John Berkey

Immortality Option

1995

Honore Sharrer (1920 - 2009) Woman Listening Signed lower right Caseine on paper 15 x 20 inches Provenance: Forum Gallery, New York Private Collection ...

As the artist states about this painting: "I first photographed this farm because it had one of the last living Elm trees in our area. Most began dying in the 70's and there are very...

In First Light (2024), Alan Bray captures the quiet majesty of dawn over Spencer Pond, Maine. This luminous casein tempera on panel painting (15 x 24 inches) depicts a breathtaking s...

In A Whisper Breaks the Silence (2024), Alan Bray masterfully captures the quiet majesty of a deep winter forest in Maine. This luminous casein tempera on panel painting (15 x 20 inc...

Alan Bray’s Neighbors is a masterful casein tempera painting capturing the quiet beauty of winter. Delicate, snow-covered branches contrast against a crisp blue sky, while two bird n...

Modernist Apartment Building by J. Katulski (American, 20th century), painted circa 1950 and titled, verso, 'Individuals'. Exhibited circa 1950: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright A...

This is an important, large tempera painting of the sand dunes that line Michigan's coast. Zolton Sepeshy, who lived and painted in Michigan, also wrote a book on tempera painting. ...

Kevin Weckbach's (US based) "The Grinder" is an original, hand made egg tempera painting that depicts an industrial Gristmill made up of metal buildings, a elevator and a grain silo ...

Michael Coleman (b 1946), is known for his landscapes of rich colors in a combination of realism and atmospheric styles, often with animals depicted and the suggestion of natural har...

This mural study is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Industry and Commerce, 1936, tempera on panel, 16 ½ x 39 ½ inches, signed verso “John Ballator, Portland Ore.” provenance includes: J.C. Penney Company, represented by Russell Tether Fine Arts Assoc.; presented in a newer wood frame About the Painting Industry and Commerce is a prime example of WPA Era muralism. Like a Mediaeval alter, this mural study is filled with icons, but the images of saints and martyrs are replaced with symbols of America's gospel of prosperity through capitalism. Industry and Commerce has a strong narrative quality with vignettes filling the entire surface. Extraction, logistics, design, power generation, and manufacturing for printing, chemicals, automobiles and metal products are all represented. To eliminate any doubt about the mural's themes, Ballator letters a description into the bottom of the study. Ballator also presents an idealized version of industrial cooperation, as his workers, lab-coated technicians and tie-wearing managers work harmoniously toward a common goal in the tidy and neatly designed environments. Although far from the reality of most industrial spaces, Ballator's study reflects the idealized and morale boosting tone that many mural projects adopted during the Great Depression. About the Artist John R Ballator achieved success as a muralist, lithographer, and teacher during the Great Depression. Born in Oregon, he studied at the Portland Museum Art School, the University of Oregon and at Yale University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Art. In 1936, Ballator was commissioned to paint a mural panel for the new Department of Justice Building in Washington DC, an important project that spanned five years with several dozen artists contributing a total of sixty-eight designs. Ballator completed murals for the St. Johns Post Office and Franklin High School, both in Portland, Oregon. He also contributed to the 1938 murals at Nathan Hale School in New Haven, Connecticut. During the late 1930s, Ballator taught art for several years at Washburn College in Topeka, Kanas, where he completed a mural for the Menninger Arts & Craft Shop before accepting a professorship at Hollins College...