1940s Art
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Period: 1940s
"Solidarity, " Etching of an Surrealist Landscape signed by Yves Tanguy
By Yves Tanguy
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"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...
Category
Surrealist 1940s Art
Materials
Etching
Various Studies of Figures on a Boat, Paul Cadmus Sketch on Paper
By Paul Cadmus
Located in New York, NY
Various Studies of Figures on a Boat, Paul Cadmus Sketch on Paper.
Graphite on paper
6 x 8.5 inches
This work is offered by CLAMP in New York City...
Category
Contemporary 1940s Art
Materials
Paper, Graphite
Vintage English Country Winter Church Landscape 1940
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
3876 English Country church landscape on canvas in a vintage wood frame
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Oil
$375 Sale Price
70% Off
"Country Haircut"
By Milton Avery
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Jim’s of Lambertville Fine Art Gallery is proud to offer this piece by Milton Avery (1885 – 1965).
Milton Avery was a prominent Modernist painter whose work combined abstraction and...
Category
American Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Watercolor, Gouache, Paper
1944 Messerschmitt "ME-323" German transport plane identification poster WW2
Located in London, GB
To see our other original vintage warbird aeroplane posters, photographs and paintings, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller".
1944...
Category
Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph
ON LEAVE
Located in Portland, ME
Gorsline, Douglas (American, 1913-1985). ON LEAVE. Engraving, 1944. 10 7/8 x 8 1/8 inches (plate), 12 1/2 x 10 inches (sheet). Signed, titled and dated in pencil. Edition size not k...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Engraving
IMMIGRANT FAMILY
By Ben Shahn
Located in Portland, ME
Shahn, Ben. IMMIGRANT FAMILY. Serigraph, 1941. Prescott 2. Edition size unknown; Prescott knew of only 3. This copy unsigned. 11 1/2 x 18 inches (image), 19 1/4 x 25 1/4 (sheet), framed to 23 x 28 1/4 inches. This was only the second print made by Shahn, and the first serigraph, a medium in which he continued to use for his prints throughout his career. Provenance: Kennedy Galleries, with its label, George Krevsky Gallery...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Screen
'A Wind Is Rising and the Rivers Flow' — Mid-Century American Modernism
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
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 ...
Category
American Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph
1947 Abstract Biomorphic Painting by Leo Cahn
Located in New York, NY
Leo Cahn
Untitled, 1947
Oil on board
35 3/4 x 23 3/8 in.
Framed: 42 1/2 x 30 1/2 x 2 in.
Signed and dated lower left
Category
Abstract 1940s Art
Materials
Oil, Board
Chinese School Gouache Painting in Carved and Painted Frame circa 1940's
Located in Rochester, NY
Decorative Chinese school painting. Fine detail and painted with rich colors. In a wonderful carved frame painted in pastel blue.
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Paint, Gouache
"Desert" Georgina Klitgaard, Modernist Desert Landscape With Waning Moon
Located in New York, NY
Georgina Klitgaard
Desert
Signed lower right
Oil on canvas
18 x 30 inches
Georgina Klitgaard’s art has sometimes gotten lost in the critical propensity to assign artists to members...
Category
Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Oil
"Birth" 1940s Surrealist Abstract Watercolor Painting, Gray Scale Female Figure
Located in Denver, CO
"Birth" is a striking semi-abstract watercolor painting created by the talented Colorado artist, Charles Ragland Bunnell, in 1943. The artwork, crafted during Bunnell's Black and Blu...
Category
Surrealist 1940s Art
Materials
Watercolor
Norman Parkinson 'Young Velvets, Young Prices'
Located in New York, NY
Norman Parkinson's iconic image of models wear a variety of hats on the roof of the Condé Nast building on Lexington Avenue, New York City. Published in American Vogue on 15th Octobe...
Category
Modern 1940s Art
Materials
C Print
Original Vintage Perlach Maccaroni Spaghetti Poster by Roth c1948 Pasta Man
By Richard Roth
Located in Boca Raton, FL
The search for the perfect kitchen poster ends here! This charming and lighthearted image was created for the German pasta brand, Perlach c1948. The star of the show in this design i...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph
Watercolor Painting American Modern Impressionist Landscape Framed 1940 colorful
Located in Buffalo, NY
Dorothy Rivo
Lakeside Picnic, c. 1940s–50s
Watercolor on paper
Framed dimensions: 30 in. H × 24 in. W
Presented in a contemporary gold frame with archival mat
Brimming with light an...
