American Realist Paintings

This artwork "Black Pug" c.1940, is an oil painting on board by Cincinnati artist Laura E.Cassidy, 1886-1962. It is signed at the lower right corner by the artist. The board size is ...

This artwork "Black Pug Sitting" c.1940, is an oil painting on board by Cincinnati artist Laura E.Cassidy, 1886-1962. It is signed at the lower right corner by the artist. The board ...

This artwork "Pug in a Basket" c.1940, is an oil painting on board by Cincinnati artist Laura E.Cassidy, 1886-1962. It is signed at the lower left corner by the artist. The board siz...

Elizabeth Zanzinger's (US based) "Market Flowers VI" is a masterfully created realistic oil still-life. This painting measures at 12 x 10 inches, and is framed in a thin black frame...

Oil on wood panel, signed in the lower right with the artist's monogram. Presented in a period carved wood frame. In great condition, ready to hang and enjoy. Measures 10.25" x 11.7...

Attributed to Jon Whitcomb (1906-1988) Illustration of Glamorous Young Woman, ca. 1950's. Tempera on illustration board, image measuring 9 x 13 inches. Board measuring 15 x 20 inc...

Nora Othic is considered one of the top regionalist painters in the Midwest. She builds on a legacy from her artistic predecessors such as Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and the WPA ...

Carmel by the Sea - Beach, California Coastline 1927 Oil on Linen Seascape oil painting of the Carmel coastline by Charles Henry Harmon (American, 1859-1936). Vibrant blue Pacific w...

This richly painted still life depicts a carefully arranged grouping of fruit—pears, apples, and dark grapes—set atop a patterned textile and rendered with warmth and restraint. Exec...

The impressionist land and water scene from Brooks Anderson. This estuary scene of Marin captures you and takes you on a journey from stream to ocean. Artist signed, titled and dated...

This tranquil landscape captures a sunlit autumn morning along a quiet stream. Delicate mist softens the background, while a weathered split-rail fence leads the eye through a grove ...

Forest Landscape - an Antique Oil Painting by 19th Century American Artist, Clara Davis Inness (1874-1932) Art measures 16 x 12 inches Frame measures 21 x 17 inches Oil on Canvas, ...

John Hanlen (1922-2003). Beach Snack Shack, ca. 1950. Tempera on paper, sheet measures 18 x 23 inches. Measurement with matting: 26 x 31 inches. The piece is unframed. There is ...

Zack Zdrale's (US based) "6 and Two" is an oil painting that depicts two male figures with an obscured faces arching their backs and extending their arms a...

Nora Othic is considered one of the top regionalist painters in the Midwest. She builds on a legacy from her artistic predecessors such as Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and the WPA ...

This artwork "American Clipper at Sea" c.1990 is an oil painting on canvas by noted American artist Robert Sanders, b. 1950. It is signed at the lower r...

This series of cyanotype triptychs showcases the beauty of nature scenes, including stunning beaches and oceans, as well as the intricate textures of w...

Nora Othic is considered one of the top regionalist painters in the Midwest. She builds on a legacy from her artistic predecessors such as Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and the WPA ...

This mural study is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Industry and Commerce, 1936, tempera on panel, 16 ½ x 39 ½ inches, signed verso “John Ballator, Portland Ore.” provenance includes: J.C. Penney Company, represented by Russell Tether Fine Arts Assoc.; presented in a newer wood frame About the Painting Industry and Commerce is a prime example of WPA Era muralism. Like a Mediaeval alter, this mural study is filled with icons, but the images of saints and martyrs are replaced with symbols of America's gospel of prosperity through capitalism. Industry and Commerce has a strong narrative quality with vignettes filling the entire surface. Extraction, logistics, design, power generation, and manufacturing for printing, chemicals, automobiles and metal products are all represented. To eliminate any doubt about the mural's themes, Ballator letters a description into the bottom of the study. Ballator also presents an idealized version of industrial cooperation, as his workers, lab-coated technicians and tie-wearing managers work harmoniously toward a common goal in the tidy and neatly designed environments. Although far from the reality of most industrial spaces, Ballator's study reflects the idealized and morale boosting tone that many mural projects adopted during the Great Depression. About the Artist John R Ballator achieved success as a muralist, lithographer, and teacher during the Great Depression. Born in Oregon, he studied at the Portland Museum Art School, the University of Oregon and at Yale University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Art. In 1936, Ballator was commissioned to paint a mural panel for the new Department of Justice Building in Washington DC, an important project that spanned five years with several dozen artists contributing a total of sixty-eight designs. Ballator completed murals for the St. Johns Post Office and Franklin High School, both in Portland, Oregon. He also contributed to the 1938 murals at Nathan Hale School in New Haven, Connecticut. During the late 1930s, Ballator taught art for several years at Washburn College in Topeka, Kanas, where he completed a mural for the Menninger Arts & Craft Shop before accepting a professorship at Hollins College...

