1940s Paintings

Work on canvas

Painterly, colorful impressionist painting of a tree lined path on a sunny hillside overlooking Monhegan Island, with distinctive residences for artists and visitors, in this beautiful Art Colony by Margaret Cox Herrick (American, 1865-1950). Signed by the artist lower right, "M. C. Herrick." Oil on canvas. Linen wrapped wood liner. Gilt wood frame. Image, 16"H x 14"W. Born in San Francisco, CA on June 24, 1865, the daughter of artist Wm F. Herrick. Margaret studied at the local School of Design under Virgil Williams, Emil Carlsen, and Arthur Mathews...

An original oil on canvas painting by American artist James Koenig created in 1944.

Paul LUNAUD (Brantôme 1900 – 1949) The ironer Oil on wood H. 80 cm; W. 64 cm Signed and dated on the right in the center, formerly signed lower right. 1942 Provenance : Artist's stu...

This vibrant oil painting by Henry Varnum Poor (American, 1888–1970) captures a blooming spring landscape with barns, budding trees, and bright skies rendered in expressive, textural...

Alexander Sharpe Ross - or Alex Ross. This work is a perfect artistic statement with every formal element in perfect harmony. It's a masterf...

Up for sale is an interesting original vintage oil painting on canvas by Famous British Artist Ernest Burnett Hood, (1932 to 1988), depicting a portrait of a man in costume. Ernest...

Impressive early American modernist opera view interior oil painting by Dorothy Van Loan (1904 - 1999). Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed. Image size,...

Genre: Avant-Garde Subject: Abstract Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Country: Mexico Dimensions: 25 3/4" x 19 3/4" x 3/4" Dimensions w/Frame: 27" x 21 1/4" THE VICTIM Yonia Fain Oil, 1947 Although this oil painting’s subject is predominantly abstract, there is a faint echo of a figural shape at its center. A figure wearing Tefillin, An organic form appears to be pinned to a hammer shaped object, reminiscent of a crucifix. This tool may be a reference to one of the Soviet Union’s symbols. Moreover, it is likely a direct reference to the persecution Fain faced as a Russian Jew in Bolshevik Russia. The contrast between colors, geometric lines, and organic curves is indicative of Fain’s collaboration with Diego Rivera, as well as the time he spent in Mexico. The primary hues communicate the hardship the artist underwent and his cathartic ability to reproduce those emotions through paint. In addition to being a renowned artist and award-winning poet, Yonia Fain is among the few survivors to triumph over the turmoil of the 20th century. Fain’s abundant body of artwork and poetry pays tribute to the hardship many experienced during the Russian Revolution, Nazi invasion of Poland, and World War II. The persecution Fain experienced forced him to immigrate to several countries including China, Mexico, and the United States. Yonia Fain was born in Russia in 1914. When he was only 10-years-old, he and his family fled from the Bolshevik Revolution to Poland. There he pursued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and hoped to continue his education in Paris. He was awarded B.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the University of Poland. In 1939, the artist and his wife Helen moved to Warsaw when the town they lived in, Vilna, became occupied by the Soviet Union. Although they managed to escape the Nazis, Fain was apprehended by Soviet military...

Antique Russian super realist still life painting by Sergei Petrovich Ivanov (1893 - 1983). Oil on canvas, circa 1945. Signed. Displayed in a period modernist frame. Image size, 3...

"Money Lender" WPA American Scene Social Realism Modernism Mid Century Mervin M Jules (1912-1994 "The Money Lender" 15 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches Oil on board, c. 1940s Signed lower left F...

Date: July 1942 Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 36.00" x 26.00" Signature: Signed Lower Left Illustration for Cosmopolitan magazine. Tom Lovell’s illustrations range from adventur...

