1940s Art

Emil John HESS 1913-2003 This vibrant watercolor on canvas by acclaimed American artist Emil John Hess immerses viewers in the lively atmosphere of a bustling circus scene. Painted...

This is an original hand signed (I believe it is also hand colored but i am not positive) Artists Proof Lithograph of a Circus scene. This depicts a trapeze artist an acrobat on the high wire. This came from a portfolio inscribed by Vertes and also signed by the Surrealist Jean Cocteau. MARCEL VERTES FRENCH HUNGARIAN 1895(Ujpest, Hungary)-1961(Paris, France) art deco artist.Vertes was born in Hungary and died in Paris, but spent a lot of time in New York as well. He was noted as a painter, illustrator, designer and scenic mural painter. His whimsical images graced the pages of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Continuing in the footsteps of Boutet, Forain, Erte, Toulouse-Lautrec and others. Concentrating upon scenes of Paris street life...

Nordfeldt's misty and moody monochromatic modernist landscape is reminiscent of Marsden Hartley. Signed lower right. The plaque reads B.J.O Nordfeldt "Moon in Mist - The painting l...

untitled (Maine Autumn Landscape across the narrows from Mt. Desert) Watercolor, 1945-1955 Signed by the artist lower left in pencil (see photo) Provenance: Estate of the artist Cond...

Antique modernist mixed media abstract oil painting and collage by Paul René Gauguin (1911 - 1976). Oil and mixed media on board, circa . Signed. D...

This sensitively rendered though powerful ink on paper was created in 1946 shortly after Loew returned from active duty where he served at the US Naval airbase on Tinian Island, the ...

Presenting a charming and decorative composition painted in 1943 by Danish artist Evan Wulff. This stilleben painting unveils a rustic table adorned simply with a wine bottle and two...

Wake on the Ferry. 1949. Etching. Morse catalog 313. state v. 5 x 7 (sheet 8 3/4 x 11 7/8). Edition of 350: 200 for the Art Students League and 150 for the artist. A fine impression ...

Artist: Henri Matisse Title: Plate 17: J'irai à ce que j'ai voulu, sans fierté comme sans remords (I go to what I wanted, as much without pride as without remorse) Portfolio: Pasipha...

Medium: collotype (after the Miro lithograph). Printed in 1947 in an edition of 1500 by Meriden Gravure and published by Curt Valentin for "The Prints of Joan Miro" portfolio. Size: ...

This poster design was commissioned by Abbott Labs , a medical products company that supplied the United States military forces in World War I and II . The text on the bottom of the ...

Parade Mexicaine by Jean Dufy (1888-1964) Gouache on Ingres paper 45.1 x 55.6 cm (17³/₄ x 21⁷/₈ inches) Signed Jean Dufy lower centre Executed circa 1948-1950 Provenance Galerie Kät...

Charles Green Shaw Harvard vs. Yale, 1944 Signed and dated on the reverse Oil on canvasboard 9 x 12 inches Provenance: Harvey and Francois Rambach, New Jersey Private Collection, California Washburn Gallery, New York D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York Private Collection, New York Charles Green Shaw, born into a wealthy New York family, began painting when he was in his mid-thirties. A 1914 graduate of Yale, Shaw also completed a year of architectural studies at Columbia University. During the 1920s Shaw enjoyed a successful career as a freelance writer for The New Yorker, Smart Set and Vanity Fair, chronicling the life of the theater and café society. In addition to penning insightful articles, Shaw was a poet, novelist and journalist. In 1927 he began to take a serious interest in art and attended Thomas Hart Benton's class at the Art Students League briefly in New York. He also studied privately with George Luks, who became a good friend. Once he had dedicated himself to non-traditional painting, Shaw's writing ability made him a potent defender of abstract art. After initial study with Benton and Luks, Shaw continued his artistic education in Paris by visiting numerous museums and galleries. From 1930 to 1932 Shaw's paintings evolved from a style imitative of Cubism to one directly inspired by it, though simplified and more purely geometric. Returning to the United States in 1933, Shaw began a series of abstracted cityscapes of skyscrapers he called Manhattan Motifs which evolved into his most famous works, the shaped canvases he called Plastic Polygons. The 1930s were productive years for Shaw. He showed his paintings in numerous group exhibitions, both in New York and abroad, and was also given several one-man exhibitions. Shaw had his first one-man exhibition at the Valentine Dudensing Gallery in New York in 1934, which included 25 Manhattan Motif paintings and 8 abstract works. In the spring of 1935 Shaw was introduced to Albert Gallatin and George L.K. Morris. Gallatin was so impressed with Shaw's work, he broke a policy against solo exhibitions at his museum, the Gallery of Living Art, and offered Shaw an exhibition there. In the summer of 1935 Shaw traveled to Paris with Gallatin and Morris who provided introductions to many great painters. Shaw regularly spent time with John Ferren and Jean Hélion. The following year Gallatin organized an exhibition called Five Contemporary American Concretionists at the Reinhardt Gallery that included Shaw, Ferren, and Morris, Alexander Calder, and Charles Biederman...

