1930s Art

After Gustav Klimt, Max Eisler #30, Brautzug; multi-color collotype after unfinished 1917/18 painting in oil on canvas. Painted in the last months of Klimt’s life, The Bride was one...

A Fine 1930s, Modern Academic Pastel Figure Study of a Kneeling Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed, early 1930...

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 ...

Universal bank is an original modern artwrok realized by Antonio Feltrinelli in the 1930s. Mixed colored oil painting on canvas. The artwork depi...

De Hirsh Margules (1899-1965). North on West Street , 1939. Watercolor on Arches wove paper. Signed and dated in pencil by artist lower margin. Sheet measures 15 x 22 inches. Framed measurement: 27 x 34 inched. Incredibly vibrant and saturated color with no fading or toning of sheet. Provenance: Babcock Galleries, NYC De Hirsh Margules (1899–1965) was a Romanian-American "abstract realist" painter who crossed paths with many major American artistic and intellectual figures of the first half of the 20th century. Elaine de Kooning said that he was "[w]idely recognized as one of the most gifted and erudite watercolorists in the country". The New York Times critic Howard Devree stated in 1938 that "Margules uses color in a breath-taking manner. A keen observer, he eliminates scrupulously without distortion of his material." Devree later called Margules "one of our most daring experimentalists in the medium" Margules was also a well-known participant in the bohemian culture of New York City's Greenwich Village, where he was widely known as the "Baron" of Greenwich Village.[1] The New York Times described him as "one of Greenwich Village's best-known personalities" and "one of the best known and most buoyant characters about Greenwich Village. Early Life De Hirsh Margules was born in 1899 in the Romanian city of Iași (also known as Iasse, Jassy, or Jasse). When Margules was 10 weeks old, his family immigrated to New York City. Both of his parents were active in the Yiddish theater, His father was Yekutiel "Edward" Margules, a "renowned Jewish actor-impresario and founder of the Yiddish stage." Margules' mother, Rosa, thirty-nine years younger than his father, was an actress in the Yiddish theater and later in vaudeville. Although Margules appeared as a child actor with the Adler Family[11] and Bertha Kalich, his sister, Annette Margules, somewhat dubiously continued in family theater and vaudeville tradition, creating the blackface role of the lightly-clad Tondelayo (a part later played on film Hedy Lamarr) in Earl Carroll's 1924 Broadway exoticist hit, White Cargo. Annette herself faced stereotyping as an exotic flower: writing about her publicist Charles Bouchert stated that "Romania produces a stormy, temperamental type of woman---a type admirably fitted to portray emotion." His brother Samuel became a noted magician who appeared under the name "Rami-Sami." Samuel later became a lawyer, representing magician Horace Goldin, among others. A family portrait including a young De Hirsh, a portrait of Rosa and Annette together, and individual photos of Rosa and Edward can be found on the Museum of the City of New York website. At around age 9 or 10, Margules took art classes with the Boys Club on East Tenth Street, and his first taste of exhibition was at a student art show presented by the club. By age 11, he had won a city-wide prize (a box camera) at a children's art show presented by the department store Wanamakers. As a young teenager, Margules was already displaying a characteristic kindness and loyalty. Upon hearing that two friends (one of them was author Alexander King), were in trouble for breaking a school microscope, the nearly broke Margules gave them five dollars to repair the microscope . Margules had to approach a wealthy man that Margules had once saved on the subway from a heart attack. Margules didn't reveal the source of the five dollars to King until twenty-five years later. In his late teens, Margules studied for a couple of months in Pittsburgh with Edwin Randby, a follower of Western painter Frederic Remington. Thereafter he pursued a two-year course of studies in architecture, design and decoration at the New York Evening School of Art and Design, while working as a clerk during the day at Stern's Department Store. He was encouraged in these artistic pursuits by his neighbor, the painter Benno Greenstein (who later went by the name of Benjamin Benno). Artistic career In 1922, Margules began work as a police reporter for the City News Association of New York .Margules then considered himself something of an expert on art, and the painter Myron Lechay is said to have responded to some unsolicited analysis of his work with the remark "Since you seem to know so much about it, why don't you paint yourself?" This led to study with Lechay and a flurry of painting. Margules' first show was in 1922 at Jane Heap's Little Review Gallery. Thereafter Margules began to participate in shows with a group including Stuart Davis, Jan Matulka, Buckminster Fuller (exhibiting depictions of his "Dymaxion house") in a gallery run by art-lover and restaurateur Romany Marie on the floor above her cafe. Jane Heap, left, with Mina Loy and Ezra Pound During the 1920s, Margules traveled outside of the country a number of times. In 1922, with the intent of reaching Bali, he took a job as a "'wiper on a tramp steamer where [he] played nursemaid to the engine." He reached Rotterdam before he turned back. He would return to Rotterdam shortly thereafter. In 1927, Margules took a lengthy leave of absence from his day job as a police reporter in order to travel to Paris, where he "set up a studio in Montmartre's Place du Tertre, on the top floor of an almost deserted hotel, a shabby establishment, lacking both heat and running water." He studied at the Louvre and traveled to paint landscapes in provincial France and North Africa. Margules also joined the "Noctambulist" movement and experimented with painting and showing his artwork in low light.Jonathan