1930s Art

A Cheerful, 1930s American Scene Landscape Painting with Church and Country Road by Notable Chicago Modern Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A gem of a painting, exemplifying ...

Arthur George Murphy (1906-1991) Horse Group California Lithograph on Warren's Oldestyle wove paper, 1936 Signed in pencil lower right Ttitled in pencil lower left (see photo) Signed and annotated upper left verso (see photo) Published and printed by: Works Progress Administration (WPA), Federal Art Project, San Francisco Note: This impression does NOT have the usual WPA Federal Art Project stamp on it. It is a unstamped proof that we believe was given to a family member in Ohio where Murphy was born. Edition: Probably fewer than 25 impressions; the exact number printed for this lithograph has not been documented. Published by the WPA Museums: MMA Newark Art Museum Porland Public Schools, OR Saint Louis Art Museum Weisman Art Museum Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco MMA has Horse Group #18 and #19 and #8 Condition: Very slight wrinkles, two very minor tears upper edge Reference: General Services Administration (GSA) No. 500 452, 453, 495, 496, 497, 498, 499 Arthur George Murphy (1906–1991) Arthur George Murphy was an American painter, teacher, and especially prolific lithographer. Born in Tiffin, Ohio, he studied at the Cleveland School of Art and the Art Students League in New York before moving to San Francisco in 1930. His strongest body of prints grew out of the San Francisco Federal Art Project in the later 1930s. He subsequently served as a war artist in the South Pacific and settled in Connecticut after World War II. The documented WPA publication and printing credits on his lithographs confirm his participation in the project. Analysis Murphy’s lithographs range from Bay Bridge construction workers to horses, rodeo riders, dancers, and New Mexico landscapes. The bridge prints give muscular figures and steel structures comparable visual weight: workers appear embedded in the machinery they operate. In the horse and rodeo subjects, he pares forms down to quick, sweeping contours that convey movement with remarkably little detail. His Taos Plains takes a quieter approach, using broad open space and a low band of distant activity to convey scale. These are observations about the prints’ compositions, rather than claims that every impression was drawn directly from life. Murphy is significant within New Deal printmaking for that breadth. His industrial subjects celebrate skilled labor, while his animal and landscape prints show a sustained interest in motion, contour, and the American West. MoMA identifies the San Francisco WPA Federal Art Project as both publisher and printer of its impressions of Pueblo – New Mexico #2 and Citizen Dancing; it describes their editions as “probably fewer than 25.” That estimate should be applied to those catalogued works, not assumed for every Murphy lithograph. Documented museum holdings: Institution Examples in its collection record National Gallery of Art, Washington Twelve listed lithographs, including Steel Riggers – No. 3 – Bay Bridge (1936), Taos Plains (1937), Bullrider No. 1 (1937), and Bulldoggers (c. 1940). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Bridge Worker No. 7 (1936), Seagulls, Horse Group #19, Citizen Perplexed, and other WPA lithographs...

Such an innovative image on the classic 'Riders in the Park' theme! Further, the use of drypoint and the rather direct -- even aggressive -- drawing style, bring it into the German E...

The dimensions are for the image. There are large margins. Signed in pencil. A native New Yorker, Ann Nooney (1900-1970), recorded the urban scene while on the Works Progress Admini...

This circa 1930 Art Deco poster, designed by the renowned French graphic artist Jean Carlu, captures the modernist spirit and technical innovation of the Théâtre Pigalle. Located in ...

A girl and her dog This was possibly used as an advertisement. It is in a great illustrator style. 22 x 18. framed. 19.5 x 15.5 canvas. Lawrence Wilbur (1897 - 1960) was active/l...

A La Queue (Join the Queue) original etching from the series Naughty Dogs of Paris showing a line of five dogs of various breeds trailing a small Chihuahua on a leash who is turning her head towards the queue. This original etching is in excellent condition, hand signed by the artist and published by Sidney Lucas. paper size 13.75 x 29.25 image size 8.50 x 24 Boris O'Klein ( 1893-1985 ) immigrated to France from Russia with his family when he was a young boy. He settled in Paris after World War I and became a prolific artist well known for his watercolors and etchings of dogs getting into mischief. His images are often risque and are considered very humorous. They have been referred to as the Naughty or Dirty Dogs of Paris.