Title: Interior with Fruits and Portrait Artist: Signed as J. Guinovart Attribution: Possibly a very early work by Josep Guinovart (1927–2007) Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 46...

ALMOST VD; 1946 military poster by Franz Oswald Schiffers. Almost! VD, the 1946 U.S. World War II (WWII) health poster warning soldiers overseas of the consequences of venereal disease. VD Almost! is a vintage 1946 public service announcement poster by Franz O. Schiffers (1902-1976). Schiffers was commissioned to create several posters warning against venereal disease for the U.S servicemen stationed overseas. The artwork is bold, clear and direct. In the post-World War II era, the piece sent a serious message to prevent contracting disease through relations with foreigners. In today's day and age, these pieces are quite humorous and decorative. Virile soldiers are shown to be up against the looming threat of venereal disease. The soldier standing on the pier watching his ship sail away would have to make a very embarrassing explanation to his wife or girlfriend as to why he was left behind. Franz Oswald Schiffers (born August 5, 1902 in Eilendorf in Aachen , February 12, 1976 in Berlin ) was a graphic artist and film poster artist . He was one of the first graphic artists of the 1930s to achieve photorealistic effects in their works. At his father's request, Schiffers initially trained as a teacher before moving to Berlin in 1925 and became a graphic designer at UFA (Universum Film AG). After designing a series of movie posters there, Schiffers became independent in 1932 as a commercial artist (now a graphic designer). In the 1930s, Schiffers specialized in advertising posters for beverage producers - especially beer advertising. The trademark of his beer posters is the meticulous design of beer glass with shiny drops of water that trickle down the misted glass. In this photorealistic context one also speaks of " veristic " graphics. After the seizure of power by the National SocialistsNazis , Schiffers temporarily worked for the Reich Propaganda Ministry. He designed u. a. the so-called "shadow man campaign" with the well-known slogan "enemy hears with!" - A German graphic artist who designed movie posters and advertisements in late-1920s and early 1930s Germany. During the Nazi era, Schiffers was commissioned by the Nazi propaganda office to create German propaganda...

To see our other Modern British Art, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" - or send us a message if you cannot find the artist you want. Clifford...

Signed oil on canvas landscape circa 1940 by popular French impressionist painter Alexandre Louis Jacob. The piece depicts workers loading wood onto a cart being pulled by a white ho...

Reginald Marsh "Brooklyn Bridge" NYC Modernism WPA Mid-Century Watercolor Modern Reginald Marsh (American, 1898-1954) Brooklyn Bridge, 1940, Signed and dated Reginald Marsh May 1940 (lr), Watercolor over traces of pencil on paper , 15 x 22 inches sight. Reginald Marsh was born in Paris, France in 1898, the child of artist parents. He was born over a small cafe on Paris' Left Bank. He was brought to the United States in 1900 and was drawing before he was three. He studied art at Yale University and the Art Students League, during which time he worked primarily as an illustrator for New York newspapers and magazines. After studying in Paris in 1925 and 1926, he turned seriously to painting. In 1929 he was introduced to the egg-tempera medium, which he used extensively the rest of his life. Marsh's gusto for painting the bottom crust of society contrasted curiously with his background. His parents, both well-known artists, were steeped in academic traditions. He attended Lawrenceville Academy and Yale; perhaps this elite background made it possible to paint the earthy people he did with a journalist's objectivity. An admirer of Rubens and Delacroix, he disliked modernist art; indeed, his lifelong preoccupation was with people - enjoying themselves at beaches, at amusement parks, or on crowded city streets. Marsh was a second-generation Ash Can School painter and printmaker, best known as an urban regionalist. He spent his days sketching in small notebooks...

Louis Lozowick, 'Winter Fun', lithograph, 1940, edition 20, 250 (1941). Flint 188. Signed in pencil, with the artist’s monogram in the stone, lower left. A...

