1950s Art

Signed lower right, 'Paula Melcher' (American, 20th century) and dated 1956.

Antique American modernist street scene oil painting by Elaine Wesley (1923 - 2007). Oil on board. Estate stamped verso.

This exquisite lithograph by Marc Chagall (1887–1985), titled L’Accordeoniste (The Accordionist), from the album Chagall, originates from the 1957 edition published by Maeght Editeur...

Very impressive mid 20th century cubist abstract. Oil on canvas. Framed.

PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) Hibou brillant (A. R. 285) Terre de faïence dish, 1955, from the edition of 450, glazed and painted, with the Edition Picasso and Madoura stamps.

PABLO PICASSO (AFTER) Tête de Femme au Chapeau. Color lithograph 1956 Sheet size 650x540 mm; 25⅝x21¼ inches, full margins. Proof before letters, aside from the published poster e...

This exquisite lithograph after Georges Braque (1882–1963), titled L’Oiseau volant (The Flying Bird), from Carnets intimes (Private Sketchbooks), Verve, Vol. VIII, No. 31–32, origina...

Ed Feingersh photographed Marilyn Monroe for Redbook magazine in March 1955 for a story which would follow Monroe through her daily routine, the photography to be candid and shot without flash in available light. The photographs he made of her during the week March 24–30, 1955 as she prepares for two appearances; opening night of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Morosco Theatre and being fitted with a burlesque corset for her ride on a pink elephant at a charity event at Madison Square Garden. (from Wikipedia) This is a unique silver gelatine print, made in 1988 from the original negative.

Rare early 1950s Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of body beautiful model AL WALCH. Photograph is an excellent example o...

Early, original oil on canvas painting by the well known American abstract expressionist artist, John Little. Signed and dated lower right, 1958. Signed and dated verso. Rose Fried...

Family Snapper (1959) Limited Estate Stamped (Photo By Slim Aarons) Babe Paley (Mrs William Paley) by the pool. Her husband, William Paley is snapping the photographer at their ...

(after) Georges Braque, (1882 - 1963) Les Oiseaux Noirs (Black Birds), 1956 Lithograph Printed in Jacomet workshop On vellum 40 x 48 cm (c. 16 x 19 inc...

Lithograph realized after Fernand Léger in 1959, on Moulin Richard de Bas paper. Monogrammed in the plate. It belongs to the suite "Contrastes", printed by Daniel Jacomet and publi...

The Wrestlers by Clyde Singer is an excellent Mid-Century painting of a popular Aschan subject. The artist George Bellows (1882-1925) was a precursor of Singer's who often depicted ...

Medium: lithograph (after the original lithograph poster). During the late 1940's and throughout the 1950's, Marc Chagall created a series of posters at the atelier of Mourlot Freres...

A wonderful depiction of an Autumn landscape in Kent, Connecticut from the Mid-20th Century with puffed trees by the country side. For this beautiful depiction, we find distinct elements that are unique to the earlier works of George Lawrence...

Pristine decorative white porcelain 'Apart' coffee demitasse set from Hutschenreuther Selb, with 6 cups, 6 saucers, coffee pot, creamer/milk jug, sugar bowl (15 piece set). Germain porcelain maker Hutschenreuther (est.1814) commissioned sculptor Hans Achtziger...

Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1952 for the art revue Verve (Volume 7, Number 27-28) and published in Paris by Teriade. Size: 13 7/8 x 10 3/8 inches (352 x 263 mm). There is...

This exquisite lithograph by Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), titled Scene XXIII, Les Monstres Sacres (Scene XXIII, The Sacred Monsters), originates from the 1957 album Jean Cocteau de l'Ac...

Original vintage travel advertising poster for the FRENCH RIVIERA FRENCH NATIONAL RAILROADS SNCF (French National Railways) - the French Riviera. (Cote D'Azur, known as the French Riviera) The image features people looking out towards a marina full of sailing boats. Colorful artwork by the French painter Jules Cavailles (1901-1977). Printed by Perceval, Paris in 1953. Mid-Century Modern. Grade A- This is the English version of the poster compared to the design created for Cote d'Azur. The English version is much rarer (both are rare today). The poster gives the impression of a naive painting at this Mediterranean beach and seaport. Step into a world of timeless elegance and sunlit dreams with this exquisite French Riviera Vintage...