This superb British 1930's modern art tempera Surrealist painting is by noted interwar artist Blair Hughes-Stanton. Painted in 1939 it is entitled two Figures 1939 verso and may rela...

Wonderfully vibrant floral still life of petunias in bowl with brass candle stick by Jennie Thatcher Crawford (American, 1890 - 1958), circa 1930. Signed lower left corner. Condition: good; missing paint professionally repaired and inpainted. Unframed. Image size: 24.25"H x 30"W. Born in St Louis, MO on Jan. 25, 1890. Crawford studied at the St Louis School of Fine Arts from 1907-20. Moved to Los Angeles, California 1921. She was active as a lecturer and demonstrator until 1958. Her specialty was floral still lifes. Jennie Crawford, a painter of floral still lifes, was born in St. Louis, Missouri and studied at the ST. Louis School of Fine Arts from 1907 to 1920. She moved to Los Angeles, California in 1921, becoming a Resident of El Monte in 1931. She was a member of Women Painters of the West and exhibited at Palos Verdes Art...

Original c. 1930 "La Bretagne Pittoresque Lannion" Vintage French Travel Poster – Rare Art Deco France Wall Décor. Archivally linen-backed and in B+ to A- condition. There was a tear...

Medium: pochoir. Printed in Paris in 1932 on Velin du Marais paper at the atelier of Daniel Jacomet for the Les Joies du Sport portfolio and issued in an edition of 750. This was pub...

Antique American oil painting. Oil on canvas. Measuring 18 by 22 inches.

Moody landscape punctuated with deer set against a sumptuously colored sky. This work embodies a beautiful color scheme, evident in the treatment of the sky and the large cloud stru...

Medium: pochoir. Printed in Paris in 1932 on Velin du Marais paper at the atelier of Daniel Jacomet for the Les Joies du Sport portfolio and issued in an edition of 750. This was pub...

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...

This striking original poster by the famed French maritime illustrator Albert Sébille presents an extraordinary cross-section of the legendary SS Normandie, the flagship of the Compa...

In the world of vintage poster art, Jean-Gabriel Domergue's 1932 original poster for Suzanne Brindejont Offenbach, printed by the esteemed Atelier Gaillard in Paris, is a work of end...

Antique American school modernist still life painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a gold giltwood molding. Excellent c...

" Sunlit Mountains" Majestic Mount Jefferson And Mount Hood Oregon 1930s A well executed oil on linen of two mountain peaks by California and Illinois artist Andrew Dobos (American/...

Mrs. Hezekiah Brown Image: 19.0 x 11.2 cm Mount: 31.8 x 23.0 cm Wood engraving 1932 One of Fourteen Wood Engravings, from drawings made on Orient Line Cruises by Robert Gibbings...

Medium: pochoir. Printed in Paris in 1932 on Velin du Marais paper at the atelier of Daniel Jacomet for the Les Joies du Sport portfolio and issued in an edition of 750. This was pub...

Medium: pochoir. Printed in Paris in 1932 on Velin du Marais paper at the atelier of Daniel Jacomet for the Les Joies du Sport portfolio and issued in an edition of 750. This was pub...

A beautiful signed and dated 1937 oil on canvas portrait of a young lady wearing the fashions of the period, by Swiss artist Émile François Chambon. Striking and excellent quality w...

A captivating, 1930s portrait painting of a young woman by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A sensitive, skilled portrait of a young female model, most likely h...

Un Homme Dans La Ville — Original French Theatre Vintage Poster by Paul Colin, Linen-Backed Studio des Champs-Élysées Vintage Lithograph Art. Very good condition, Grade A-. (A Man i...

