Val Lewton

1980s Vintage American Street Scene Painting, Landscape with Taxi Cabs

1983

Val Edwin Lewton (May 23, 1937 – April 24, 2015) was a painter and museum exhibition designer. As an artist, he created Realist acrylic paintings and watercolors of urban and suburban scenes, predominantly in the Washington, D.C., area, where he lived and exhibited. Val Lewton was born May 23, 1937, in Santa Monica, California. His father, also named Val Lewton, produced a string of successful and influential B movies for RKO Pictures, including Cat People (1942) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943). His mother, Ruth Knapp, was a painter and teacher of autistic children. He graduated in 1959 from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and earned a master's degree in fine arts from Claremont University in 1962. After moving to Washington, D.C., he served on the staff of the Smithsonian American Art Museum for 32 years, simultaneously maintaining a career as a painter in his own right. Lewton died in 2015s oon afterwards, exhibitions of his paintings were planned for the Katzen Arts Center (June 17 – August 13, 2017) and Addison/Ripley Fine Art (June 3 – July 8, 2017). Chiefly known for his landscapes, Lewton generally depicted cities and suburbs with a detached, impersonal sensibility. Writing about his watercolors in Arts magazine in 1980, Harry Rand observed, “Either by implication or statement, personalities are absent from Lewton’s work; there is hardly a sense of the lives that move through those spaces he describes.” The critic compared the artist to Fairfield Porter, Edward Hopper, and Charles Sheeler. Lewton painted from a young age. On a family trip to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, he discovered the work of Henri Matisse, an encounter that permanently influenced his artistic vision. In the early 1960s, Lewton lived in southern California and taught art classes at the University of California Riverside. During this period, he was inspired by the paintings of Roger Kuntz...

Arie Azene, Israeli painter, born in Germany, 1934 Arie (Eisman) Azene was born in Hamburg, Germany. He immigrated to the Land of Israel with his parents soon after birth. In 1958, after studying art in Paris, he settled on Kibbutz Tzova in the Judean Hills...

Magic realist fantasy painting in the manner of Ernst Fuchs and Arik Brauer. Naïve art is any form of visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal education and training that a professional artist undergoes (in anatomy, art history, technique, perspective, ways of seeing). Unlike folk art, naïve art does not necessarily evince a distinct cultural context or tradition. Naïve art is recognized, and often imitated, for its childlike simplicity and frankness. Paintings of this kind typically have a flat rendering style with a rudimentary expression of perspective. One particularly influential painter of "naïve art" was Henri Rousseau (1844–1910), a French Post-Impressionist who was discovered by Pablo Picasso. Naïve art is often seen as outsider art that is by someone without formal (or little) training or degree. While this was true before the twentieth century, there are now academies for naïve art. Naïve art is now a fully recognized art genre, represented in art galleries worldwide. Museums devoted to naïve art now exist in Kecskemét, Hungary; Riga, Latvia; Jaen, Spain; Rio de Janeiro, Brasil; Vicq France and Paris. "Primitive art" is another term often applied to art by those without formal training, but is historically more often applied to work from certain cultures that have been judged socially or technologically "primitive" by Western academia, such as Native American, sub saharan African or Pacific Island art (see Tribal art). This is distinguished from the self-conscious, "primitive" inspired movement primitivism. Another term related to (but not completely synonymous with) naïve art is folk art. There also exist the terms "naïvism" and "primitivism" which are usually applied to professional painters working in the style of naïve art (like Paul Gauguin, Mikhail Larionov, Paul Klee). At all events, naive art can be regarded as having occupied an "official" position in the annals of twentieth-century art since - at the very latest - the publication of the Der Blaue Reiter, an almanac in 1912. Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, who brought out the almanac, presented 6 reproductions of paintings by le Douanier' Rousseau (Henri Rousseau), comparing them with other pictorial examples. However, most experts agree that the year that naive art was "discovered" was 1885, when the painter Paul Signac became aware of the talents of Henri Rousseau and set about organizing exhibitions of his work in a number of prestigious galleries. The Earth Group (Grupa Zemlja) were Croatian artists, architects and intellectuals active in Zagreb from 1929 to 1935. The group included the painters Krsto Hegedušić, Edo Kovačević, Omer Mujadžić, Kamilo Ružička, Ivan Tabaković, and Oton Postružnik, the sculptors Antun Augustinčić, Frano Kršinić, and the architect Drago Ibler. A term applied to Yugoslav (Croatian) naive painters working in or around the village of Hlebine, near the Hungarian border, from about 1930. Some of the best known naive artists are Dragan Gaži, Ivan Generalić, Josip Generalić, Krsto Hegedušić, Mijo Kovačić, Ivan Lacković-Croata, Franjo Mraz, Ivan Večenaj and Mirko Virius. Camille Bombois (1883–1970) Ferdinand Cheval, known as 'le facteur Cheval' (1836–1924) Henry Darger (1892–1973) L. S. Lowry (1887–1976) Grandma Moses, Anna Mary Robertson (1860–1961) Nikifor (1895–1968) Poland, Horace Pippin (1888–1946) Jon Serl (1894-1993) United States Alfred Wallis (1855–1942) Scottie Wilson (1890–1972) Gesner Abelard (b. 1922) Jan Balet (1913–2009) Michel Delacroix (b. 1933) France Howard Finster (1916–2001) Ivan Rabuzin (1921–2008) Spontaneous Art Museum in Brussels Art en Marge Museum in Brussels MADmusée in Liege International Museum of Naive Art of Brazil in Cosme Velho, Rio de Janeiro Gallery Jacques Ardies in São Paulo Musée international d'art naïf de Magog in Magog Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb Gallery of Croatian Naïve Art...

