1940s Art

'Market Day in Piazza Grande, Locarno, Switzerland', oil on board, by unknown artist (1947-48). Locarno is an utterly charming Italian-speaking resort located on the northern shore o...

A rare Walter Anderson of zebras in the Audubon zoo in New Orleans. Circa 1940 to 1950. One of a pair. They both have a slightly burned edge from when he tried to set his work on fir...

A rare Walter Anderson of zebras in the Audubon zoo in New Orleans. Circa 1940 to 1950. One of a pair. Framed size 17 5/8"x 20.25" Walter Inglis Anderson (1903-1965) is considered o...

A charming, colorful summer harbor scene in Saugatuck, Michigan by notable Chicago Modern artist, Francis Chapin. Dating circa 1945, oil on board, the painting depicts a lively summ...

Circa 1940. Published by Les Editions Deyrolle. Teaching Charts. Printed by E Kapp. Folded over, several areas of paper loss, including the lower right hand corner. Needs to be rest...

French sculpture from the mid-20th century. Plaster work depicting a Sailor in Art Deco style, copy of the famous Meurice ceramic, Ideal Man scanning the...

Outstanding pencil on paper Abstract drawing. Marcel Dumont was a Liège artist who painted in oils and gouache, also produced collages and was an illustrator and engraver, doing so in a number of different styles. Early on in his career, he tended to produce paintings displaying a poetic realism but this changed over time until, in 1957, he was employing geometric abstraction and later still, the influence of pop art could be discerned. His geometric style has strong linear structure which occasionally veers to expressionism and the effect of this is an interesting sense of detachment that the viewer of the work can feel and one engages with the subject on a different level than one would normally expect. A critic wrote of him," Sometimes expressionist, sometimes linear, the abstraction forms itself willingly, in Marcel Dumont's world, to leave the rectangular structure to connect to carefully prepared tones. He retains also, in his abundant output, a few poetic pop-art collages together with a number of drawings and engravings illustrating Stefan Zweig...

Created in 1947, this early Picasso ceramic is the second that artist ever produced. It is in wonderful condition and presented in a fine black wood fra...

Original vintage poster: FREEDOM FROM WANT, Ours to fight for ... Original. Artist: Normal Rockwell. Archival linen backed in fine condition, ready to frame. Note: All US Go...

Watercolor on paper. Hand signed in the lower left. Very good condition.

Antique surrealist oil painting of a landscape with a sculpture. Oil on board, circa 1949. Signed. Displayed in a period frame. Image, 35"L x 22"H.

Beautiful poster by Falcucci in 1948 for Air Atlas. Air Atlas (Compagnie Chérifienne de l'Air) was a Moroccan airline based in Casablanca. Air Atlas was reg...

Medium: pochoir (after the painting). A soft and delicate impression, printed in Paris in 1948 and published in an edition of 1200 by Braun et Cie. Size: 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches (164 x ...

Henri Matisse (After), French (1869-1954) Le Destin (Destiny) Portfolio: Jazz Year: Of Original: 1947 Year Printed: 1983 Medium: Lithograph Image Size: 15 x 22.75 inches Size: 15.25...

Matiz managed to create intimate portraits, in which Frida seemed happy to surrender to her lens. The result was dynamic portraits of Khalo, a wonderful example of both the photograp...

Vintage post impressionist landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a wood molding. Excellent condition, read...

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...

This poster done for the Nitrolian paint company is one of the most iconic and endearing posters created by the great artist Leonetto Cappiello. In this image we see that the paint d...

Judith Rothschild 1921 - New York 1– 1993 Untitled Circa 1945 Gouache, watercolor and ink with Collage on blue paper 9 x 12 inches (23 x 30.5 cm) Framed: 16 ½ x 19 ½ inches (42 x 49...

A beautiful 1940s painting of a seated female nude in a summer landscape by renowned Chicago artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Painted at the Oxbow School in Saugatuck, Michig...

Title: Theme A 4 Year: February 7, 1943 Medium: Collotype on vélin pur fil paper Size: 13.15 x 10.04 inches Condition: Very good Inscription: Signed in the plate, unnumbered Publishe...

This artwork masterfully captures the interplay between human form and sculptural abstraction. A pair of real feet is delicately intertwined with sculpted counterparts, forging a str...