Antique American modernist abstract landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas. No signature found. Framed. Image size, 24L x 22H.

Medium: Lithograph on vélin paper, hinged on archival backing paper, as issued Year: 1967 Paper Size: 17.32 x 14.17 inches (backing paper size) Inscription: Signed in the plate and u...

Medium: Lithograph on vélin paper, hinged on archival backing paper, as issued Year: 1967 Paper Size: 17.32 x 14.17 inches (backing paper size) Inscription: Signed in the plate and u...

Jane Peterson paints a vase of large yellow zinnias surrounded by dramatic green leaves against a blue background in her oil painting “Zinnias in ...

To see our other original vintage propaganda posters, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" - or send us a message if you cannot fin...

Santa Cruz Forest and Carbonero Creek with Redwoods in the early morning by Lillian Josephine Heath (American, 1864-1961). Oil on linen. Signed "Lillian J. Heath" lower left. Circa 1...

Medium: Lithograph and stencil on vélin paper Year: 1946 Paper Size: 17 x 13 inches Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued Notes: From the folio, TLautrec, 1946. ...

Born in Ontario, Canada, Rolph Scarlett left home at age eighteen for New York City, making that city his home for long periods during his lifetime. While beginning his career as an ...

To see our other original vintage propaganda posters, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" - or send us a message if you cannot fin...

This original lithographic poster was designed after Pierre Bonnard, for the Orangerie Des Tuileries in 1947. This work encompasses still life as this table set takes center stage. Bonnard was a founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde painters Les Nabis...

Silkscreen on vélin paper. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Paper Size: 8 x 6 inches. Notes: From the album, Paul Klee, Paintings Watercolors 1913 to 1939,...

Adolph Studly, Swiss born American photographer. His work is kept in the Photographic Archive at The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. He was known for his gallery photograp...

Original Philips Infra-Rouge vintage poster. Size: 23" x 31". Archival linen-backed French antique poster. It is archival linen backed and ready to frame. This fun kitchen poster...

"Figures, Boats, and House - Cape May Point, NJ" is a Pennsylvania Beach Scene by American Impressionist painter Albert Van Nesse Greene. The ...

Medium: Lithograph and stencil on vélin Polifilo paper Year: 1947 Paper Size: 13.78 x 10.24 inches Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued Notes: From the folio, I...

Norman Rockwell was a well known illustrator and painter, who was best known for his many magazine covers created mainly for the Saturday Evening Post. During World War ll he created...

Medium: Lithograph and stencil on vélin paper Year: 1946 Paper Size: 17 x 13 inches Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued Notes: From the folio, TLautrec, 1946. ...

Signed lower right 'Nura' for Nura Woodson Ulreich (American, 1899–1950) and created circa 1935; additionally titled lower left, 'Peggy and Dot' with number and limitation, '18/100'....

Gordon Grant (American, 1875-1962) The Salt Bark - Gloucester, c. 1947 Lithograph Sight: 10 x 12 1/2 in. Framed: 15 x 19 x 3/4 in. Signed lower right in pencil Published in edition ...

Medium: lithograph (after the drawing). Printed in 1946 by Mourlot Freres for the rare "Sainte Catherine 1946" catalogue, issued by the Palais de Chaillot in a limited edition of 115...

DELAYED VD; 1946 military poster by Franz Oswald Schiffers. Delayed! VD, the 1946 U.S. World War II (WWII) health poster warning soldiers overseas of the consequences of venereal disease. He can see the bright lights big city in the distance but he is chained to the VD block... VD Almost! is a vintage 1946 public service announcement poster by Franz O. Schiffers (1902-1976). Schiffers was commissioned to create several posters warning against venereal disease for the U.S servicemen stationed overseas. The artwork is bold, clear and direct. In the post-World War II era, the piece sent a serious message to prevent contracting disease through relations with foreigners. In today's day and age, these pieces are quite humorous and decorative. Virile soldiers are shown to be up against the looming threat of venereal disease. The soldier standing on the pier watching his ship sail away would have to make a very embarrassing explanation to his wife or girlfriend as to why he was left behind. Franz Oswald Schiffers (born August 5, 1902 in Eilendorf in Aachen , February 12, 1976 in Berlin ) was a graphic artist and film poster artist . He was one of the first graphic artists of the 1930s to achieve photorealistic effects in their works. At his father's request, Schiffers initially trained as a teacher before moving to Berlin in 1925 and became a graphic designer at UFA (Universum Film AG). After designing a series of movie posters there, Schiffers became independent in 1932 as a commercial artist (now a graphic designer). In the 1930s, Schiffers specialized in advertising posters for beverage producers - especially beer advertising. The trademark of his beer posters is the meticulous design of beer glass with shiny drops of water that trickle down the misted glass. In this photorealistic context one also speaks of " veristic " graphics. After the seizure of power by the National SocialistsNazis , Schiffers temporarily worked for the Reich Propaganda Ministry. He designed u. a. the so-called "shadow man campaign" with the well-known slogan "enemy hears with!" - A German graphic artist who designed movie posters and advertisements in late-1920s and early 1930s Germany. During the Nazi era, Schiffers was commissioned by the Nazi propaganda office to create German propaganda...