This original 1940s American Modernist gouache painting, "Artists Sketching (California)," captures a dynamic scene of three artists at work against a majestic mountain backdrop. With expressive brushwork and a rich color palette, the piece embodies Frederick E. Shane’s signature blend of realism and modernist abstraction. Signed, titled, and dated by the artist in the lower margin, this remarkable artwork reflects the era’s Regionalist influence and the artist’s keen eye for capturing creative moments in the natural landscape. The painting is professionally housed in a custom archival frame, ensuring long-term preservation. Frame dimensions: 25.5 x 37.5 x 1.5 inches. Image size: 20.25 x 29.75 inches. Provenance: Estate of the Artist, Frederick Shane About the Artist: Frederick E. Shane (1906-1992) A celebrated Missouri Regionalist painter and printmaker, Frederick E. Shane was known for his compelling genre scenes, landscapes, seascapes, and portraits in a variety of media, including oil, watercolor, gouache, tempera, and lithography. While fundamentally a realist, Shane often incorporated elements of abstraction, expressionism, and surrealism, adding depth and emotion to his compositions. During the summers of 1925-26, Shane studied under Randall Davey at the Broadmoor Academy in Colorado Springs, an institution founded in 1919 by philanthropists Spencer and Julie Penrose. Shane remained closely connected to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, the Academy’s successor, throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, participating in Artists West of the Mississippi exhibitions and forming lasting friendships with key figures like Boardman Robinson and Adolph Dehn...

Astounding painting and carving on wood panel by the “Hound of Heaven” artist Robert Gammell. Created 1947. This beautiful work features rich color, gold accents and incredible detail. Signed lower right “R.H. Ives Gammell” and dated ‘47. The subject comes from the imagination of the artist and is titled “Lady of the Seven Sorrows.” The work measures 34 1/2"h x 11 1/4"w and is considered to be one of the artist’s “Puppy Panels.” The ornate frame measures 38 1/2"h x 15 1/2"w x 1 1/4"d. The weight is 9 ½ pounds. A label is attached to the verso listing the work as being an entry for the 1967 Grand National Show with the American Artists Professional League in New York. This detailed and beautiful painting is a work to be treasured. More Information Robert Hale Ives Gammell: After completing his major allegorical sequence, the Hound of Heaven, Gammell felt compelled to revisit certain themes and figurative compositions in later years. His original plan was to display the smaller panels, or "Puppy Panels" as he affectionately called them, between the larger Hound panels. Robert Hale Ives Gammell (1893-1981) was a prolific professional painter working in Boston, Provincetown, and Williamstown, Massachusetts. During the sixty-five years of his career, Gammell painted murals, portraits, landscapes, and still lifes, but the pieces which excited him most were the allegorical works drawn from his imagination. In his diary Gammell wrote that he was “fascinated by the drama of man in his relationship to the forces of the universe and of his own nature.” Over the years he experimented using ancient myths and rituals as well as contemporary symbols in his attempts to articulate images of man’s terror, wonder and yearning in the face of a century of upheaval. Excerpt from Elizabeth Ives Hunter, the God-daughter of R. H. Ives Gammell and the daughter of his assistant, Theodore W. J. Valsam. R. H. Ives Gammell believed in the practice and standards of art should rest on the Gold standard established by the 19th-century French system of learning, as practiced by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Academie Julian of Paris. His personal mission was to follow that tradition, so he established his own Studio working with a handful of students at a time. His book ‘Twilight of Painting’ would help define a way back to those lofty goals for future artists, reflecting the uncompromising levels of quality that he embraced, and maintained. Robert Hale Ives Gammell was born to wealth in Providence, Rhode Island and spent the majority of his artistic life in Boston at the Fenway Studios and in Williamstown, MA, where he died in 1981. In 1910, Gammell studied briefly with William C. Loring and Wm. Sergeant Kendall before training in 1913 at Boston's Museum School with Philip Hale, F.W. Benson and Edmund C. Tarbell for a few months. Gammell then went to Provincetown, MA to study with Charles Hawthorn and then to the Academie Julian in Paris and the Academie Baschet until the end of 1914. He was tremendously influenced by the teachings of Tarbell and the work of Joseph DeCamp and William M. Paxton. He was so influenced by the Boston School he vowed to hand down their teaching traditions to generations of students and he did exactly that. Some of the painters who are "Gammellites" are Samuel Rose, Thomas R. Dunlay, Robert Cormier, Richard Lack, Gary Hoffman, Stephen Gjerston, Robert Douglas Hunter, David Lowrey, David Curtis...