Cott wrote that: the painter De Hirsch Margulies sat on the quays of the Seine and painted pictures in the dark. In fact, the first exhibition of these paintings, which could be seen only in a darkened room, took place in [ Walter Lowenfels'] Paris apartment. Elaine de Kooning remarked that studying the works of the Noctambulists confirmed Margules' "direction toward the use of primary colors for perverse effects of heavy shadow." It was also in Paris that Margules initially conceived his idea of "Time Painting", where a painting is divided into sectors, each representing a different time of day, with color choices meant to evoke that time of day. In Paris, his social circle included Lowenfels, photographer Berenice Abbott, publisher Jane Heap, composer George Anthiel, sculptor Thelma Wood, painter André Favory, writer Norman Douglas, writer and editor George Davis, composer and writer Max Ewing, and writer Michael Fraenkel. Upon his return to New York in 1929, Margules attended an exhibition of John Marin's paintings. While at the exhibition, he "launched into an eloquent explanation of Marin to two nearby women", and was overheard by an impressed Alfred Stieglitz. The famous photographer and art promoter invited Margules to dine with his wife, the artist Georgia O'Keeffe, and his assistant, painter Emil Zoler. Stieglitz thereafter became a friend and mentor to Margules, becoming for him "what Socrates was to his friends." Alfred Stieglitz Stieglitz introduced Margules to John Marin, who quickly became the most important painterly influence upon Margules. Elaine de Kooning later noted that Margules was "indebted to Marin and through Marin to Cézanne for his initial conceptual approach - for his constructions of scenes with no negative elements, for skies that loom with the impact of mountains." Margules himself said that Marin was his "father and ... academy." The admiration was by no means unreciprocated: Marin said that Margules was "an art lover with abounding faith and sincerity, with much intelligence and quick seeing." Stieglitz also introduced Margules to many other artistic and intellectual figures in New York. With the encouragement of Alfred Stieglitz, Margules in 1936 opened a two-room gallery at 43 West 8th Street called "Another Place." Over the following two years there were fourteen solo exhibitions by Margules and others, and the gallery was well-respected by the press. It was in this gallery that the painter James Lechay, Myron's brother, exhibited his first painting. In 1936, Margules first saw recognition by major art museums when both the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston purchased his works. In 1942, Margules gave up working as a police reporter, and apparently dedicated himself thereafter solely to an artistic vocation. "The Baron of Greenwich Village"[edit] Margules made his mark not only as an artist, but also as an outsized personality known throughout Greenwich Village and beyond. To local residents, Margules was known as the "Baron", after Baron Maurice de Hirsch, a prominent German Jewish philanthropist. Margules was easily recognizable by the beret he routinely wore over his long hair. Writer Charles Norman said that he "dressed with a flair for sloppiness." He was said to "know everybody" in Greenwich Village, to the extent that when the novelist and poet Maxwell Bodenheim was murdered, Margules was the first one the police sought to identify the body. Margules' letters show him interacting with art world figures such as Sacha Kolin, John Marin and Alfred Stieglitz, as well as with prominent figures outside the art world such as polymath Buckminster Fuller and writer Henry Miller. Most of his friends and acquaintances found Margules a generous and voluble man, given to broadly emotionally expressive gestures and acts of kindness and loyalty. In 1929, he exhibited an example of this loyalty and fellow-feeling when he appeared in court to fight what the wrongful commitment of his friend, writer and sculptor Alfred Dreyfuss, who appeared to have been a victim of an illicit attempt to block an inheritance. The Greenwich Village chronicler Charles Norman described the bone-crushing hugs that Margules would routinely bestow on his friends and acquaintances, and speaks of the "persuasive theatricality" that Margules seemed to have inherited from his actor parents. Norman also wrote about Margules' routine acts of kindness, taking in homeless artists, constantly feeding his friends and providing the salvatory loan where needed. Norman also notes that Margules was blessed with a loud and good voice, and was apt to sing an operatic air without provocation. The writer and television personality Alexander King said I think the outstanding characteristics of my friend's personality are affirmation, emphasis, and overemphasis. He chooses to express himself predominantly in superlatives and the gestures which accompany his utterances are sometimes dangerous to life and limb. Of the bystanders, I mean. King also spoke with affectionate amusement about Margules' pride in his cooking, speaking of how "if he should ever invite you to dinner, he may serve you a hamburger with onions, in his kitchen-living room, with such an air of gastronomic protocol, such mysterious hints and ogliing innuendoes, as if César Ritz and Brillat-Savarin had sneaked out, only a moment before, with his secret recipe in their pockets." Margules was such a memorable New York personality that comic book writer Alvin Schwartz imagined him at the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria in a risible yet poignant debate with Clark Kent about whether Superman had the ability to stop Hitler. Margules' entrenchment in the Greenwich Village milieu can be seen in a photograph from Fred McDarrah's "Beat Generation Album" of a January 13, 1961 writers' and poets' meeting to discuss "The Funeral of the Beat Generation", in Robert Cordier [fr]'s railroad flat at 85 Christopher Street. Among the people in the same photograph are Shel Silverstein...

