1940s Portrait Paintings

Tempera mixed with gum arabic and alcohol on Renaissance Panel "Robert Riggs was awarded the Gold Medal for Excellence by the New York Art Directors Club for ten consecutive years and received many additional awards." He was elected to the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts and the U.S. Library of Congress. Riggs's compositons are "monumental" Walt Reed Riggs was a Gay Artist...

There is a reason why there are few contemporary painters who can paint a portrait this good. It's hard to do. It's easy to throw some paint or spray a mess of graffiti on canvas. ...

This is a possible self portrait by the famed female surrealist artist. It is also strikingly similar in style with it's exaggerated eyes to her portrait of Jean Genet, ( Leonor F...

This superb Scottish 1940's portrait oil painting is by noted artist Murray Urquhart. He has been described by one of his sons as obsessed with painting, to the exclusion of most oth...

Work on wood Black and gold wooden frame 77.5 x 56.5 x 3.5 cm Illegible signature "Valley landscape at the foot of the mountains" On the back of the work

Signed expressionist oil on canvas portrait circa 1942 by French painter Jean Albert Pougny. The work depicts a violinist in an interior. Signatur...

Post Office WPA Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Modern 20th Century Carlos Lopez (1910-1953) "Bounty" WPA Mural Study for Michigan Post Office 19 ½ x 22 ½ inches Oil on B...

Self Portrait, c. 1940s, oil on canvas, 14 ¼ x 12 1/4 inches, signed lower left, presented in a newer frame This work is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of th...

Jordi Vila i Rufas (1924-2011) - Virgin Mary 1948 - Egg tempera Painted on gold metallic surface. Painting measurements 40x32 cm. Frame measurements 53x45 cm. Inactive xylophagous ga...

Antique American modernist abstract painting. Oil on board, circa 1940. Signed. Image size 22L x 30H. Housed in a period modern frame.

Large vintage nude portrait oil painting of a woman sitting. This is a gorgeous, colourful and exceptional nude oil painting by Pio Santini, signed in the lower right. A young woman...

Spanish Beauty (Portrait of the Artist's Wife) Oil on canvas, c. 1940's Signed upper right "A.G. Warshawsky" (see photo) According to the daughter-in-law of the artist, this painting...

Nicely painted mid century modernist interior portrait oil painting by Sadie Skoletsky Rosenblum 1899-1987. Great color and composition. Framed.

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

Young Girl with Horse Illustrations Original Oil on Linen by John Turner Impressionist painting of a young horse enthusiast by John Turner (American, 19th,20th C). Exceptional detai...

This is a very stylized and powerful portrait by the noted artist Frank Anderson Trapp. It is dated 1940, and is very much in the modern style of French painters Ferdinand Leger and...

Suzanne Rey de Jaegher Paris, 1907 - Juvisy-sur-Orge, 1994 Portrait of the sculptor Henri-Paul Rey (1904-1981) Painting, oil on hardboard panel Signed Painting: 90.5 x 108 cm Modern ...

