1950s Paintings

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...

Antique American exhibited cubist nude portrait oil painting. Oil and casein on board. Framed. Signed. Exhibition label verso.

It's 1951. Who was doing painting like this? Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell, Lee Kra...

Antique modernist abstract painting by Elsie Orfuss (Born 1913). Oil on canvas. Signed on verso. Nicely framed. `

Bring the Ooh-la la to your home! A charming 1950s representation of a Paris Street scene by artist Marcel Godin. Artwork size: 19 1/2" x 23 1/2". Framed size: 25" x 29". Frame...

Birches. 1957, oil on board, 45x60 cm Edgars Vinters (1919-2014) Edgars Vinters is working in oil, watercolor and monotype techniques. He paints landsc...

Wonderful mid century impressionist still life depicting a basket of mushrooms and berries in jug, the wild harvest of a forager, in European old world style by and eastern European artist...

Beautiful mid century California landscape of a creek running through the woods near an old barn by San Francisco artist Bonita Salvater Van Craeynest (American, 1907-1992). Signed "...

Original post impressionist oil on canvas painting of the landmark Cafe Weber in Paris by C.H. Duval. Circa 1950. Signed by the artist lower left. Condition is excellent. Titled and signed again verso on top left wood stretcher. The painting is housed in its original gold over wood frame in fine condition. Overall framed measurements are 20.75 by 24.75 inches. Cafe Weber was located on Rue Royale near Le Madeleine and adjacent to the outdoor flower...

Vintage American modernist landscape oil painting by Frank Barry. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Measuring 27 by 31 inches overall and 18 by 22 painting alone. Nicely framed in a wood...

Abstract Composition in Pink and Black in Acrylic on Cardboard Dynamic abstract in black and pink by Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985). This piece is composed of multiple layers, with bright, bold colors at the bottom, building to black on top. Pink, magenta, yellow, and orange shine through a net of black. Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Estate stamp on verso "Estate of Honora Berg - Miller Fine Art" Numbered "246" on verso Unframed. Art size: 21.25"H x 14"W Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985) was an Abstract Expressionist and Bay Area Figurative School artist who studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with David Park, Elmer Bischoff and James Budd Dixon. Berg's friend Edith Truesdell — David Park's aunt — suggested a move to California in 1951 to study under Park. She exhibited at the 25th Annual Drawing, Print and Sculpture Exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1961. Provenance, Estate of Honora Berg - David Carlson Gallery, Larry Miller...

Abstracted River Canyon Landscape in Oil on Canvas Dramatic landscape by Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985). Three large cliffs tower over a river, creating a massive canyon. The landscape is represented in colors reminiscent of fauvism - greens, yellows, and magentas. Signed "Honora Berg" at the bottom edge. Acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Initialed and numbered "HB 103" on verso Unframed. This piece is on canvas that has been stretched over cardstock by the artist. Board size: 20.5"H x 25.75"W Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985) was an Abstract Expressionist and Bay Area Figurative School artist who studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with David Park, Elmer Bischoff and James Budd Dixon. Berg's friend Edith Truesdell — David Park's aunt — suggested a move to California in 1951 to study under Park. She exhibited at the 25th Annual Drawing, Print and Sculpture Exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1961. Provenance, Estate of Honora Berg - David Carlson Gallery, Larry Miller...

Work on canvas Golden wooden frame 64 x 55 x 5.5 cm

Antique American modernist abstract oil painting of coastal New England. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed.

Works by this female artist are scarce and rarely come to market. Juliette Kida Renault (as JKR) Esquire Magazine Illustration Original Art (Hearst, ...

Antique American modernist abstract oil painting by Adele Becker. Framed. Oil on canvas.

View Of The Haifa Coast Canvas 30x36 inches with 22 K gold leaf Motyka frame 39x45 inches, artist signed lower left corner.. Jehudith Sobel The painting portrays a vibrant landsc...

Bold mid-century still-life painting with plates and cups by French artist Chantal Jouvin, circa 1950. Original artwork on paper displayed on a ...