Suong Yangchareon (Thai American, 1952-) Acrylic on Canvas Los Angeles Street Scene with yellow taxi cab and cars. Hand signed with Initials. Dimensions: Overall Size: 25 1/4 x 49 1/4 in. Sight Size: 23 5/8 x 47 5/8 in. Yangchareon came to Los Angeles, California from Lampang, Thailand, Southeast Asia where he studied Fine Arts at the Arts & Crafts College (Poh Chang), Bangkok, Thailand and Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. In California he continued his studies at Woodbury University, receiving a degree in Advertising Design. He is a contemporary figurative realist artist. He painted the urban landscape of California, which have been exhibited in solo and group shows. His work is represented by prominent galleries nationally. Yangchareon spent much of his childhood at his father’s movie theater where he became fascinated with the world of American Westerns. The nostalgia for this idyllic film Americana can be garnered through his subject matter. Abandoned theaters, factories and businesses of an almost extinct era of architecture are carefully rendered in the soft morning light. Working from his own photography, shot during the early hours of the day, Yangchareon’s acrylic and oil paintings are largely devoid of human figures, but deeply imbued with their past presence. Recently, the artist has broadened his focus to include imagery of the city at night––rendering glistening rain-soaked sidewalks bathed in the artificial light of street lamps and movie marquees against an inky black sky. Yet, Yangchareon’s motivation remains the same; to find the hidden beauty in varying industrial landscapes and seeing splendor where most would argue it does not exist. Reminiscent of Edward Hopper, a sense of melancholy pervades his compositions in a quiet, detached manner. The influence of Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud can also be detected in the artist’s sense of color and in his interpretation of light. Moody LA auto culture artwork dealing with themes of isolation and alienation. Select Exhibitions 2017 Golden Dreams, The Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University, Orange, CA 2016 In the Land of Sunshine: Imaging the California Coast Culture, Pasadena Museum of California Art 2016 Recent Paintings & Works on Paper, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2013–2014 Suong Yangchareon: Places Out of Time, St. Supéry Estate, Vineyards & Winery, Rutherford, CA 2012 Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, Palm Springs Convention Center LA Art Show, Los Angeles Convention Center Paintings, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA (solo) Texas Contemporary Art Fair, George R. Brown Convention Center, artMRKT San Francisco, Concourse Exhibition Center Art Chicago 2011, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 2010 San Francisco Fall Antiques Show, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA San Francisco Fine Art Fair, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA Art Chicago 2010, Merchandise Mart, Chicago IL 2009 Recent Paintings, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA (solo) 2008 Twenty-Five Treasures, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA Robert Arneson, Joan Brown, Fred Dalkey, Eileen David, Roy De Forest, Richard Diebenkorn, David Fertig, John Graham, Robert Hudson, Ed Musante, Manuel Neri, Arthur Okamura, John Santoro, Richard Shaw, Pam Sheehan...