3703 Oil on artist board Set in a vintage wood frame Image size 13x9.5"

Oil Painting Portrait of Ashcan Artist John Sloan. Signed I. Holtz. The youngest of four children, Holtz was born and spent his early childhood in Skierniewice, Poland, a small town near Warsaw. His father was a hat maker and a furrier. In 1935, prior to World War II, when Holtz was ten years old, his family moved to Jerusalem, Israel, where they settled in the Geula neighborhood near Meah Shearim. Itzhak Holtz's passion for art began early. When he was five years old, in Poland, his father first drew a picture of a horse and sled in the snow for him. The young Holtz looked at the drawing and studied it in wonderment. From that moment on, Holtz remembers, he constantly begged his father to draw for him. His enthusiasm for art grew and Holtz longed to study art. In 1945, he enrolled at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, where he primarily studied lettering and poster work in a program geared toward commercial art Holtz became interested in painting, prompting him to move to New York City in 1950 to study at the Art Students League of New York under Robert Brackman and Harry Sternberg, and then at the National Academy of Design under Robert Philipp. Holtz has stated that his artwork, which primarily but not exclusively, depict scenes of Jewish spirituality and tradition, is driven by his Orthodox Jewish beliefs: "You have to live that religious life to fully capture it on canvas." He has been classified in the school of genre painting, often depicting street scenes of ordinary people in everyday Jewish life in the back alleys and markets of Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Me'ah Shearim and Geula; and in New York neighborhoods and hamlets such as Monsey, Boro Park and Williamsburg. Along with street scenes, his work includes portraits of scribes, tailors, cobblers and fishmongers, and images such as shtetls, lighthouses, and wedding scenes. He started out painting mostly portraits in order to support his family, before expanding to include street scenes. His beloved subject matter is painting scenes of Jewish life, his childhood memories when his mother took him along shopping for the Sabbath to the markets of Meah Shearim, has left a deep impression on him and influenced many of his works. Holtz has experimented in the abstract, but then reverted to representational and figurative art to which he devoted himself exclusively. His Israeli street scenes are said to combine “an affectionate recollection of the past with the brilliance of the color of modern Israel.” Holtz has stated that he struggled at first when he arrived to the USA because of financial reasons and because he only knew Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew, but then made good ties with his instructor who greatly influenced him Robert Philipp who helped him make friends and referred him to paint portraits. Examples of Holtz's work throughout the years include: Yerusalem Wedding (2010), depicting a Chuppa in Jerusalem on early evening, oil on canvas; The Funeral(1966), depicting five stoic Hasidim carrying a body on a bier over to a gravesite, with the people behind them crying, in charcoal on paper and oil on canvas; Rejoicing (1974), an image of religious men dancing, in felt pen and marker on paper; and the oil painting Shamash Learning in Shul (2003), a portrait of a pious Jew studying the Talmud inside a claustrophobic synagogue scene. Throughout the years Holtz has created hundreds of works in many art mediums, including, genre scenes, portraits, still lifes and landscape scenery, his works are sought after by art collectors worldwide, and he has been called the greatest living Jewish artist. It is said that no artist ever explored the Jewish subject like Holtz. Today some of his oil paintings have been commanding over $100,000. Holtz creates his scenes after researching locations, and often uses locals as models. He paints slowly and with great care, but with a swift Impressionistic style. The people in his portraits and scenes are generally more cheerful and optimistic than standard portraits of Hassidic individuals. He paints oils and watercolors, and also does felt pen, pastel, marker, ink and charcoal drawings, as well as woodcuts. His oil paintings typically have a brown hue, while his work with felt pen is often in sepia tones, and on some of his works he used very bright colors, with a strong emphasis on the interplay of light and shadow. He is heavily influenced by the ancient staircases and alleyways of Jerusalem, with its modest religious population, which has made a strong impression on him in his youth, the streets of Tzfat, and the works of Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer and Peter Bruegel, as well as Jewish artists Moritz Daniel Oppenheim...

Work on canvas Golden wooden frame 59.5 x 51.5 x 5.5 cm

Antique French town view with a young handsome butcher. Amazingly framed. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed.

A beautiful signed and dated 1943 French impressionist oil on panel self portrait by Charles Picart le Doux, who was friends with Picasso, Pissarro and many other Paris based artists...

Oil on canvas by Louis BERTHOMME SAINT-ANDRE, France, 1940s. Young Red-haired Woman. with frame: 74x63 cm - 29.1x24.8 inches ; without frame: 61x50 cm - 24x19.7 inches. Format 12F. ...

Work on canvas Golden wooden frame 75 x 64 x 4.5 cm

This mid-20th-century oil painting by English artist John JG Blundell (1927-2016) depicts a middle-aged man in profile. Every now and then we discover a special piece by an unknown ...