Porfirio Salinas (1910-1973) San Antonio Artist Image Size: 30 x 40 Frame Size: 39 x 49 Medium: Oil on Canvas Dated 1957 "Bluebonnet Creek" Texas Hill Country Biography Porfirio Salinas (1910-1973) Porfirio Salinas was a self-taught artist who painted landscapes of Central Texas with an emphasis on the vast bluebonnet fields that grow there in the springtime. Born in 1910 in Bastrop, Texas, he attended public schools in San Antonio. He also observed works in progress by the director of the San Antonio Art School, Jose Arpa, as well as landscape painter, Robert Wood. Wood is said to have paid Salinas five dollars a picture to paint bluebonnets because "he hated to paint bluebonnets". Salinas served in the military from 1943 to 1945. Although he was assigned to Fort Sam Houston, he was allowed to live at home. At the fort, Colonel Telesphor Gottchalk assigned him to paint murals for the officer's lounge and various other projects, and Salinas continued to be able to paint during his entire conscripted period. Even before he achieved notoriety among galleries, dealers, and museums, Salinas was widely followed and appreciated by many Texans, including former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who may be considered responsible for launching Salinas popularity beyond the boundaries of Texas. In 1973, Texas capital, Austin, honored Salinas for having "done much to bring the culture of Mexico and Texas closer together with his paintings". Salinas died in April 1973 in San Antonio, Texas. From the years of the Great Depression through President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society of the 1960s, Texan Porfirio Salinas (1910-1973) remained one of the Lone Star State's most popular artists. Today, his works remain popular with Texas collectors and those who love landscapes of the beautiful "Hill Country" that lies in the center of the state. One of the first Mexican American painters to become widely recognized for his art, Salinas was a favorite of President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, as well as of Sam Rayburn, the longest-serving Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Texas Governor John Connelly. In fact, President Johnson was so enamored with his Salinas paintings that the artist will forever be associated with America's first Texas-born President. Works by Porfirio Salinas are in a number of museum collections, grace the halls of the Texas State Capitol and the Governor's Mansion in Austin, and are included in virtually every major private collection of Early Texas Art. Porfirio Salinas was born on November 6, 1910, near the small town of Bastrop, Texas, about thirty miles from Austin. His father, Porfirio G. Salinas (1881-1967), and his mother, Clara G. Chavez, struggled to make a hardscrabble living as tenant farmers, but eventually were forced to give up farming. The family moved to San Antonio, where Salinas' father was able to get a job working as a laborer for the railroad, but the scenic area around Bastrop, with its pine trees and the wide expanse of the Rio Grande River, would forever remain a touchstone for the artist. For the rest of his life, Salinas and his brothers went back frequently to visit their grandmother in her little farmhouse. When in Bastrop, Porfirio painted on the banks of the Rio Grande or in the groves of pine trees. The Salinas family was close-knit and Porfirio was the middle child of five children, so he had an older brother and sister as well as a younger brother and sister. His mother was a native of Mexico, so throughout his childhood the family made the long drive to Mexico to visit Clara Salinas' family. As a child growing up in the bi-lingual section of San Antonio, Salinas drew and painted incessantly and by the time he was ten, he was already producing work that was mature enough to sell to his schoolteachers. Many years later in an article in the New York Times he was described as a "boy whose textbooks were seldom opened and whose sketchbook was never closed." Instead of studying, the young artist spent his spare time watching artists paint in and around San Antonio. As an aspiring painter, Salinas was fortunate to grow up in the historic city, which had the most active art scene in Texas. It was his exposure to older, professional painters that encouraged the precocious young painter