Maurice UTRILLO Paris : Winter Day at Montmartre Original gouache painting Signed bottom right 40 x 32 cm at view (c. 16 x 13") Painted c. 1934-36 Presented in a golden wood frame ...

Antique American abstract expressionist painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed. Measuring: 37 by 43 inches overall, and 36 by 42 painting alone. In excellent original condition. ...

From the Ponte Vecchio, Florence. 1925. Etching and aquatint. Fletcher catalog 159. state ii. Image: 11 1/8 x 15 1/4 (sheet 13 3/8 x 18 1/4). Edition 160 in this state (total edition...

A striking 1930s American Modern portrait figure study watercolor of a distinguished, young African American male model by notable Chicago Institute of Design artist, Eugene Dana. W...

Downtown New York, c. 1930s, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 10 x 12 inches; label verso reads: "Harry Dix / Title Downtown New York / Medium Oil" Harry Dix was a 20th-century p...

Beautiful American School impressionist piece, unsigned, oil on board. Likely 1920-1940. Painted by a talented artist with wonderful composition and brushwork. 10" x 14" sight, 16.2...

Medium: original lithograph. Printed in Paris in 1930 at the Atelier Desjobert for "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". This is from the edition of 350 on Rives paper printed under th...

This (Street Scene) is undoubtedly O'Callahan's hometown of Buffalo, NY, where he lived and spent most of his career. The artist's name appears in pencil at the bottom edge on the re...

This original Padova travel poster, created circa 1930 by renowned Italian illustrator Marcello Dudovich, showcases the grandeur and historical significance of the city of Padua. Com...

Provenance Consigned to the gallery by private collectors Signed "Marion Kavanagh Wachtel" lower right Description Marion Kavanagh was a pupil of William Keith in San Francisco who, upon learning of her move to Southern California, urged her to contact Pasadena artist Elmer Wachtel. A romance blossomed and the two were married in 1904. During their marriage, out of respect for her husband, Marion Wachtel painted in watercolor, giving Elmer Wachtel the honor of painting in the more “serious” medium of oil. After the untimely passing of her husband and a period of grieving, Marion took up oil painting in 1930, working both en plein air and in the studio. This masterful plein air painting is a poetic interpretation of the snow-capped mountains in Grand Teton National Park...

An elegant pair of oil paintings on panel depicting traditional and rustic scenes, titled “Basque Customs,” created by the Spanish painter C. Vidaime around the beginning of the 20th...

