolph and Esther Gottleib Foundation, the Creative Arts Project Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Arts. His wife of 23 years, Kathleen Spicer adds: "Charles was his work, and his work was him. Inseparable. Our lives were all about art. We lived each day as if it was a gift. To me, he was enchanted. His vision was clear -- he could envision something and make it come to life as easy as breathing. Genius. Charles made the world a better place. Charles speaks loud and clear." Bio courtesy of Kathleen Spicer (Searles) Selected Periodical Citations: Newhall, Edith, "Dual Celebration of Self-expression", Philadelphia Enquirer, May 2013 Fabbri, Anne, "A Farewell to Charles Searles", Art Matters, January 2005 Cornell University Review, August 2000 O'Neill, Denise I., "Black Experience Puts Soul Into the Heart of Christmas", Chicago Sun-Times, December 1996 Gleuck, Grace, Review, The New York Times, December 1996 McBride, Octavia, "An Artist Acclaimed", Philadelphia Tribune, April 1993 Fox, Catherine, "National Black Arts Festival Program Guide", The Atlanta Journal, July 1990 Wilson, William, "Black Artists in Tune with Ancestors", Los Angeles Times, January 1990 Jamusch, Ann, "Special Show-Legacy of Black Art", Dallas Times Herald, January 1990 Binkley, Barbara, "Colors, Bright and Bold", The Daily News, April 1986 Grafly, Dorothy, "Charles Searles at Neumans", ART in Focus, Summer 1978 Crittendon, Denise, "Back Home from Nigeria", The Michigan Chronicle, December 1977 Garrett, Bob, Art Section Review. Boston Sunday Herald, November 1975 Patry, Louise, "A Jubilee of Afro-American Art in Boston", New England Journal, December 1975 Wright, Charles, "Paint Art Racist", The Village Voice, April 1971 Nelson, Nells, "Black Artists Rise Above the Tempest", Philadelphia Daily News, April 1971 Canaday, John, "Black Artist on View in Two Exhibitions", The New York Times, February 1970 Collections: - Philadelphia Museum of Art - The Woodmere Art Museum - Smithsonian Institute of American Art - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts - LaSalle University Art Museum - Howard University Gallery of Art - Dallas Museum of Art - Delaware Valley Arts Alliance - Montclair Museum of Art - Afro-American Historical & Cultural Museum - Museum of Afro-American History - 35 + corporate collections - National & international private collections 75+ Group Exhibitions, Including: - Woodmere Art Museum - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts - Whitney Museum of American Art - Museum of American Art - Boston Museum of Fine Arts - Brooklyn Museum - Art Alliance - National Afro-American Museum - Liberty Museum - National Blacks Fine Arts Show - Institute of Contemporary Art - Ackland Arts Museum - Arnot Art Museum 30+ Solo Exhibitions, Including: - Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia PA - The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA - LaSalle University, Philadelphia, PA - Temple University, Philadelphia, PA - Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ - Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ - Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Narrowsburg, NY - North Carolina State University - Winston Salem State University, Winston Salem, NC - G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, New York, NY - Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA - June Kelly Gallery, New York, NY - Noel Gallery, Charlotte, NC - Malcolm Brown...

Original oil on canvas painting by Anton Refregier of a young girl resting in the grass. Signed upper right and dated 1962. Condition is very good. The painting is in its original oa...

MAURICE BECKER (1889-1975) 'Neon Lighting 17 1/4 x 13 3/4 inches Oil on masonite Signed, dated 1936 and titled on verso BIO Maurice Becker, painter, political cartoonist and social reformer, was born in 1889 either in Gorky or Niznij Novgorod, in Russia. His family came to the United States in 1892, to New York City. After high school, Becker worked in a clothing factory. He studied with Ash Can School artist Robert Henri in 1908, and exhibited in the famous 1913 Armory Show in New York City when he was only twenty-four years of age. At the Armory show, Becker showed a drawing of a dog's head...

"Tailor" WPA American Scene Social Realism Modernism Mid Century Modern Fashion The board measures 9 1/2 x 15 1/2. Provenance: Mervin Jules Estate. Bio A painter, illustrator, pri...