Victor Mikhail Arnautoff (1896 - 1979) Motion (Mile Rocks Lighthouse), San Francisco, 1939 Oil and tempera on board 60 x 40 inches Signed lower left Provenance: The artist California School of Fine Arts (CFSA) John & Lynne Bolen Fine Arts, Huntington Beach, California Exhibited: New York, World's Fair, Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, 1939. San Francisco Museum of Art, 1962. Literature: American Art from the New York World's Fair 1939, Poughkeepsie, 1987, no. 11, p. 41, illustrated. Robert W. Cherny, Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art, Urbana, Illinois, 2017. The lighthouse in the distance is the Mile Rocks Lighthouse in San Francisco Bay, built in 1906 after many shipwrecks made the lighthouse necessary. In 1962 the lighthouse was reduced in size to make room for a helipad. Arnautoff was the son of a Russian Orthodox priest. He showed a talent for art from an early age and hoped to study art after graduating from the gymnasium in Mariupol. With the outbreak of World War I, he enrolled in the Yelizavetgrad Cavalry School. He went on to hold military leadership positions in the army of Nicholas II and the White Siberian army. With the defeat of the Whites in Siberia, he crossed into northeastern China and surrendered his weapons. Arnautoff remained in China for five years. He again tried to pursue art, but was impoverished and took a position training the cavalry of the warlord Zhang Zuolin. He met and married Lydia Blonsky and they had two sons, Michael and Vasily. In November 1925 Arnautoff went to San Francisco on a student visa to study at the California School of Fine Arts. There he studied sculpture with Edgar Walter and painting with several instructors. His wife and children joined him, and they all continued to Mexico in 1929, where, on Ralph Stackpole...

Medium: pochoir. Printed in Paris in 1932 on Velin du Marais paper at the atelier of Daniel Jacomet for the Les Joies du Sport portfolio and issued in an edition of 750. This was pub...

This vertically oriented etching features an intricate, central cluster of fluidly overlapping contours, densely filled sections of cross-hatching, and dark, flat biomorphic shapes f...

Day at the Beach - Realistic Figurative Illustration in Gouache Original figurative illustration of people at the beach by Charles Ross Kinghan (American, 1895-1984). Several women are looking at someone's foot, as if there is a splinter being removed. Three of the women are closer, with their heads in the frame. Two of them have are standing with their backs to the viewer. Between the women, the viewer can catch glimpses of other activities on the beach. Possibly a sketch for Good Housekeeping Magazine. Signed "Charles Ross" in the lower right corner. (Charles Ross Kinghan) Acquired with other signed estate works by the artist. Presented in a new cream mat. Mat size: 16"H x 13"W Board size: 14"H x 11.75"W Charles Ross Kinghan (American, 1895-1984) was born in Anthony, KS on January 18, 1895. A teacher, he moved to Wichita as a teenager and did sign painting for the Western Sign Works. He studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art in 1916, the American Academy of Art in Chicago, the Audubon School of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. He was a pupil of Carl Scheffler, J. Wellington Reynolds, and H.A. Oberteuffer. He taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. He was an illustrator for McCalls, Good Housekeeping, Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, and many others, including American Artist magazine. He was author and illustrator of Rendering Techniques for Commercial Art and Advertising (1956) and of Ted Kautzky...

Painted by Nura Woodson Ulreich (American, 1899-1950) as a full-page illustration for the book 'The Buttermilk Tree', unsigned and dated circa 1935. A rare example of a fully-develop...

M. Ricket (British, mid-20th century) Café Interior Oil on canvas, signed lower right Presented in a carved gilt frame This engaging mid-century scene by M. Ricket captures the war...

Unique pencil and gouache fashion sketch of a slim and flowing blue evening dress trimmed in white fur, circa 1930. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold bo...

'The Church of Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet, Paris', gouache on art paper by Lucien Génin (circa 1930s). In Paris' 5th Arrondissement the site in which Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet is ...

Original travel poster: Visitate l'Esposizione Coloniale A smiling dusky maiden who looks just like Josephine Baker, pushes aside a blue curtain to reveal the splendors of her nat...

Artwork sold with frame (57 x 49 x 5 cm) Jeanne Adrienne Perrochet-Junod (1878–1956) was a Swiss sculptor renowned for her contributions to public art in La Chaux-de-Fonds and her r...

"NY Street Signs" Mid-20th Century WPA 1938 Modernist Abstract Realism Pop Art Stuart Davis (American, 1892-1964) "Street Signs" Modernist gouache and traces of pencil on paper in the proto-pop art style Davis is celebrated for, 1938, signed to lower right, framed. Image: 11 1/4 x 15 1/4 inches. Frame by Bark: 18 1/2 x 22 inches. LITERATURE: A, Boyajian, M. Rutkowski, Stuart Davis, A Catalogue Raisonne, Vol. 2, New Haven, Connecticut, 2007, vol. II, p. 632, no. 1232, illustrated. EXHIBITIONS: ACA Galleries, New York American Artists' Congress: Group Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Dec. 3-16, 1939 (SDAB I, 12/3/39, p. 129). Outlines Gallery, Pittsburgh, Stuart Davis, Mar. 3-16, 1946. Coleman Art Gallery, Philadelphia, 5 Prodigal Sons: Former Philadelphia Artists: Ralston Crawford, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Julian Levi, Charles Sheeler, Oct 4 - 30, 1947 (pamphlet), no. 12. PROVENANCE: The artist; Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bowles, New York, Apr. 3, 1956; thence by descent, Private Collection, New York. NOTES: According to the Catalogue Raissonne, "the title 'Street Signs' is recorded in the artist's account books...

