Masonite Paintings

Katherine Westphal's oil on board painting titled 'Abstract Landscape' embodies the stylistic qualities of abstract painting. Using a diverse color palette of orange, red, yellow, bl...

Mid Century Modern, American Abstract Expressionist Painting on Masonite. This wonderful work in exciting colors is housed in a contemporary white wood frame presentation.. The art...

Waterline Fine Art, Austin, TX is pleased to present the following work: Oil on board. Signed and dated lower right and verso, titled verso. 36.25 x 48 in. 40.5 x 52.25 in. (framed) Framed in contemporary silver, tiered floater frame. Dennis Eugene Norman Burton was a Canadian modernist who was born in Lethbridge, Ontario. He attended the Ontario College of Art from 1952 to 1956, and worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a graphic designer until 1960. Inspired by a 1955 exhibition of the “Painters Eleven” at Toronto’s Hart House, as well as American Abstract Expressionist artists such as Robert Motherwell, Jack Tworkov, and Willem de Kooning, Burton shifted his focus toward abstraction in the mid-1950s. Burton showed with the famed Isaacs Gallery in Toronto, becoming one of the youngest members on the gallery’s roster. A talented musician, he also played saxophone in the Artist’s Jazz Band in Toronto - a pioneering Canadian free-jazz group...

Ivan Bergdahl, born in 1929 in Säbrå, is a celebrated Swedish artist renowned for his evocative landscape paintings that capture the stunning natural beauty of Sweden. His work, ofte...

Jean Krillé’s paintings are known for their expressive use of color and dynamic, abstract forms, blending realism with abstraction in his depictions of nature. His landscapes often f...

A lovely summer day in a ca. 1950s Lake Michigan harbor, perhaps in Saugatuck, Douglas or at Oxbow! This is a large oil on Masonite painting by notable artist Francis Chapin that is...

Gorgeous Sierra Mountains winter landscape of snowy stream in pastel tones by Verneda Mehringer (American, 1924-2015). Signed "Verneda" lower right. Unframed. Image, 18.25"H x 23.75"...

"Back Road" California Redwoods Santa Cruz County original Oil Painting Oil painting of the California Redwoods by Gorman Woody (American, 1907-2000). the scene is a country road ...

Gregory Sumida (American, b.1948) 'Pick-Up Crossing' Oil paint on masonite board. Hand signed lower right 1976 Depicting a rural landscape and buildings, in a linen-lined pickled w...

The Lake and Old Mill, Vintage Autumnal Landscape by Virginia Newport Ingram Substantial and serene autumnal oil painting of an old mill near a lakeside surrounded by trees and fall leaves by Virginia Newport Ingram (American, 20th Century), circa 1970. Signed "Newport" lower right and titled, signed on verso "Virginia Newport Ingram." Presented in a rustic, brown, wood frame. Image, 24"H x 26L. Virginia Newport is a Sacramento artist...

