Gershon Benjamin

"Gladioli Still Life"

Circa 1955

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: 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 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to New York when he was 20. From 1913 to 1916, he enjoyed a scholarship from the Art Students League, and worked with John C. Johansen (a portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent), and Anders Zorn. He accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art in 1916, remaining there until 1921. This enabled him to travel to Europe to study Cézanne’s paintings and works of the Old Masters. He traveled to Paris, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Munich seeking the works of Titian, Cranach, Rembrandt, Veronese, and Holbein, which gave him new perspective. Vytlacil studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, settling there in 1921. Fellow students were Ernest Thurn and Worth Ryder, who introduced him to famous abstractionist Hans Hofmann. He worked with Hofmann from about 1922 to 1926, as a student and teaching assistant. During the summer of 1928, after returning to the United States, Vytlacil gave lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on modern European art. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Art Students League faculty. After one year, he returned to Europe and successfully persuaded Hofmann to teach at the League as well. He spent about six years in Europe, studying the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Dufy. In 1935, he returned to New York and became a co-founder of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He later had teaching posts at Queens College in New York; the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California; Black Mountain College in North Carolina; and the Art Students League. His paintings exhibit a clear inclination toward modernism. His still lives and interiors from the 1920s indicate an understanding of the art of Cézanne. In the 1930s, his works displayed two very different kinds of art at the same time. His cityscapes and landscapes combine Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. Vytlacil also used old wood, metal, cork, and string in constructions, influenced by his friend and former student, Rupert Turnbull. He eventually ceased creating constructions as he considered them too limiting. The spatial challenges of painting were still his preference. During the 1940s and 1950s, his works indicated a sense of spontaneity not felt in his earlier work. He married Elizabeth Foster in Florence, Italy, in 1927 and they lived and worked in Positano, Italy for extended periods of time. Later on, they divided their time between homes in Sparkill, New York and Chilmark, Massachusetts, where Vyt, as he was affectionately called, taught at the Martha's Vineyard Art...

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899 - 1985) An American Modernist of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene, Gershon ...

Wonderful expressionist painting of abstracted flowers in vase by Robert Henry Hurdle, RWA (English, b. 1918), 1970. Signed and dated lower right corner. Presented in rustic frame: Condition: Very good; painting had been glued into frame which is now restored. Image size: 16"H x 12"W. Framed size: 18.50"H x 22.50"W. Robert Henry Hurdle, Royal West of England Academy (RWA) was born in London on 9th August 1918. He first trained at the Richmond School of Art and then after distinguished war service during World War 2 he studied painting at Camberwell School of Art under Sir William Coldstream and was later senior lecturer at the West of England College of Art ( later called Bristol Polytechnic ). He has exhibited widely across the British lsles and most notably in Hong Kong and the South of France. His most recent solo show was at the Art Room at Topsham, Devon in 2013. His work is featured in many public and private collections including Bristol City Art Gallery and the Royal West of England Academy. Selected One Man Exhibits: 1969 Faculty of Fine Art, University College, Swansea. 1977 'Land and Water' City Art Gallery, Bristol 1978 'Land and Water' Pao Sui Loong Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Centre. 1981 'Reflections on Bristol 1950-81' King Street Gallery, Bristol. 1983 Farnham Maltings, Kiln Gallery, Farnham. 1987 Peter Sands Gallery, Bristol. 1989 Clevedon Bridge Gallery, Bath 1995 'Retrospective' Royal West of England Academy, 1998 'Robert Hurdle at 80' Fedden Gallery, Royal West of England Academy 2003 'Meeting with Tress' New Gallery, Royal West of England Academy 2009 'Selective Retrospective' New Gallery Royal West of England Academy 2012 'Paintings' The Art Room Group Exhibits: 1949-65 London group exhibitions 1950 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London. 1959-2015 Royal West of England Academy, Annual Exhibition 1959 Artists of Fame and Promise, Leicester Galleries 1960 New Arts Centre, London 1964 Frost and Reed Galleries, Bristol 1966 William Ware Gallery, London 1974 Courages Coronation Exhibition, City Art Gallery, Bristol. 'Accent on Colour', The Albany Gallery, Cardiff. 1976 Westward TV Exhibitions, Plymouth. 1978 Frost and Reed Galleries, Bristol. New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham. 1980 'Art in the making', King Street Gallery, Bristol and the City Art Gallery, Bath. 1985 '3 West Country Painters' Hunstrete House, Near Bath. 1988 'Recent paintings' Peter Sands Gallery, Bristol. Anthony Rossiter and Robert Hurdle. 2003 Innocent Fine Art, Bristol. 2004 'Western Approaches' Six members of the Royal West of England Academy: Derek Balmer, John Huggins, Robert Hurdle, Neil Murison...

INTERIOR & VIEW Size: 47.5 x 61 cm (including frame) Oil on board A vibrant mid-century modernist still life oil painting that captures a calm interior moment with a strong sense of...