Label verso: "Portrait of a Lady / Oil / MUC / Beatrice Whitney Van Ness / unsigned / size 30h x 25w ". From the estate of the artist. Beatrice Whit...

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Horse "Symbole" by René PARIS (1881-1970) Animal sculpture in bronze with a nuanced light brown patina signed on the base "René Paris" and dated "1942" Cast by "A. Valsuani" (with f...

Photo is 9X13.5 (image size), 16X20 is the mat. Mounted to original mat. Vintage photograph. Marion Post (June 7, 1910 – November 24, 1990), later Marion Post Wolcott, was a noted American photographer who worked for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression documenting poverty and deprivation. Marion Post was born in New Jersey on June 7, 1910. Her parents split up and she was sent to boarding school, spending time at home with her mother in Greenwich Village when not at school. Here she met many artists and musicians and became interested in dance. She studied at The New School. Post trained as a teacher, and went to work in a small town in Massachusetts. Here she saw the reality of the Depression and the problems of the poor. When the school closed she went to Europe to study with her sister Helen. Helen was studying with Trude Fleischmann, a Viennese photographer. Marion Post showed Fleischmann some of her photographs and was told to stick to photography. Marion Post Wolcott with Rolleiflex and Speed Graphic in hand in Montgomery County, Maryland. While in Vienna she saw some of the Nazi attacks on the Jewish population and was horrified. Soon she and her sister had to return to America for safety. She went back to teaching but also continued her photography and became involved in the anti-fascist movement. At the New York Photo League she met Ralph Steiner and Paul Strand who encouraged her. When she found that the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin kept sending her to do "ladies' stories," Ralph Steiner took her portfolio to show Roy Stryker, head of the Farm Security Administration, and Paul Strand wrote a letter of recommendation. Stryker was impressed by her work and hired her immediately. Post's photographs for the FSA often explore the political aspects of poverty and deprivation. They also often find humour in the situations she encountered. In 1941 she met Leon Oliver Wolcott, deputy director of war relations for the U. S. Department of Agriculture under Franklin Roosevelt. They married, and she continued her assignments for the FSA, but resigned shortly thereafter in February 1942. She found it difficult to fit in her photography around raising a family and a great deal of traveling and living overseas. In the 1970s, a renewed interest in Wolcott's images among scholars rekindled her own interest in photography. In 1978, Wolcott mounted her first solo exhibition in California, and by the 1980s the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art began to collect her photographs. The first monograph on her work was published in 1983. She was an advocate for women's rights; in 1986, Wolcott said: "Women have come a long way, but not far enough. . . . Speak with your images from your heart and soul" (Women in Photography Conference, Syracuse, N.Y.) She and other FSA WPA photographers, including Esther Bubley...