Category
American Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Watercolor, Archival Paper
DAMA NEGRA
Located in Santa Monica, CA
DAVID ALFARO SIQUEIROS (1896 – 1974)
DAMA NEGRA 1937-1945 (Williams 8)
Transfer lithograph, signed and no. 38-EE/50 and dated 1945. 13 5/8 x 19
3/16”. Very large full margins,, sheet 29 x 21 ½”. Stamped lower sheet
edge “Original Lithograph” It is difficult to determine the various editions
of Siqueiros’ prints. He would often reprint small editions of his early
prints over time. Some of these were transfer lithographs in reverse and
slightly smaller. These are sometimes numbered E/E “Edicion Especial”.
Reba Williams discusses the problems with identifying editions in her
catalog “Mexican Prints...
Category
Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph
$3,250 Sale Price
31% Off
Emile Albert Gruppe Rockport Massachusetts Ex-Christies
Located in Dallas, TX
Emile Gruppe (American, 1896-1978) Motif #1, Rockport, Massachusetts. A cold , rainy and gray morning or evening in Rockport gethhing the nets in order to start the day of fishing an...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Paint
Mystery Signed Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Beautiful mystery painting signed lower left. I can only make out the first initial L the middle initial O and the last two initials of the last name look like IN or possibly TH. Thi...
Category
Impressionist 1940s Art
Materials
Oil
Surrealist Composition with Bird in Profile
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Engraving, aquatint and mixed intaglio
Signed, dated and annotated "AP"
References And Exhibitions:
Tschacbasov was a Russian/Amiercan artist who was widely exhibited and collecte...
Category
Surrealist 1940s Art
Materials
Engraving, Aquatint, Intaglio
Motherhood
Located in PARIS, FR
Motherhood
by Baltasar LOBO (1910-1993)
A bronze group with a nuanced greenish dark brown patina
Signed " Lobo "
Cast by " Susse Fondeur Paris " (with the foundry mark)
Artist's cas...
Category
French School 1940s Art
Materials
Bronze
Landscape with a river. 1947. Oil on cardboard, 50x72 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Landscape with a river. 1947. Oil on cardboard, 50x72 cm
Harijs Veldre (Bullis till 1947) (1927.8.III – 1999.6.V)
Harijs Veldre learned in Riga school of appl...
Category
Impressionist 1940s Art
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
$1,529 Sale Price
20% Off
Nice Travail & Joie 1947 stone lithograph (after) Henri Matisse
Located in London, GB
Nice Travail & Joie 1947 stone lithograph
By (after) Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse (1869–1954) was a French artist and one of the most influential figures in the development of moder...
Category
Contemporary 1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph
Nude Woman - Mid 20th Century Nude Still Life Oil Painting by Arnold Beauvais
By Arnold Beauvais
Located in Watford, Hertfordshire
Arnold Beauvais (1886-1984)
Arnold Victor Beauvais was born in Lewisham on 13 April 1886, son of a French father, the artist Charles Henri Beauvais, and an English mother, Anne, née Corfield. He trained in his father's commercial art studio during the day, working on lithographic printing and poster design, and took night classes at the Bolt Court Art School in Fleet Street.
In 1903 his father returned to his home town of Marseille and set up a commercial art studio. Arnold studied in Paris for sixteen months before joining his father in Marseille. Charles died...
Category
Post-Impressionist 1940s Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
1947 original map "Les eaux-de-vie de France - Le Cognac petite Champagne"
Located in PARIS, FR
The 1947 original map Atlas de la France Vinicole - Les eaux-de-vie de France - Le Cognac Petite Champagne et Borderies, created by Louis Larmat and printed by Dorel in Paris, is a d...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph, Paper
(after) Aristide Maillol - lithograph
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: lithograph (after the drawing). Printed in France in 1943 for the rare art revue "Hommage" and published in a limited edition of 1000 on Montgolfier Annonay laid paper. Size:...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph
“Can Can Girls”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original oil on wooden panel painting of a lively interior scene composed of two colorfully dressed can can girls preforming in front of a packed house of interested spectators. Signed lower left “N. Barerra”. Circa 1945. Condition is very good. Recently professionally cleaned and varnished. The painting is housed in a new custom gold leaf frame. Overall framed measurements are 16.5 by 19.5 inches. Provenance: A Bellport, Long Island collector.