Harbor Scene With Sailboats Seascape Signed lower left, canvas 20x20, about 1930-40. Emile Albert Gruppé was born 1896 in Rochester, New York. He lived the early years of his life in...

A very attractive California Impressionist oil on canvas painting by Charles L. A. Smith, "California Highlands", dated 1930. This very attractive large painting by one of the foremo...

Artist: Dali, Salvador Title: Untitled 05 (Les Chants de Maldoror) Series: Les Chants de Maldoror Date: 1934 Medium: original drypoint Unframed Dimensions: 12.5" x 9.75" Framed...

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...

A charming, lively 1930s charcoal drawing of a Mardi Gras parade by notable Chicago Modern artist Francis Chapin. Depicting a cheerful, crowded scene of a parade on Fat Tuesday in...

Signed oil on canvas landscape circa 1930 by French post impressionist painter Elisee Maclet. The work depicts a view the River Marne in Charenton-le-Pont, a commune in the southeast...

This charming early 20th-century oil painting by Danish artist Valdemar Magaard (1864-1937) captures a quiet moment within a sunlit country home. Painted in 1930, it depicts an elder...

• Created in the mid-1930s, the Figure floor lamp reflects Alberto Giacometti’s early exploration of the relationship between sculpture and functio...

Painted by George Carr Drinkwater, this vibrant oil on canvas depicts the actress of stage and screen Cecily Byrne as Mary Stuart. Painted circa 1930 it is a stunning evocative portrait of an actress who was famous throughout the 1930’s. A fine portrait of a long forgotten film star. Cecily Byrne (1889-1975) was an actress, known for Loyalties, Henry IV and Brown Sugar...

An early serigraph (screen print) by William Gropper. There's a harpist to provide the music and a choir master conducting. The seated members of the group are individually drawn as ...

A gorgeous Margaret Trumbull Jennings cubist charcoal on paper circa 1930-40. Sister of the well-known artist Alice Trumbull Mason with who she studied and travelled. Jennings studied with Hans Hofmann and the Arts Students League NYC. As well as in Europe with Lhote, Leger, and Ozenfant. These drawings were executed under Hofmann tutelage and descended in the family to Alice Mason...

La Vallée de la Seine Raymond Thibesart (France, 1874-1968) Pastel on paper, 1939 Signed l.l. 12.5 x 9.5 (16 x 13 framed) inches INV Nbr. 1939 This...

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.

Original pastel on archival paper by the well known New York artist, Leon Dolice. Signed lower right by the artist. View of downtown New York City and the Chrysler Building. Circa 19...

Charles Turzak, 'Under the Bridge', color woodcut, edition c. 50, 1934. Signed and titled in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, with fresh colors, on cream wove Japan paper; th...

'Lot Cleaning, Los Angeles', wood engraving, edition 60, Zeitlin & Ver Brugge 69. Signed, titled and numbered '51/60' in pencil. A brilliant, black impression, on Kitakata Japan pape...

This exquisite lithograph by Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), titled Comets, from Verve, Revue Artistique et Litteraire, Vol. I, No. 2, originates from t...

April, 6 1936: A tame swan named Leila is given a lift in the back of a car. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) As an authorized Getty Images Gallery...

Spring Night, Greenwich Village. 1930. Drypoint and sand ground. McCarron 85. 10 x 12 3/8 (sheet 13 1/4 x 15 5/8)). Edition 92. A rich, tonal impress...

Carl Johansson, also known as "Ultramarin Johansson," was a Swedish artist born in 1863 and known for his distinctive blue-toned paintings. His work often depicted landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes, capturing the beauty and essence of Sweden's natural landscapes. We are proud to offer one of his late works from 1935 for sale. This painting depicts a beautiful landscape from Nordingrå, a small village situated on the High coast of Sweden. The beauty of Nordingrå has captured many artists in the 19th-century, inspiring many famous painters, including Helmer Osslund...

Louis Lozowick, 'Steel Valley', lithograph, 1936; edition 15; edition 250 AAA (1942); Flint 141. Signed in pencil, with the artist's monogram in the stone, lower left. A fine, richly...

May Lydia Ames (American, 1863-1943) Near Carmel, Calif., 1932 Oil on board Signed and dated lower left, signed and titled verso 14 x 20 inches 18.5 x 24.5 inches, framed May Ames w...