Fredric Karoly (1898-1987). Etude, 1950. Oil on masonite panel measures 18 x 24 inches. Unframed. Signed, titled, dated on reverse. Good condition with minor paint loss at edges. Biography: An abstract painter, Karoly was born in Hungary and studied painting in Paris, architectural eingineering in Berlin, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1926. He began a successful career as a fashion and fabric designer. In 1948 he was working as a fashion director for Simplicity Patters, when he had a solo exhibition of of his oil paintings, wire montages, dry-pen drawings and abstract photography. Solo Exhibitions: Hugo Gallery (Alexandre Iolas) New York 1948; Gallery Mai. Paris 1949; New Gallery (Eugene Thaw) New York 1950; Museu de Arte, Sao Paulo, Brazil 1951; Miami Museum of Modern Art, Miami, Florida 1959; Loft Gallery, New York City, 1966.Group Exhibitions: Hugo Gallery, New York 1947; Salon des Realities Nouvelles, Paris 1949-1953; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (Annual) 1951-1953, 1963; Biennale of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1951; International Independent Exhibition, Tokyo, 1951; Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, 1959; The Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, Ohio, 1960; Stuttman Gallery, New York, 1960; The Art Institute of Chicago (Annual), 1960; International Watercolor Exhibition, Brookyln Museum, 1961; Westchester Art Museum, White Plains, NY, 1963; Whitney Museum, Annual, NY 1963; Cleveland Art Festival, Park Synagogue, Cleveland, 1963; Whitney Museum, Sculpture Annual, NY, 1964.Works in Institutional Collections: Museu de Arte, San Paulo, Brazil; Museu de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina; New York University, New York; Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; Finch College, NY; Barnard College, NY; Metropolitan Museum, Whitney Museum and Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL. Awards: National Council Arts Awards, 1968. Frederic Karoly died on December 15, 1987 at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Manhattan, where he had made his home for many years. Fredric Karoly was born in Budapest in 1893. According to Karoly’s own vitae, his exhibition history began in New York in 1947, when at the age of 54 he took part in a four-person group show at Hugo Gallery. His involvement with visual art however was apparently life long. In a brief introduction to his solo show at Galerie Mai in Paris in June of 1949, Jen Luc de Rudder, reports that Karoly began painting at the age of 12 in Budapest. After several years of studying, then working in London, Paris and Berlin, Karoly emigrated to the United States in 1925 or 1926 (he probably first came to the US on a work visa in 1925). In New York, Karoly worked in women’s fashion as a designer. In 1948 Karoly worked in a manner than was clearly influenced by the work of such European surrealists as Max Ernst, creating spiked automatic bi-chromatic paintings. His style progressed into a progressively more biomorphic vein, similar to explorations by Theodore Stamos, Daphnis, Milton Avery and Mark Rothko around the same period. He was supported with patronage during this period by Mrs. Mimi Baliff, who apparently supported the “Industrial Design Workshop” that she helped open to feature Karoly’s designs in 1948. By the early 1950’s (1951) Karoly started experimenting with the drip and splatter process as well. Drip paintings dominated his process until the late 50’s-early 60’s, when linear compositional elements began to reemerge. By the late 50’s multi-layered drip grid motifs asserted a masque of spatial organization over looser washed fields and splatters of paint that Karoly worked off of. This development was consistent with concurrent explorations into the grid by artist Agnes Martin and others. By the mid-50’s Karoly’s style began another transition into a more surface concerned “Color Field” style of painting. There are elements still reminding one of Abstract Expressionist concerns as such painters as Clifford Still. But the works that began to emerge from Karoly’s studio in 1958 presaged the Morris Lewis fan motifs and Friedl Dzubas’s epic and romantic color spewing expanses of canvas. In 1959 Karoly began experiments using washes of turpentine diluted oil paint directly onto raw linen, and all of these subsequently suffered the consequences of oil oxidation and acidity upon the surfaces. However, many of Karoly’s washes in color field happily occurred on lightly prepared primed canvas surfaces as well. By 1960 Karoly began reintroducing imagistic references to his visual content. There were also various references to Japanese and Zen influences. He experimented with a variety of processes that included mixed media and marbleized surfaces achieved by the intermixture of oil and water mediums. A calligraphic element also enter Karoly’s work in the early 60’s. Then in 1961 glued and assembled objects begin to show up in Karoly’s work in earnest. The influence of early POP artists, particularly Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg, become apparent. From 1961-63, a series of the assemblage works transition from canvas to the sculptural to pieces obviously intended for full scale installation. Many of these pieces were among the most fragile of his works primarily due to their reliance upon the of gluing of objects such as plastic or paper cups on flexible surfaces of stretched linen or canvas. In the mid-60’s Karoly apparently produced a number of photo-silk screened series of Picasso, De Kooning and other significant artists of his generation. These were executed in a style somewhere between Rauschenberg’s and Roy Lichtenstein’s, primarily because of their reliance upon half tones and Ben-Day dot effects. Then Karoly began a series of paintings conflating his drip and grid styles with super imposed and painted over string. In the late 60’s Karoly embarked upon a series of multi-paneled stretched linen constructions often with slits and fiber optic back-lit elements that were prescient of the work of Dan Flavin and others. It was this body of work that was shown at Hofstra University’s Emily Lowe Gallery, and it was these works that suffered perhaps the most irreparable damage from a steam/water infiltration in a space where they were being stored. The late professional start that Karoly had into the art world was balanced by his long life span and early immersion into the design issues of modernism as it emerged in turn of the century Europe and later evolved in America. He was clearly an artist who subscribed to the ethos of the new in abstraction and was obviously impressionable and in some instances prescient with regard to various trends in abstraction. Several noteworthy and influential collectors and institutions during his 40 years of professional engagement acquired his work. The Whitney Museum of American Art had and may still own a large Karoly canvas from 1960, but this is doubtful as the artist failed to list it on the vitae he filed with MoMA in 1965. His work was recognized and honored by the Whitney with its inclusion in four of their annual survey shows (1951,1953, 1963 and 1964). The artist’s surrealist influenced paintings from 1948-1950 were the focus of a solo exhibition held of his work by the Museo de Art in Sao Paulo and eight years later a ten year survey of his work was the focus of a solo show at the Miami Museum of Modern art. The Sao Paulo Museum in Brazil, and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, Argentina each acquired Karoly paintings for their collections in the 1950’s. One of Karoly’s surrealist pieces was apparently purchased by Christian Zervos, Picasso’s designated chronicler, who apparently also wrote a piece on Karoly in Cahiers D’Art in 1949. A 60’s piece of Karoly art that is in the New York University’s permanent collection is included in the MoMA Library’s catalog...

