Portrait Paintings

Large signed and dated figurative oil on canvas by French symbolist painter Edmond Francois Aman-Jean. The piece depicts a seated a beautiful young woman wearing a blue floral dressing gown having her long brunette hair brushed by her maid wearing her black uniform with white apron. Signature: Signed and dated 1916 upper left Dimensions: Framed: 38"x33" Unframed: 29"x24" Provenance: Private UK collection Edmond Aman-Jean spent his early childhood in St-Amand, where his father ran an inland water transport company. Both his parents died before he was ten years old, and he went to live with his uncle in Paris. After a classical education at a Jesuit school, he started working at the studio of the sculptor Justin Lequien, where George Seurat was a fellow pupil. In 1878, with Seurat, he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, studying under Henri Lehmann, who also taught Pissarro. There, Aman-Jean, Ernest Laurent and Seurat realised they had a shared interest in Impressionism and consequently decided to leave the school. The pencil portrait of Aman-Jean by Seurat is a moving testimony to the intensity of his early years. At the Salon of 1881 he discovered Puvis de Chavannes, and from around 1883 he worked with him, assisting on Sacred Grove, which adorns a wall of the main staircase of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyons. He won his first award at the Salon in 1883, and in 1885 he was given a travel scholarship to Rome, where he went with Ernest Laurent and Henri Martin. After joining Stéphane Mallarmé's Cercle des Mardis, he was asked to participate in the Salon de la Rose-Croix in 1892 and 1893. It was around this time that he struck up a friendship with Verlaine that was to endure until his death. He stopped exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes Français, which he considered too conventional, and began exhibiting regularly at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, becoming a member in 1893, and chairman of the painting section in 1914, 1921 and 1922. From 1896 to 1897 he went on a long trip to Italy with his wife, staying in Naples and Amalfi. In 1889 he won a silver medal, and in 1900 was awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle. On that occasion he was also made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur (he was later made an Officier, then in 1933 a Commandeur, as well as an Officier de l'Ordre de Léopold de Belgique). From 1899 onwards he often exhibited with the Société des Pastellistes de France. In 1899 he founded the Société Nouvelle de Peintres et Sculpteurs, which exhibited at the Galerie Georges Petit for 14 years. Around the turn of the century he travelled to Munich, Holland, Belgium and England and to Vienna as a guest of the Secession. He also made many trips to Italy. From 1902 onwards he was frequently invited to the USA to produce commissioned portraits of numerous public figures, as well as murals in a number of towns. He was also invited to exhibit there, notably at the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh until 1914, where he was on the judging panel. He even organised an exhibition of French art between 1911 and 1912 which took place in Buffalo, St Louis and Pittsburgh. In 1912 he took part in the new Salon de la Triennale with, among others, Maurice Denis and Renoir. In 1913 he was appointed curator of the La Fontaine museum in Château-Thierry. Also in 1913 he published his paper on Velazquez, which was an immediate success. His work was interrupted by World War I. For four years he stayed in Château-Thierry, which fell under German occupation, and almost ceased painting altogether. After 1922 he left the Société Nationale and founded the Salon des Tuileries together with Albert Besnard, who became its chairman, with Aman-Jean and Bourdelle as vice-chairmen. He very rarely had solo exhibitions, but exhibited jointly with René Ménard at the Galerie Georges Petit in 1925. In 1936 a major exhibition was held at the Salon des Tuileries in his honour. Since his death he has been represented at collective exhibitions of the works of his era. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris held a retrospective of his work in 1970; the Musée de la Chartreuse in Douai and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Carcassonne hosted the exhibition Dreams of Women, Edmond Aman-Jean in 2003 and 2004. In the 1880s he had produced engravings and lithographs. His lithographs were a big success. He made little effort to distribute his etchings. He was a careful draughtsman, working in charcoal, lithographic pencil, coloured chalk and pastels. He produced decorative compositions, most of them destined for various public buildings in Paris: St Julian the Nurse in 1883, Joan of Arc in 1885, The Park in 1901 for the town hall in Château-Thierry, four panels for the Marsan wing of the Louvre in 1908-1909, and painted The Four Elements for the chemistry lecture theatre at the Sorbonne in 1912, after which the parliament of Chile commissioned four large panels for the parliamentary palace. For a while after his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, Aman-Jean practised Seurat's technique of divisionism, but he soon reverted to a 'flat' style as he tackled his first few commissions for decorative compositions. During his stay in Naples and Amalfi in 1896 and 1897, the harsher light enabled him to discover more vibrant colours, and he took to using these in moderation during this first period of maturity. Gradually from 1912 onwards his work began to reflect a sensitivity to the intimate charm of Bonnard's work. Today, this intimist part of his output is more appreciated, although it surprised those around him at the time. Works include portraits of women at home: Portrait of Miss S. Poncet, Portrait of Mrs. Juliette Second, and some anonymous young women with dreamy, melancholy demeanours: Confiding Secrets, Waiting and Woman with a Peacock, in which we witness both the supple rigour of his drawing and the colour harmonies, muted again but punctuated with brighter notes, which especially characterise his later work. The critic Roger Marx thought, with respect to these young women, that 'the unfathomable mystery of the eyes and the vague smile suggest the flight of troubled thought', although it is true that art criticism leaned towards psychological explanation at the time. He also depicted numerous nudes, no longer portrayed as allegories, but displaying a healthy sensuality, particularly in his drawings from 1906-1907 onwards, which testify clearly to his interest in femininity. Museum and Gallery Holdings: Aix-les-Bains (Mus. Faure): Woman with a Black Hat (1900); Woman with a Pink Shawl (c. 1905, pastel); Reverie, Nude Study (c. 1907, charcoal and watercolour); Woman in a Dressing Gown (c. 1915, pastel); Bather with Rose (c. 1925) Amsterdam (Van Gogh Mus.): Pensive Young Woman, Portrait of Thadée Aman-Jean (1892) Brest: St Genevieve outside Paris (1885) Bucharest: Confiding Secrets (1908) Buenos Aires: Woman with Blue Vase Carcassonne: St Julian L'Hospitalier (1882); Doubter (1900) Château-Thierry: The Violinist (c. 1905, pastel); Woman with a Coral Necklace, Miss Ella Carmichael (c. 1908); Portrait of Dr. Ernest de Massary (1914); Portrait of Mme Ladureau (1933) Château-Thierry (Town Hall): The Park (1901, in collaboration with Aubert) Cincinnati (AM): Merry Woman (La Rieuse) (engraving) Cleveland (MA): Meditation (1891) Dijon (MBA): Merry Woman (c. 1897, lithograph); Hair (c. 1898, lithograph); Reverie (c. 1898, pastel); Woman with Glove (1902, pastel); Head of a Woman in a White Hat (1902, pastel); Portrait of a Woman, Mme Ernest Chausson (1902); Line Aman-Jean Dressed as Marie-Antoinette (1903); Still-life (c. 1905); Little Girl in the Meadows Douai: Privacy, Reading (1904); Goodbye to the Swallows (1923); Resting after the Duet (1924); Raining Stars (c. 1925) Gray: Young Woman with Yellow Scarf (1895); Woman with White Glove (1898, pastel); La Pierreuse (1898, pastel); Study of a Woman (c. 1905, charcoal, pastel and distemper); Young Girl with Flowers (c. 1905); Study of a Reclining Nude (c. 1905, charcoal, chalk and watercolour); Woman in a Straw Hat (c. 1905, pastel); Nude with a Hat (1906, charcoal and pastel); Portrait of Mr Edmond Pigalle (1906, charcoal and pastel); Nude with Pergola (1906-1907, charcoal and pastel); Portrait of a Woman, Mme René-Jean (1907, charcoal and pastel); Young Woman with Blue Eyes (1920) Kurashiki (Ohara MA): Hair (c. 1910); Family Portrait (1913) Limoux (Mus. Petiet): Young Girl with Dog...

