1940s Art

Original vintage Pan Am travel advertising map poster - South America Continent of Contrasts served by Pan American World Airways and Pan American Grace ...

Washington Monument Fashion Shoot 1949 Fashion model posing in an evening gown with Tidal Basin and Washington Monument in the background, USA by Toni Frissell 60 x 60” / 152 x 1...

The Bikini 1946 Fashion model Natahli (Natalie) Nickerson Paine wearing a bikini, lying on a platform near water, Montego Bay, Jamaica, 1946. (Toni Frissell) “Model Dovima was d...

Workout On The Beach 1944 A beachwear fashion shoot featuring a model on an exercise bar, USA, 1944. by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment...

Girl On The Beach 1948 Beachwear fashion shoot featuring sunshades by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available...

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...

Washington Monument Fashion Shoot 1949 Fashion model posing in an evening gown with Tidal Basin and Washington Monument in the background, USA, 1949 by Toni Frissell 30 x 30" i...

Original poster: LOCOMOTIVE A VAPEUR. Type 141 P. Artist: A. Bouvry and Albert Brenert Horizontal railway poster that has been archival linen backed, ready to frame. Very go...

Artist: Marion Osborn Cunningham – American (1908-1948) Title: San Francisco with Blimp Overhead Year: 1940s Medium: Serigraph (Silkscreen) Edition: Unknown Sight size: 7.75 x 6 inches. Image size: 8.25 x 6.5 inches Sheet size: 10.5 x 9 inches Framed size: 15 x 12 inches Signature: Signed lower center Condition: Very good Frame: Framed in original frame. Frame in fair-to-good condition with some small nicks and shallow scratches. This print depicts San Francisco the 1940s when blimps were a common sight over the city because of World War II. I am not sure where in San Francisco this print depicts - perhaps North Beach. It is dated in the lower left 194? (the date is partially illegible). The print is in very good condition. It is attached with archival tape to the mat. The print is matted, but the mat covers part of the print, so it would probably benefit from rematting. Please see the pictures. The mat and frame are in fair-to-good condition, the frame having a few tiny nicks. Marion Cunningham was a painter and printmaker. Her family moved to Bakersfield, CA, when she was very young. She graduated from high school from Bakersfield, then went on to study at Santa Barbara Junior College, the ASL in NYC, CSFA, and at Stanford University. She was married to artist Ben Cunningham. In 1930's, she began silk screen printing. Her colorful reproductions of Cable Cars were in demand worldwide. While en route to Europe, she died unexpectedly of a brain tumor in NYC. Member: National Serigraph Society; San Francisco Women Artists; San Francisco Art Ass'n. Exhibited: San Francisco Museum of Art Inaugural, 1935; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939; San Francisco Watercolor...

Signed Lower Right by artist

Beautiful oil on canvas painting with aerosol spray paint of two reclining figures by the well known Russian/American artist, Nahum Tschacbasov. Signed upper right and dated 1949. ...

Evening Gown 1948 Fashion shoot featuring a model in an evening gown by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing availab...

Floating 1947 A model floats in an evening dress, shot from underwater by Toni Frissell 30 x 30" inches / 76 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing availabl...

Signed Lower Right by Artist

Mary Illen Ft. Worth, TX by John Stryker is a 10 x 8 inch silver gelatin print. This photograph is signed in ink on print recto and titled in pencil on print verso. This photograph features a cowgirl riding a light colored horse, resting at a river. The horse reaches down to the water for a drink, while the woman looks down lovingly at the horse. John Stryker was born in Rockford, Illinois, September 1, 1883. He is most remembered for his body of photographs he took of the "Olympic of Western sport"*- the Rodeo. During his lifetime he crossed America, working rodeos as an announcer, a producer, promoter and sometimes a rider. He invented the chute that the animals come out of and he developed new ways of photographing action during an event. Dramatic shots were taken from the ground, propping his camera on the toe of his right boot right next to a bucking bronco. Some historians believe that John Stryker was directly responsible for the growth and sophistication of the sport. His negatives are in the collection of the University of Texas at Permian Basin, Odessa. His photographs have been exhibited during his lifetime at the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming, and the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth, Texas. His photographs have been published widely including Life, Look, The Cattleman, The Western Horseman, and The Quarter Horse Journal. In 1977, The Rodeo of John Addison Stryker...

