Unknown

Group of Four: Baseball Themed Illustrations

1950s

Story illustration for Louisa May Alcott's classic story Little Women featuring Beth March playing the piano in Mr. Laurence's grand house. The full...

Medium: Gouache on Board Signature: Signed 'Darden' Lower Left Sight Size 17.25" x 34.25," Framed 21.125" x 38.125" llustration from a story in Black Sports Magazine, circa 1975. A dynamic image showing the Hall of Famer stealing a base from Chicago Cubs...

“Icarus Suspended” is an extraordinary painting of Ayrton's obsession with flight, myths, mirrors and mazes. This complex piece shows a figure in flight, frozen in action, either swooping down or, perhaps, falling to earth. Named after the Greek mythological figure, Icarus, who along with his father attempted to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. Flying too close to the sun the wax melted and both fell to earth. The positioning of Ayrton's figure is reminiscent of "The Fall of Icarus" by Jacob Peter Gowy, Museo Nacional del Prado. This is part of a series of artworks on Icarus some sculptural and some three-dimensional paintings on canvas. Verso contains gallery label Matthiesen Gallery, 142 Bond St., London, England, with a signature and text in upper right corner: "To Morton Schotnick. Bought on the occasion of The Archives of American Arts Tour to London, England. October 10, 1961. Michael Ayrton...

Sam Maitin (1928-2004). Seated Figure, ca. 1970. Charcoal, gouache and decorative paper collage. Measuring 15.5 x 20.5 inches; 22.75 x 27.75 inches framed. Signed lower left. Excellent condition. Period frame original to the piece in mahogany with natural wood grain on sides and 22k gold leaf gilt face. After graduating from Simon Gratz High School, Maitin won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts). A painter, printmaker, sculptor, muralist, graphic designer, political activist, and beloved teacher, Maitin headed the Visual Graphics Communication Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication from 1965–1972 and served on the board of Woodmere Art Museum from 1995–2004. He received a number of awards, including a 1968 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. He created murals and other public art for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University’s Kornberg School of Dentistry, the Please Touch Museum, and Hahnemann University Hospital, among others. Maitin's work is museum collections in the United States and Europe, including (but not limited to): Philadelphia Museum of Art Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Museum of Modern Art, New York Tate Gallery, London Bauersche Geisserie, Germany Oakland Museum, California Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Currier Gallery of Art...