Canvas Size: 12 x 16 in. Frame Size: 20.5 x 24.5 in. Signed, lower left: "Don Warren" A serene, classic, and cheerful scene in the Texas Hill Country by Don Warren. The foreground i...

This artwork "Two Young Pugs" c.1940, is an oil painting on board by Cincinnati artist Laura E.Cassidy, 1886-1962. It is signed at the lower right corner by the artist. The board siz...

Ethereal landscape with water celebrating morning light. Oil on canvas is 30 x 40 inches, and it is meticulously painted by Brooks Anderson. Signed, ti...

If you’ve been dreaming of owning a piece of Wyoming or Montana, this wide-horizons painting deserves a spot over your stone fireplace. Photographic in its crisp detail, the artist c...

Nora Othic is considered one of the top regionalist painters in the Midwest. She builds on a legacy from her artistic predecessors such as Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and the WPA ...

In First Light (2024), Alan Bray captures the quiet majesty of dawn over Spencer Pond, Maine. This luminous casein tempera on panel painting (15 x 24 inches) depicts a breathtaking s...

William H. Kinnicutt (American, 1865 - 1934) Signed: W. H. Kinnicutt (Lower, Right) " Evening Fog ", circa 1900 - 1910 Oil on Canvas 20" x 16" Housed in a 3" Carved Frame Overa...

Oil on Canvas Canvas size: 24 x 36 in. Frame Size: 33 x 39 in. "Turning them North" is an exhilarating scene of the American Old West by Gary Lynn Roberts (b. 1953, American) execut...

"Pelham Bay" WPA American Scene Social Realism Modern NYC Subway Transportation Daniel Ralph Celantano (1902-1980) "Pelham Bay" 12 1/4 x 16 inches Oil on canvas Signed lower cente...

Richard Weers (American, 1932-2022) Signed: Richard Weers (Lower, Left) " A Friend in the Forest " Oil on Canvas 12" x 16" Housed in a 1 1/2" Gol...

We offer complimentary worldwide shipping and cover all tariffs and import taxes for this artwork. This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet C...

Love Mirror, True Experiences magazine cover, February 1937 by Female Illustrator and Pupl Artist Georgia Warren Oil on canvas 17 x 13 inches (43.2 x 33.0 cm) Signed lower left: War...

Oil on canvas STATEMENT by AUDREY ANASTASI: Considering myself primarily a feminist artist, painting other women, most of my work focuses on the human face, figures, animals and natu...

Charming 19th century oil on canvas of bunny rabbits. The painting appears to be unsigned. It measures 15 inches wide by 10 inches high. The period frame...

Antique American still life oil painting of hanging fruit and grapes. Oil on board. Framed

A 20th-century American School oil painting on board featuring American banker and financier J.P. Morgan (1837-1913) seated at his desk. Light streams throug...

'The Sun Also Rises' - oil on canvas is 31 x 50 inches, meticulously painted by American Realist Brooks Anderson. Canvas edges are painted dark in artist's signature style. Lovely to...

This series of cyanotype triptychs showcases the beauty of nature scenes, including stunning beaches and oceans, as well as the intricate textures of water, forests, and skies. These...

Christopher Clark's (US based) "Looking for Breakfast" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a bird perched in a flooded grassy field. Bio/artist statement: Christopher has been an artist since early childhood, when he would watch Bob Ross on PBS and mimic the famed oil painter’s art with crayons. He considers himself a self-educated artist, with his studies ranging from personal training with contemporary masters, to classical academic art technique, with much inspiration from 19th Century art and the Impressionist Movement. Christopher lived in Italy for a time, immersing himself in Italian culture and art, which continues to influence his painting. His fan base has grown considerably since his return to the US, gaining the attention of Lucasfilm and Marvel Fine Art, which both signed him as an officially licensed artist in 2016. Other clients include George Lucas, Major League Baseball, Louisville Slugger...

