Playground Figurative Paintings

Nanette Fluhr’s "A Walk Through the Dunes" is a captivating landscape painting that brings viewers into the tranquility of a coastal path surrounded by windswept vegetation. This int...

Neon Lighting WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism American Scene Modern Figures 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...

An early work by Julio De Diego embodies the deep love he had for his homeland of Spain, combined with his strong emotions against war. The peacefulness of the couple holding hands l...

Carl Lasch (1822-1888 German) "The Walk Back Home" A Monumental Exhibition Painting, Oil on canvas laid to masonite in original gilt-wood frame. ...

Ralph Cahoon Jr.'s whimsical paintings are not only lighthearted and charming, they are also the hallmark of his creativity and imagination. His playful approach to painting and info...

"Cars, Buildings People" Contemporary Outsider Folk Art African American Urban The painting measures 65 x 48 inches. We love that in the middle of ...

Clyde Singer was a master of capturing the small and significant moments of everyday life. This painting, titled Girl Reading Card, 1948, is one of those perfect scenes that he docu...

Kierstin Young's (US based) "Luna" is an oil painting that depicts a battered white moth and a black background with the phases of the moon overhead Artist Statement/Bio: (b. The Ye...

American life is captured in this Clyde Singer painting, Mailing the Letter, where he depicts a woman posting her mail in 1986. An accomplished American Scene painter, Singer success...

Primary Hughes' "Presque Isle (Day 25) August 16" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts an ocean landscape of waves coalescing around a ro...

Acrylic paint on canvas Signed lower right Unique work "Let‘s focus on the smiles, the energy, the movement, the emulation, the strength of life, the colours, the whirlwinds, the cr...

Julio De Diego’s Atomic Series paintings made an extraordinary statement regarding the shock and fear that accompanied the dawn of the nuclear age. In the artist’s own words, “Scientists were working secretly to develop formidable powers taken from the mysterious depths of the earth - with the power to make the earth useless! Then, the EXPLOSION! . . . we entered the Atomic Age, and from there the neo-Atomic war begins. Explosions fell everywhere and man kept on fighting, discovering he could fight without flesh.” To execute these works, De Diego developed a technique of using tempera underpainting before applying layer upon layer of pigmented oil glazes. The result is paintings with surfaces which were described as “bonelike” in quality. The forms seem to float freely, creating a three-dimensional visual effect. In the 1954 book The Modern Renaissance in American Art, author Ralph Pearson summarizes the series as “a fantastic interpretation of a weighty theme. Perhaps it is well to let fantasy and irony appear to lighten the devastating impact. By inverse action, they may in fact increase its weight.” Exhibited 1964 Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas This work retains its original frame which measures 54" x 42" x 2" About this artist: Julio De Diego crafted a formidable persona within the artistic developments and political struggles of his time. The artist characterized his own work as “lyrical,” explaining, “through the years, the surrealists, the social-conscious painters and the others tried to adopt me, but I went my own way, good, bad or indifferent.” [1] His independence manifested early in life when de Diego left his parent’s home in Madrid, Spain, in adolescence following his father’s attempts to curtail his artistic aspirations. At the age of fifteen he held his first exhibition, set up within a gambling casino. He managed to acquire an apprenticeship in a studio producing scenery for Madrid’s operas, but moved from behind the curtains to the stage, trying his hand at acting and performing as an extra in the Ballet Russes’ Petrouchka with Nijinsky. He spent several years in the Spanish army, including a six-month stretch in the Rif War of 1920 in Northern Africa. His artistic career pushed ahead as he set off for Paris and became familiar with modernism’s forays into abstraction, surrealism, and cubism. The artist arrived in the U.S. in 1924 and settled in Chicago two years later. He established himself with a commission for the decoration of two chapels in St. Gregory’s Church. He also worked in fashion illustration, designed magazine covers and developed a popular laundry bag for the Hotel Sherman. De Diego began exhibiting through the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929, and participated in the annual Chicago Artists Exhibitions, Annual American Exhibitions, and International Water Color Exhibitions. He held a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in the summer of 1935. Though the artist’s career was advancing, his family life had deteriorated. In 1932 his first marriage dissolved, and the couple’s young daughter Kiriki was sent to live with friend Paul Hoffman. De Diego continued to develop his artistic vocabulary with a growing interest in Mexican art. He traveled throughout the country acquainting himself with the works of muralists such as Carlos Merida, and also began a collection of small native artifacts...