Etching and Aquatint on Montval paper. Hand Signed. Edition of 260 prints (not numbered and generally not signed). Plate 24 from "La Suite Vollard". Catalogue Bloch no. 227; Baer 44...

This gorgeous vibrant British floral oil painting is by noted Leeds artist Philip Naviasky. Painted circa 1939 the composition is a mixed floral arrangement in a doubled handled patt...

This exquisite woodcut by Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), titled Orientalisches (Oriental), from the album XXe siecle, Chroniques du jour, 13 rue Valette (5e), Directeur G. di San Laz...

Frida on White Bench, New York, by Nickolas Muray is a colorful portrait of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. This iconic image features the woman artist sitting on a white bench in fron...

This is an original stone lithograph poster created by the famous poster artist, Leonetto Cappiello. It was done toward the end of his prolific career. In this image Cappiello used h...

Monterey Customs House and Sailboats on the Bay by unknown California artist (American, 1930+-) Some age wear to paint. frame is contemporary with slight wear and included at no cost...

Original stone lithograph by well-known Regionalist Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975). Titled: "Shallow Creek.” The print has full margins and is in excellent condition. AAA print creat...

August Frederick Biehle (1885-1979) Farm in Berlin Heights, c. 1930 Oil on masonite Signed lower right 22 x 30 inches 27.75 x 36 inches, framed A versatile painter who worked in a v...

This is a well done self portrait of the listed American artist Bernard Stafford Good. Painted in 1937, it is a fine example of American illustration art produced by the Brandywine School of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware of the period. It also relates to Norman Rockwell and his illustrative style of the early twentieth century. The portrait is oil on c...

An enchanting Southern landscape by the mother of the Charleston Renaissance, Elizabeth O'Neill Verner(1883-1979) Etching and drypoint on cream wove paper, 6 15/16 x 5 1/16 inches (175 x 128 mm), full margins. Signed, titled and numbered 72/100 in pencil, lower margin. Uniform age tone, minor surface soiling. A rich and inky impression of a magical southern landscape with figure tilling soil under Spanish moss covered oaks. A native of Charleston, South Carolina...

Pasquale Napolitano (1901-2001) Seted Figure of a Man, ca. 1935. Carved hardwood, measuring 22" h., 9.75" d., 14" w. Signed bottom right side. Natural wood shrinkage cracking on...

Original cover for The Saturday Evening Post, published December 6, 1930 Medium: Oil on Canvas Artwork Dimensions: 44.25" x 34.25" Signature: Signed Lower Right Norman Rockwe...

Simka Simkhovitch (Russian/American 1893 - 1949) This came with a small grouping from the artist's family, some were hand signed some were not. These were studies for larger paintin...

Thelma Frazier Winter (American, 1903-1977) Woman and Child, c. 1935 Glazed stoneware, painted plaster 14 x 7 x 5.875 inches Thelma Frazier Wint...

Beautiful print of Jean Cocteau 🇫🇷 (1889-1963) a French poet, painter, draughtsman, playwright and film maker. In the workshop of Madeleine Jolly and Philippe Madeline in Villefran...

"Cheetah Who Shops" by B C Parade American silent film actress Phyllis Gordon (1889 - 1964) window-shopping in Earls Court, London with her four-yea...

A beautiful, intense painting by one of the greatest Italian avant-garde artists of the 20th century. In this beautiful, poetic work, the great artist Filippo De Pisis (Ferrara, 11 M...

Washington At Pohick Church - 1932 Etching On Paper 1932 black and white etching depicting George Washington at Pohick Church by Ernest David Roth (German, 1879-1964). George Washin...

An original silver gelatin black and white photograph by Press Agency ROL, Paris, 1937. Constructions are everywhere in Paris in 1937, even near the Eiffel Tower, as the city prepare...

Arnold Ronnebeck 'Grand Lake (Yacht Races)'', WPA era modern lithograph print, Colorado mountain lake landscape print. American modernist sailing scene artw...

The subject is a tranquil mountainous landscape from the Lyngenfjord region, framed by the dramatic peaks of the Lyngen Alps in the distance. In the center rises a distinctive double...

The original poster by A. M. Cassandre for the 1935 "Sweepstakes Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe" is a masterpiece of advertising art. Cassandre, the famous French poster artist, created a...