to leave school early in order to help his family and pursue a career as a professional artist, despite his father's inability to see art as a career with any future for his son. When Salinas was about fifteen he came to know the artist Robert W. Wood (1889-1979). He met Wood while he was employed in an art supply store and he soon began to work as an assistant to the English-born painter, who had moved from Portland to San Antonio in 1924. Although the diminutive Englishman was already an established professional artist, he did not have a great deal of formal art training and so he was then studying with the academically trained Spanish painter Jose Arpa (1858-1952) in order to augment his knowledge and give his work a more polished look. Salinas was an eager young man, and while working in Wood's downtown San Antonio studio he learned to stretch canvases, frame paintings and to sketch in larger compositions from small plein-air studies for the English artist. He began to accompany Wood and Arpa to the hills outside San Antonio, where they painted small Plein-air studies of fields of blue lupin - the state flower, the famous "Bluebonnets" of Texas - in the springtime and scenes of the gnarled Red Oaks as they changed color in the fall. He was soon assisting Wood in the tedious work of painting the tiny blue flowers that collectors wanted to see in the landscapes they purchased of central Texas. According to a 1972 newspaper story, "Legend has it that one day in the 1920s artist Robert Wood decided he could not bear to paint another bluebonnet in one of his landscapes. He hired young Porfirio Salinas to paint them in for him at five dollars a painting." Whether this story is accurate or apocryphal isn't clear, but the ambitious and independent young Salinas wasn't destined to be anyone's assistant for very long. The formative event of Porfirio Salinas' teenage years was the Texas Wildflower Competitive Exhibitions, a Roaring-Twenties dream of the eccentric oilman Edgar B. Davis (1873-1951). These competitive shows of paintings of wildflowers and Texas life were mounted in San Antonio from 1927 to 1929. Held at the newly opened Witte Museum each spring, the exhibition featured large cash prizes donated by the philanthropic Davis, which were an inducement for artists to travel from all over the United States to paint in the Hill Country of Texas. The "Davis Competitions," as they were known, helped to cement San Antonio's reputation as an art center, a legacy that remains with the "River City" today. The shows generated a great deal of excitement in the area, helping to make celebrities of the some of the artists who had already settled there and encouraging others to make San Antonio their home. Over the three years that the wildflower competitions were held, more than 300 paintings were exhibited, and many thousands of viewers saw the paintings at the Witte Museum and on tours throughout the state and in New York. Each year Davis would generously purchase the winning paintings and then donate them to the San Antonio Art League. Young Porfirio Salinas would have been able to not only watch his two mentors - Robert W. Wood and Jose Arpa - paint the works that they entered in the Davis Competitions, he would have been able to see Arpa take several of the major prizes, receiving the judge's accolades for "Verbena," "Cactus Flower" and "Picking Cotton," works that are still on view at the San Antonio Art League Museum today. Unfortunately, Davis eventually put his donations to work in other charitable endeavors, bringing to an end the wildflower events, but only after they inspired Salinas and other young painters and had helped to make wildflower paintings the most sought-after subject for traditionalist Texas collectors. In 1930, when he was only twenty, Salinas hung out a shingle and began to paint professionally, augmenting the sales of his easel paintings with what little business he could garner by painting signs for local concerns. It was a struggle for the young artist to make a living, as the effects of the Great Depression were settling in. His early works are very similar to those of Robert Wood's, both in subject matter and treatment. Salinas did small paintings of Bluebonnets for the tourists who visited San Antonio to see the famous Alamo as well as paintings of the Texas missions...