Beachwear Fashion Shoot 1944 Model in a beachwear for a Vogue fashion shoot, Florida, USA, 1944. by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print...

Evening Gown 1948 Fashion shoot featuring a model in an evening gown by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing availab...

Evening Gowns At Sunset 1946 Two models in evening gowns looking at the sunset. by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (frami...

Girl With Parasols 1948 Beachwear fashion shoot eaturing sunshades by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available s...

Girl On The Beach 1948 Beachwear fashion shoot by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available see examples - plea...

Girl On The Beach 1947 Beachwear fashion shoot by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available see examples - plea...

Girl On The Beach 1947 Beachwear fashion shoot by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available see examples - plea...

Girl On The Beach 1947 Beachwear fashion shoot by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available see examples - plea...

Florida Vogue 1944 February 1944 Vogue Florida Fashion shoot featuring a model in a pink bathing suit next to a parasol on a beach with the sky and ocean behind her. by Toni Friss...

Girl On The Beach 1948 Beachwear fashion shoot by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available see examples - plea...

Girl On The Beach 1948 Beachwear fashion shoot by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available see examples - plea...

Girl On The Beach 1948 Beachwear fashion shoot featuring sunshades by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available...

Girl On The Beach 1948 Beachwear fashion shoot featuring sunshades by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available...

Girl On The Beach 1948 Beachwear fashion shoot featuring sunshades by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available...

Girl On The Beach 1948 Beachwear fashion shoot featuring sunshades by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available...

Girl On The Beach 1947 Beachwear fashion shoot by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available see examples - plea...

Girl On The Beach 1947 Beachwear fashion shoot by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available see examples - plea...

Girl On The Beach 1947 by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing available see examples - please enquire) Limited Sig...

Girl In Yellow 1944 Model in a yellow dress with matching yellow hat, USA by Toni Frissell 40 x 30" inches / 101 x 76 cm paper size Archival pigment print unframed (framing ava...

A fine impression with good margins published by Associated American Artists.