Erik Tryggelin (1878-1962) Sweden A Portrait, 1913 signed and dated E Tryggelin 11/6 1913 oil on canvas laid on masonite canvas dimensions 7.48 x 5....

Impressionist oil on panel circa 1910 by French painter Marie Duhem. The work depicts a self portrait of the artist seated on a chair with a red throw. She is wearing a black skirt, ...

A simply beautiful oil on panel by Danish realist painter Paul Gustav Fischer. The work depicts a young woman wearing pink ballet shoes and a flowing blue dress performing a dance in a ballroom, a tambourine raised above her head and elegant men and women looking on. Signature: Signed and dated 1910 lower right Dimensions: Framed: 23"x17.5" Unframed: 18"x12.5" Paul Fischer was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Paul Fischer was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He belonged to the fourth generation of a Jewish family which originally came from Poland. He was the son of Philip August Fischer (1817-1907) and Gustafva Albertina Svedgren (1827-83). The family was upper middle class; His father had started as a painter, but later succeeded in the business of manufacturing paints and lacquers. His formal art education lasted only a short time in his mid teens when he spent two years at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen. Fischer began to paint when he was still young, guided by his father. He worked from 1878-88 at the father's factory and exhibited regularly at Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition 1884-1902. It was thanks to a painting he had published in Ude og Hjemme that his reputation began to evolve as he came in contact with young Danish naturalists. His earlier paintings depict city life. For this reason, he has been called "Copenhagen's painter" (Københavns maler). After a stay in Paris from 1891–1895, his colours became richer and lighter. It was not long before Fischer gained fame as a painter of cities, not just Copenhagen, but scenes from Scandinavia, Italy and Germany, reaching his zenith between 1890 and 1910. He benefited from contemporaries in Norway and Sweden, especially Carl Larsson. Around this time, he also painted bright, sunny bathing scenes, some with nude women, and developed an interest in posters, inspired by Théophile Steinlen and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. During the period when he actively painted, Danish art was dominated by Laurits Tuxen...

Scottish artist Robert Payton Reid painted this superb Edwardian portrait oil painting in 1910. It was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy the same year entitled Fragrant Blossom...

Vintage American modernist tropical oil painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1920. No signature found. Framed. Partial exhibition label verso.

Ernst Otto Leuenberger (Swiss, 1856 - 1937) Jugendstil Portrait of a Woman Oil on canvas on card (Artistboard), ca. 38.5 x 30.5 cm Signed lower right Frame, ca. 42.5 x 34.5 cm Ern...

As the Son of Albert Clark and Grandson James Clark, William Albert Clark comes from a background of acclaimed animal artists. Although William was actually registered as ‘Albert Wil...

Henry Crowther worked in the tradition of the itinerant artist, visiting kennels throughout the British Isles and painting portraits of the important show dogs of the day. He also attended all the principal British conformation dog shows since at least 1900 and was known to “guarantee a correct likeness.” Around 1913, he expanded his subject matter to include horses. While somewhat formulaic in composition, Crowther painted from life, often inscribing his paintings with the dogs’ names. His body of work represents an important visual record of British purebred dogs from the first half of the twentieth century. The Sealyham Terrier...

GERTRUDE L. PEW "PORTRAIT OF ASIAN BEAUTY" PASTEL, SIGNED AMERICAN, C.1910 18 X 12 INCHES Gertrude L. Pew Robinson 1876-1949 American painter and miniaturist Gertrude L. Pew Robinson was born in 1876 in the town of Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio. After her early education in Niles, Miss Pew attended the Cleveland School of Art where she received a B.A. degree in painting, graduating in the same class with her friend and colleague, Charles Burchfield. She also participated in the Cleveland School’s Residency Program in New York City where she studied at the National Academy of Design before leaving for Paris, France, where she attended classes as part of the Cleveland School’s residency abroad program during the rise of the Ecole de Paris, a modernist art movement in the first half of the twentieth century centered in the cafes, studios, academies and galleries of Montparnasse that attracted emigre artists from all over the world who flocked to Paris as one of the important centers of Western art. There students could see the new styles of Post-impressionism, Pointillism, Fauvism and Cubism, as well as other overlapping styles of contemporary expression. Artists in Paris during the period of Pew’s time there included Pablo Picasso, Amadeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutine, Tsuguharu Fougita, Maurice Utrillo, Piet Mondrian, Henri Matisse, and Marc Chagall. In 1900, the New York Census recorded Miss Gertrude Pew as an artist living back in the city at 30 West 57th Street. During this period Pew attended classes at the Art Students League where Robert Henri led a new movement in American painting later called the Ash Can School of Painters who specialized in everyday scenes of urban life. Pew moved briefly to Boston where she established a commercial studio specializing in portrait miniature painting until 1910 when she returned to Paris to paint and to study at the ateliers of several French modernist landscape...

Signed lower left 'E. Rau' for Emil Rau (German, 1858-1937) and painted circa 1915. An exquisite, jewel-like study of a young Bavarian girl, wearing an embro...

In this haunting yet adoring portrait, Francesco Spicuzza presents to the viewer his niece Mary. Her young face, probably from when about six years old, emerges from a hazy buildup o...