Belgium. East Flanders - Ghent by Leonard Machin Rowe (1880-1968) signed in both front lower corners, inscribed and dated to the back watercolour painting on artist's paper, unframe...

American Photographer Leonard Freed travelled extensively and enjoyed Italy - a country he returned to often and photographed throughout his long photographic career. Cats, Naples, I...

This striking circa 1950 advertising poster by Rouffé showcases the dynamic power of La Bougie Colin, a renowned French brand of spark plugs. Designed to capture the speed, reliabili...

Medium: original lithograph. This lithograph is from the rare 1953 "Improvisations" portfolio, published by the Artists Equity Association of New York on the occasion of the 1953 Spr...

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) - Fleurs de Neige Lithograph from 1958. Dimensions of work: 35.5 x 26.4 cm Plate signed. Publisher: Tériade, Paris. First, original edition. The work ...

The 1956 lithography by Jean-Gabriel Domergue L'enlèvement de Sabine, part of the renowned La Parisienne portfolio, stands as an elegant representation of post-war French art and a c...

Antique American modernist cityscape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Image size, 24L x 18H.

Peaceful landscape of a calm stream winding through an autumnal forest by Lorenz Griffith (American, 1889-1968). Signed "Lorenz Griffith" lower left. Titled "Autumn Reflections - Virginia" and dated 1958 on verso. Unframed. Image size: 24"H x 35.5"W. Lorenz E. Griffith was born in Indiana; he was active/lived in North Carolina, Florida, Indiana and many places across the United States. Lorenz Griffith is known for luminist landscapes and portraits. He painted in the style of the Florida Highwaymen...

Antique American modernist cityscape oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Signed. Measuring: 34 by 48 inches overall, and 28 by 42 painting alone. In excellent original condition. H...

This exquisite lithograph by Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), titled Scene XXXIX, Theatre de Poche (Scene XXXIX, Pocket Theater), originates from the 1957 album Jean Cocteau de l'Academie f...

Signature: Signed Lower Left Medium: Oil on Board Frame: Gilt Frame with Decorative Elements and Linen Inset Brightly colored and bold illustration of an American hunting scene...

This exquisite lithograph by Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), titled Scene XII, La Machine Infernale (Scene XII, The Infernal Machine), originates from the 1957 album Jean Cocteau de l'Acad...

Lithograph on Arches paper, edited in 1959. Limited edition of 200 copies, numbered as 109/200 in lower left corner. Signed in pencil by artist in lower right corner. Paper size: 70...

3991A Vintage Impressionist landscape California coastal inlet. Set in a custom silvered wood frame Image size 23.5x19.5"

Paul Sample The Slope Near the Bridge, 1950 Signed in pencil lower left Lithograph on wove paper Image 8 15/16 x 12 15/16 inches Sheet 11 5/16 x 15 1/16 inches From the edition of 25...

This exquisite lithograph by Pierre Soulages (1919–2022), titled Lithographie No 9 (Lithograph No 9), from the album XXe Siecle, Nouvelle serie, XXIe Annee, No. 13, Noel 1959, origin...

Elizabeth Taylor with Sunglasses for "Giant" 1955 by Frank Worth This iconic and elegant portrait captured by celebrity photographer Frank Worth features actress Elizabeth Taylor o...

This work will be exhibited at Art on Paper NYC, September 4–7, 2025. – Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) – Le Vieux Roi (Old King) Technique: Original lithograph Year: 1959 Dimensions: 64...

Gene Hedge Untitled, circa 1955 Oil on canvas 12 1/4 x 15 3/4 inches Provenance Estate of the artist Gene Hedge was born (1928) and raised in rural Indiana. After military service...

Morris Blackburn, 'Avalon South', wood engraving, 1951, edition 30. Signed, titled, and numbered '12/30' in pencil. A fine black impression on cream wove Japan paper, with wide margins (1 3/8 to 2 1/4 inches), in excellent condition. Archivally sleeved, unmatted. Image size 5 x 7 inches (127 x 178 mm); sheet size 8 5/8 x 10 7/8 inches (219 x 276 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST Morris Blackburn was a prominent painter, printmaker, and graphic artist, as well as a respected teacher at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Born in Philadelphia, where he spent most of his career, Blackburn was a descendant of the notable colonial portrait artist Joseph J. Blackburn (c. 1700–1780). He developed an interest in art early on and studied architectural drawing at the Philadelphia Trade School. In 1922, he took classes at the Graphic Sketch Club and later attended the School of Industrial Art. While working for the well-known Philadelphia furniture designer Oscar Mertz, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1925 to 1929. During his studies, he learned painting from Henry Bainbridge McCarter...