Beautiful desert canyon landscape of Black Canyon, Arizona featuring Adobe home in foreground by Claire McAnear (American, 1989 - 1986), 1945. Presented in aged gilt-toned wood fram...

Rare and well executed modernist wall plaque by Richard Kuehne. Paint on gesso plaque. Signed. Silver leaf incorporated frame as photographed.

Work on canvas with frame. Total size with frame: 36x42x5 cm

Camillo Adriani was born in Massachusetts in the late 19th century. He studied art in Boston. Adriani was especially well known for his vibrant portrayal of New England snow scenes...

Striking abstract acrylic painting of a nude male figure in a reclining pose and surrounded by vivid flames by Beugnet, circa 1950. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white...

Moonlight Shanties, c. 1940s, oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches, signed lower right, signed and titled verso About the Painting In Moonlight Shanties, Joachim depicts a lower-class neighborhood sitting along-side an elevated road or railway which crowds out the small nearby houses and structures. Joachim’s use of an expressionist palette and gestural brushstrokes together with the isolated figures obscured in the shadows, create a feeling of unease, isolation and even loneliness. From the 1920s through 1940s, American artists commonly employed expressionist conventions in their social realist works which portrayed the gritty side of urban America, especially the communities of the city-dwelling poor. Expressionist styles were considered appropriate for bridging the gap between the modernist idea of art-for-art’s-sake and the narrative qualities demanded by the dual crises of the Great Depression and World War II. Moonlight Shanties successfully uses these expressionist methods to portray a neighborhood and its people who appear to be literally and figuratively “on the edge.” About the Artist Paul Lamar Joachim...

This is a great American landscape painting by the artist, Clyde Singer. Gorgeous tonal shades of green and grey depict a stormy midwestern landscape. Framed 16 x 24 inches Canva...

This landscape painting by Ture Ander, completed in 1945, captures the serene beauty of a Värmland lake. The composition is dominated by soft, blue hues that give a tranquil feel, suggesting a calm day by the water. The trees in the foreground, depicted with a delicate blend of pink and earthy tones, add depth and contrast to the expansive lake and distant hills. Ture Ander was born on September 17, 1880, in Askers socken, Örebro. At the age of 13, he moved to Stockholm to apprentice as a painter. While working during the day, he pursued evening courses at the Technical School, now known as Konstfack, where he graduated in 1903 with high honors in painting. In 1905, Ander was accepted into the prestigious Artist Association School, studying alongside prominent artists such as Leander Engström, Isaac Grünewald, and Einar Nerman...

Jean Dominique Van Caulert, (1897-1979), although most often associated with his celebrity portraits and works for the theater, he was also a true symbolist in the tradition of the Belgian symbolist's. "The Nurturing", oil on canvas, dated 1947, is Van Caulert's depiction of the nurturing of post war Europe, as the shrouded woman offers an apple to an androgynous figure.

This striking British Post Impressionist portrait oil painting is by noted Manchester artist Harry Rutherford. Painted circa 1940, the portrait is of a dark haired young woman in a f...

Story illustration for “Marriage is a Private Affair” by Judith Kelly, published in the Ladies’ Home Journal, March 1941, page 13. Featuring a young bride and groom embracing as a ma...

Paris: Pont Alexandre III by Henri Miloch (1898-1979) signed lower right watercolour and gouache painting on artist's paper, unframed Sheet:: 13 x 9.75 inches Charming painting by ...

Tropical Still Life with Green Pot and Ukulele in Oil on Canvas Vibrant still life by Santa Cruz County artist N. Weber (20th Century). There are ...

Impressive early American modernist interior scene oil painting. Framed. Oil on board. Signed verso. Image size, 20 by 27 inches.

Vintage modernist still life with a cat. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed.

Impressive early American modernist street scene. Reminiscent of New Orleans or another souther city. A bustling street scene. Nicely framed. No signature found. Image size, 24...

