Stuart Carson Edie

Still Life with Bird

A classical anatomical figure in an artist's studio, surrounded by brushes and a palette, with muted tones creating a contemplative and intimate atmosphere. Contemporary figurative painting by Mark Beard [Bruce Sargeant (1898-1938)] Artist’s Studio n.d. Signed in red, u.r. Oil on canvas 36 x 18 inches $4,000 + $300 framing The pure and brilliant world of Bruce Sargeant’s art seems terribly removed from our own, unhampered by the prevalent inconsistencies of today’s world. Peopled with comely thoroughbreds, his paintings project a world vision unchanged from the models cherished by idealist writers like E. M. Forster and Rupert Brooke in that golden decade that led up to the Great War. Neither buff nor narcissistic, his fair-haired young athletes pose, somewhat uncomfortably, before the painter’s gaze, not wanting the attention yet feeling their duty to submit. Though tantalized by the New World dabbings of Robert Henri and John Sloan, Sargeant found his true inspiration in the art and ethos of fifth-century Athens, where the achievement of the kaloi kagathoi, young men who were “beautiful to look at and worthy of admiration,” were the perfect models for artistic rendering and public adulation. At base, Sargeant’s models, like the sculptures of Lysippus and Praxiteles, are idealized heroes whose achievements on the playing field earn them their renown. However, unlike his precursors, the painter requires no civic responsibility from his ephebes, only physical stamina, gymnastic prowess, and good looks. His work bespeaks a class that existed briefly, but was prolonged and attenuated in the languorous novels of writers such as Denton Welch...

Watercolor on paper Signed, verso This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Bill Rice was considered by such luminaries as Rene Ricard to be one of the most important painters of urban life from his generation. Rice’s depictions of inner city gay men...

Morton Constantine Ream paints a tabletop still life with a fruit bowl, a jade figurine, silver vessels, a jewel box, and two small yellow birds in his...

Kitchen Still Life, oil on board. Signed lower left.