The Demagogue or Tale in a Tub, 1952, oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches, signed, titled, and dated verso About the Painting The Demagogue is an iconic Bendor Mark painting from the prime of his post-war period. Beginning early in his career, Mark was fascinated with depictions of the human figure and their capacity to tell stories of the world around him. Mark was a keen observer of his times and in The Demagogue we see Mark’s portrayal of a faithless politician holding up a “V” for victory sign as he appeals to the wanton desires and prejudices of the masses. Below the demagogue is a swirl of humanity representing the common man who is being pushed down by the powerful, while the robed figure of liberty with her scales of justice held high is brushed aside. Behind the demagogue, Mark places two other powerful supporting institutions which were often co-opted by the world’s dictators, the Church and the Military. Mark was an internationalist, so it is difficult to know exactly which demagogue inspired him to create this work, but in 1952 there were many to choose from. Whether depicting Argentina’s Peron (the demagogue and the women to the right resemble Juan and Eva Peron), Spain’s Franco or the United States’ homegrown fear mongers like Joseph McCarthy, Mark tells a universal story that unfolded in dramatic fashion during the post-war period as nations and their peoples grappled with authoritarianism and anti-democratic impulses. Stylistically, The Demagogue draws on the elements which make Mark’s work from this period immediately recognizable, a saturated palette, a closely packed and frenetic composition, exaggerated figuration and stylized facial features. But, above all, we see Mark’s ability to tell the stories of the rich and powerful and their ability to oppress. Like Mark’s work in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art (The Hourglass - 1950-51) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Execution – 1940), The Demagogue pulls no punches, as the artist lays bare the threats to freedom and basic human rights. About the Artist Bendor Mark was an American modernist and social realist painter. Born as Bernard Marcus on June 5, 1912, in Brooklyn, New York, Mark trained at The Cooper Union during the 1920s where he studied with William Brantley van Ingen and became a prize-winning artist with a focus on painting the human figure. After his time at Cooper, Mark continued to live in New York and worked as a commercial artist and textile designer in addition to his pursuit of a career in painting. Like many Depression Era artists, Mark engaged with social progressives and in 1934, he joined the Artist’s Union which had the goal of advancing artists’ position as “worker.” Mark’s painting, Restaurant, which is now in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, appeared in the February 1936 edition of the Union’s publication, Art Front, as part of a review of an exhibition at ACA Gallery in New York. Mark worked on the Federal Art Project and by the mid- to late-1930s, began a series of paintings exploring the working conditions and hazards of the mining industry. Mark believed that miners were “in the forefront of the struggle for emancipation” and that the mere “struggle for existence is like moving mountains.” He became passionate about the Spanish Civil War and painted sympathetic images in support of the Spanish Republic. Mark was a premature anti-fascist and throughout his career painted works critical of dictators and other oppressors. During the late 1930s, Mark entered mural competitions with designs influenced by the Mexican muralists, taught adult art education in Queens, New York, and was an instructor at the WPA’s Queensboro Art Center. He was so committed to socially progressive art that by 1934, he had changed his name to Bendor Mark, in part, to distinguish his social realist paintings from his earlier work. During World War II, Mark worked as an artist for military contractors. After the war, he was employed as a graphic artist and in the printing industry before moving to Southern California in 1948, where he returned to a fine art practice the following year with politically and socially charged images which reflected his view of the shortcomings of the post-War period, the continued threat of fascism, and the international tensions of the Cold War. As the mood of the country shifted towards the right during the McCarthy Era and the art world’s attention focused on abstraction at the expense of figuration, Mark’s career as a painter suffered. From the 1950s through the 1980s, Mark continued to depict the events that shaped the world around him, often employing a highly stylized approach characterized by dynamic multi-figure compositions, a subtle muted palette, and exaggerated expressive features. A review of Mark’s oeuvre suggests that few people escaped Mark’s attention. He painted presidents, prime ministers, royalty, evangelists, musicians, and dictators (and their henchman), along with miners, farm workers, the urban poor, protesters, the unemployed and dispossessed. He laid bare the arrogance, cruelty, and hypocrisy of the world’s elites. Mark noted, “A work of art cannot be fully appreciated or wholly understood without considering the socio-political and cultural ambience that gave it birth.” He continued, “I have the ability to foresee the direction of social and political events while they are actually taking place.” He was not himself a direct political activist, however. Although Mark commented, “It’s a misconception to separate art from the social aspect of life,” he viewed artists as being neutral. According to Mark, “An apolitical attitude reflects the fact that the artist is passive. . . An artist never affects society; he merely reflects it.” In addition to the Mexican Muralists, Mark was influenced by the old masters Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Masaccio, as well as the more modern master, Van Gogh. Mark’s writings directly acknowledge these influences and archival material from his estate includes magazine articles, pamphlets and transparencies related to these artists. Mark also collected materials related to several of his social realist contemporaries, including Reginald Marsh, Ben Shahn, Leonard Baskin, and Raphael Soyer, who was Mark’s good friend. For years, Soyer sent Mark holiday cards and Soyer inscribed a message of friendship on a self-portrait he gifted to Mark in the 1970s, all of which are still held in the collection of Mark’s family. From the late 1920s through the mid-1950s, Mark’s work was well received. His paintings won prizes and were accepted into major juried exhibitions including at the Brooklyn Museum, the New York World’s Fair and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He gained national recognition for paintings depicting the oppressed and the common worker. Despite the decline in popularity of representational art during the 1950s and 1960s, Mark stayed true to his interest in depicting the human figure and by the last two decades of his life, his work underwent a reassessment as curators included Mark’s paintings in exhibitions showcasing the role of labor in art during the Depression Era. This recognition continued in recent years when Mark was honored by having his work included in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s ground-breaking exhibition, Vida Americana, which explored the pioneering role that the Mexican muralists played in the development of modern American art during the inter-war period. The influence of Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco on Mark is unmistakable and his paintings from the 1950s (and beyond) sit comfortably in dialogue with other Los Angeles artists who continued to paint in the social realist tradition long after the mainstream art world had moved toward abstraction. Mark’s concern for underserved Brown and Black communities was shared with artists such as Charles White and his ally, Edward Biberman...

Joseph Wolins 1915-1999 Wolins was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He studied at the National Academy of Design from 1935 to 1941 under Leon Kroll. He also studied in Europe in ...

Nice American Modernist Oil Painting. with old label verso. not dated but estimating it to the 70s. Not sure which Doris turner this is...