Nicely painted early 1900's oil painting. by Richard Hook. Great color and composition. Nicely framed.

Vintage modernist still life painting. Oil on canvas. Image size, 18L x 24H.

A very beautiful landscape painting by a yet unknown artist signed H.Lövström. The colours are strong and the three-dimensionality is impressive...

Wonderful mid-century impressionistic landscape of Ogden, Utah mountain foothills by Grace H. Peterson (American, 20th Century), 1944. Signed and dated...

The present mid-century work features two taboos in one painting. In 1949, it was verboten to glamorize gay life and even more prohibited to show interracial love. This work by Dan A...

Swiss painter Sculptor, painter and ceramist. Landscape. Wall painting and drawing Artwork on cardboard

Work on canvas Gray wooden frame 56 x 48 x 5.5 cm

Everett Spruce (1908 - 2002) Austin Artist Image Size: 18 x 15 Frame Size: 28 x 25 Medium: Oil on paper / Mixed Exhibited at a University of Texas Faculty art show in 1947 Unsigned Biography Everett Spruce (1908 - 2002) The following, submitted by a researcher of the Ashworth Collection of Native American and Western Art, is from the artist's obituary in the Fort Smith, Arkansas "Times Record" newspaper, October 20, 2002. Everett F. Spruce, well-known artist, teacher, professor emeritus, died Friday, Oct. 18, 2002, at age 94. Everett Spruce was born on a farm in Conway to William E. and Fannie McCarty Spruce. He came to Dallas, at age 17, on a scholarship to study at the Dallas Art Institute, under Olin Travis and Thomas M. Stell Jr. In 1931, he became gallery assistant at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and in 1934 married Alice V. Kramer, a fellow art student. He was one of the "Dallas Nine" group of Southwest artists...

Antique American regionalist modern landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1940. Signed. Displayed in a period modern frame. Image, 30"L x 25"H.

This stunning Scottish Abstract oil painting is by much noted artist William Gear. It was painted in 1949, not long after Gear de mobbed in 1947, moved to Paris and established a one room studio at 13 Quai des Grands Augustins, hence the title Interieur, Forme Blanche. At the same time, Gear was introduced to CoBrA, allowing him to exhibit in important early CoBrA shows in Copenhagen and in Amsterdam in 1949. The same year saw an exhibition at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York, alongside Jackson Pollock. Gear remained in Paris until the early fifties. This bold abstract mixes blocks of solid colour with more geometric lines and is an excellent and important example of his period in Paris. Signed and dated '49 lower left. Provenance: Private London collection. Condition. Oil on canvas, 24 inches by 20 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in a wooded white painted frame, 34 inches by 30 inches and in good condition. Few British painters have played an active role in the modern abstract movement of post-war Europe. William Gear was the most passionate and committed exception. He continued the tradition of the Edinburgh-Paris axis established by J.D. Fergusson, Samuel Peploe and others, spending vital years between 1947 and 1950 living and working in Paris. Significantly, in recent years, he received the greatest acclaim in France, Germany and the Netherlands. He was born in 1915 in Methil, Fife, into a mining family; the particular landscape of "pitheads, the sea, rocks, castles, trees, storms and poverty" marked his earliest identity with a place and probably remained the most influential to his art. Years later he recalled as a schoolboy visiting the local art gallery in Kirkcaldy and seeing 12 colourful still-lifes by Peploe. Art-history lessons during student years at Edinburgh College of Art, in particular Byzantine classes under David Talbot Rice, also influenced his concern for structure. This had as much to do with the formal language of painting as sheer delight in the medium itself. Gear never missed an opportunity to show people the merits of a well-constructed painting. On a travelling scholarship in 1937, he chose to study with Fernand Leger, described by Gear as "a keystone for me, seldom abstract, rather a degree of abstraction". The Second World War interrupted these formative years and, by 1940, Gear had joined the Royal Corps of Signals. Dispatched to the Middle East, he still had the discipline to paint - mostly works on paper of damaged landscapes - with exhibitions in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Cairo as well as Siena and Florence. His naturally robust and tenacious temperament was profoundly affected by visiting Bergen-Belsen, and this certainly influenced the later experiments with the black armature. As the British officer in Celle, working for the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section of the Control Commission, he focused on securing the safety of the Berlin Art Collection in Schloss Celle, and organised an important series of modern art exhibitions, including the rejected work of Karl Otto Gotz...