John Steuart Curry "Sketching Wisconsin," 1946 oil on canvas 31.13 x 28 inches, canvas 39.75 x 36.75 x 2.5 inches, frame Signed and dated lower right Overall excellent condition Presented in a 24-karat gold leaf hand-carved wood frame John Steuart Curry (1897-1946) was an American regionalist painter active during the Great Depression and into World War II. He was born in Kansas on his family’s farm but went on to study art in Chicago, Paris and New York as young man. In Paris, he was exposed to the work of masters such as Peter Paul Rubens, Eugène Delacroix and Jacques-Louis David. As he matured, his work showed the influence of these masters, especially in his compositional decisions. Like the two other Midwestern regionalist artists that are most often grouped with him, Grant Wood (American, 1891-1942) and Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975), Curry was interested in representational works containing distinctly American subject matter. This was contrary to the popular art at the time, which was moving closer and closer to abstraction and individual expression. Sketching Wisconsin is an oil painting completed in 1946, the last year of John Steuart Curry’s life, during which time he was the artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The painting is significant in Curry’s body of work both as a very revealing self-portrait, and as a landscape that clearly and sensitively depicts the scenery of southern Wisconsin near Madison. It is also a portrait of the artist’s second wife, Kathleen Gould Curry, and is unique in that it contains a ‘picture within a picture,’ a compositional element that many early painting masters used to draw the eye of the viewer. This particular artwork adds a new twist to this theme: Curry’s wife is creating essentially the same painting the viewer is looking at when viewing Sketching Wisconsin. The triangular composition of the figures in the foreground immediately brings focus to a younger Curry, whose head penetrates the horizon line and whose gaze looks out towards the viewer. The eye then moves down to Mrs. Curry, who, seated on a folding stool and with her hand raised to paint the canvas on the easel before her, anchors the triangular composition. The shape is repeated in the legs of the stool and the easel. Behind the two figures, stripes of furrowed fields fall away gently down the hillside to a farmstead and small lake below. Beyond the lake, patches of field and forest rise and fall into the distance, and eventually give way to blue hills. Here, Curry has subverted the traditional artist’s self-portrait by portraying himself as a farmer first and an artist second. He rejects what he sees as an elitist art world of the East Coast and Europe. In this self-portrait he depicts himself without any pretense or the instruments of his profession and with a red tractor standing in the field behind him as if he was taking a break from the field work. Here, Curry’s wife symbolizes John Steuart Curry’s identity as an artist. Compared with a self-portrait of the artist completed a decade earlier, this work shows a marked departure from how the artist previously presented and viewed himself. In the earlier portrait, Curry depicted himself in the studio with brushes in hand, and with some of his more recognizable and successful canvases behind him. But in Sketching Wisconsin, Curry has taken himself out of the studio and into the field, indicating a shift in the artist’s self-conception. Sketching Wisconsin’s rural subject also expresses Curry’s populist ideals, that art could be relevant to anyone. This followed the broad educational objectives of UW’s artist-in-residence program. Curry was appointed to his position at the University of Wisconsin in 1937 and was the first person to hold any such position in the country, the purpose of which was to serve as an educational resource to the people of the state. He embraced his role at the University with zeal and not only opened the doors of his campus studio in the School of Agriculture to the community, but also spent a great deal of time traveling around the state of Wisconsin to visit rural artists who could benefit from his expertise. It was during his ten years in the program that Curry was able to put into practice his belief that art should be meaningful to the rural populace. However, during this time he also struggled with public criticism, as the dominant forces of the art market were moving away from representation. Perhaps it was Curry’s desire for public acceptance during the latter part of his career that caused him to portray himself as an Everyman in Sketching Wisconsin. Beyond its importance as a portrait of the artist, Sketching Wisconsin is also a detailed and sensitive landscape that shows us Curry’s deep personal connection to his environment. The landscape here can be compared to Wisconsin Landscape of 1938-39 (the Metropolitan Museum of Art), which presents a similar tableau of rolling hills with a patchwork of fields. Like Wisconsin Landscape, this is an incredibly detailed and expressive depiction of a place close to the artist’s heart. This expressive landscape is certainly the result of many hours spent sketching people, animals, weather conditions and topography of Wisconsin as Curry traveled around the state. The backdrop of undulating hills and the sweeping horizon, and the emotions evoked by it, are emphatically recognizable as the ‘driftless’ area of south-central Wisconsin. But while the Metropolitan’s Wisconsin Landscape conveys a sense of uncertainty or foreboding with its dramatic spring cloudscape and alternating bands of light and dark, Sketching Wisconsin has a warm and reflective mood. The colors of the foliage indicate that it is late summer and Curry seems to look out at the viewer approvingly, as if satisfied with the fertile ground surrounding him. The landscape in Sketching Wisconsin is also revealing of what became one of Curry’s passions while artist-in-residence at UW’s School of Agriculture – soil conservation. When Curry was a child in Kansas, he saw his father almost lose his farm and its soil to the erosion of The Dust Bowl. Therefore, he was very enthusiastic about ideas from UW’s School of Agriculture on soil conservation methods being used on Wisconsin farms. In Sketching Wisconsin, we see evidence of crop rotation methods in the terraced stripes of fields leading down the hillside away from the Curry’s and in how they alternate between cultivated and fallow fields. Overall, Sketching Wisconsin has a warm, reflective, and comfortably pastoral atmosphere, and the perceived shift in Curry’s self-image that is evident in the portrait is a positive one. After his rise to favor in the art world in the 1930’s, and then rejection from it due to the strong beliefs presented in his art, Curry is satisfied and proud to be farmer in this self-portrait. Curry suffered from high blood...

