Unknown

Antique Southern School Civil War Cannon Modernist American Landscape Painting

1959

Antique American modernist abstract landscape. Oil on canvas, circa 1950. Unsigned. Image size 60L x 36H. Unframed

Large and impressive modernist landscape painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed illegibly.

Antique American modernist landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas board. Framed. Measuring: 21 by 27 inches overall, and 18 by 24 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. Ha...

Impressive early American modernist farm landscape painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Image size, 25H by 30L.

This colorful late spring scene is most likely around Erie, Pennsylvania. Artist and teacher Joseph M. Plavcan generally painted around the area in which he lived for over 50 years. Joseph Michael Plavcan was born near Pittsburg, in Braddock. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy in 1926, studying with renowned New Hope artist Daniel Garber. Through a scholarship, he went to Europe to study. He returned to Erie in 1932 and became an art instructor, teaching for the next 38 years. Plavcan went far beyond teaching trade school requirements and instilled a true sense of sophisticated artistry in his students. During his artistic career, he exhibited often in Philadelphia, Washington, New York and Chicago. This painting, oil on canvas, demonstrates Plavcan’s style, utilizing figurative abstraction with a modernist color palette. The paint is not over applied and areas are treated with smooth broad brush strokes. The hint of late blooming leaves are dashes of paint applied in a fast yet confident manner. Plavcan’s sense of light, demonstrated in the distant church tower is spot on. While not signed, there are two official estate stamps on the reverse that attest to the authenticity of Plavcan’s work. The piece measures 16” x 20” and appears to be canvas applied to a back board. This was likely done by the former retailer, Hudson House Galleries in Hagerstown, Maryland. That shop was a fine regional art gallery and antiques shop for decades until its closure about five years ago. The painting is nicely framed in a modernist gold wood frame with a subtle pink liner. The overall framed dimensions are about 20” x 24”. The painting is in very good condition, bright and crisp. There is a very minor vertical crease above the peak of the house that is truly barely noticeable from any distance. Other than that, all is fine with the work and its frame. This strong, colorful work by Joseph Plavcan...

Work sold to benefit the CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART Joseph B. O’Sickey (American, 1918–2013) Industrial Cityscape Oil on paper Signed lower left 13.75 x 16.5 inches Joseph O'Sicke...

RURAL ABSTRACTION Size: 46.5 x 78.5cm (including frame) Oil on canvas A large and captivating mid-century landscape painting that presents a dynamic interplay between abstraction an...

Albert Heckman Glasco Landscape, circa 1940 Signed lower right Oil on canvas 25 1/4 x 39 1/2 inches Albert Heckman was born in Meadville, Western Pennsylvania, 1893. He went to New York City to try his hand at the art world in 1915 after graduating from high school and landing a job at the Meadville Post Office. In 1917, at the age of 24, Heckman enrolled part-time in Teachers' College, Columbia University's Fine Arts Department to begin his formal art education. He worked as a freelance ceramic and textile designer and occasionally as a lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the early 1920s, at the age of almost 30, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia Teachers College. He was especially impacted by his instructor at Columbia, Arthur Wesley Dow. After graduating, he was hired by the Teachers' College as a Fine Arts instructor. He stayed with Columbia Teachers' College until 1929, when he left to attend the Leipzig Institute of Graphic Arts in Leipzig, Germany. Isami Doi (1903-1965), who was born in Hawaii, was arguably his most impressive student at Columbia. Doi is now regarded as one of the most prominent artists hailing from Hawaii. Heckman became an active member and officer of the Keramic Society and Design Guild of New York in the 1920s as part of his early commercial art career. The Society's mission was to share knowledge and showcase textile and ceramic design exhibits. In 1922, Heckman married Florence Hardman, a concert violinist. Mrs. Heckman's concert schedule during the 1920s kept Albert and Florence Heckman apart for a significant portion of the time, but they spent what little time they had together designing and building their Woodstock, New York, summer house and grounds. A small house and an acre of surrounding land on Overlook Mountain, just behind the village of Woodstock, were purchased by Albert and Florence Heckman at the time of their marriage. Their Woodstock home, with its connections, friendships, and memories, became a central part of their lives over the years, even though they had an apartment in New York City. Heckman's main artistic focus shifted to the house on Overlook Mountain and the nearby towns and villages, Kingston, Eddyville, and Glasco. After returning from the Leipzig Institute of Graphic Arts in 1930, Mr. Heckman joined Hunter College as an assistant professor of art. He worked there for almost thirty years, retiring in 1956. Throughout his tenure at Hunter, Mr. Heckman and his spouse spent the summers at their Woodstock residence and the winters in New York City. They were regular and well-known guests at the opera and art galleries in New York. Following his retirement in 1956, the Heckmans settled in Woodstock permanently, with occasional trips to Florida or Europe during the fall and winter. Mr. Heckman's close friends and artistic career were always connected to Woodstock or New York City. He joined the Woodstock art group early on and was greatly influenced by artists like Paul and Caroline Rohland, Emil Ganso, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Andre Ruellan, and her husband, Jack...