Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 10

Vita Solomon
Venice Italy Landscape Gouache Painting Canal with Gondolier Bridge of Sighs

c.1950s

About the Item

Vita P. Solomon Born December 16, 1916 in Philadelphia, PA to Harry Petrosky and Rose Bobrow, Vita graduated from Overbrook High School in 1933 and earned her diploma in Illustration and won the Lewis European Fellowship in 1937 from Moore College of Art. While raising a family she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with Honors, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Education, with Honors, from Temple University Tyler School of Fine Art in 1958, and a Master of Fine Arts from Tyler in 1960. She was commissioned to paint official oil portraits of such notable Pennsylvanians as George Leader, Governor of Pennsylvania (1955-1959); Alfred Williams, Dean of the Wharton School and Federal Reserve Board Governor; Judge Joseph Lord III (Chief Justice of the U.S. District Court); five of the judges of the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia, including Raymond Pace Alexander; Harry Shay, founder of the Fels Research Institute; Keith Doms, Director of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and many others. Her portraits belong to the public collections at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the Federal Courthouse, City Hall, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Pennsylvania Hospital, the Philadelphia Psychiatric Institute, and elsewhere. In 1974 her commissioned portrait of author, Pearl S. Buck, entered into the Permanent Collection of the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Vita exhibited widely and frequently in Europe and the United States, winning a Silver Medal at the Paris Salon of 1966 and an Honorable Mention in 1965. She exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Royal Institute in London, the Metropolitan Academy of Fine Arts, the Detroit Institute of American Arts, and the World Trade Center in New York. She held several solo and group shows at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, the Newman Galleries, and elsewhere. Her numerous medals and awards include the Burdine Memorial Prize from Woodmere Art Museum in 1964 and "Best of Year" Exhibit in 1956, 1957 and 1958; the Audubon Artists' Jane Peterson Medal (1975), Allied Artists' Chandler Prize (1960) and National Arts Club Award (1974), the Lovell Award from the Catherine Wolfe Club Annual (1966), and the Philadelphia Print Club's Eugenia Atwood Purchase Prize (1977). After moving to Arizona she won the Tubac Center's Award of Excellence (1991), the Southern Arizona watercolor Guild Award of Excellence (1991), the Arizona Aqueous Award of Excellence (1992), and many other awards and recognitions. Skilled in a variety of media, she was an elected member of the Allied Artists of America, the American Watercolor Society, the American Color Print Society, and the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild. From 1959 to 1967 she was a teacher of English and Art at Elkins Park Junior High School and then from 1967-1982 she was teacher of Art and Art History at Cheltenham High School, where she also served as Chairman from 1979 to 1982. At the culmination of her career as a public school teacher she won the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Outstanding Art Educator Award in 1982. In Arizona she taught at the Museum of Art
  • Creator:
    Vita Solomon (1916 - 2005)
  • Creation Year:
    c.1950s
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 23.75 in (60.33 cm)Width: 18.5 in (46.99 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    good. minor wear.
  • Gallery Location:
    Surfside, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU38213857342
More From This SellerView All
  • Shuk Machane Yehuda Jerusalem Market Israeli Oil Painting
    Located in Surfside, FL
    similar in style to David Azuz a new Expressionist Israeli market scene possibly by Roz Rice.
    Category