Acrylic on masonite. This is a pivotal work in deep and radiant cobalt blue from 1950. It dipicts calligraphic and hieroglyph structures over a grid and pyramidal base by the first generation abstract expressionist. Provenance: Skinner: November 13, 1992 [Lot 00219}, The entry in the Skinner catalog indicates that the painting came directly from the artist to the family of the consignor to Skinner. Kaminsky Auctions. There is an unbroken paper trail that traces the ownership of the painting from the current owner, through two auction houses to the artist. Perfect unbroken provenance. Pousette-Dart was among the most inventive of the Abstract Expressionist generation, His uncanny talent was to expand the nature of abstraction and still make each mark each element very much his own; a reflection of what he called   "the concealed power of the spirit," he said, “not of the brute physical form."   His was not aiming for a singular, realized aesthetic formula but to expand the possibilities of painting; the transcendental in painting. Typical of such invention and exploration is this  painting  Untitled 1950 when the artist was only 34 years old and represented by one of the champions of the new American painting, Betty Parsons.  
A banner year for Pousette-Dart, the Museum of Modern Art acquired their first painting by the Minnesota born artist.  He worked on easel size works such as this painting an oil on masonite. At the same time Pousette-Dart was also working on larger scale works such as Path of the Hero, running over ten feet in length now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Both contain fields of color articulated by a highly sophisticated white hieroglyphic vocabulary. Rather than demonstrate an expressionist sensibility, Pousette-Dart harnesses his more cerebral ideas transforming thick areas of paint into a more refined composition of geometric forms akin to the pattern and forms of say a stained glass window. In a way he is looking back at Fugue, 1940 a black and white composition which makes use of a similar format of painting albeit smaller. Color and form are minimal, but what Pousette-Dart has maximized is the rhythmic and syncopated character of painting casting his ideas into purely symbolic terms that one might link to the pictograms of Adolph Gottlieb. Nonetheless, nature is always at the core of Pousette-Dart’s thinking and dreaming. Here he has transformed the local Ramapo Mountains—where he will eventually move with his family to live and work— into a complex series of articulated fragments linked by style, scale and color.  The painting’s imagery built on two large triangles and reduced to just two colors, cobalt blue and white all outlined in black.  Pousette-Dart symbols stacked in horizontal and vertical rows:  blue is ground, white is language, symbolic of light, consciousness and awareness . The painting maintains a mystical character images compounded that formulate a secret code and linked to the series of white paintings Pousette-Dart authored in the first half of the 1950s. Get up close to the picture and you discover images within images a kind of picture puzzle...

Jean Krillé’s paintings are known for their expressive use of color and dynamic, abstract forms, blending realism with abstraction in his depictions of nature. His landscapes often f...

