Watercolor Portrait Paintings

“Graduation Day” is emblematic of mid-century American Illustration. But the real story of this storytelling work is that it embodies the lost art of portrait painting and graphic design. Alex Ross borrows on the classical tradition and flaunts his skills as a narrative painter. In “Graduation Day”, he paints a complex composition involving at least thirteen portraits. The subjects are beautifully rendered and lit. They are set against a dark grey background and jump off the surface at the viewer. The composition is complexly designed. The future graduate in the red jacket engaging with a girl photographer is a compositional device that leads the viewer's eye to the main subject - a father congratulating his son on graduating from medical school. Creating art that relies on facial expressions and body gestures is a talent absent in contemporary art. Why? It’s very hard to do and takes years and training and practice to get it right. Despite Alex Ross's folksy subject matter, this work is a high example of naturalism and representation by an important member of the Golden Age of American Illustration. Signed lower right Born in the town of Dunfermline, Scotland, Alexander Sharpe Ross (1908-1990) moved with his family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1911. After attending Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University), Ross moved to New York and joined the Charles E. Cooper Studio, where he worked among such notable illustrators as Ward Brackett, Stevan Dohanos, J. Frederick Smith...

1940s nude study, watercolor, and ink on paper painting by Polish/Russian artist Rotislaw Racoff (1904 - 1982). This is a fine study of a young woman, probably Asian, sitting back. T...

Julia (Elsie Julia Miller) Schleicher (Canadian/American, 1916-1988) Woman Tennis Player Pastel and gouache on board 18 x 13-5/8 inches (45.7 x 34.6 cm) S...

Alternate cover for Fortune Magazine February, 1940. Gouache on board. 350x285 mm; 13 3/4x11 1/4. Signed "A. Petrucelli" in lower left image. Tipped t...

A sensitive portrait beautifully rendered in watercolor and gouache. Mid century. I am guessing from the 1940s it is not dated. Robert Philipp (February 2, 1895 – November 22, 1981) was an American painter influenced by Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and known for his nudes, still lifes, and portraits of attractive women and Hollywood stars. Noted art critic Henry McBride called Philipp one of America's top six painters of his generation. He was an instructor of painting at the Art Students League of New York for 33 years. WPA Era. Philipp was Secretary of the National Academy of Design, and National Academician, Benjamin Franklin Fellow, Royal Society of Arts in London. He was married to model and fellow artist Rochelle ("Shelly") Post, who frequently posed for him until her death in 1971. His compositions and painting style have been compared to the art of Edgar Degas and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Philip won prizes in most of the important exhibitions of his time, and his paintings are in numerous museums and important private collections. In 1940, Philipp was invited to Los Angeles by Hollywood mogul Louis B. Mayer to paint portraits of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie stars. The same year, Walter Wanger, producer of The Long Voyage Home, directed by John Ford and based on plays by Eugene O'Neill, contracted with Reeves Lewenthal, head of the Associated American Artists gallery in Manhattan, to bring nine well-known artists to the set and paint scenes from the movie and portraits of the actors in character. The artists included Robert Philipp, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, Ernest Fiene, George Schreiber, Luis Quintanilla...

Overflight over the city. 1947, paper, mixed media, 23x20 cm Adolfs Zardins (1890 08 II Riga, Latvia – 1967 07 II Jurmala, Latvia), painter. Only in 1990 his relatives give his arti...

"Ortez (Modernist Family Portrait)" is a gouache on paper abstract painting by Lewis Lee Tilley (1921-2005) from 1947 of five family members sitting on a couch. Painted in jewel tone...

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

A modern interpretation of the biblical story Suzanna and the Elders. Signed lower right Ink and wash on paper The Downtown Gallery Felix Landau Gallery Ernest Brown & Phillips, Ltd...

Artist: Roger Etienne, French/American (1922 - ) Title: Portrait of a Girl Year: 1949 Medium: Gouache On Paper, signed and dated Size: 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.64 cm) Frame Size: 29 x ...

When the Wood Grows Dry "Good House Keeping Magazine" illustration How friendship and love were depicted in post-war America. There was a sense of innoc...

Paris: A Wartime Study of Figures Relaxing in Springtime by Henri Miloch (1898-1979) Unsigned watercolour, graphite and gouache painting on artist's paper, unframed Sheet: 12.25 x 9...

Journalist Portraiture. Gouache on board Signed Lower Right matted to 17.75 x 16.75 inches. Archivally Matted Not Framed 
 He illustrated more than 300 covers for Time magazine a...

This work is meticulously and brilliantly rendered to capture not only the likeness of the sitter but spirit as well. The image is pushed to the forefront of the composition and s...

Ernest Hamlin Baker is one of America's greatest artist that no one has ever heard of. Take a look at his full body of work. If you haven't noticed, Ernest Hamlin Baker is an excepti...