    1970s Expressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Modernist Family Outing with Dog (Picnic in the Park) Ben Benn Oil Painting WPA
    By Ben Benn
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Genre: Modern Subject: People Medium: Acrylic Surface: Canvas Country: United States Dimensions: 20" x 24" Scene of a family leisurely gathering together in a park to picnic and enjoying their day by the artist Ben Benn. Ben Benn, Russian/American (1884-1983) Ben Benn, a Russian-born American still-life and Post Impressionist landscape painter who was part of the first generation of artists in America to try to digest the lessons of Cubism Benn Benn was a pioneer American modernist whose independent style defied stylistic classification. Despite excursions into Cubism and Abstract Expressionist style, Benn “seems always to have been a ‘subject’ painter. Considering this, it is remarkable that he remained visible at all during the 50’s and early 60’s, when prejudice against the representational amounted nearly to a proscription of it.” Benn’s prominence in the art world over 6 decades was reaffirmed at a 90th birthday show at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington , D.C. in 1974. Benn was born Benjamin Rosenberg in the town of Kamenets Podolsk in the Russian empire in 1884. This town was the regional capital of an area in what is today, SW Ukraine, and was historically known as Podolia. the Rosenberg family chose, along with thousands of others, to immigrate from Podolia to the United States in 1894 or 1899. “Between 1904 and 1908 Benn attended the National Academy of Design and he studied at the Arts Students League In New York City. He spent most of his career in New York City including memberships with the American Society of Painters and Sculptors, American Artists Congress and the Woodstock Artist Association. Academy curriculum stressed portraiture built up with broad, painterly brushstrokes, a technique that remained the foundation of Benn’s style. In his first group show, in 1913, he exhibited with Max Weber and Man Ray. By the mid teens his canvases were bolder in color and more decorative in style. In 1916, Benn participated in the important "Forum Exhibition of Modern American Painters...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Expressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • French Expressionist Ecole de Paris Oil Painting Boats on French Riviera
    By Jean Vinay
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Jean Vinay was a self-taught artist though he received artistic guidance from Albert Marquet, the Fauvist, who he knew through his travels in French North Africa. Jean Viney lived from 1907 to 1978. Jean Vinay was from the post war Ecole de Paris along with Pierre Cales, Bram van Velde, Bernard Buffet, Emile Gilioli, Yves Brayer and Camille Hilaire. Bibliography: 4 French realists: André Minaux, Ginette Rapp, Roger Montané, Jean Vinay by Arts Council of Great Britain (1955) Selected French Paintings by Richard Bellias; Bernard Lorjou; André Minaux; Roger Montané; Yvonne Mottet; Jean Vinay Publisher: London : Adams Gallery, 1959. Jean Vinay est un peintre français né le 2 février 1907 et décédé le 23 août 1978. Après des études secondaires, il se passionne pour l’art. Dès 1933, il s’établit dans Paris, à Montmartre et décide de devenir peintre. Il travaille avec acharnement, se formant principalement dans les musées. Dès le début de l’occupation allemande, il se rend à Alger chez un ami d’enfance et rencontre Albert Marquet qui lui prête son atelier. Il devient vite un grand nom de la peinture et sera reconnu par tous comme étant “Le peintre de Paris”. C’est à L'Albenc qu’il repose depuis 1978 où il vécut près de sa mère en partageant sa vie entre Paris et l'Albenc. Une importante donation au département de l’Isère, a donné naissance au Musée Jean Vinay qui ouvrait ses portes en 1979 à Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye en Isère. Ses expositions Principales expositions personnelles 1942 Paris - Galerie Raspail Alger - Galerie Hotchkiss 1943 Oran - Galerie Pozzallo Alger - Galerie La Pompadour 1944 Casablanca - Galerie Derche Oran - Galerie Colline Alger - Galerie Charlet 1945 Casablanca - Galerie Derche Rabat - Galerie La Boutique d’Art Londres - Royal Water Colour Society’s Gallery 1946 Paris - Galerie Raspail 1947 Casablanca - Galerie Derche Oran - Galerie Colline 1948 Paris - Galerie Durand Ruel 1949 Paris - Galerie Paulette Dubois Londres - Galerie Adams Lyon - Galerie des Jacobins 1950 Paris - Galerie du Bac New York - Wally Findlay Galleries 1951 Grenoble - Galerie Repelin-Perriot 1952 Lyon - Galerie des Jacobins Bourges - Galerie Jacquet Vals les Bains - Galerie Robert Valence - Galerie Bost (de 1952 à 1969) 1953 Lyon - Galerie des Jacobins Vals les Bains - Galerie Robert 1954 Paris - Galerie La Boétie Paris - Galerie Bruno Bassano 1957 Paris...
    Category