"Union Square" NYC American Scene Social Realism Modernism WPA Mid-20th Century Agnes Hart (American, 1912-1979) "Union Square, New York City" Sight: 14 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches Gouache...

Leon Dolice: 1892-1960. Well listed American artist with Auction results as high as $6000 for a pastel of the Chrysler building. This is exactly what you want in a Dolice. A tonalist...

Vintage Paris School signed original oil painting. Oil on board, circa 1950. Signed illegibly. Displayed in a period wood frame. Image, 12"L x 16"H.

Emile Albert Gruppe (1896-1978) Fall landscape Oil on canvas laid to canvas Signed lower right: Emile A. Gruppe Canvas: 40" H x 30" W Inches Framed: 48.25 x 38.25 Inches Very large ...

Pal Monostori-Moller: 1894-1978. Well listed Hungarian artist with auction results over $27,000. This gem might be from his paintings of an amusement park in England. It is oil on ca...

Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Left The Saturday Evening Post Magazine Cover, May 21, 1949. The irritated tire-changer? Why, that's artist George Hughes himself. The...

MODERNIST ABSTRACT Mid-Century New Hope Non-Objective oil American Modern WPA Louis Stone (1902-1984) "Abstract," 16 X 12 inches. Oil on canvas, signed lower right. An abstract pai...

Antique American modernist abstract oil painting by Arnold Aaron Friedman (1874 - 1946). Oil on canvas. Signed on verso. Framed.

Blue Lake in the Rockies and Hunter - Oil on Linen Cascades and snow capped mountains over look a blue lake with a successful hunter carrying his trophy deer by Vern Byers (American...

Belgian artist Miette Braive(1916-2000), was classically trained in Belgium, before moving to Paris to pursue her art career as first a student and then a contemporary of the French ...

Oil on canvas. Framed. Image size, 18H x 24L. No signature found. Very nicely painted.

Step into a world of serenity and natural beauty with "Three Bathers," a captivating vintage 1940s oil painting on board by renowned Colorado artist Morgan Wagner. This exquisite art...

Wonderful mid-century desert landscape of Sherman Rocks, Utah, featuring an impressive rock formation in an arid setting under blue skies by John Wilcox (A...

Landscape. 1942. Oil on cardboard, 36.5x47.5 cm Alfejs Bromults (1913.3.IV - 1991.11.I) His first professional education was at National University a...

Circa 1940 Signed lower right Newly matted and framed Sight size 9.5 x 12 in. Overall size with frame 16 x 18 in.

A "Thumb Box" (diminutive) painting of the Gospel Hall in Calais, VT by artist Harold Haydon. Image size: 4 1/2" x 6". Framed size: 9 3/4" x 10 3/4"....

Wonderful early American modernist sunset seascape painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. No signature found. Measuring 22 by 24 overall and image size, 20 by 18 inches.

Cover of The Saturday Evening Post, February 5, 1949 Label on back is Falter’s handwriting, his daughter said Curtis Publishing probably titled it “meeting the Date”. The Episcopal ...

Post Impressionist oil on canvas still life painting by the New York artist, Frances Joan Kruszewski. Initialed bottom right and dated 1942. In very good original condition; no restorations. Original gesso over wood gold leaf frame in fine condition. Overall 21.25 by 17.25 inches. Provenance: Port Jervis, New York estate. A painter of post-impressionist landscapes and still lifes, Kruszewski was born on August 30, 1921 in New York City and died in Locust Valley, New York on July 18, 1971. Education: Studied under Edgar Whitney, AWS; Marion B. Brown, AWS; Paul Puzinas, Anthony Toney...

Label verso: "Portrait of a Lady / Oil / MUC / Beatrice Whitney Van Ness / unsigned / size 30h x 25w ". From the estate of the artist. Beatrice Whit...