Antique American modernist abstract landscape oil painting. Oil on canas. Framed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a wood molding. Excellent condition, read...

Signed and Dated Lower Right Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the ...

Peck Slip, 1950, oil on cardboard, 15 x 20 inches, exhibition label verso reads: “Oil on cardboard, 20 x 15, 1950 / Title: Peck Slip / Price: $100 / Artist and Owner: Fiske Boyd / 30...

Untitled Signed, l.r. Oil on paper 16 x 13 inches (40.6 x 33 cm), framed 10 x 7.5 inches (25.4 x 19.1 cm), image This work is offered by CLAMP in New York City.

This piece is a wonderful Mid Century pertinent example of Nannot de Groot's works from the prime of his career with thick use of impasto oil paint, and gestural brushwork throughout. In 1957 it was a transitional year from painting figures in his New York studio to his new studio into the countryside. And in 1959 he and his wife came back to Provincetown Massachusetts and rented a small cabin that was in a field belonging to Mary Cecil Allen on the west end. It was a small space, and there was a tree that was outside the front door, he was inspired and painted this tree over and over, and soon it was the beginning of a whole new series. The brush landscape that was outside of the window of the cabin became a focal point of this series and every year it would change, picking up inspiration to depict the tree in a new way each year. This piece is signed and dated 59' by the artist upper right corner and it comes housed with the original Mid-Century wood frame with gold rim and hanging wire on verso ready to be displayed. Art measures 49.5 x 39 inches Frame measures 51.5 x 40 inches Nanno de Groot was born on March 23 of 1913, in Balkbrug, Holland. He started drawing at six years of age. Although his father prevented him to study art at an early age, he moved to the United States in the year of 1941, and in 1946 at age 33 he discovered Picasso and he dedicated the rest of his life to painting and drawing. He worked for a year as a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle. After his marriage to the New York School artist Elise Asher...

Wonderful mid century modern oil painting of nude oil painting of an artist, possibly Joan Brown (see sample photo image). C. 1950. Condition: Excellent. Un...

* No US duty or taxes to pay on this item * An unusual mid 20th century French oil on canvas depicting figures outside a circus with big top tent, monkeys on a caravan and parrot in...

A fantastic Mid-Century painting of a car driving through a mountain pass by artist & Photographer A. George Miller. Artwork size: 15" x 22". Framed size: 21" x 28". Handsomely...

Antique American modernist New England barn oil painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1960. Signed illegibly. Image size, 24L x 20H. Framed in a period f...

Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed.

A fresh and intriguing composition that keeps you looking at it. The composition is composed of summer greens, whites, blues and lavenders and also conveys figures and movement. Ho...

Signed oil on board riverscape circa 1950 by French Post Impressionist painter Georges Charles Robin. The work depicts a view of the Dordogne riv...

A charming 1950s painting depicting a lighthouse in Martha's Vineyard, titled "Vineyard Light" by notable artist Francis Chapin. Artwork size: 8" x 9 1/2". Framed size: 9" x 10 1...

Modernist mixed media abstract portrait. Framed. Mixed media original collage. Signed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a wood molding. Excellent condition, r...

Born in Stockholm the son of a sea captain, Boëthius studied at the Celeb Althins Art Academy from 1920 to 1921 followed by the National Art Academy in Stockholm from 1921 to 1923. H...

Composition is an original contemporary artwork realized in the mid-20th Century by Mario Asnago. Mixed colored oil painting. Hand signed on the lower margin. Includes frame: 90x5...

An abstract collage on wood by Kenneth Morrow Martin, American (1911-1983). Exhibited: 1st Knoxville Art Center National Exhibtion, 1961 White Landscape by Keith Morrow Martin...

Devils depicted. Artist Wilson Bigaud paints a graphic narrative of mid-century life in Haiti without modern medicine. A man is dying yet there is no doctor present. In the struggle...

Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting by Jane Lapey. Oil on canvas. Exhibition label verso. Framed. Image size, 28L x 22H.