JEAN COCTEAU ( 1889 - 1963 ) "la Méditerranée" (The Mediterranean) . circa 1952 . Tapisserie de haute lisse ,signée et datée (1952) référencée N°6689 F aux archives Jean Cocteau ...

Artist: Picasso, Pablo Title: Le Deux Modeles Date: 1954 Medium: Lithograph on watermarked Arches paper Unframed Dimensions: 19.5" x 24.75" Framed Dimensions: 31.25" x 37" Sign...

This piece is an A.R. turned round plate by Pablo Picasso made in 1957. It is made with red earthenware clay, engobe decoration, and knife engraved in black. It is numbered 279/ 500 ...

This stunning vintage travel poster from around 1950 showcases one of Thailand’s most iconic landmarks: the Royal Chapel of Wat Phra Keo (also spelled Wat Phra Kaew), nestled within ...

Ed Feingersh photographed Marilyn Monroe for Redbook magazine in March 1955 for a story which would follow Monroe through her daily routine, the photography to be candid and shot wit...

Silver Gelatine Print by Erich Andres, ca 1950. Andres was born 1905 in Germany and passed away 1992. He started his career as a photographer in 1920. He was one of the first photogr...

Medium: original lithograph. Catalogue reference M 141. This beautiful color lithograph was printed by Mourlot and published in Paris by Teriade for Verve in 1956 for a special editi...

Signed by the artist in pencil, lower right Provenance: Estate of the Artist With the artist's original presentation (Frame and matting) Two similar titles were exhibited in The ...

Fishing Boats (1952) Limited Estate Stamped (Photo By Slim Aarons) Fishing nets and boats on the shore Mexico, 1952. Additional Information: Unframed Paper Size: 40x40'' Pri...

This black-and-white photograph, taken in 1952 in Paris along the Seine River, captures a tranquil and picturesque moment. In the foreground, a man wearing a light-colored straw hat ...

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) - Los Banderillos Lithograph from 1961. Dimensions of work: 31 x 25 cm. Reference: Bloch 1016; Cramer 113.IV. Printed by Atelier Fernand Mourlot, Paris. ...

Two bikini-clad holidaymakers enjoy a glass of wine outside the Carlton Hotel, Cannes, 1958. Sundowners 1958; Printed Later C print Estate stamped and hand numbered upon sale out of...

Medium: lithograph (after Renoir). One of the most famous Renoir lithographs, this is a portrait of Julie Manet and her cousin Jeanne (Julie Manet wa...

Signed impressionist oil on canvas landscape circa 1950 by sought after French painter Edouard Cortes. The work depicts an evening scene of the Place de la Republique square in Paris France. The ground, bare trees and buildings are covered in a dusting of white snow. The street lights are glowing and the Monument a la Republique is visible in the distance. Signature: Signed lower left Dimensions: Framed: 19"x24" Unframed: 13"x18" Provenance: International Galleries - Chicago c. 1950 This work is included in the Catalogue Raisonne of the painters work "Edouard Cortes (1882-1969) : The Complete Works" Ref: EC001317 A photo certificate of authenticity accompanies the painting Edouard Leon Cortes, the son of the painter Antonio Cortès, was sent to the front during World War I to sketch enemy positions. In civilian life, his base was in Lagny in the former studio of Cavallo-Peduzzi. Although he travelled extensively in France. Notably in Normandy, Brittany, the Champagne region and Savoy painting...

The black and white photograph from the 1950s captures beatnik hipster writer Jack Kerouac in dark glasses, wearing a beret and friend Barbara Ferrara. Beat Couple, 1959 by Burt G...

Still Life, 1959 Oil on canvas 31 1/16 x 21 15/16 inches (78.9 x 55.72 cm) Framed dimensions: 39 1/2 x 29 3/8 inches Signed and dated lower left: Fairfield Porter 1959 Provenance Ti...