Robert Buhler R.A. 1916-1989, was a English born Swiss painter where he spent most of his working life. Buhler also lived and painted in London, scenes of various landscapes, he als...

Baron Michael D`Aguilar was born on May 15, 1922 in London to Spanish parents. He was brother of the artist Paul D`Aguilar. He spent much of his early life in Spain. He studied at...

A dark and exotic looking male dancer with chiseled features wears a blue hat made of flowers and feathers is depicted in vibrant colors that evokes festiv...

"Mother and Daughter" Expressionist Portrait in Oil on Cardstock Mid Century expressionist portrait by unknown artist Jane W. Grace (American, 20th C...

Hellmuth Bachrach-Baree, a German artist, apprenticed with neo-impressionist painters. His early compositions depicted rural life, integrating people and animals into familiar landsc...

This superb British portrait oil painting is by Scottish born artist John Rankine Barclay. It was painted circa 1940 when Barclay was already living in St Ives Cornwall. The sitter is Brian Bradnock, former principal of Worcester College...

Bernard Gussow 1881 -1957 Bernard Gussow was active/lived in New York, New Jersey / Russian Federation. Bernard Gussow is known for genre, landscape, figure, interior paintings. Ber...

AFFECTION Size: 41 x 33 cm Oil on board A tender and captivating mid-century figurative painting, executed in oil onto board and dated 1944. A female figure in a flowing red dress ...

Albert Daniel Rutherston 1881-1953, British artist, painter and draughtsman, he designed posters and theater sets also illustrating books.

This lovely British interior portrait oil painting is by noted British artist Anthony Devas. Painted circa 1940 the painting is of a seated grandmother and grand daughter in a lovely...

Vintage modernist oil painting of a woman stretching. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed.

Work on canvas Gray wooden frame, silver borders 100 x 80 x 6 cm

This early 20th-century oil painting by Spanish artist César Fernández Ardavín (1883-1974) depicts a cheerful young woman before a mirror. Buoyant and playful, she sits casually on ...

Albert Daniel Rutherston 1881-1953, British artist, painter and draughtsman, he designed posters and theater sets also illustrating books.

Work on cardboard Golden wooden frame 51 x 43.5 x 4 cm

This superb Post Impressionist Slade School female full length seated nude portrait oil painting is by female artist E A Jay. Painted in the 1940'...

BUCKLEY MACGURRIN "ALEXANDRIA" OIL ON CANVAS, SIGNED, TITLED AMERICAN, DATED 1949 EXHIBITED: DALZELL-HATFIELD GALLERY 14 X 20 INCHES Buckley MacGurrin 1896 –1971 Buckley MacG...

This charming British portrait oil painting is by female artist Dod Procter. It was painted in 1949 and exhibited at the Royal Academy London the same year. The painting is of a litt...

This lovely British portrait oil painting is by noted artist Lionel Ellis. Painted circa 1940, the picture is a half-length seated portrait of a smiling woman wrapped in a red shawl,...

Early original oil on canvas painting of sailboats in stormy seas by the American artist, Nahum Tschacbasov. Artist signed lower right and dated 1945. Condition is very good. Prese...

'Market Day in Piazza Grande, Locarno, Switzerland', oil on board, by unknown artist (1947-48). Locarno is an utterly charming Italian-speaking resort located on the northern shore o...