Nicolas Barerra is a painter born in Russia, now Ukraine in 1919. He studied at the Leningrad Academy of Fine Arts. He was a war correspondent and published drawings for American newspapers. After the war, he settled in Marseille where he worked as an illustrator and made a living from the sale of his paintings. He was a friend of Albert Camus and Patricia...
Category
Post-Impressionist 1940s Art
Materials
Oil, Board
"Cocktails Served In The Plaza Room" c1940s Hand-Painted Wooden Sign
Located in Bristol, CT
Sz: 15"H x 30"W x 1/2"D
Signed: State (bottom center)
*wear commensurate with age*
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Wood
Lithographie IX (Duthuit 20), Repli, Gravures de Henri Matisse
Located in Southampton, NY
Lithograph on vélin a la forme des papeteries d'Arches paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the volume, Repli, Gravures de Henri Matisse, 1947. Publ...
Category
Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph
$5,196 Sale Price
20% Off
A Vibrant 1940's Painting of a River in Vermont by Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A vibrant summer landscape of a Vermont river by artist Harold Haydon in a gold-toned frame.
Artwork size: 20" x 25". Framed size: 21 1/2" x 26 1/2". Estate stamped on reverse....
Category
American Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
INVITATION TO THE LINDY HOP
Located in Portland, ME
Gorsline, Douglas (American, 1913-1985). INVITATION TO THE LINDY HOP. Engraving, 1942. 7 3/8 x 6 1/8 inches (plate), 8 1/2 x 7 3/8 inches (sheet). Signed, ti...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Engraving
Bendell-Bayly RAF Lancaster Bomber original oil design for World War 2 poster
Located in London, GB
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...
Category
Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Oil
Laszlo Willinger, "Hedy Lamarr", original photograph
Located in Chatsworth, CA
An original vintage photograph, shot by Laszlo Willinger in the 1940's. It depicts Austrian-born American film actress, Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr was known for...
Category
Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Photographic Paper
Frederick Shane “Twilight of History” 1947 Surrealist Oil Painting, Signed
Located in Denver, CO
"Twilight of History" is a powerful and evocative original oil painting on board by renowned American artist Frederick Shane (1906–1992), created in 1947. This deeply symbolic work e...
Category
American Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Oil, Board
Carmen, The Bull's Horns - Original Etching (Cramer #52)
Located in Paris, IDF
Pablo PICASSO
Carmen, The Bull's Horns, 1949
Original burin engraving (Atelier Lacourière, Paris)
Unsigned
On Montval wove paper 33 x 26 cm (12.9 x 10.2 in)
REFERENCES :
- Catalog...
Category
Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Etching
Antique Tall Ship Undersail Seascape 1940's
By J. Niannino
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
#5-2758a Circa 1940's oil seascape on wood plaque,signed lower right by J.Niannino
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Oil
$300 Sale Price
68% Off
Wall Scrawls, Hornitos California initialed EW
Located in Carmel, CA
Original Edward Weston!
Framed in black.
Initialed in pencil on lower right of dry mounted photograph. Dated 1940 in pencil. Excellent Condition.
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
$3,000 Sale Price
70% Off
Abstract Work on Paper Mid-Century Modernism Greek American Gouache Drawing
By Jean Xceron
Located in New York, NY
Abstract Work on Paper Mid-Century Modernism Greek American Gouache Drawing.
A modernist artist who emigrated to America from Greece in 1904, when he was fourteen years old, Jean Xceron is described as having a reputation as an artist that has mysteriously fallen into obscurity---especially since he was reportedly quite prominent during his lifetime. However, a partial explanation of that omission is the fact that many of his papers and early records have been lost. He was a painter of biomorphic abstractions and did collages, which were influenced by Dadaism.
Xceron was active in New York City when modernism was gaining influence. Of him during this period, it was written that his artistic role was "a vital link between what is commonly termed as the first-generation (the Stieglitz group, the Synchromists, etc.) and second-generation, the American Abstract Artists, the Transcendental Painting...