This artwork titled "The Study" c.2000, is an oil painting on canvas by noted American impressionist artist Douglas Paul Morgan, 1948-2021. It is signed at the lower left corner by t...

Artist: Harry Lane, American (1891 - 1973) Title: Late Summer Medium: Oil on Board, signed Size: 16.5 in. x 12.5 in. (41.91 cm x 31.75 cm) Frame Size: 20 x 16 inches

American, Mid 19th Century Unsigned " Portrait of a Young Man holding a Pipe ", circa 1860s Oil on Canvas laid on masonite 29 3/4" x 25" Housed in a newer 2 1/2" Frame Overall ...

An accomplished American Scene painter, Clyde Singer successfully captured everyday life during his long career. A unique aspect of American life is depicted in this painting, entitl...

Original Antique Western Nevada Desert Oil Landscape by Phoebe K. Higgins A mid-century desert oil landscape of Western Nevada by Phoebe K. Higgins (American, 1895 - c 1960), circa ...

Carole Rabe’s Looking into Dining Room is a beautifully composed 24 x 12 inch oil on canvas that transforms a simple domestic view into a meditative interior landscape. In this intim...

David Sanders (1933-2013) Austin Artist Image Size: 21 x 17 Frame Size: 29 x 25 Medium: Pastel 1984 "Rest Stop" Longhorn & Windmill David Sanders (1933-2013) Known for his oil pastel...

This stunning autumn mountain landscape by renowned artist Raphael Lillywhite captures the breathtaking beauty of Colorado’s rugged terrain. Painted in the traditional plein air styl...

Bruce Kurland – Still Life with Decoy and Shells Oil on board, framed in antique gold leaf A master of intimacy and restraint, Bruce Kurland’s Still Life with Decoy and Shells is a ...

This still life of Plums is a top notch example of 19th century still life painting! Beautiful quality and striking but also spare and honest in nature which is what typified Americ...

Bruce Barton Penney American, born 1929 Barn on a Hill Oil on board 25 by 30 in, w/ frame 30 ¼ by 35 in Signed lower right, dated 64 Born Laconia, New Hampshire. Addresses: Kennebu...

Incredible early American realist still life featuring pineapple and strawberries on a table. Oil on canvas. Incredible detail and masterfully painted. Signed illegibly, last n...

A quaint depiction of Figures in the snow by the Cabin in the Country. Nemethy uses fine detailed techniques with wonderful impressions. We can feel the warmth of the piece with uniq...

"Apple Orchard with Crows" by artist Miles Cleveland Goodwin is oil on canvas, and measures 30 x 40 inches. Including the artist-made frame, the overall dimensions are 31 1/2 x 41 1/...

Bathers 1940s Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism WPA Modern Ashcan Marion Gilmore (1909-1984) Bathers 15 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches oil on canvas boar...

An ordinary scene of a woman walking down a sidewalk in the rain is elevated to a little gem of a painting. American life is captured in this Clyde Singer painting, Puddle Jumper (...