JERUSALEM, Vielle du David, (City of David) Superlac (enamel) painting on paper, hand signed, titled and dated. Provenance: Michael Hittleman Gallery Los Angeles. Gabriel Cohen, (French-Israeli) Self taught, Naive painter was born in Paris in 1933, to parents from Jerusalem with a father who studied the kabbalah. Throughout World War II, the family hid from the Nazis in Paris. Images of Nazi soldiers appear in several of his paintings. In 1949, when Gabriel was 16, the family returned to Israel. They managed to save enough money to move back to the quarter where both parents were born: Ohel Moshe in Nachlaot. Gabriel served in the artillery corps and after the army, went back to live in his parents' house and earned a living polishing diamonds. The head of the polishing plant, who noticed his employee's artistic skill, allowed him to paint during work hours. He once asked Cohen if he could draw a tiger. Cohen drew him a tiger. And he did a lot of sculpting and painting on glass. He also loved to play the guitar, especially flamenco style. Critics say he is one of Israel's greatest naive-style painters. Along with Shalom of Safed, Kopel Gurwin and Natan Heber, He is renowned as one of Israel's greatest living naive-style folk art painters, recipient of the Jerusalem Prize for Art (1987), a permanent entry in encyclopedias of naive painting, who exhibited his work not only in Israel, but also in Paris, Venezuela, Denmark and Germany; the same Gabriel Cohen whose colorful , bold Naif paintings were exhibited at the Jewish Museum in New York in 1987 alongside works by Marc Chagall; the same Gabriel Cohen about whom curator and art scholar Gideon Ofrat says, "There is no questioning his greatness." He has shown in Paris on the Rue de Rosiers in the Marais. His impressions of his journeys, mostly imaginary, yet some real, are expressed in Cohen's paintings. Huge, colorful canvases rich in precise detail and fantasy, in which he paints the Eiffel Tower and the Russian steppes or the vistas of Paris and the Tower of Babel "In my opinion, it's also because the Tower of Babel has some kind of phallic, erotic meaning, but also because of the internationalism, of the mixture and confusion of nations, which is an essential element in Gabi Cohen's work," says Gideon Ofrat. There is no superlative that has not been lavished on Cohen's work by art critics, since he began showing his paintings at age 40, All the art critics seemed to agree at once that Cohen is one of the greatest naive-style painters in Israel. Their counterparts abroad seconded this view. About a year and a half ago, Zadka organized a show for Cohen at the Jerusalem Artists' House. The Tel Aviv Museum bought a painting of Gabi's and so did the Israel Museum, and several artists bought his drawings. He is a great, great painter. There is no painter who is more of a symbolist and illustrative artist than he is. As a painter myself, I admire him." The Yom Kippur War in 1973 sparked an artistic breakthrough for Cohen; it was at that time that he began to sit on the sidewalk after his work as a diamond polisher and paint. Not long afterward, in early 1974, he did a painting he called "Moses on the Mountain." Ruth Debel, of the Debel Gallery in Ein Kerem, passed by and saw it on the street. She asked how much he wanted for it, and for the first time in his life, he realized that his work had financial value. His first show was at the Debel Gallery in 1974. The response was overwhelming. Cohen was immediately declared a genius. His paintings at the gallery were purchased and he continued to create new paintings. That same year, he was invited to take part in a group exhibition of naive artists at the Kunsthaus in Zurich, and a year later, his work was included in a traveling show of naive-style artists from Israel that was exhibited in Denmark and Germany. Soon after that he was invited to be part of group shows in Venezuela and at the Tel Aviv Museum. Cohen had four solo shows at the Debel Gallery. Awards And Prizes 1987 Jerusalem Prize for Painting and Sculpture 1999 Shoshana Ish-Shalom Prize for special contribution to art, Jerusalem He has exhibited alongside all of the Israeli great artists. included in the Naive Art Group exhibition Gvanim Art Gallery, Jerusalem Rubin, Rachel Roman, Yitzhak Zarembo, Leah Moscovitz, Shalom (of Safed) Steinberg, Michael Denisov, Salva Harbon, Haim Cohen, Gabriel Chanannia, Joseph (Jojo) Local Hero...