Metsälampi (Forest Pond) is a 1942 oil painting on panel by the Finnish artist Ragnar Ungern, depicting a forest pond with overhanging trees reflected in its still waters. Created in...

Vintage American modernist circus interior oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Measuring: 24 by 16 inches overall. Excellent condition, ready to hang and enjoy.

Stately pair of watercolors by David Mode Payne (American, 1907-1985). The scene depicted is an interior of an opulent room, with finely crafted furniture and paintings hanging on a ...

Medium: lithograph (after the original Edouard Vuillard lithograph). Printed on Renage wove paper in 1948 by the atelier Mourlot and published in an edition of 2500. Size: 12 3/8 x 9...

Ira Moskowitz, 'Navajo Horse Race', lithograph, 1946, edition 30, Czestochowski 204. Signed and titled in pencil. Signed and dated in the stone, lower le...

Original watercolor and gouache city snowscape attributed to the hand of Hans Peter Nelson. Signed lower left ”H. Nelson”. Condition is excellent. Circa 1940. Under glass. The art...

Ira Moskowitz, 'Navajo Trading Post', lithograph, 1946, edition 30, Czestochowski 161. Signed and dated in the stone, lower left. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper...

Map of historical landmarks, American Indian territories, rivers, mountains, dams, colleges, federal grazing districts, cities, agriculture, and other activities that were present in...

Bernard Brussel-Smith, 'Sailor and His Girl', wood engraving, 1941, edition 35. Signed, titled, and numbered '21/35' in pencil. Signed in the block, lower right. A superb, richly-in...

Issued in 1946, this original exhibition poster by Alois Carigiet promotes “Les Trésors d’Art des Grisons”, a major exhibition presented at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Berne. Organiz...

Landscape, 1940, oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches, signed, dated and titled verso: “Marcel Cailliet ’40 – S.C.” and “Marcel Cailliet Landscape”; likely exhibited at the annual juried st...

Alexandre de Spengler (1893–1973) was a Swiss painter and engraver active in Geneva and Paris. He is known for his land and seascapes, as well as...

Whimsical oil on paper painting of a tabby cat resting on a rug and backed by large abstract cat forms, circa 1940. Signed lower left. Original artwork on paper displayed on a whit...

Beautiful 1940's French post impressionist oil on board by Simon Simon-Auguste. The work depicts a simple bedroom interior with shoes, candle and a single picture on the wall. Signed lower left and presented in a swept impressionist style frame. Provenance: Chilham Castle, Kent Artist: Simon Simon-Auguste (French, 1909-1987) Title: Bedroom Interior Medium: Oil on board Size: 25.5 x 30.5 inches (65 x 77 cm) including frame Simon Joseph Simon-Auguste (20 April 1909 – May 1987) was a French artist, known for his intimate paintings, mainly portraits, nudes and still lifes. His production is characterized by a calm, intimate feel, and the effective use of glaze. Born in Marseille, Simon-Auguste was the son of Antonin Auguste, a cabinetmaker specialized in restoring furniture in the chateaux of the Provence. Simon studied at the École communale of his neighborhood at rue Eydoux, in Marseille, where he excelled in design. In 1931 Simon-Auguste finished his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts and won the Stanislas-Torrents award. He was commissioned to execute the mural decorations of the town hall in Allauch. He began exhibiting in Marseille where doctors and lawyers purchased his paintings. In 1932 he invested into a 6-month stay in Paris where he frequented the Louvre Museum and became specially interested in the Camondo Collection. At the invitation of art dealer Adolphe Basler, he took part in the Moins de trente ans exhibition, at the Galerie de Sèvres, along with Jacques Despierre, André Hambourg, Louis Dideron, Léon Couturier, among others. He presented a nude, a still life, and a view of the Jardin du Luxembourg. He also started dealing with Georges Petit and the Galerie Vildrac. In 1933 Simon-Auguste had his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Detailles, at the Canebière in Marseille which contributed to his success. He displayed 40 pieces (paintings, watercolours and sketches), mostly nudes and genre scenes. In 1934 he married a philosophy student who would become a journalist under the pseudonym of Michele Seurière. For his second solo exhibition at the Galerie Detailles a few landscapes and marines were added to his portfolio. During the 1930s Simon-Auguste explored subjects around nudes and landscapes. Later these evolved into children, still lifes and locals, full of intimacy and simplicity, which gained him a lot of recognition. Among these, we find La fillette au bol and Tête d'Enfant, which were purchased by the Musée Longchamp, Marseille. It was 1939 when he could afford to move to Paris. The family settled at 38 rue de Malte and Simon-Auguste started submitting his work to the Salon d'Automne, Salon des Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps, and other major exhibitions. At the outbreak of World War II, he was on holiday in Auvergne. In 1940, he was mobilized. Within two months he had to retreat to Ussel, forced by his ill health. In 1941 he reconverted a rented farm there into his atelier. Simon-Auguste returned to Paris after the Liberation in 1944, to take part for the first time in the Nationale with La Fillette aux Pommes. Up to 1947 Simon-Auguste signed his paintings with fountain pen ink. Afterwards, he used brush oil. He spent some Summer holidays in Villiers-sur-Morin in the late 1940s. In 1949 he traveled around Italy: Rome, Florence, Siena, San-Giminiano, Venice, Milan. In 1950 he was appointed member at the Salon d’Automne. This year he submitted Le Café du Commerce to the Grand Prix de la Peinture Contemporaine, at the Marsan Pavilion (Louvre Museum). He was amongst the 100 painters selected by the jury. Also in 1950 the city of Paris acquired his Marine de La Rochelle. The Musée du Château de Sceaux acquired Paysage de l'Ille-de-France. The French state acquired La Fillette à la lampe in 1952, Nature morte aux Bleuets in 1953, and Comme un Poisson dans l’Eau in 1955. In 1951 he contributed to an itinerant exhibition around Switzerland (Bern, Lausanne and Geneva) about Les fleurs et les fruits...