Category
American Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Paper, Gouache
Weegee "Sailor and Girl Kissing"
By Weegee
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Weegee (1899-1968) was equally fascinated and inspired by cinema and all of its tangents, from Hollywood movie stars to ordinary civilians going to the movies. While Weegee is typically associated with crime/disaster images, the broad theme of "entertainment" is a major component of his oeuvre.
An interesting and provocative sub-genre of his cinema-related work are his images of couples (often heavy-petting) in movie theatres.
Recent scholarship has established that many of Weegee's supposed clandestine images were actually staged or arranged with friends or co-operative strangers.
Nevertheless, Weegee created these photographs in the dark with an array of clever techniques including infrared film, filtered flashbulb and triangular prism lens. Employed in shots such as this one, the prism lens would allow the artist to “see around corners,” useful at times when his subjects were in compromising locations.
These images of kissing couples, Weegee wrote in 1959, were “his best seller, year in and year out.”
"Sailor and GIrl at the Movies...
Category
American Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Skyline and Tugboat, East River, New York City
Located in Greenwich, CT
Samuel Grunvald excelled at watercolors and was a native New Yorker who portrayed his city as such as he depicted its skyline, architecture and particular character with love and ent...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
The Blitz: A Civil Defence Firefighter before St Paul's Cathedral, London 1940
Located in London, GB
To see our other World War Two art, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this seller."
The Blitz: A Civil Defence Firefighter In Action before St Paul's Cathedral with Search Lights...
Category
Realist 1940s Art
Materials
Charcoal
FLIGHT American Futurism Modernism Scene WPA Mid-Century Oil Painting Realism
Located in New York, NY
FLIGHT American Futurism Modernism Scene WPA Mid-Century Oil Painting Realism
Daniel Celentano (1902-1980) "Flight," 26 x 26 inches. Oil on canvas, c. 1940s. Signed lower right. Ori...
Category
American Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Dead Tree, Sunset Crater National Monument, Arizona
By Ansel Adams
Located in Pacific Grove, CA
This vintage silver gelatin print is signed in pencil on the front of the mount, with image number "11" in the lower left corner. Portfolio Two stamp with print #11 and set #A in red...
Category
Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Tarrasso square. House in the countryside. Original acrylic painting
Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
Les Guilleries. Original acrylic canvas painting
Casimiro Martínez Tarrassó, a painter known simply as Tarrassó. He was trained at the La Llotja School in Barcelona. He completed hi...
Category
Expressionist 1940s Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
DOUGLAS JULEFF Vintage 1940s "Beefcake" Photograph MIKE CARVER 1948 Mr. Michigan
Located in Glenford, NY
Rare 1940s Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of MIKE CARVER - Mr. Michigan 1948.
This is a vintage black and white ori...
Category
Post-War 1940s Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Blue Period: Portrait of a Woman - Lithograph and stencil, Signed
Located in Paris, IDF
Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973)(after)
Blue Period: Portrait of a Woman, 1946
Lithograph and stencil
Signed in the plate
On vellum 48 x 33 cm (c. 18.9 x 13 inches)
INFORMATION: Edited by...
Category
Abstract 1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph, Stencil
Original Vintage WWII Poster Do it Right Make it Bite Bomber by CC Beall
Located in Boca Raton, FL
The connection between workplace diligence in an American factory and they bombing of a Nazi warplane is clear in this 1942 poster by C.C. Beall. Attention to the task at hand ("do i...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph
Modernist 1945 Abstract Waterfall Watercolor Landscape Painting by Eve Drewelowe
Located in Denver, CO
This striking 1945 abstract landscape watercolor by pioneering modernist artist Eve (Van Ek) Drewelowe, titled "The Champagne Cascades, Crescendos, Crashes," is a bold interpretation...
Category
American Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Watercolor
$13,500 Sale Price
22% Off
House on Cove Hill Rockport
By Emile Gruppe
Located in Rockport, MA
This gem is by the founding father of the Cape Ann School of Art, Emile Albert Gruppe (1896-1978). It comes directly from his estate.
The painting was done about eighty years ago and...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Oil
Emile Albert Gruppe Important Fall Landscape 40x30
Located in Dallas, TX
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 ...
Category
American Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Oil
Vintage Florida Water Scene Oil Painting by Listed Artist Maurice Van Felix
Located in Baltimore, MD
This is a colorful oil painting by listed American artist Maurice Van Felix. It portrays a boat landing or lift along a harbor location. It must be Florida as there is a line of palm...