    20th Century Expressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Romanian Israeli Modernist Oil Painting Expressionist Figures Mothers and Babies
    By Risa Propst Kraid
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Risa Propst Kraid (Romanian - Israeli, 1894-1983) Jewish Israeli Woman artist. enigmatic picture of either women picnicking or refugees huddling together. Painting and Sculpture We...
    Category

    1960s Expressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • French Modernist LANDSCAPE WITH HOUSES School of Paris Oil Painting
    By Isis Kischka
    Located in Surfside, FL
    "School of Paris" Isis Kischka was born in Paris on the 26 October 1908 to a Polish Jewish family who had migrated from the Ukraine two years earlier. After completing studies in c...
    Category

    20th Century Expressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Simka Simkhovitch WPA Artist Oil Painting Gouache American Modernist Powerline
    By Simka Simkhovitch
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Simka Simkhovitch (Russian/American 1893 - 1949) This came with a small grouping from the artist's family, some were hand signed some were not. These were studies for larger paintings. Simka Simkhovitch (Симха Файбусович Симхович) (aka Simka Faibusovich Simkhovich) (Novozybkov, Russia May 21, 1885 O.S./June 2, 1885 N.S.—Greenwich, Connecticut February 25, 1949) was a Ukrainian-Russian Jewish artist and immigrant to the United States. He painted theater scenery in his early career and then had several showings in galleries in New York City. Winning Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissions in the 1930s, he completed murals for the post offices in Jackson, Mississippi and Beaufort, North Carolina. His works are in the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Born outside Kyiv (Petrograd Ukraine) into a Jewish family who owned a small department store. During a severe case of measles when he was seven, Simcha Simchovitch sketched the views outside his window and decided to become an artist, over his father's objections. Beginning in 1905, he studied at the Grekov Odessa Art School and upon completion of his studies in 1911 received a recommendation to be admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts. Though he enrolled to begin classes in architecture, painting, and sculpture at the Imperial Academy, he was dropped from the school roster in December because of the quota on the number of Jewish students and drafted into the army. Simchovitch served as a private in the 175th Infantry Regiment Baturyn [ru] until his demobilization in 1912. Re-enrolling in the Imperial Academy, he audited classes. Simka Simkhovitch exhibited paintings and sculptures in 1918 as part of an exhibition of Jewish artists and in 1919 placed 1st in the competition "The Great Russian Revolution" with a painting called "Russian Revolution" which was hung in the State Museum of Revolution. In 1922, Simkha Simkhovitch exhibited at the International Book Fair in Florence (Italian: Fiera Internazionale del Libro di Firenze). In 1924, Simkhovitch came to the United States to make illustrations for Soviet textbooks and decided to immigrate instead. Initially he supported himself by doing commercial art and a few portrait commissions. In 1927, he was hired to paint a screen for a scene in the play "The Command to Love" by Fritz Gottwald and Rudolph Lothar which was playing at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. Art dealers began clamoring for the screen and Simkhovitch began a career as a screen painter for the theater. Catching the attention of the screenwriter, Ernest Pascal, he worked as an illustrator for Pascal, who then introduced him to gallery owner, Marie Sterner. Simkhovitch's works appeared at the Marie Sterner Gallery beginning with a 1927 exhibit and were repeated the following year. Simkhovitch had an exhibit in 1929 at Sterner's on circus paintings. In 1931, he held a showing of works at the Helen Hackett Gallery, in New York City and later that same year he was one of the featured artists of a special exhibit in San Francisco at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park. The exhibit was coordinated by Marie Sterner and included four watercolors, including one titled "Nudes". He is of the generation of Russian Soviet artists such as Isaac Pailes, Serge Charchoune, Marc Chagall, Chana Orloff, Isaac Ilyich Levitan, and Ossip Zadkine. In 1936, Simkhovitch was selected to complete the mural for the WPA Post office project in Jackson, Mississippi. The mural was hung in the post office and courthouse in 1938 depicted a plantation theme. Painted on the wall behind the judge’s bench, “Pursuits of Life in Mississippi”, a depiction of black workers engaged in manual labor amid scenes of white professionals and socialites, was eventually covered over in later years during renovations due to its stereotypical African American imagery. Simka painted what he thought was typical of Jackson. His impression of pre-civil rights Mississippi was evidently Greek Revival column houses, weeping willow trees, working class families, and the oppression of African Americans. He painted African American men picking cotton, while a white man took account of the harvest and a white judge advised a white family, calling it Pursuits of Life in Mississippi. Though clearly endorsed by the government and initially generally well-received, the mural soon raised concerns with locals as the climate toward racial segregation began to change. The main concern was whether depictions that show African Americans in subjugated societal roles should be featured in a courtroom. The following year, his painting "Holiday" won praise at an exhibition in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1940, Simkhovitch's second WPA post office project was completed when four murals, "The Cape Lookout Lighthouse and the Orville W. Mail Boat", "The Wreck of the Crissie Wright", "Sand Ponies" and "Canada Geese" were installed in Beaufort, North Carolina. The works were commissioned in 1938 and did not generate the controversy that the Jackson mural had. The main mural is "The Wreck of the Crissie Wright" and depicts a shipwreck which had occurred in Beaufort in 1866. "The Cape Lookout Lighthouse and the Orville W. Mail Boat" depicted the lighthouse built in 1859 and the mail boat that was running mail during the time which Simkhovitch was there. The boat ran mail for the area until 1957. "Sand Ponies" shows the wild horses common to the North Carolina barrier islands and "Canada Geese" showed the importance of hunting and fishing in the area. All four murals were restored in the 1990s by Elisabeth Speight, daughter of two other WPA muralists, Francis Speight...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Gouache, Oil, Board