A captivating self portrait by Baruch Shalom Oskotsky also known as Bernard Scott. Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right ‘Oskotsky 41’. Originally from the studio of the artist...

This vibrant British Post Impressionist exhibited floral still life oil painting is by noted Jewish artist Jacob Kramer. His family left Russia to come to England in 1900 when Kramer...

A color, stone lithograph titled 'Edward' by Nura Woodson Ulreich (American, 1899–1950) stamped verso with certification of authenticity. A crisp and fresh image from 'Nura's Childre...

Ira Moskowitz, 'Navajo Reservation Landscape', lithograph, 1945, edition c. 30. Signed and titled in pencil. Signed and dated in the stone, lower left. A fine, richly-inked impressio...

Vintage American modernist abstract still life oil painting. Oil on board, circa 1950. Housed in a vintage frame. Image size, 22L x 13H. Signed.

Impressive early American modernist abstract still life oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas board. Signed. Image size, 24H by 18L.

Four 1945 Female Nude Ink Drawings Catalan School École de Paris Style Artist: Pere Pruna Ocerans Date: 1945 Medium: Ink with colored washes on paper Quantity: Set of four drawings ...

Vintage American impressionist winter river landscape oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Handsomely framed in a natural wood molding. E...

Original ‘Ghost of Zorro’ vintage movie poster. 1949. Museum archival mounted on acid-free archival linen. Original fold marks touched up but could use more touch-up on the fol...

Title: Theme E 7 Year: February 7, 1943 Medium: Collotype on vélin pur fil paper Size: 13.15 x 10.04 inches Condition: Very good Inscription: Signed in the plate, unnumbered Publishe...

Still life is an artwork realized by Serge Fotinsky in 1947. Original drawing in pencil. Signature lower right. 20 x 27 cm. Good conditions escept ...

