R. Michael Wommack

Pastel of Mid-Century Room with View of Pool. Title - Drawn Towards the Light

2020

Guy Pene du Bois' "Two Figures in Courtroom" is a WPA era American scene oil painting created in a realistic style. Modernism at its best The work is framed by Heydenryk. Pène du Bois descended from French immigrants who settled in Louisiana in 1738 and was raised in a Creole household. He was born in 1884 in Brooklyn, NY and first studied with William Merritt Chase at the New York School of Art and later continued his training with Robert Henri. Pène du Bois was greatly impressed with Henri's credo that "real life" was subject matter for art and throughout his life a realist philosophy informed his art as well as his parallel career, art criticism. In 1905, Pène du Bois made his first visit to Paris where he painted scenes of fashionable people in cafes rendered in the dark tonalities and impasto associated with the Ashcan School. By 1920, he had achieved his mature style, which was characterized by stylized, rounded, almost sculptural figures painted with invisible brushstrokes. The subjects of his paintings were often members of society whom he gently satirized. In 1924, Pène du Bois and his wife, Floy, left for France where they would remain until 1930. Returning to America showcases pictures the artist produced after this very productive period abroad. After five years of living in France, Pène du Bois was able to observe American life with fresh eyes. His work becomes more psychologically intense and less satirical. In Girl at Table a slender, blond is shown gazing at a small statue that she holds at arm's distance. The meaning is elusive, but a powerful sense of longing is evoked. Similarly, paintings such as Dramatic Moment and Jane are taut with unresolved dialogue. Both pictures depict mysterious interiors in which a lone woman anxiously awaits the denouement of a suspenseful scene. Other pictures, for example, Chess Tables, Washington Square and Bar, New Orleans, recall Pene du Bois's Ashcan origins in their depiction of urban entertainment. During this period, landscape becomes an important subject for Pène du Bois. Girl Sketching...

Hand signed Irises (purple and yellow flowers) 30 X 37 framed. 20.5 X 26.5 sheet without frame. Bernard Chaet (born 1924, Boston, MA - 2012) was an American artist; Chaet is known for his colorful, dynamic modernist paintings and masterful draftsmanship, his association with the Boston Expressionists, and his 40-year career as a Professor of Painting at Yale University. His works also include watercolors and prints. In 1994, he was named a National Academician by the National Academy of Design. Chaet was instrumental in transforming Yale’s traditional art program into one with a more modernist approach that gained national prominence. Chaet melded landscape and abstraction in a traditional established by Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Edvard Munch, Piet Mondrian, and Ferdinand Hodler. His own tenure began in 1951 at Yale, where he worked closely with Josef Albers to revamp Yale’s art program. Between 1959 and 1962 he was the chair of what was then called the Yale Department of Art of the School of Fine Arts — prior to becoming one of the independent professional schools at Yale in 1973. Chaet taught painting and drawing and mentored generations of emerging talents. Chaet was the author of the 1970 textbook “The Art of Drawing” and “An Artist’s Notebook 1979,” both of which have since been reissued several times. In the latter book, alongside examples of work by his favorite artists, are student drawings by Yale graduates such as Robert Birmelin, Michael Mazur and Eugene Baguskas. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1924, Chaet studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and then earned a B.A. at Tufts University. Known for his expressionist landscapes and still lifes, Chaet’s work has continuously been shown in galleries in his native Boston, in New York City, and around the country. In 2010, a retrospective of his seascapes was featured at the Cape Ann Historical Society in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he had a home and a summer studio in nearby Rockport. His has also exhibited at David Findlay Gallery in New York and at Swarthmore College. Many of Chaet’s students went on to notable art careers, including Janet Fish, Chuck Close, and Richard Serra. His work is represented in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, CT, and the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, MA. Chaet is the recipient of many awards including: the National Foundation of the Arts and Humanities, Sabbatical Grant in 1967-68, the National Academy of Fine Arts, Benjamin Altman Award in Painting in 1997, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Jimmy Ernst Prize in 2001. Chaet was born and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, MA. He completed a dual program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston—studying painting with Karl Zerbe—and Tufts University, graduating with a B.S. in 1949. Chaet is known for his association as a first generation Boston Expressionist. (along with Hyman Bloom and Jack Levine) Chaet was a contributing editor to Arts Magazine. In 1960 he published the book Artists At Work, which features in depths conversations with artists Pat Adams, Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Al Blaustein, Hyman Bloom, James Brooks, Robert Engman...

Hand signed and dated leeks on a kitchen table 31.5 X 39.5 framed. 21 X 28.5 sheet without frame. Bernard Chaet (born 1924, Boston, MA - 2012) was an American artist; Chaet is known for his colorful, dynamic modernist paintings and masterful draftsmanship, his association with the Boston Expressionists, and his 40-year career as a Professor of Painting at Yale University. His works also include watercolors and prints. In 1994, he was named a National Academician by the National Academy of Design. Chaet was instrumental in transforming Yale’s traditional art program into one with a more modernist approach that gained national prominence. Chaet melded landscape and abstraction in a traditional established by Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Edvard Munch, Piet Mondrian, and Ferdinand Hodler. His own tenure began in 1951 at Yale, where he worked closely with Josef Albers to revamp Yale’s art program. Between 1959 and 1962 he was the chair of what was then called the Yale Department of Art of the School of Fine Arts — prior to becoming one of the independent professional schools at Yale in 1973. Chaet taught painting and drawing and mentored generations of emerging talents. Chaet was the author of the 1970 textbook “The Art of Drawing” and “An Artist’s Notebook 1979,” both of which have since been reissued several times. In the latter book, alongside examples of work by his favorite artists, are student drawings by Yale graduates such as Robert Birmelin, Michael Mazur and Eugene Baguskas. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1924, Chaet studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and then earned a B.A. at Tufts University. Known for his expressionist landscapes and still lifes, Chaet’s work has continuously been shown in galleries in his native Boston, in New York City, and around the country. In 2010, a retrospective of his seascapes was featured at the Cape Ann Historical Society in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he had a home and a summer studio in nearby Rockport. His has also exhibited at David Findlay Gallery in New York and at Swarthmore College. Many of Chaet’s students went on to notable art careers, including Janet Fish, Chuck Close, and Richard Serra. His work is represented in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, CT, and the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, MA. Chaet is the recipient of many awards including: the National Foundation of the Arts and Humanities, Sabbatical Grant in 1967-68, the National Academy of Fine Arts, Benjamin Altman Award in Painting in 1997, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Jimmy Ernst Prize in 2001. Chaet was born and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, MA. He completed a dual program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston—studying painting with Karl Zerbe—and Tufts University, graduating with a B.S. in 1949. Chaet is known for his association as a first generation Boston Expressionist. (along with Hyman Bloom and Jack Levine) Chaet was a contributing editor to Arts Magazine. In 1960 he published the book Artists At Work, which features in depths conversations with artists Pat Adams, Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Al Blaustein, Hyman Bloom, James Brooks, Robert Engman...

Still Life of an Orange in Acrylic on Archival Paper Vibrant still life by California artist Christine Cohen (American, b. 1943). This piece is a close-up, single subject still life...