Neon Lighting WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism American Scene Modern Figures MAURICE BECKER (1889-1975) 'Neon Lighting 17 1/4 x 13 3/4 inches Oil on masonite Signed, dated 1936 and titled on verso BIO Maurice Becker, painter, political cartoonist and social reformer, was born in 1889 either in Gorky or Niznij Novgorod, in Russia. His family came to the United States in 1892, to New York City. After high school, Becker worked in a clothing factory. He studied with Ash Can School artist Robert Henri in 1908, and exhibited in the famous 1913 Armory Show in New York City when he was only twenty-four years of age. At the Armory show, Becker showed a drawing of a dog's head...

Vivid and evocative feminist abstract expressionist figurative painting of woman and the many facets of her life, represented by multiple female figures engaged in various activities throughout the chaotic and colorful abstract expressionist canvas, by Audrey E. Gabrielson (American, 1932-2018), 1976. Verso has an abstract portrait with signature. Unframed. Image size: 29.75"H x 31.50"W Audrey Gabrielson was an artist, poetess, sculptor, whom lived in San Francisco. She was born in Canada in 1932 and drew, colored, modeled in clay when very young. She studied at Reed College, Portland, studying with famous West Coast artist, Louis Bunce. in San Francisco she painted with artists Cucaro, Alexander E. Anderson, and Raymond Howell. She had shown in North Beach, Modesto, Gualuala Hotel, Sausalito, Abbey Party Rents (S.F.) and many more. She had ongoing exhibits at Alberta Art, Red Deer and Uglies, Lacombe. Her art was collected by national and international collectors such as authors C.Y. Lee (“Flower Drum Song”), Alfred Coppel (“34 East”); musical promoter, Ilka Pardinas, FLY, Los Angeles. Additionally, she worked in bronze, studying under S.F. sculptor C.B. Johnson. Her art was influenced and inspired by German Expressionists, Van Gogh, Lautrec, Picasso, Klimpt, Schiele, Tamayo, Conners, Park – and many more. Obituary: Born in Alberta, Canada, Audrey passed away at her home in San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighborhood, surrounded by loved ones. Gabrielson was an artist, poet, sculptor, photographer, muse and an integral part of the San Francisco art scene of the late 1950s to late 1970s. She was a friend and contemporary of artists such as Benny Bufano...

Signed lower right, 'Savo' for Joan Savo (American, 1918-1992) and dated 1960. Additionally signed, verso, on old label and titled, 'City Lights'. Accompanie...

Julio De Diego’s Atomic Series paintings made an extraordinary statement regarding the shock and fear that accompanied the dawn of the nuclear age. In the artist’s own words, “Scientists were working secretly to develop formidable powers taken from the mysterious depths of the earth - with the power to make the earth useless! Then, the EXPLOSION! . . . we entered the Atomic Age, and from there the neo-Atomic war begins. Explosions fell everywhere and man kept on fighting, discovering he could fight without flesh.” To execute these works, De Diego developed a technique of using tempera underpainting before applying layer upon layer of pigmented oil glazes. The result is paintings with surfaces which were described as “bonelike” in quality. The forms seem to float freely, creating a three-dimensional visual effect. In the 1954 book The Modern Renaissance in American Art, author Ralph Pearson summarizes the series as “a fantastic interpretation of a weighty theme. Perhaps it is well to let fantasy and irony appear to lighten the devastating impact. By inverse action, they may in fact increase its weight.” Bibliography Art in America, April 1951, p.78 About this artists: Julio De Diego crafted a formidable persona within the artistic developments and political struggles of his time. The artist characterized his own work as “lyrical,” explaining, “through the years, the surrealists, the social-conscious painters and the others tried to adopt me, but I went my own way, good, bad or indifferent.” [1] His independence manifested early in life when de Diego left his parent’s home in Madrid, Spain, in adolescence following his father’s attempts to curtail his artistic aspirations. At the age of fifteen he held his first exhibition, set up within a gambling casino. He managed to acquire an apprenticeship in a studio producing scenery for Madrid’s operas, but moved from behind the curtains to the stage, trying his hand at acting and performing as an extra in the Ballet Russes’ Petrouchka with Nijinsky. He spent several years in the Spanish army, including a six-month stretch in the Rif War of 1920 in Northern Africa. His artistic career pushed ahead as he set off for Paris and became familiar with modernism’s forays into abstraction, surrealism, and cubism. The artist arrived in the U.S. in 1924 and settled in Chicago two years later. He established himself with a commission for the decoration of two chapels in St. Gregory’s Church. He also worked in fashion illustration, designed magazine covers and developed a popular laundry bag for the Hotel Sherman. De Diego began exhibiting through the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929, and participated in the annual Chicago Artists Exhibitions, Annual American Exhibitions, and International Water Color Exhibitions. He held a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in the summer of 1935. Though the artist’s career was advancing, his family life had deteriorated. In 1932 his first marriage dissolved, and the couple’s young daughter Kiriki was sent to live with friend Paul Hoffman. De Diego continued to develop his artistic vocabulary with a growing interest in Mexican art. He traveled throughout the country acquainting himself with the works of muralists such as Carlos Merida, and also began a collection of small native artifacts...