This exquisite lithograph and pochoir after Fernand Leger (1881–1955), titled Sans titre (Untitled), from the album Douze Contemporains (Twelve Contemporaries), originates from the 1959 edition published by Editions d'art du lion, Paris, and Boston Book and Art Shop, Inc., Boston, rendered by Daniel Jacomet, Paris, and printed by Atelier Daniel Jacomet et Cie, Paris, December 1959. The work captures Leger's bold geometric visual language and his celebration of modernity, distilling mechanical rhythm and sculptural clarity into a composition emblematic of his innovative machine-age aesthetic. Executed as a lithograph and pochoir on velin paper, this work measures 13.25 x 18.25 inches (33.7 x 46.4 cm). Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. The edition exemplifies the refined craftsmanship of Atelier Daniel Jacomet et Cie, Paris. Artwork Details: Artist: After Fernand Leger (1881–1955) Title: Sans titre (Untitled), from the album Douze Contemporains (Twelve Contemporaries) Medium: Lithograph and pochoir on velin paper Dimensions: 13.25 x 18.25 inches (33.7 x 46.4 cm) Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued Date: 1959 Publisher: Editions d'art du lion, Paris, and Boston Book and Art Shop, Inc., Boston Printer: Atelier Daniel Jacomet et Cie, Paris Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium Provenance: From the album Douze Contemporains (Twelve Contemporaries), published by Editions d'art du lion, Paris, and Boston Book and Art Shop, Inc., Boston; rendered by Daniel Jacomet, Paris; printed by Atelier Daniel Jacomet et Cie, Paris, December 1959 Notes: Excerpted from the folio (translated from French), This album finished printing in December 1959 drawn to CMLXX examples numbered from I to CMLXX and XXX non-commerce examples numbered from I to XXX, was directed by Daniel Jacomet. Typography of L'Imprimerie Union in Paris. About the Publication: Douze Contemporains (Twelve Contemporaries), published in 1959 by Editions d'art du lion in collaboration with Boston Book and Art Shop, Inc., is a landmark example of mid-century French printmaking, bringing together leading modern artists in a unified portfolio of lithographs and pochoirs. The album exemplifies Jacomet's meticulous approach to color separation and hand-stenciled execution, preserving the tonal richness and structural clarity of each composition. Issued in a substantial edition of numbered and non-commerce impressions, the publication reflects the vitality of postwar Parisian art and the technical excellence of Daniel Jacomet, whose workshop played a central role in the preservation and dissemination of twentieth-century modernist imagery. About the Artist: Fernand Leger (1881–1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker whose pioneering fusion of modern life, mechanization, and visual abstraction made him one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Emerging from the Cubist movement, Leger developed a highly personal style distinguished by bold contrasts, cylindrical forms, and rhythmic compositions that celebrated the beauty of industrial progress and the vitality of modern urban life. Deeply influenced by the innovations of Paul Cezanne and the structural experimentation of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Leger transformed Cubism's fragmented perspective into a dynamic, machine-age aesthetic that bridged fine art, architecture, and design. His work often depicted workers, machinery, and everyday objects as monumental symbols of harmony between humanity and technology, reflecting both his optimism for modernity and his belief in the democratization of art. During his career, Leger was part of an extraordinary artistic circle that included Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray—visionaries who shared his commitment to pushing the boundaries of artistic form and expression. A leading figure in the international avant-garde, Leger also explored large-scale murals, public art, and film, expanding the reach of modern art beyond the gallery. His works are represented in major museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou, the Tate, and the Guggenheim, where they continue to inspire admiration for their bold geometry, humanist vision, and timeless modernity. The highest price ever paid for a Fernand Leger artwork is approximately 70 million USD, achieved in 2017 at Christies New York for Contraste de formes (1913). Fernand Leger print...

Salvador Dali - The Golden Age - Original Lithograph Joseph FORET, Paris, 1957 PRINTER : Ballon. SIGNATURE : plate signed by Dali. LIMITED : 197 copies. EDITION : Number 136 SIZE ...

3823 English country landscape painting Image size 15.5x19.5"