Wonderful mid century mixed media coastal/figurative in loose/painterly style by Irmal Gertrude Attridge (American, 1894-1962), circa 1950. Signed lower right. Presented in vintage frame under glass (included as-is). Image size: 9"H x 12"W. Irma Gertrude Attridge was born in Chicago and studied at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles with Henry McFee and Oscar Van Young. Member of Calif. AC; AEA; Cal. WC. Soc.; Women Painters...

Well painted 1950's mid-century modern English portrait of a nude woman laying on a bed. The artist was a portrait and figure painter active during the 1950s-1960s Oils on artists ...

Oil on canvas sold with frame Total size with frame 58x67 cm Signed A. Zosso (artist unknown from the gallery) Dated 1951

A beautiful 1950's French oil on canvas depicting a white house on a tree lined street by Peter Orlando. Distinctly evocative of France, we feel as though we have been been through t...

The Horse is an original artwork realized by Italian artist Esperia Gava. Enamel on paper Applied on cardboard. Hand-signed on the lower right. Very good conditions. The artwork...

Mid Century Modern Boats and Bridge, Abstracted Maritime Landscape Painting Wonderful mid-century modern abstracted maritime seascape by listed San...

Signed lower left, "Di Gesu" for Victor Di Gesu (American, 1914-1988), with estate stamp, verso, and painted circa 1955. Winner of the Prix Othon Friesz, Victor di Gesu first attend...

Theodoros Stamos Untitled, 1956 Signed lower left Oil on canvas 54 x 48 inches Procenance The artist Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York Private Collection, Hudson Valley, New York Est...

American life is captured in this Clyde Singer painting, Snow in the City (1954), where he depicts an everyday moment in the city. An ordinary scene, of a group of women making thei...

Work on canvas Beige wooden frame and golden borders 49 x 56.6 x 4 cm

A modern abstract expressionist oil painting signed illegibly and dated 1956.

Signed lower right 'Schyl' for Jules Schyl (Danish, 1893-1977); additionally signed, verso, and dated 1952. This pioneer of Fauvism in Sweden worked as a painter, graphic artist an...

Antique American abstract cubist composition "Terra Firma Theme 10" by Augustus Goertz (Born 1948) . Oil on canvas, circa 1958. Housed in a period gi...

Martin Eder was a Swedish drawing teacher, artist and ceramicist. Martin was born on the island of Gotland and spent a lot of time there, he also lived in Sala. Martin was a curious ...

49.5 x 35 cm Artwork unsigned - Christo 1955 Provenance Private collection, Bulgaria This artwork hasn't been exposed for 70 years. This portrait artwork had been awarded with the ...

Original Bay Area Figurative of Mother and Baby in Oil Paint on Laid Paper Original oil painting depicting a modern twist of a mother and baby by Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985), ...

Signed lower right, 'Vivian R. Huebler' for Vivian Ruth Lewis Huebler (American, 1890-1975); additionally signed, verso, with artist address and painted circa 1955. Vivian Huebler w...

Dora Maar è lo pseudonimo di Henrietta Theodora Markovitch (Parigi 1907 - 1997). Avvolta nell'ombra monumentale di Picasso, è stata a lungo - e riduttivamente - conosciuta come la su...

Gorgeous mid-century still life of a vase of white lilies next to a green teapot and lemon by listed California artist Helen Enoch Gleiforst (American, 19...

Estate stamp, verso, for Victor Di Gesu (American, 1914-1988) and painted circa 1955. Winner of the Prix Othon Friesz, Victor di Gesu first attended the Los Angeles Art Center and t...

Frameless. Pascual Roch Minue (1899-1977), promoter of Spanish impressionism. His work is in several museums, national and international collections. Roch Minue settled in Pollens...

TitelNature morte à la théière (FOND VERT) TechnikOil on canvas Jahr1957 Grösse37cm × 105cm (14.6" × 41.3") SignaturSigned lower right "G Braque" Provenance Christie's London, 5.Fe...

Mid-century French oil pastel of blonde in pleasing tones of blues and yellows, circa 1950. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold border. Archival plastic ...