Gregory Steele

River Morning

2014

"Lake Michigan Beach Scene" is an original oil painting by Francesco Spicuzza. The artist painted this scene on canvas and then glued that canvas to a b...

"Cabin on Lake Michigan Shore" is an original oil painting on board by Francesco Spicuzza. The artist signed the piece in the lower left. It depicts a small cabin on the lakeshore surrounded by bright vegetation. 14" x 20" art 22 3/4" x 29" frame Francesco J. Spicuzza, born in Sicily on July 23, 1883, came to America at the age of 8. He supported himself as a fruit peddler until a newspaperman gave him $4 a week to go to school. He attended classes at the Milwaukee Art Students League, where he studied under Alexander Mueller. There he learned to paint in the then-fashionable "Munich School" technique, with detailed realism in heavy browns and grayed-out hues. Spicuzza completed eight grades in four years, and then in 1911, three businessmen advanced him enough money to allow him to study in New York under artist and teacher John Carlson. It was during this time that Spicuzza changed his style of painting, developing an impressionistic use of color, form and atmospheric renditions. After a period of grinding poverty, one of Spicuzza's pictures won a major New York competition. It was the first of 60 wins, both in the U.S. and Paris. He became a fashionable painter, and many of the leading collections have his work. Spicuzza's typical works were beach scenes, still life, landscapes and portraits done in pastels, oils, ink, charcoal and watercolors. Much of his work traced the history of Milwaukee in the early 1900s. He was probably best known for his scenes of women and children splashing in the waves...

"Feeling Roostery!" is an original oil painting by Cathryn Ruvalcaba. Here, she depicts a colorful rooster strutting though a green pasture. Cathryn paints in the Russian Impressioni...

This early work by American artist Sylvia Spicuzza is an excellent example of Regionalism: in the foreground, a farmer in blue stands before a herd of cattle. Beyond the fence of the...

Claude Sauthier was born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1929 and passed away in the same city in 2016. He studied at the Geneva School of Decorative Arts and initially worked as a graphi...

'Port of Saint-Malo', oil on canvas affixed to board, French Modern School (1984). Although the artist dated this painting '84, it depicts a nostalgic view of the port of Saint-Malo in Western France's, Brittany in 1884 judging by the clothing worn by the characters depicted. The crowd on the shoreline is watching a sailboat regatta starting just inside the port's breakwater. A rather rare sunny day in Brittany brought out the parasols of the sitting ladies on the edge of the old ramparts. The walled city...

Immerse yourself in the tranquil beauty of "Banks of Solitude," a charming oil painting on board from 1926. Though the artist is unknown, this exquisite piece captures the essence of...

'The Fisherman', oil on board, by Gabriel Vié (circa 1940s). This artwork depicts a solitary man fishing in a river surrounded by abundant foliage. He is p...