Date: 1960 Oil on Masonite, signed and dated lower right Size: 15.75 x 23.75 in. (40.01 x 60.33 cm) Frame Size: 16 x 24 inches

Jean Krillé’s paintings are known for their expressive use of color and dynamic, abstract forms, blending realism with abstraction in his depictions of nature. His landscapes often f...

Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Waiting for the Barbarians Year: 1985 Medium: Acrylic on double layered Masonite Size: 37 x 31 inches Condition: Good Provenance: Estate of Ian ...

Expressive and raw large-scale modernist portrait of the timeless film actress Alida Valli (Italian, 1921-2006) by contemporary Barcelona artist Mariona Mi...

A stylized horse is depicted grazing in an abstract landscape. Most likely, the location is Woodstock, New York, where the artist lived. Signed Lower Right; Framed; Note: titled and signed on verso. Ethel Magafan (August 10, 1916 – April 24, 1993) was an American painter and muralist. Magafan was born in Chicago to Greek parents who had recently immigrated to the U.S. The family soon relocated to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Magafan's artistic training occurred at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center under the tutelage of Peppino Mangravite, Boardman Robinson and Frank Mechau, who hired Magafan and her twin sister, Jenne, to assist on mural projects. In 1937, aEthel won the commission to paint a mural in the U.S. post office in Auburn, Nebraska, making her the youngest recipient of such a commission. It would be the first of seven government-sponsored commissions for the artist. Murals "Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1814" E. Magafan, 1943 Under President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, several programs were created to employ Americans during the Great Depression. The Magafan twins worked under the New Deal's Section of Painting and Sculpture, a program that hired thousands of artists to paint murals in public spaces, particularly post offices. Ethel and her twin sister, Jenne Magafan, became widely known for their murals painted during the Great Depression. Ethel received her first of seven Government commissions when she was commissioned to produce a painting for the United States post office in Auburn, Nebraska, titled Threshing.Other murals commissioned by the US Government hang in the United States Senate Chamber, the Social Security Building and the Recorder Deeds Building in Washington, D.C., and in post offices in Wynne, Arkansas, titled Cotton Pickers in 1940; in Madill, Oklahoma, titled Prairie Fire in 1941; and Englewood, Colorado, titled The Horse Corral in 1942.Her final mural, entitled Grant in the Wilderness, was installed in 1979 in the Chancellorsville Visitor Center at the Fredericksburg National Memorial Military Park in Virginia, She was a member of the National Academy of Design. Magafan died April 24, 1993, in Woodstock, New York, at the age of 76. References "Collections National Academy Museum". Retrieved 2017-03-08. "Jenne Magafan". Retrieved 2017-03-08. Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz, Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984. "Browse New Deal projects by State and City". Living New Deal. Retrieved 9 January 2015. "Ethel Magafan Passes Away". New York Times. No. Obituary. April 29, 1993. Opitz, Glenn B, Editor, Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book...

A Wonderfully Subtle, Atmospheric, Mid-Century Modern Dune Landscape Painting by Noted Chicago Artist, Rudolph T. Pen. Most likely painted in the 1960s along the shores of Lake Mich...