China ink and watercolor drawing on paper realized by Mino Maccari in 1932 ca. Hand signed lower right. Very good condition.

BERNARD (JOSEPH) STEFFEN (1907 – 1980) PULLING CORN (FODDER HOPPER) c. 1935-45 Color serigraph signed with a full signature below the image at the lower right sheet edge . Unknown e...

Marcel DYF 1899 - 1985 This piece has been confirmed by Claudine Dyf This work is registered in the Marcel Dyf Archive under N° ID 5158 Picture Size: 29 x 36" (72 x 92cm) Outside F...

A 1933 lithograph on cream wove paper 14 x 18 inches (354 x 452mm), full margins. Signed, titled, and numbered 17/33 in pencil, lower margin. Minor mat tone around the perimeter of t...

"Skating Waiter" by Horace Abrahams 8th January 1938: A waiter skates across the ice at St. Moritz carrying a tray of drinks for his customers. Unframed Paper Size: 60" x 40'' (in...

Title: Pensive Woman Artist: Vicente Oliver (1896–1970) Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 18.1 x 15.0 in (46 x 38 cm) Support: Unframed canvas Date: Mid-20th century Signatu...

Woman is an orignal modern artwork realized by Antonio Feltrinelli in 1930s. Mixed colored oil painting on canvas. Not signed. Antonio Feltrinelli (Milan, 1887 – Gargnano, 1942) ...

Olof Walfrid Nilsson (1868–1956) Fjäll i aftonsol (“Mountain in Evening Sun”) circa 1933 oil on canvas signed Olof W. Nilsson and dated 1933? unframed: 102 x 82 cm (40.2 x 32.3 in)...

Portrait of a Lady in Purple Dress against a Pink and Blue Wallpaper background French School, circa 1930's signed lower front corner oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 22 x 18 inches p...

A unique, contemplative 1930s Modern table top still-life painting featuring a spoon, egg and an artichoke by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin. Image size: 11 1/4 x 15 1/4 inc...

James Penney was widely known for his New Yorker covers as well as his paintings and prints. This lithograph of male laborers, Street Pavers, remi...

Lynd Ward, 'Wild Pilgrimage', No. 26, wood engraving, 1932, edition not stated but very small. Signed in pencil. A fine, black impression, with full margins (1 1/16 to 3 3/16 inches), on tissue-thin cream Japan paper, in very good condition. A scarce, artist-printed, hand-signed proof impression before the published edition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Created by Lynd Ward for his narrative book of illustrations without words, 'Wild Pilgrimage', published by Harrison Smith...

"3rd Avenue EL" NYC American Scene Ashcan WPA Modern 20th Century Social Realism Bernard Gussow (1881-1957) 3rd Avenue El 28 1/8 x 30 1/4 inches Oil on canvas Signed lower left Fram...

A splendid, historic poster! It was 1939 when this poster was made. All the major British soldiers had gone abroad to fight, and there were no soldiers left to defend the country. So the country called on all those too old for the army and teenagers aged 14 and over to join the home front. The Home Service Battalions were a force of the British Army during the First and Second World Wars, intended for national defense and other tasks. Those who joined these battalions were exempt from service outside the UK. War - United Kingdom - 39-45 Men 41...

Benjamin Benno, American (1901 - 1980) - Still Life with Lute and Bread, Year: 1935, Medium: Pochoir, signed, numbered, and dated in pencil, Edition: 50, Image Size: 8.5 x 6.25 i...

* No US duty or taxes to pay on works of art * A striking 1930's French post-impressionist oil on board portrait of a gentleman smoking a pipe by Antonin Guéton. Excellent quality...