Ozer Shabat 1978-1901 Ozer Shabbat was an Israeli painter, a resident of Haifa. Belonged to the Palestine Expressionist group of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Shabbat was born in Wolbrom, Poland. At the end of the First World War he went to Holland for agricultural training in the framework of the HeChalutz movement, prior to his immigration to Palestine. In 1920 he immigrated to Eretz Israel and joined the Hulda group. Later he joined the Merhavia group and there he began painting. Because of his desire to study drawing, he left the group and moved to Jerusalem. In 1921, he wrote articles in the newspaper "HaSadeh" on the subject of agriculture and Dutch cheese. Ozer Shabath won the first prize in a competition for the design of the Dutch Consulate's Garden in Jerusalem, enabling him to travel to Paris in 1923 to study painting. Until 1925 he studied painting at the Grande Chaumiere Academy in Paris. This year he returned to Eretz Israel and settled in Haifa, where he lived until his death. In 1928 he participated for the first time in an exhibition of Eretz Israel artists at the Tower of David. Since then he has participated in all the general exhibitions of Israeli artists. In 1934, together with painters Menachem Shemi, Avraham Mohar, Zvi Meirovitch and others, he founded the Haifa Artists' Group. In 1935-36 he toured Europe and visited Italy, France and England. During his visit, he maintained contacts with artists from the Jewish school of Paris. He has exhibited in several solo exhibitions, represented Israel in exhibitions in Europe and participated in international exhibitions in New York, Johannesburg and Zurich. In 1958 he represented Israel in the Venice Biennale. In 1960, Shabat, together with Elchanan Halpern he represented the Israeli Painters Association at the International Congress of Plastic Arts held in Vienna, Austria . In the 40s and 50s he focused on landscape pictures. However, despite the focus on the Israeli landscape, the approach is universal in the framework of the post-Impressionist painting school. In the 1960s, his approach changed and he turned more to abstraction. The abstract direction gradually evolved. The point of departure of the abstract approach is the architectural landscape, but this view loses its real character and becomes only imaginary: the buildings lose their real character and turn into exclusive geometric areas that are usually set against a dark background. Over time, architecture captured the lion's share of his paintings. Cities like Safed, Jaffa and Jerusalem are the subject of many pictures. He taught painting and art at the schools of the kibbutzim in Ramat Yochanan and Kfar Yehoshua, in high schools in Haifa and in the IDF and Gordon seminars. His paintings were purchased and are in the permanent collection of the Bezalel National Museum (now the Israel Museum), Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa Maritime Museum, Acre Municipal Museum. Select Solo exhibitions 1936 - Nadler Gallery, Haifa. 1943 - The Tel Aviv Museum of Art. 1952 - Artists House, Haifa. 1953 - Bezalel House, Jerusalem. 1955 - Gallery in Geneva, Switzerland. 1955 - The Writers' Club, Haifa. 1959 - Artists House, Haifa. 1960 - Museum of Modern Art, Haifa. 1962 - Museum of Modern Art, Haifa. 1963 - Gallery 220, Tel Aviv. 1968 - The Municipal Museum of Beit Emanuel, Ramat Gan. 1979 - Memorial exhibition marking the first anniversary...

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...

Born in Savannah, Georgia in 1912, abstract expressionist painter Morris Shulman studied at the National Academy of Design, Art Students League and Hans Hofmann School of Art in New ...

“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...

Neutral toned abstract impressionist portrait of a man wearing a suit by Danish artist Hans Christian Bärenholdt. Signed and dated by the artist at the bottom right. Currently hung i...

Antoni Vidal Rolland (1889-1970) - Reading a love letter - Oil on canvas Oil measures 55x46 cm. Frame measures 76x67 cm. Disciple of José Ruiz Blasco in Lonja and of Aleix Clapés. H...

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...

Portrait of a Man Smoking a Pipe in Oil on Masonite Detailed portrait of a man with a pipe by Heinz Robert Schubert (German, 1912-2001 approx.). A man wearing a short-brimmed hat is...

Yellow and blue-toned abstract impressionist portrait of a boy by Danish artist Hans Christian Bärenholdt. Signed by the artist at the bottom right. Hung in a gold carved frame. Dim...

Work on canvas

4076 Italian Oil on canvas set in an antique wood frame Image size 19.5x15.5" by Alessandro Milesi

Create a statement or focal piece for a room. This is a very stylized portrait of a woman dating to the 1940’s. She fills the canvas with her wholesome countenance, hair and period c...