Original oil on masonite painting by the Russian/ American artist, Nahum Tschacbasov. Signed lower right. Circa 1950. Unframed. Condition: Good. Provenance: Estate of the artist. Nahum Tschacbasov’s paintings are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Philadelphia Museum, the Pennsylvania Museum of Fine Art, as well as numerous college and private collections. His work was shown at ACA Gallery in New York, as well as Perl’s Gallery and John Heller...

Alexandre de Spengler (1893–1973) was a Swiss painter and engraver active in Geneva and Paris. He is known for his land and seascapes, as well as...

[Bruce Sargeant (1898-1938)] Two Cyclists and One Runner n.d. Signed in red, u.l. Oil on canvas mounted to Masonite 35.75 x 58 inches This work is offered by ClampArt in New York...

Original oil on masonite painting of a Belgian Quay by the artist Flory Roland. Signed lower right by the artist. Circa 1955. Condition is very good. The painting is housed in a p...

A wonderful mid-century interpretation of prehistoric, Paleolithic cave paintings; done in reddish earth tones and rich in visual texture by Sausalito, California artist Nan Street F...

Ben Wilson Byzantium, 1975 Oil on Masonite painting Hand signed reverse, Titled, "Byzantium", dated 1975 by the artist and also with estate stamp - in addition to Ben Wilson's hand s...

Hilding Werner, A Värmland artist, was a distinguished Swedish painter and draftsman. Born to landowner Anders Andersson and Inga Maria Johannesdotter, ...

Sunset Through the Trees - Landscape in Oil on Canvas Lively landscape with a bright sunset by an unknown artist (20th Century). The viewer stands at the edge of a marsh or lake, wi...

"Self Portrait" is an original oil painting on masonite board by Francesco Spicuzza. The artist signed the piece in the lower left. It depicts the artist holding a pipe in front of a...

Signed lower left, 'Baba' and dated 1977. A large and colorful Pop Art derived perspective on the aquatic circle of life.

A strong modernist oil painting depicted in 1969 by Russian painter Michael Baxte. Mostly known for his abstracted figures on canvas or street scenes, this piece is a wonderful representation of his bold still life paintings, with expressive use of color, shape, and form. Later in his career, Baxte explores Expressionism, infusing both European and North American stylistic trends. This piece is from later in his career, but we can feel this underlying style throughout. Art measures 21.75 x 18 inches Michael Posner Baxte was born in 1890 in the small town of Staroselje Belarus, Russia. For the first half of the 19th century it was a center of the Chabad movement of Hasidic Jews, but this group was gone by the middle of the 19th century. By the time the Baxte family immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish population numbered only on the hundreds. The native language of the Baxte family was Yiddish. It is likely that the death of Michael Baxte’s father triggered the family’s immigration. Three older brothers arrived in New York between 1903 and 1905. Michael and his mother, Rebecca, arrived in 1907. By 1910 Michael, his mother, and brother, Joseph, were living in New Orleans and may have spent some time on a Louisiana plantation. Around 1912, Michael Baxte returned to Europe to study the violin. In 1914 he, his mother, and Joseph moved to New York City. Meanwhile, in Algeria, a talented young woman painter, Violette Mege, was making history. Since for the first time, a woman won the prestigious Beaux Art competition in Algeria. At first, the awards committee denied her the prize but, with French government intervention, Mege eventually prevailed. She won again 3 years later and, in 1916, used the scholarship to visit the United States of America. When Violette came to New York, she met Baxte, who was, by then, an accomplished violinist, teacher, and composer. Baxte’s compositions were performed at the Tokyo Imperial Theater, and in 1922 he was listed in the American Jewish Yearbook as one of the prominent members of the American Jewish community. As a music teacher he encouraged individual expression. Baxte stated, “No pupil should ever be forced into imitation of the teacher. Art is a personal experience, and the teacher’s truest aim must be to awaken this light of personality through the patient light of science.” By 1920 Michael Baxte and Violette Mege were living together in Manhattan. Although they claimed to be living as husband and wife, it seems that their marriage did not become official until 1928. On their “unofficial” honeymoon around 1917, in Algiers, Baxte confided to her his ambition to paint. There and later in New Mexico where the wonderful steeped sunlight approximates the coloring of Algiers, she taught him his heart’s desire. He never had any other teacher. She never had any other pupil. For ten years she devoted all her time, energy, and ambition to teaching, encouraging, inspiring him. Then in 1928, their mutual strivings were rewarded, as his works were being chosen as one of the two winners in the Dudensing National Competition for American Painters. Out of 150 artists from across the country participated in the Dudensing, and Michael Posner Baxte and, Robert Fawcett...