René-Paris Castaing, winner of the Grand Prix de Rome in 1924, left a large body of work, both sacred and secular. Many churches in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in South-West France still bear witness to the diversity of his talent. In 1942, he began a major decoration project for the Château de Diusse, in the north-east of the county, including an allegory of the four seasons. The vigorous pastel we are presenting here is a study for Spring, depicted as Flore undressing. This commission was a veritable swan song for the artist, who died a year later at the age of 47. 1. René-Marie Castaing, the great inter-war painter in Pau René-Marie Castaing was born in Pau on December 16th 1896. His father, Joseph Castaing, was also a painter: he was the official portraitist of Pau's high society, which was particularly cosmopolitan at the end of the century, when many rich foreigners spent the winter in Pau, taking advantage of the mild weather to enjoy an outdoor lifestyle punctuated by hunting, horse ridings and golf. René-Marie Castaing was admitted to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in April 1920 and entered the studio of Paul-Albert Laurens (1870-1934). In 1924, he was awarded the First Grand Prix de Rome for Painting, which earned him a stay at the Villa Médicis for more than three years. He then returned to Pau in 1928, where he lived until his death. Castaing's work is marked by the academic tradition, in which drawing plays as important a role as painting. Although his drawings are often sketches that help to set up large painted compositions, they stand as independent artworks in which the artist fully expresses the vivacity of his talent. Castaing was a fervent Christian and religious painting played an essential part in his work, as shown by the decorations he created for the churches of Bizanos, Borce, Bidache and Salies-de-Béarn. The painter also created several secular decorations, such as that for the dining room of the Villa Saint-Basil's in Pau in 1935, and the Hunting at the Albret’s time commissioned in 1940 by the Prefecture of Pau. The décor created in 1942-1943 for the Château de Diusse, a mansion located north-east of Pau, was his last large-scale décor, as the painter died shortly after its completion on December 8th 1943. 2. Description of the drawing Our pastel depicts an eminently secular theme: Spring is embodied by Flore, crouching on the ground with one knee touching the ground. She reveals her ample bosom by removing her shirt, her arms raised above her shoulders to undress. Given Castaing's classical training at the Beaux-Arts and the influence of ancient statuary...

Strange Animals Engraving, 1949 Signed, dated, and titled in pencil by the artist The composition was created at the Univerisity of Iowa while the artist was enrolled in the famous M...

Sz: 15"H x 30"W x 1/2"D Signed: State (bottom center) *wear commensurate with age*

ARCHES OF THE SEA Size: 59 x 51 cm (including frame) Oil on board A mid-century modern painting that features a dreamlike coastal landscape, defined by its geometric abstractions an...

"Solidarity" is an original etching by surrealist artist Yves Tanguy. The artist signed the piece in pencil in the lower right and wrote the edition number, 109/150, in the lower lef...

Benton Spruance, 'A Wind is Rising and the Rivers Flow', color lithograph, 1945, edition 40, Fine and Looney 242. Signed, dated, and titled, and annotated 'Ed 40' in pencil. A fine ...

Werner Drewes (1899-1985) oil on canvas, 1947 Titled: “Adobe Village” Measures: 15 ½ x 36 Frame: 21 x 42 Signed lower left and also on the verso In excellent condition. Born in Nie...

Recently, women artists have been soaring in price to millions of dollars. In many cases, many of these women were quite obscure. For example, recently acknowledged Gertrude Abercrombie, a naive surrealist artist, has recently seen her paintings rise to the area of $400K. Lorraine Fox, who is a consummate female artist/ illustrator whose work rivals any of the recently anointed female stars is still an unknown quantity. She has exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum and is in the collection of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, and she is a member of the Famous Artists School in Westport, Connecticut along with Norman Rockwell, Today she is relatively unknown and completely off the radar of the so-called art establishment. Wedding Day is a wonderful example of her mid-century, somewhat naive style. The work is signed lower right and was exhibited at the Brandywine River...

Signed indistinctly, lower right, and painted circa 1935. A strongly animated, vertically stacked figurative painting filled with compressed energy and an atmosphere of psychologic...

Signed lower left, 'A. Vincent' for Andrew McDuffie Vincent (American, 1898-1993); inscribed verso with title, 'Oregon Coast' and dated 1945. A vibrant watercolor landscape by this ...

Emile Albert Gruppe (1896-1978) Fall landscape Oil on canvas laid to canvas Signed lower right: Emile A. Gruppe Canvas: 40" H x 30" W Inches Framed: 48.25 x 38.25 Inches Very large ...

Signed lower left, 'Marshall Thomas' for Marshall F. Thomas, (American, 1916-2011), and painted circa 1945. An elegantly composed and atmospheric view of a California Main Street sh...

John Edward Costigan Autumn Wood Interior, 1946 Signed, lower left "J.E. Costigan N.A." Oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches John Costigan was a self-taught painter and trained printer dis...

A powerful American Expressionist School study of poppies shown informally arranged in a lilac container. A heavily-impastoed oil showing bravura brushwork and demonstrating an elega...

Signed lower right, 'V. Isbrand' for Victor Isbrand (Danish, 1897-1989) and titled, 'Venedig' (Venice). Precocious as a child, Victor Isbrand painted professionally from a young age...

Signed on old frame backing, 'La Vere Hutchings' (American, 1918-1998) and titled 'Early Snow'. LaVere Hutchings had a degree in art and during WWII taught art as a soldier in the U...