Morris Kantor New York (1896 - 1974) Paris from the Ile St. Louis, 1927 (view of Eiffel Tower) Oil painting on canvas Hand Signed lower left. Provenance: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution ( bears label verso) Size: 20 3/4"H x 28 1/8"W (sight), 28.75 "H x 36"W (framed) Morris Kantor (Belarusian: Морыс Кантор) (1896-1974) was a Russian Empire-born American painter based in the New York City area. Born in Minsk on April 15, 1896, Kantor was brought to the United States in 1906 at age 10, in order to join his father who had previously relocated to the states. He made his home in West Nyack, New York for much of his life, and died there in 1974. He produced a prolific and diverse body of work, much of it in the form of paintings, which is distinguished by its stylistic variety over his long career. Perhaps his most widely recognized work is the iconic painting "Baseball At Night", which depicts an early night baseball game played under artificial electric light. Although he is best known for his paintings executed in a realistic manner, over the course of his life he also spent time working in styles such as Cubism and Futurism, and produced a number of abstract or non-figural works. A famous cubist, Futurist, painting of his "Orchestra" brought over 500,000$ at Christie's auction house in 2018 Kantor found employment in the Garment District upon his arrival in New York City, and was not able to begin formal art studies until 1916, when he began courses at the now-defunct Independent School of Art. He studied landscape painting with Homer Boss (1882-1956). In 1928, after returning to New York City from a year in Paris, Kantor developed a style in which he combined Realism with Fantasy, often taking the streets of New York as his subject matter. He did some moody Surrealist Nude paintings and fantasy scenes. In the 1940's he turned towards figural studies. Later in his career, Kantor himself was an instructor at the Cooper Union and also at the Art Students League of New York in the 1940s, and taught many pupils who later became famous artists in their own right, such as Knox Martin, Robert Rauschenberg, Sigmund Abeles and Susan Weil...

Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Sorcerer Series: Beast Head, Spiderweb Year: February 1969 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 72 x 48 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Sign...

Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Figure, Volcano (John Huszar) Year: June 1971 Medium: Acrylic, Pen & Ink on Canvas Size: 72 x 48 inches Condition: Ex...

Kathleen Keifer is a California-based internationally collected artist. She is a leading force of the New California Realism. Kathleen brings a fresh, clean perspective to her colorf...

Chroma sky (Blue key) 10, 2007 Acrylic and oil on canvas (Signed on reverse) 23.62 H x 31.49 W in 60 H x 80 W cm The artist wrote about how he conceives this work: "The transformat...

This artwork of two women drinking coffee. It is an intriguing piece that captures the complexity of time and its connection to individual experiences. The artwork is split up into ...

Female figure, swimmer, bathing, ocean, sunshine, rocks; acrylic ink, flashe and pastel on 300g Arches hot press paper; custom wooden frame, shallow shadow box frame. Deep blue, turq...