French chromolithograph, published in 1931. Printed title lower right of sheet. Plate number top right. From a French series of illustrations of birds. 195mm by 265mm (sheet)

'Boats on a Pond', oil on canvas, by Charles Kvapil (circa 1930s). This tranquil artwork depicts people fishing from their small boats. The motionless pond is surrounded by lush foliage with some homes as backdrop. The painting is spattered with light. With hardly any air moving in the scene, the still water plays...

Lorne Kidd Smith (Canadian, 1880-1966) Signed: Lorne. K. Smith (Lower, Right) " Prince Edward County ", circa 1930 (Titled on Verso) Oil on Board 16" x 20" Housed in a 3" Frame ...

A mysterious blond young woman is standing by the window in a plush drawing room which has a velvety feel. With her back turned to us, she is looking out over the spires and roofs of...

Adriaan Lubbers, 'Skyline from Jersey Heights', lithograph, 1930, edition 25. Signed, titled, and numbered '4/XXV' in pencil. Dated 'Paris 1930' in pencil. A fine impression, on crea...

Frida and Diego with Gas Mask is a limited edition black and white portrait of Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. The couple embraces each other while Frida holds a gas m...

Lyonel Feininger, 'Church with House and Tree (Kirche mit Haus und Baum)', woodcut, 1936, one of a small but unknown number of letterhead proofs; Prasse W290 IV. Annotated 'PW 290 state IV / IV 3669', in pencil, in the bottom right sheet corner. With the artist's typed address and date adjacent to the letterhead image: 'Falls Village, Connecticut September 26th, 1940'. A fine impression, on buff, wove letterhead stock; several small losses, and tears, in the sheet edges (not affecting the image area); a crease in the bottom right sheet edge, otherwise in good condition. Very scarce. Image size: 2 3/8 x 2 3/4 inches; sheet size 11 x 8 5/8 inches. Archivally sleeved, unmatted. Feininger moved from Germany to New York City in 1938 and began spending his summers in Falls Village in 1940. Exhibited: 'Lyonel Feininer, Woodcuts Used As Letterheads'; Associated American Artists; Feb 4 - March 2, 1974; New York, NY. ABOUT THE ARTIST Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) was born in New York City into a musical family—his father was a violinist and composer, his mother was a singer and pianist. He studied violin with his father, and by the age of 12, he was performing in public, but he also drew incessantly, most notably the steamboats and sailing ships on the Hudson and East Rivers, and the landscape around Sharon, Conn., where he spent time on a farm owned by a family friend. At the age of 16 he left New York to study music and art in Germany, from where his parents emigrated. Drawn more to the visual arts, he attended schools in Hamburg, Berlin, and Paris from 1887 to 1892. After completing his studies, Feininger began his artistic career as a cartoonist and illustrator, his originality leading him to great success. In 1906, after working for a dozen years in Germany, he was offered a job as a cartoonist at the Chicago Tribune, the largest circulation newspaper in the Midwest. He worked there for a year, inventing what became the standard design for the comic strip: in the words of John Carlin, “an overall pattern. . . that allowed the page to be read both as a series of elements one after the other, like language and as a group of juxtaposed images, like visual art.” His originality did not end there: he went on to become one of the great abstract painters. Like Kandinsky, music was his model, but Kandinsky only knew music from the outside—as a listener (inspired initially by Wagner, then by Schoenberg)—while Feininger knew it from the inside. He lived in Paris from 1906 to 1908, during which time he met and was influenced by the work of progressive painters Robert Delaunay and Jules Pascin, as well as that of Paul Cezanne and Vincent van Gogh. He began painting full-time, developing his distinctive Iyrical style based on Cubist and Expressionist idioms and a concern for the emotive qualities of light and color. He exhibited with the Der Blaue Reiter group in 1913, and in 1917, he had his first solo exhibition at Galerie Der Sturm in Berlin. One year after his solo exhibition, in 1918, Feininger began making woodcuts. He became enamored with the medium, producing an impressive 117 in his first year of exploring the printmaking medium. In 1919 at the invitation of the architect Walter Gropius, he was appointed the first master at the newly formed Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar. His woodcut of a cathedral crowned...

Karl Drerup (1904-2000). Italian City, c.1930. Oil on masonite panel, 24 x 32 inches; 34 x 42 in custom frame. Signed lower right. Minor conservation to loss in margins. Price on request Biography: Born in Borghorst, Germany in 1904, Karl Drerup earned a Master’s Degree in graphic arts working under Hans Meid...