Gustl Stark (1917 Mainz - 2009 ibid.), Small Nude, 1946. Oil on canvas, marouflaged, 54 x 25 cm (picture), 30 x 60 cm (frame), signed "Stark" top left, verso twice signed "Gustav Stark", inscribed by hand as "Small Nude" and dated by hand "1946". With label of the exhibition of the Bundeshaus Bonn from 1956. - Rubbed area in the lower third of the body, at the same level a retouch in the ochre background. I provisional frame. - Abstract Figurativity - About the artwork During the war, Gustl Stark suffered a particularly severe blow for an artist: he lost his right arm. Nevertheless, he continued to devote himself to art, and the painting, created in 1946, immediately after the end of the Nazi reign of terror, testifies to the dawn of a new era. At the same time, the work is a rare example of the artist's early figurative work, as Stark turned entirely to abstract painting as early as 1950. And even this painting is by no means purely figurative; rather, it already illustrates Stark's turn toward abstraction. We see a female nude, but one that remains faceless. This can be read symbolically and in relation to the immediate past epoch, which, in the face of horrors, silences and blinds - literally renders faceless. In this sense, the figure is positioned to 'look back'. But she does not look. While this meaning may resonate and make the painting an important work of the immediate postwar period, Gustl Stark is primarily concerned with something else here, namely art itself. The absence of the face leads to the body becoming something flat. Due to the de-individualization, we do not see a concrete person with his individual features, but a body surface. And indeed, the body is constructed through an extremely planar design. Even the contour lines that form the corporeality have a planar rather than a linear character, especially where they merge into shadow zones of almost the same color. And the surfaces themselves are not modeled. The incarnate parts do not show any plastic gradations; the corporeality is completely withdrawn into the plane, which is also true for the hair. In addition, there is no uniform background against which the figure could appear; rather, the area next to the hair is kept bluish, creating a succession of earth-toned colored areas, which again binds the figure to the surface. Last but not least, the flatness is also forced by the painting technique. Gustl Stark paints directly, a la prima, onto the coarse canvas, whereby the structure of the painting support remains visible in the picture, and in places - around the hair, for example - the canvas itself can be seen. This structural all-over lends the picture a certain flatness. Gustl Stark thus uses the very motif that stands for the corporeality of art par excellence - the female nude - to transform the spatiality of the traditional picture into a flatness characteristic of modern art. And yet, a strong impression of corporeality is created, without being produced by a painterly modeling of the body. The oscillation between flatness and corporeality creates the intense tension of this groundbreaking painting. In Gustl Stark's oeuvre, as a consequence of the abstraction we see here, the figurative is completely stripped away in a further step, which is also a loss when looking at this early key work. About the artist Gustl Stark was the son of a woodcarver and, after an apprenticeship as a decorative painter, attended the State School of Arts and Crafts in Mainz from 1936 to 1937. Although he was severely wounded in the war and lost his right arm, he studied at the Würzburg School of Painting and Drawing from 1943-1944 and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg from 1944-1948. He won a state scholarship at the state art competition in Bad Ischl. Numerous study trips to Sylt, Paris, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Holland and Belgium followed. Gustl Stark worked in Mainz and was the first artist there to focus on abstract painting. His work quickly gained international recognition, including the Salon Réaliés Nouvelles in Paris. From 1963-1970 he taught at the State University Institute for Art and Work Education in Mainz and from 1970-1975 at the Johannes Gutenberg University. Gustl Stark became particularly famous for his color embossed prints, for which he invented his own technique. Gustl Stark received numerous awards for his work. He received the Art Prize for Painting of the City of Mainz in 1962, the State Prize of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1984, and the Gutenberg Bust of the City of Mainz in 1987. Selected Bibliography Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts, Vierter Band, Leipzig 1958, S. 344. Hans H...

Original 'U. S. SAVINGS BONDS will help you get there! NOW Back Your future. Linen-backed, excellent condition. Archival linen backed with original government-issued fold ma...

A "Thumb Box" (or diminutive) painting of sailors in Hanover, NH by Harold Haydon. Harold Emerson Haydon was born in Fort William, Ontario, Canad...

Original vintage poster published by the General Post Office GPO - 8,000,000 telephone calls a day - featuring a great graphic design by the notable British artist Pat Keely (Patrick...

An early 1940s fashion study featuring a woman in a Blum's Vogue ad. Provenance: Cornelia Steckl-Jurin, Founder of the Fashion Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chica...

Original poster: Save Freedom of Worship (S) Artist: Normal Rockwell. Archival linen backed. Original fold marks touched up at the time of b...

Rémy Duval, 'Street Scene, L'ile Saint Louis, Paris', photogravure, 1946. A fine, richly-inked impression in warm black ink, on cream wove B.F.K. Rives pape...

An early 1940s fashion study featuring a woman in Western wear. Provenance: Cornelia Steckl-Jurin, Founder of the Fashion Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A...

This watercolor painting from 1940 depicts a scene of sharecroppers working in a cotton field. This piece represents a blend of American Realism and a more figurative, impressionisti...

Original vintage World War Two poster - To Enjoy the Fruits of Victory Save Now - featuring a countryside illustration From the original by Rowland Hilder (1905-1993) depicting a rur...

Original oil on artist canvas board of a sunset on a rural country lane by the American artist, Margaret E. Nugent. Signed lower left and verso as well. Circa 1940. Condition of pain...

An early 1940s fashion study featuring a woman in a Saks Fifth Avenue ad. Provenance: Cornelia Steckl-Jurin, Founder of the Fashion Department at the School of the Art Institute of ...

