Synthetic Paper Paintings

Robert Azensky Fine Art is pleased to offer original 1909 sketch study of oil painting "Homesteader Colorado Mountain" painting by Frank Tenney Johnson. It's always special to see the evolution of a painting through the plein air sketches ("studies") by the artist prior to its painting. Frank Tenney Johnson traveled throughout the Colorado Rockies sketching and painting western landscapes and native American and cowboy figurative art. Medium: Charcoal on paper Signature: Lower left corner Date: "1909" below signature Condition: Tonal aging and minor edge wear consistent with age and use. See images. Presented in black painted wood frame Mat size: 14"H x 11"W Paper size: 9"H x 6"W Image size (visible with mat): 8"H x 5.25"W Frank Tenney Johnson was born in Coucil Bluffs, Iowa, in 1874 not far from the Overland Trail. During his childhood, he saw the steady stream of people heading west in all forms of horse-drawn conveyance. This early exposure to the American West was critical in leading Johnson towards the Western landscape as an inspiration for his work. The resulting body of work is a moody and romantic depiction of a long-gone America, rendered in a style that has become practically a genre all its own. At the age of ten, Johnson moved from Iowa to Milwaukee, WI. There, he took an apprenticeship with F.W. Heinie, a prominent panoramic painter. After a year with Heinie, Johnson apprenticed for Richard Lorenz, a painter and former Texas Ranger who specialized in depictions of horses and western scenes. It was probably during his time with Lorenz that Johnson decided to focus on western subjects himself. He also started illustrating for regional papers and publications, in order to save money for further training. Further training, as with many of the artists who populated New Mexico in the early twentieth century, took place at the Art Students League in New York, where Robert Henri, William Merritt Chase, John Twachtman, Kenneth Hayes Miller and F. Louis Mora were in the process of teaching perhaps the last great batch of pre-modernists. Though highly stimulated by the training, Johnson was only able to stay for five months, after which he returned to Milwaukee to work and save money in an effort to return to New York. He was able to do so after a time and, upon returning, established an important professional relationship with Emerson Hough, the editor of "Field & Stream" magazine. At Hough's urging (and on Hough's dime), Johnson traveled to Hayden, Colorado, where he tagged along with a group of cowpunchers in order to sketch their way of life. Though primarily an artist, Johnson also wrote accounts of his time in Colorado for "Field & Stream." After Colorado came Cheyenne, Wyoming, where Johnson attended a "Frontier Days" celebration; after Wyoming, Johnson traveled to New Mexico, where he observed the Navajos and their threatened way of life. This trip changed Johnson from an academic artist with an appreciation for the west to a truly western artist. Of particular interest to him, in stark contrast to other western artists of the time like Frederic Remington and C.M. Russell, were the more quotidian scenes of the West. Specifically, Johnson focused upon scenes featuring horses, especially at night. Johnson painted a great number of pieces that featured horses tied up outside of saloons, inns or trading posts for the night, the moonlit night punctuated by the warm glow from the lamps inside. In this, he can be considered a pioneer, as his night pieces still serve as the archetype for such work in western art. Johnson became quite successful through his work for "Field & Stream." He was chosen to illustrate books by the prominent writer Zane Grey, and his gallery shows sold briskly. In fact, one particular show, at the Grand Central Art Galleries at the Biltmore Hotel in New York, sold out opening night. In fact, one man had bought out the entire show: Amon Carter. Having achieved financial security and comfort, Johnson followed his good friend Clyde Forsythe to Alhambra, CA, where the two established residency and shared a studio. California treated Johnson well. He and Forsythe founded the gallery at the Los Angeles Biltmore...