"Sea Cliff" Mid Century Modern Coastal Cliff Seascape in Acrylic on Masonite Expansive seascape by notable California artist Farren Jensen (American, 19...

Vineyard Estate Winery Landscape with Grape Vines in Oil on Canvas-Wrapped Board Beautiful landscape of a vineyard estate in California wine country with grape vines in the foregrou...

A strong modernist oil painting depicted in 1971 by Russian painter Michael Baxte. Mostly known for his abstracted figures on canvas or street scenes, this piece is a wonderful representation of his landscape paintings, with expressive use of color, shape, and form. Later in his career, Baxte explores Expressionism, infusing both European and North American stylistic trends. This piece is from later in his career, but we can feel this underlying style throughout. Art measures 18 x 21.75 inches Michael Posner Baxte was born in 1890 in the small town of Staroselje Belarus, Russia. For the first half of the 19th century it was a center of the Chabad movement of Hasidic Jews, but this group was gone by the middle of the 19th century. By the time the Baxte family immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish population numbered only on the hundreds. The native language of the Baxte family was Yiddish. It is likely that the death of Michael Baxte’s father triggered the family’s immigration. Three older brothers arrived in New York between 1903 and 1905. Michael and his mother, Rebecca, arrived in 1907. By 1910 Michael, his mother, and brother, Joseph, were living in New Orleans and may have spent some time on a Louisiana plantation. Around 1912, Michael Baxte returned to Europe to study the violin. In 1914 he, his mother, and Joseph moved to New York City. Meanwhile, in Algeria, a talented young woman painter, Violette Mege, was making history. Since for the first time, a woman won the prestigious Beaux Art competition in Algeria. At first, the awards committee denied her the prize but, with French government intervention, Mege eventually prevailed. She won again 3 years later and, in 1916, used the scholarship to visit the United States of America. When Violette came to New York, she met Baxte, who was, by then, an accomplished violinist, teacher, and composer. Baxte’s compositions were performed at the Tokyo Imperial Theater, and in 1922 he was listed in the American Jewish Yearbook as one of the prominent members of the American Jewish community. As a music teacher he encouraged individual expression. Baxte stated, “No pupil should ever be forced into imitation of the teacher. Art is a personal experience, and the teacher’s truest aim must be to awaken this light of personality through the patient light of science.” By 1920 Michael Baxte and Violette Mege were living together in Manhattan. Although they claimed to be living as husband and wife, it seems that their marriage did not become official until 1928. On their “unofficial” honeymoon around 1917, in Algiers, Baxte confided to her his ambition to paint. There and later in New Mexico where the wonderful steeped sunlight approximates the coloring of Algiers, she taught him his heart’s desire. He never had any other teacher. She never had any other pupil. For ten years she devoted all her time, energy, and ambition to teaching, encouraging, inspiring him. Then in 1928, their mutual strivings were rewarded, as his works were being chosen as one of the two winners in the Dudensing National Competition for American Painters. Out of 150 artists from across the country participated in the Dudensing, and Michael Posner Baxte and, Robert Fawcett, were the winners. In his 1924 naturalization application, he indicated that he was sometimes known as “Michael Posner Baxte.” One of the witnesses to his application was Bernard Karfiol, a Jewish American artist. That’s when Michael may...

White Sands New Mexico, Mid-Century Southwest Desert Landscape by Vannerson Gorgeous desert scene by award winning, self-taught artist Dr. Lucien C. Vannerson (American, 20th Centur...