Maqueta las Toninas, 1944 BMY-022, 1970 Edition 1/25 Bronze 22 x 22 x 10 cm 8.6 x 8.6 x 3.9 in ABOUT THE ARTIST Narvaez was born in Porlamar, Venezuela, in 1905; he was the fifth son of eleven siblings; his parents were Jose Lorenzo Narvaez and Vicenta Rivera. Don José Lorenzo, a multifaceted and creative man, sowed the seed of creativity in his son. “My father did not fit in with his fantasies of cabinetmaker, bricklayer, master builder, and self-taught architect.”1 From an early age, Francis was led to the artistic activity, he traced, carved, made replicas of the furniture and the saints restored by his father. In 1920 he obtained his first professional assignment, a San Rafael for the Church of Carupano, and, in 1922, his father authorized him to travel to Caracas to pursue his studies as an artist. He studied at the atelier of Marcos Castillo, at of the Angel Cabre y Magriña and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Caracas, where he was introduced to the painters and intellectuals of the time. In 1928 he presented his first solo exhibition at the Club Venezuela. With the money raised from the sale of the works and the support of Monsignor Sosa, and the Ministers Centeno Grau and Arcaya, he studied in Paris on a scholarship. Once there, he enrolled at the Académie Julian, where Tito Salas, Cristóbal Rojas and Arturo Michelena had also studied. It was in Paris where, unable to work in wood, he turned to stone carving. “In Paris, I didn’t have wood, so I carved a lot in stone (…), when there were demolitions I purchased chunks of stone, I would take them to the workshop and carve them.”2 His first attempts at volumetric sculptures and painting in plain colours, linked to the thematic of American miscegenation and Creole reality, can be traced back to that first trip to Paris. During his stay in the French city, Arturo Uslar Pietri, Alfredo Boulton, and Finita Vallenilla supported the artist both financially and logistically, and in February of 1930, the trio of friends arranged another exhibition for him at the Club Venezuela. Narvaez describes his exhibition as follows: “(…) in it I feel that the sculptural work is more my own, done with more assurance, a response to my pursuit of large planes, stylisation and synthesis.”3 By then, as Boulton himself noted in his book about the artist, Narvaez departed from most of the artistic traditions that prevailed by that time in Venezuela. In 1931 he returned to Caracas and established his atelier at the Barrio Obrero in Catia. The atelier became the hub of the intellectual life of the time. “In those years, the atelier of Francisco Narvaez was the hub of the greatest Venezuelan hope. Nothing comparable to it can be found either before or since.”4 From that year onwards, exhibitions, projects, trips, and awards we multiplied. He was awarded the President of the Republic of Venezuela Prize, the National Sculpture Prize of the 1st Official Venezuelan Art Salon, and the John Boulton Prize of the 3rd Annual Venezuelan Art Salon; for the Military Academy, he produced a spectacular relief entitled La Patria. In 1945, commissioned by the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva, he produced two groups of sculptures known as Las Toninas, both located in the O’Leary Square. There, as he himself states, he incorporates some baroque patterns into the figures to the source itself: “It is a work of balance between the decorative requirements and the sculpture of planes and angles.”5 In 1948 he was awarded the National Painting Prize. In the same year, he was called upon by the architect Carlos Raul Villanueva to participate in the project for the arts integration in the Universidad Central de Venezuela. Francisco Narvaez’s public output continued with works such as the statue of Fermín Toro, La Educacion, La Ciencia, three murals (produced by María Luisa Tovar) for the Instituto de Medicina Experimental, El Cristo; el Atleta, the equestrian statue of General Rafael Urdaneta. In 1953 he was appointed Director of the School of Plastic and Applied Arts, and in July of the same year, he exhibited “Francisco Narvaez, Maderas, Piedras y Bronces” (Francisco Narvaez, Woods, Stones and Bronzes) at the Museum of Fine Arts. Narvaez is, unquestionably, one of the great Venezuelan sculptors, his work goes through various stages and interests; as the art world evolves, the artist does not remain in his initial scopes of work. His creations are not imposed by the prevailing trends or fashion but do evolve by experimenting with new materials and interests. When one peruses the artist’s lengthy list of exhibitions, commissions, and awards, it is worth remembering the Narvaez who embark on his career as a child and who, overcoming obstacles, knew how to make the most of his curiosity. He did not settle for living off his successes. He did not remain stagnant as many creators of his environment did. Narvaez managed to understand the changes in the history of art around him. We must not overlook the fact that Francisco Narvaez is an artist amid all the changes occurring in the art world. He moves from the classics to the great transformations in the art world. It is the Europe of Picasso, Braque, Arp. He observes, he is aware of what is happening in the centres of the world of art, but between his craft and his sensitivity, the result is NARVAEZ, his stamp, and his identity. Francisco Narvaez comes from tradition, and his first stage is linked to the classics, to the exploration of his heritage, but always with his very own language. Throughout his prolific career, he knew how to remain true to himself, without disregarding the influences of his surroundings or his artistic interests: his ability as a sculptor, his selection of materials, whether they were wood, stone or bronze; his choice of the subject of his work…His mastery and great craftsmanship are a constant that over time have made him a leading player in the history of contemporary Venezuelan and world art. From his beginnings, no subject was foreign to him. His paintings, drawings, aquarelles, and sketches are testimony to his prolific output. Among his themes are portraits, our traditions, still lifes, and landscapes. Narvaez is an artist who represents his time. Later, he evolved towards purer and simpler forms, abandoning figurative art for short periods. In 1956 he declared to the newspaper El Nacional: “Every day I am freeing myself, it is a soul that frees itself from the ephemeral wrappings of the circumstantial always, as well as from the inevitable weight of the anecdote. This second stage of my work is remarkably close to abstractionism, even if there are still certain figures or figurations in the sculptures that I will shortly be showing. However, pure, and absolute abstractionism, it will treat the form itself as the sole reason for its existence on the plane of artistic excellence.”6 The artistic development was his professional life. Each period of his life as an artist, he went one step further, searching, solving, seeing plenty of things and understanding how diverse expressions were transforming themselves. His hands followed his gaze and his mind, always inquisitive. He added movement to the volumes. Arturo Uslar Pietri, “Formas Nuevas”, Cromotip editions, 1956 “Francisco Narvaez is a path: the path that Venezuelan sculpture...