"Dusk Forest Scene, Catskills," 1875 by Hudson River School painter Lockwood DeForest (American, 1850-1932) is oil on artists card-stock and measures 9.5 x 7 inches. The work is signed by DeForest, and dated May 13, 1875 at lower right. The work is framed in an elegant, period appropriate frame, and ready to hang. Lockwood de Forest was born in New York in 1850 to a prominent family. He grew up in Greenwich Village and on Long Island at the family summer estate in Cold Spring Harbor. As was customary for a cultivated family in the Gilded Age, the de Forests made frequent trips abroad. Excursions to the great museums, which were prominent on the de Forests agenda, deepened the young Lockwood's familiarity with European painting and sculpture. Though he had begun drawing and painting somewhat earlier, it was during a visit to Rome in 1868 that nineteen-year-old de Forest first began to study art seriously, taking painting lessons from the Italian landscapist Hermann David Salomon Corrodi (1844–1905). More importantly, on the same trip, Lockwood met one of America’s most celebrated painters, (and his maternal great- uncle by marriage) Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), who quickly became his mentor. DeForest accompanied Church on sketching trips around Italy and continued this practice when they both returned to America in 1869. Early on in his career, de Forest made a habit of recording the date and often the place of his oil sketches, as to create a visual diary of his travels. Lockwood’s profession as a landscape painter can be primarily attributed to Frederic E. Church and his belief in the young artist’s talent. De Forest often visited Church in the Hudson River community of Catskill where, in addition to sketching trips and afternoons of painting, he assisted with the architectural drawings and planning of Olana. In 1872, de Forest took a studio at the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York. During these formative years de Forest counted among his friend’s artists such as Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823–80), George Henry Yewell (1830–1923), John Frederick Kensett (1816–72), Jervis McEntee (1828–91), and Walter Launt Palmer (1854–1932). Over the next decade de Forest experienced success as a painter. He exhibited for the first time at the National Academy of Design in 1872, and made two more painting trips abroad, in 1875–76 and 1877–78, traveling to the major continental capitals but also the Middle East and North Africa. His trip to the Middle East and the library at Church’s home, Olana, established his interest in design during his mid-twenties. From about 1878 to 1902, landscape painting was overshadowed by his activities and preoccupation with East Indian architecture and décor, a style that became quite fashionable in late nineteenth century America. From 1879-1883, de Forest founded Associated Artists along with Louis Comfort Tiffany, Candace Wheeler...

Painted by Hudson River School artist Hermann Simon (1846-1895) , "Sunset on the Hudson River" is oil on canvas, measures 15 x 25 inches, and is signed and dated 1875 at the lower ri...

Mi obra, creada con oleos, refleja una exploración abstracta y vibrante del espíritu humano. La elección de colores vivos y las formas entrelazadas capturan la complejidad emocional ...

Much about this late 19th-century painting remains a mystery, including the name of the artist who only left their identity in a single-letter monogram. But the work's moody embrace ...

Impressive early American Hudson River School landscape painting. Oil on paper. Framed. Image size, 7 by 9 inches.

Beautiful Hudson River School Original gouache autumnal landscape of vivid sunset through forest by Charles Russell Loomis (American 1857 - 1936), circa 1880. Warm and cool tones wit...

Substantial and period painting of Yellowstone Falls by an unknown artist (American, 19th-20th Century), c.1880-1898. Unsigned. With a plaque "Yellow...

Sometimes just a colour will inspire a painting and the colour mocha did just that with this one. Its a warm muted brown with undertones of chocolate, soft pinks and creamy orange - ...

Mi obra, creada con oleos, refleja una exploración abstracta y vibrante del espíritu humano. La elección de colores vivos y las formas entrelazadas capturan la complejidad emocional ...

Southern California Lake. Signed "J Kleitsch," which could possibly be by Joseph Kleitsch. Oil on canvas in a period giltwood frame. Image size, 16"H x 28"L. Joseph Kleitsch was c...

Katheryn Holt (American, born 1951) "Tropic" 2022 "Tropic" by Katheryn Holt is a mesmerizing 40" x 40" framed oil painting that embodies the tranquil essence of abstract expression...