Category
Post-Impressionist 1940s Art
Materials
Oil
Art Lovers and Art Critics Analyzing Obscene Painting. Cartoon
Located in Miami, FL
Cartoonist Richard Taylor was trained in academic art. He frequently comments on abstract art which was the new and radical thing at the time. "Curtis sees so much more in these thi...
Category
Academic 1940s Art
Materials
Ink, Board
Zinnias in a Yellow Vase
Located in New York, NY
Jane Peterson paints a vase of large yellow zinnias surrounded by dramatic green leaves against a blue background in her oil painting “Zinnias in ...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Good Health Week" WPA American Scene Mid 20th Century Modern Social Realism
By Jo Cain
Located in New York, NY
"Good Health Week" WPA American Scene Mid 20th Century Modern Social Realism
Jo Cain (1904 – 2003)
Good Health Week
10 ½ x 15 1/2 inches
Oil on pape...
Category
American Realist 1940s Art
Materials
Paper, Oil
MATERNITY AILEE
Located in Portland, ME
Hayter, Stanley William. MATERNITY AILEE. 1948. B&M 187. Engraving, Etching & Aquatint, printed in colors. Edition of 50, signed, dated 1948, titled and numbered. 13 5/8 x 7 15/16 in...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Etching, Aquatint
New York (three kids with masks)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
8 1/8 x 11 inch gelatin silver print, printed later. Titled and dated by the artist on verso as "N.Y. circa 1942."
Helen Levitt was a true master of the street, one whose poetic vis...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Original French Travel Poster Air France Europe by Maurus
Located in Boca Raton, FL
This is an early original stone lithograph poster created by the noted artist Maurus, for Air France. In In this image he shows vignettes of various destinations that Air France flie...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Lithograph
"The Court Jesters, " Two Woodcuts by Andre Derain
By André Derain
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"The Court Jesters" includes two original color woodcuts by Andre Derain. This is from an edition of 200. It features two vignettes of brightly-clad j...
Category
Fauvist 1940s Art
Materials
Woodcut
Carmen, The Peaceful Face - Original Etching (Cramer #52)
Located in Paris, IDF
Pablo PICASSO
Carmen, The Peaceful Face, 1949
Original burin engraving (Atelier Lacourière, Paris)
Unsigned
On Montval wove paper 33 x 26 cm (12.9 x 10.2 in)
REFERENCES :
- Catalo...
Category
Modern 1940s Art
Materials
Etching
"Fishing Village" Joe Jones, Mid-Century, American Life, Small Town Scene
By Joe Jones
Located in New York, NY
Joe Jones
Fishing Village, 1949
Signed in pencil lower right margin
Lithograph on wove paper
Image 9 5/16 x 12 9/16 inches
Sheet 12 x 15 15/16 inches
From the edition of 250
The initial details of Jones' career are sparse, and this is intentional. The young artist was engaged in a process of self-reinvention, crafting a persona. When he submitted a work to the Sixteen Cities Exhibition at New York City's Museum of Modern Art in 1933, he briefly characterized himself: "Born St. Louis, 1909, self-taught. " Jones intentionally portrayed himself to the art community as an authentic working-class figure, backed by a compelling history. He was the youngest of five children in a family led by a one-armed house painter from St. Louis, a Welsh immigrant, and his German American spouse. At the age of ten, Jones found himself in a Missouri reformatory due to authorities' concerns over his graffiti activities. After completing elementary school, he traveled by freight car to California and back, even being arrested for vagrancy in Pueblo, Colorado. Returning to St. Louis, he attempted to settle down by working alongside his father. Yet, Jones felt a profound restlessness and was drawn toward a more elevated artistic pursuit in his late teenage years. He discovered a local collective of budding artists that formed St. Louis’s "Little Bohemia," sharing a studio and providing mutual support until he managed to secure his own modest workspace in a vacant garage.
Jones’s initial creations comprised still lifes, landscapes, and poignant portraits of those close to him. These subjects were not only accessible but also budget-friendly, as hiring models was beyond his means. He depicted himself, his father, mother, and eventually, his wife. In December 1930, at the age of 21, Jones wed Freda Sies, a modern dancer and political activist who was four years older than him.