Figures is a China ink Drawing realized by Mino Maccari (1924-1989) in 1945 ca. Hand-signed on the lower. Good conditions. Mino Maccari (Siena, 1924-Rome, June 16, 1989) was an I...

The Painter is a China ink Drawing realized by Mino Maccari (1924-1989) in the 1940s. Hand-signed on the lower. Good conditions. Mino Maccari (Siena, 1924-Rome, June 16, 1989) was...

Smith, Lawrence Beall (1902-1995). FROLIC. Lithograph, 1948. Edition of 250 published by Associated American Artists. 9 3/8 x 12 1/4 inches (image)12 3/8 x 17 1/4 inches (sheet). In ...

Original vintage travel poster for Mexico featuring stunning artwork by the Mexican artist Alfonso X Pena (1903-1964) depicting a lady holding yellow, pink a...

Antique American school seascape oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Unframed. Image size, 20L x 16H.

Figures is a China ink Drawing realized by Mino Maccari (1924-1989) in 1945 ca. Hand-signed on the lower. Good conditions. Mino Maccari (Siena, 1924-Rome, June 16, 1989) was an I...

The German in the Brewery is a watercolor Drawing realized by Mino Maccari (1924-1989) in 1945s. Hand signed and titled on the lower margin. Good condition on a little yellowed pa...

Original French Line Normandie horizontal cruise line shipping lithograph. Artist Albert Sebillle with signature in the plate, lower right corner. Arch...

Turkish and American is a Watercolour Drawing realized by Mino Maccari (1924-1989) in 1945. Hand signed on the lower margin. Good condition on a yellowed paper. Mino Maccari (Si...

Superfluous is a sketch for a cover of the Magazine "Il Superfluo Illustrato" by Ennio Flaiano, realized in Pen and Watercolor by Mino Maccari (1924-198...