Original 1942 Linen-Backed One-Sheet Movie Poster for "Ghost Town Law" The Rough Riders Series Starring Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, and Raymond Hatton. This striking original one-sheet movie poster from 1942 promotes "Ghost Town Law," the fifth entry in Monogram Pictures' popular "Rough Riders" Western film series. Measuring approximately 27 x 41 inches (standard one-sheet size), the poster features vibrant lithography on a bold yellow background, dramatic red title lettering for "The Rough Riders," and an illustrated scene of the three stars—Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, and Raymond Hatton—standing with their horses in a rugged desert landscape, guns at the ready. The artwork captures the essence of classic B-Western adventure, with the film's subtitle prominently displayed in quotes: "Ghost Town Law." Produced by Monogram Pictures and directed by Howard Bretherton, this film follows the Rough Riders trio as U.S. Marshals investigating murders in a haunted mining town overrun by outlaws, blending action, mystery, and frontier justice. Professionally linen-backed for preservation, this poster is in very good vintage condition, with minor fold restorations, light edge wear, and rich color retention, underscoring its archival quality. No major tears, pinholes, or fading are present, making it a desirable collector's piece for fans of early Hollywood Westerns or Buck Jones memorabilia. Buck Jones, a silent-era star who transitioned to talkies, tragically died in the Cocoanut Grove fire later in 1942, adding historical poignancy to posters from his final films. This example originates from the U.S. release and bears the classic Monogram logo, evoking the era of Saturday matinee serials and the golden age of cowboy cinema. History of the Origins of the Rough Riders The "Rough Riders" name draws on the legendary 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, formed in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. Recruited by Theodore Roosevelt (then Assistant Secretary of the Navy) and initially commanded by Colonel Leonard Wood...

Carl Frederick Gaertner (American, 1898-1952) Rocky Cove, 1947 Oil on canvas Signed lower left 24 x 30 inches 31 x 37 inches, framed Carl Gaer...

Dazzling watercolor landscape painting of a small town lining the sparkling mediterranean coast by artist Stephane Magnard, circa 1950. Original ...

Poster in lithography by Braulio RUIZ SÁNCHEZ 🇪🇸 (1911-1967) promoting the traditional "Feria de Abril" through typical elements of local folklore: a guitarist sitting leaning on h...

Impressive and large mid century abstract painting. Signed and dated illegibly lower right. Oil on canvas.

God and the Four Evangelists ("Fool's Concert") - 1943 Linocut on Paper Leopoldo Méndez (Mexico City, Mexico, 1902–1969) "Fool's Concert" (from the portfolio "25 Prints of Leopoldo ...

"Machu Pichu" - Black and Grey Lithograph #10/200 Bold black and grey lithograph by David Alfaro Sequeiros (Mexican, 1896-1974). This piece is a high contrast, abstracted landscape....

Medium: heliogravure (after the etching from Goya's Tauromaquia series). Printed in 1947 in a limited edition of 500 on Guarro laid paper, and published in Barcelona by Ediciones Ome...

Constantin Kluge was a Russian-born French painter best known for his naturalistic scenes of Paris and French countryside. Kluge was born to a wealthy military family on January 29, ...