By 1933, Jones had started gaining noteworthy local recognition through a solo exhibition at the Artists’ Guild of Saint Louis. Of the twenty-five paintings on display, one, titled River Front (private collection, previously with Hirschl and Adler Galleries), was selected to illustrate a feature article about his show in The Art Digest (February 15, 1933, p. 9). Shortly before this exhibition, a young surgeon named Dr. Robert Elman took an interest in Jones’s art, purchasing several pieces and forming a group of potential patrons committed to providing the emerging artist with a monthly stipend in exchange for art. This group was officially known as the "Co-operative Art Society," but it was informally dubbed the "Joe Jones Club. " Jones became an active participant in the St. Louis artistic scene, particularly within its bohemian segments. He embraced modernism and was a founding member of the "New Hat" movement in 1931, a playful rebellion against the conservative and traditional mainstream art establishment.
The summer of 1933 marked a significant shift in Jones’s journey. Sponsored by a dedicated ally, Mrs. Elizabeth Green, Jones, along with Freda and Green, embarked on an eastward road trip. In Washington, D. C., they explored the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Freer Gallery (part of the Smithsonian Institution), the Library of Congress, and Mount Vernon. Following this whirlwind of art and American culture, they made their way to New York, where they visited various museums and galleries, including a stop at The New School for Social Research, which featured notable contemporary murals by fellow Missourian Thomas Hart Benton and the politically active Mexican artist, José Clemente Orozco. From June through August, Jones and Freda resided in the artist colony of Provincetown, Massachusetts, later returning home via Detroit to see Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry mural housed at the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts.
While Elizabeth Green allegedly hoped that Jones would refine his artistic skills under the guidance of Charles Hawthorne or Richard Miller in Provincetown, Jones followed a different path. Rather than pursuing conservative mentors, he connected with an engaging network of leftist intellectuals, writers, and artists who dedicated their time to reading Marx and applying his theories to the American landscape. Jones's reaction to the traditional culture of New England was captured in his statement to a reporter from the St. Louis Post Dispatch: “Class consciousness . . . that’s what I got of my trip to New England. Those people [New Englanders] are like the Chinese—ancestor worshipers. They made me realize where I belong” (September 21, 1933). The stark social divisions he witnessed there prompted him to embrace his working-class identity even more fervently. Upon returning to St. Louis, he prominently identified himself as a Communist. This newfound political stance created friction with some of his local supporters. Many of his middle-class advocates withdrew their backing, likely influenced not only by Jones’s politics but also by his flamboyant and confrontational demeanor.
In December 1933, Jones initiated a complimentary art class for unemployed individuals in the Old Courthouse of St. Louis, the same location where the Dred Scott case was deliberated and where slave auctions formerly took place. Concurrently, the St. Louis Art League was offering paid courses. Emphasizing the theme of social activism, with a studio adorned with Soviet artwork, Jones’s institution operated for just over a year before being removed from the courthouse by local officials. The school’s political focus and unconventional teaching practices, along with its inclusion of a significant number of African American students during a period marked by rigid racial segregation, certainly contributed to its challenges. Under Jones’s guidance, the class created a large chalk pastel mural on board, measuring 16 by 37 feet, titled Social Unrest in St. Louis. Mural painting posed no challenge for the former housepainter, who was adept at handling large wall surfaces. His first significant commission in St. Louis in late 1931 was a mural that celebrated the city’s industrial and commercial fortitude for the local radio station, KMOX. This mural, aimed at conveying optimism amid severe economic hardship, showcased St. Louis's strengths in a modernist approach. When Jones resumed mural work in late 1933, his worldview had evolved considerably. The mural produced for the school in the courthouse, conceived by Jones, featured scenes of modern St. Louis selected to highlight political messages. Jones had observed the technique of utilizing self-contained scenes to craft visual narratives in the murals he encountered in the East. More locally, this compositional strategy was commonly employed by the renowned Missouri artist...
Category
American Realist 1940s Art
Materials
Paper, Lithograph
Mother and Child in Cradle Sketch
Located in Austin, TX
By Gustav Likan
A depiction of a mother putting her child to bed in a cradle, dated 1944.
6" x 5" Pencil on Paper
Framed Size: 13.75" x 12.75"
From Likan's collection of depictions ...
Category
1940s Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Pencil