You May Also Like
  • Barcelona .Original gouache paper painting
    By Agustin Rio
    Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
    A. Rio Barcelona .Original gouache paper painting . AGUSTIN RIO ( Barceona 1923 – Barcelona 1997) Formed in Llotja i al Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc He appeared individually in 195...
    Category

    1980s Expressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Gouache, Cardboard

  • Sunset over the Sea, French Expressionist Original Painting
    By Akos Biro
    Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
    AKOS BIRO (HUNGARIAN 1911-2002) watercolour/gouache size: 7.75 x 11 inches Beautifully colourful, original painting by the very popular and highly regarded Hungarian/ French painter...
    Category

    Late 20th Century Expressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil Pastel, Gouache

  • Provence Hill Perched Village, French Expressionist Original Painting
    By Akos Biro
    Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
    AKOS BIRO (HUNGARIAN 1911-2002) watercolour painting size: 9 x 6.75 inches Beautifully colourful, original painting by the very popular and highly regarded Hungarian/ French painter...
    Category

    Late 20th Century Expressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil Pastel, Gouache

  • Provence Fishing Harbour French Expressionist Original Painting
    By Akos Biro
    Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
    AKOS BIRO (HUNGARIAN 1911-2002) watercolour / gouache, size: 9.75 x 6.25 inches Beautifully colourful, original painting by the very popular and highly regarded Hungarian/ French pa...
    Category

    Late 20th Century Expressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Gouache, Oil Pastel

  • Colourful Abstract, French Expressionist Original Painting
    By Akos Biro
    Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
    AKOS BIRO (HUNGARIAN 1911-2002) watercolour/ crayon, signed size: 5.75 x 8.75 inches Beautifully colourful, original painting by the very popular and highly regarded Hungarian/ Fre...
    Category

    Late 20th Century Expressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil Pastel, Gouache

  • Provence Countryside Landscape Red Roofs French Expressionist Original Painting
    By Akos Biro
    Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
    AKOS BIRO (HUNGARIAN 1911-2002) gouache/ painting board size: 9.5 x 10.75 inches Beautifully colourful, original painting by the very popular and highly regarded Hungarian/ French p...
    Category

    Late 20th Century Expressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil Pastel, Gouache

Recently Viewed

View All