Ultra Realist Library Still-Life Books and Candles "Little Devil in the Details" Highly detailed library interior scene and still-life titled "Little Devil in the Detail" by Ken DeWaard (American, 20th-century). This intriguing artists performance in excellence piece, features realistically rendered books, paintings within paintings, candle light, and a devil or gargoyle sculpture. The artist creates a strong mood as well as interesting subject matter in this unique scene. Signed "Dewaard '99" upper right. Displayed in a wood frame. Image size, 13"H x 14"L. Frame: 20"H x 21"W x 2"D After receiving his Bachelor of Arts with honors, Ken began working in a commercial art studio in Chicago. He continued his studies at the American Academy of Art, where he studied with nationally recognized watercolorist, Irving Shapiro. Upon Irving's recommendation Ken joined the acclaimed Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Art in Chicago, where he soon began studying with Scott Burdick as well as Dan Gerhartz...

This 20" x 23" oil on masonite painting by Georgian artist Erekle Chinchilakashvili depicts two blue trees near a brown pathway leading to the...

A large, dynamic Mid-Century summer landscape painting with female bathers by noted Chicago artist, Rudolph Pen. A wonderful example of the artist's uniquely expressive figurative w...

Double sided figurative abstract by San Jose, California area artist Daniel David Fuentes (American, 1978-2016). San Francisco bay area abstract expressionist and landscape artist du...

Verdant oil landscape with textural impasto of a calm stream winding through the trees of a lush, green forest, by San Jose, CA artist Jules Jacques (American, 20th Century). Signed "Jaques" on verso on frame. Displayed in a rustic green wood frame. Jules Jaques painted ocean and forest...

"The Awakening" Early Spring Landscape of Mt Hamilton Oil on Masonite Early Spring landscape by Palo Alto, California artist "Florice" Florence P. Wideman (Hoffman) (American, 1893-1...

A colorful impressionist Cape Cod landscape by American artist Malcolm Humphreys (1892-1963). Humphreys was born in Morristown, New Jersey, graduated from Princeton University, and p...

Small and colorful expressionist portrait of a clown by Marjorie Blake (American, 1920-1994). Signed "M. Blake" in the lower right corner. Dated "1969" ...

A nude portrait of a demure young lady seated on an antique couch in a library setting by Margaret Wherry Ziegler (American, 1909-1989). Signed with monogram "MWZ" top right, and on verso. Unframed. Image, 24"H x 12"L. Ziegler studied at Cincinnati Art Academy, Minneapolis Art...

A Transendental Abstraction by famed Chicago Modernist, William S. Schwartz titled "Impressions of the West #7". Anecdotally, Schwartz's notable "Impressions of the West" series wer...

"Ring" Textured Abstract Geometric Composition in Oil on Cradled Masonite Panel Abstract composition by California artist Devon Brockopp-Hammer (American, b. 1986). This piece is hi...

Northern California Coastal Santa Cruz County Ocean Waves 1950 Plein Air Santa Cruz Sandstone Cliffs and crashing waves near Natural Bridges circa 1950 by an unknown California artis...

Mid Century Modern, American Abstract Expressionist Painting on artist board. This lively action painting has wonderful interjections of color within the predominantly black and whi...

Beautiful modern impressionist figure painting of a nude woman by George Wishon (American, b.20th Century). The two-toned light blue and ...

Bold abstract painting with pink, yellow, black, brown and white forms by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). From the es...

Sylvia Rutkoff (1919-2011) 26-1 "The Schoolgirl" c.1950s Oil paint, sand on Masonite 36x48 wood period frame Unsigned Collection acquired from family estate Sylvia Weinreb Rutkoff (...

Medium: Oil on Masonite Signature: Signed Lower Center Dimensions: 31.00" x 25.00"

Artist: William Littlefield, American (1902 - 1969) Title: Still Life and Abstract Year: 1950 & 1954 Medium: Double-Sided Oil on Masonite, signed and dated both sides Size: 22 x 28 i...

Carl Lasch (1822-1888 German) "The Walk Back Home" A Monumental Exhibition Painting, Oil on canvas laid to masonite in original gilt-wood frame. ...

Boathouse at Night, Modernist Two Toned Color-field Abstracted Seascape Nocturnal seascape by Vasil (Victor) Papkov (20th Century). At the top of the piece, the moon is obscured beh...