John Steuart Curry "Sketching Wisconsin," 1946 oil on canvas 31.13 x 28 inches, canvas 39.75 x 36.75 x 2.5 inches, frame Signed and dated lower right Overall excellent condition Presented in a 24-karat gold leaf hand-carved wood frame John Steuart Curry (1897-1946) was an American regionalist painter active during the Great Depression and into World War II. He was born in Kansas on his family’s farm but went on to study art in Chicago, Paris and New York as young man. In Paris, he was exposed to the work of masters such as Peter Paul Rubens, Eugène Delacroix and Jacques-Louis David. As he matured, his work showed the influence of these masters, especially in his compositional decisions. Like the two other Midwestern regionalist artists that are most often grouped with him, Grant Wood (American, 1891-1942) and Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975), Curry was interested in representational works containing distinctly American subject matter. This was contrary to the popular art at the time, which was moving closer and closer to abstraction and individual expression. Sketching Wisconsin is an oil painting completed in 1946, the last year of John Steuart Curry’s life, during which time he was the artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The painting is significant in Curry’s body of work both as a very revealing self-portrait, and as a landscape that clearly and sensitively depicts the scenery of southern Wisconsin near Madison. It is also a portrait of the artist’s second wife, Kathleen Gould Curry, and is unique in that it contains a ‘picture within a picture,’ a compositional element that many early painting masters used to draw the eye of the viewer. This particular artwork adds a new twist to this theme: Curry’s wife is creating essentially the same painting the viewer is looking at when viewing Sketching Wisconsin. The triangular composition of the figures in the foreground immediately brings focus to a younger Curry, whose head penetrates the horizon line and whose gaze looks out towards the viewer. The eye then moves down to Mrs. Curry, who, seated on a folding stool and with her hand raised to paint the canvas on the easel before her, anchors the triangular composition. The shape is repeated in the legs of the stool and the easel. Behind the two figures, stripes of furrowed fields fall away gently down the hillside to a farmstead and small lake below. Beyond the lake, patches of field and forest rise and fall into the distance, and eventually give way to blue hills. Here, Curry has subverted the traditional artist’s self-portrait by portraying himself as a farmer first and an artist second. He rejects what he sees as an elitist art world of the East Coast and Europe. In this self-portrait he depicts himself without any pretense or the instruments of his profession and with a red tractor standing in the field behind him as if he was taking a break from the field work. Here, Curry’s wife symbolizes John Steuart Curry’s identity as an artist. Compared with a self-portrait of the artist completed a decade earlier, this work shows a marked departure from how the artist previously presented and viewed himself. In the earlier portrait, Curry depicted himself in the studio with brushes in hand, and with some of his more recognizable and successful canvases behind him. But in Sketching Wisconsin, Curry has taken himself out of the studio and into the field, indicating a shift in the artist’s self-conception. Sketching Wisconsin’s rural subject also expresses Curry’s populist ideals, that art could be relevant to anyone. This followed the broad educational objectives of UW’s artist-in-residence program. Curry was appointed to his position at the University of Wisconsin in 1937 and was the first person to hold any such position in the country, the purpose of which was to serve as an educational resource to the people of the state. He embraced his role at the University with zeal and not only opened the doors of his campus studio in the School of Agriculture to the community, but also spent a great deal of time traveling around the state of Wisconsin to visit rural artists who could benefit from his expertise. It was during his ten years in the program that Curry was able to put into practice his belief that art should be meaningful to the rural populace. However, during this time he also struggled with public criticism, as the dominant forces of the art market were moving away from representation. Perhaps it was Curry’s desire for public acceptance during the latter part of his career that caused him to portray himself as an Everyman in Sketching Wisconsin. Beyond its importance as a portrait of the artist, Sketching Wisconsin is also a detailed and sensitive landscape that shows us Curry’s deep personal connection to his environment. The landscape here can be compared to Wisconsin Landscape of 1938-39 (the Metropolitan Museum of Art), which presents a similar tableau of rolling hills with a patchwork of fields. Like Wisconsin Landscape, this is an incredibly detailed and expressive depiction of a place close to the artist’s heart. This expressive landscape is certainly the result of many hours spent sketching people, animals, weather conditions and topography of Wisconsin as Curry traveled around the state. The backdrop of undulating hills and the sweeping horizon, and the emotions evoked by it, are emphatically recognizable as the ‘driftless’ area of south-central Wisconsin. But while the Metropolitan’s Wisconsin Landscape conveys a sense of uncertainty or foreboding with its dramatic spring cloudscape and alternating bands of light and dark, Sketching Wisconsin has a warm and reflective mood. The colors of the foliage indicate that it is late summer and Curry seems to look out at the viewer approvingly, as if satisfied with the fertile ground surrounding him. The landscape in Sketching Wisconsin is also revealing of what became one of Curry’s passions while artist-in-residence at UW’s School of Agriculture – soil conservation. When Curry was a child in Kansas, he saw his father almost lose his farm and its soil to the erosion of The Dust Bowl. Therefore, he was very enthusiastic about ideas from UW’s School of Agriculture on soil conservation methods being used on Wisconsin farms. In Sketching Wisconsin, we see evidence of crop rotation methods in the terraced stripes of fields leading down the hillside away from the Curry’s and in how they alternate between cultivated and fallow fields. Overall, Sketching Wisconsin has a warm, reflective, and comfortably pastoral atmosphere, and the perceived shift in Curry’s self-image that is evident in the portrait is a positive one. After his rise to favor in the art world in the 1930’s, and then rejection from it due to the strong beliefs presented in his art, Curry is satisfied and proud to be farmer in this self-portrait. Curry suffered from high blood...

Tempera on paper, realized in mid-20th Century. Hand signed in pencil lower right. Very good condition.

"6th Avenue El" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century New York City Ernest Fiene (1894-1965) "6th Avenue El" 12 1/4 x 14 1/4 Oil on canvas board, c. 1940s Signed lower righ...

Signed lower right, 'A. Sottosanti' for Angelo Anthony Sottosanti (American, 1917-2004); additionally signed, verso, titled, 'Pedro of Tehuan Tepee, Mexico' and painted circa 1940. ...