Frank Weston Benson

Teal

1925

One of Their Pets (Two Farm Boys and Cow at The Watering Hole) By Joseph Vorst (1897-1947) Signed Lower Right Edition 1/50 Lower Left Unframed: 8.5" x 11" Framed: 16" x 18.5" German-born Joseph Vorst came from Essen (born June 19, 1897). His teacher was the leading German impressionist Max Liebermann (1847-1935), who was the champion of French impressionism in Berlin. He had traveled to Barbizon and Paris to see paintings by Manet first hand, including In the Conservatory, which made its way to Berlin. Later Vorst's home town of Essen would acquire a collection of modern art in 1921, which became the Museum Folkwang, one of the earliest of its kind. Most likely to escape the Nazis, Vorst made his way to Missouri; we know that he was a member of the American Artists Congress and he signed the famous "Call" in 1936 at the group's first congress, the left-wing organization that stood up to combat fascism. Surely he would have known Joe Jones...

Billy Schenck (American, b. 1947) Hurry Sundown, 1985 Edition 19/60 Serigraph 21 x 38 inches Signed, Titled, Dated, and Numbered Lower Margin Billy Schenck is a contemporary artist ...

Jamie Wyeth "Herring Gulls" 1978 Color Lithograph Signed Lower Right Numbered Lower Left 149/300 Born in 1946, James Browning Wyeth came of age when the meaning of patriotism was clouded by the traumas of the Vietnam War and the scandals of Watergate. Working in an era of turmoil and questioning of governmental authority, he did art that encompassed both marching off to war and marching in protest. One of James's early masterworks, Draft Age (1965) depicts a childhood friend as a defiant Vietnam-era teenager resplendent in dark sunglasses and black leather jacket in a suitably insouciant pose. Two years later Wyeth painstakingly composed a haunting, posthumous Portrait of President John F. Kennedy (1967) that seems to catch the martyred Chief Executive in a moment of agonized indecision. As Wyeth Center curator Lauren Raye Smith points out, Wyeth "did not deify the slain president, [but] on the contrary made him seem almost too human." Based on hours of study and sketching of JFK's brothers Robert and Edward - documented by insightful studies in the exhibition - the final, pensive portrait seemed too realistic to family members and friends. "His brother Robert," writes Smith in the exhibition catalogue, "reportedly felt uneasy about this depiction, and said it reminded him of the President during the Bay of Pigs invasion." In spite of these misgivings, James's JFK likeness has been reproduced frequently and is one of the highlights of this show. The poignancy, appeal and perceptiveness of this portrait, painted when the youngest Wyeth was 21 years old, makes one wish he would do more portraits of important public figures. James himself feels he is at his best painting people he knows well, as exemplified by his vibrant Portrait of Jean Kennedy Smith (1972), which captures the vitality of the slain President's handsome sister. He did paint a portrait of Jimmy Carter for the January 1977 man-of-the-year cover of Time magazine, showing the casually dressed President-elect as a straightforward character posed under a flag-draped water tower next to the family peanut plant in Plains, Ga. James recalls that Carter had one Secret Service agent guarding him as he posed outdoors, a far cry from the protection our Chief Executives require today. As a participating artist in the "Eyewitness to Space" program organized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art in the late 1960s, Wyeth deftly recorded in a series of watercolors his eyewitness observations of dramatic spacecraft launchings and more mundane scenes associated with the space program. Commissioned by Harper's Magazine to cover the 1974 congressional hearings and trials of Watergate figures, James Wyeth executed a series of perceptive and now evocative sketches that recall those dark chapters in our history. Memorable images include a scowling John Ehrlichman, a hollow-eyed Bob Haldeman, an owlish Charles Colson, a focused Congressman Peter Rodino, a grim visaged Father/ Congressman Robert Drinan, and vignettes of the press and various courtroom activities. An 11-by-14-inch pencil sketch of the unflappable Judge John Sirica is especially well done. These "images are powerful as historical records," observes Smith, "and as lyrically journalistic impressions of events that changed the nation forever." Wyeth's sketch of early-morning crowds lined up outside the Supreme Court building hoping to hear the Watergate case, with the ubiquitous TV cameramen looking on, is reminiscent of recent scenes as the high court grappled with the Bush-Gore contest. The Wyeth family penchant for whimsy and enigmatic images is evident in Islanders (1990), showing two of James's friends, wearing goofy hats, sitting on the porch of a small Monhegan Island (Me.) cottage draped with a large American flag. Mixing the serious symbolism of Old Glory with the irreverent appearance of the two men, James has created a puzzling but interesting composition. Painting White House...

Ted Blaylock (b. 1946) "Nest Builder III" 1986 Print Ed. 586/950 Signed and Numbered Ted Blaylock opened his own art studio and gallery in Collinsville, IL in 1969. He eventually mo...

Missouri Arrival (Flood) c. 1940 By Joseph Vorst (1897-1947) Signed Lower Right Unframed: 11" x 8.25" Framed: 18.5" x 15.5" German-born Joseph Vorst came from Essen (born June 19, 1897). His teacher was the leading German impressionist Max Liebermann (1847-1935), who was the champion of French impressionism in Berlin. He had traveled to Barbizon and Paris to see paintings by Manet first hand, including In the Conservatory, which made its way to Berlin. Later Vorst's home town of Essen would acquire a collection of modern art in 1921, which became the Museum Folkwang, one of the earliest of its kind. Most likely to escape the Nazis, Vorst made his way to Missouri; we know that he was a member of the American Artists Congress and he signed the famous "Call" in 1936 at the group's first congress, the left-wing organization that stood up to combat fascism. Surely he would have known Joe Jones...

John Stobart "St. Louis, Gateway to the West" Color Lithograph 30 x 42 inches framed Signed in Pencil and Numbered 434/750

Etching with aquatint on heavy laid paper, 7 x 9 1/4 inches (172 x 233 mm), full margins. Signed in the plate, lower right image area. Minor corner loss, top right, and a 1/4 inch ed...

Neil Welliver Loon, 1998 color etching, ed. of 175 29 3/4 x 29 5/8 in. (75.6 x 75.2 cm)

Original BOAC Africa, unfolds the world vintage travel poster. Archivally linen backed in fine condition, ready to frame. British Overseas Airline Corporation This poster ‘unfold the world’ with travel to Africa. The image of a mother elephant with her baby create a cloud of dust as they come into a face to face view. This is one of the seldom if ever seen, original BOAC posters...

Robert W Addison Waiting - 1996 Print – Lithograph on Arches Archival Paper Stamped signature and marked 157/250 Image size 30” x 22” inches Paper 35"x 27½" inches Robert Addison worked at Ficho & Corley art studio in the John Hancock...

THOMAS HART BENTON (1889-1975) MISSOURI FARMYARD, 1936 (Fath 10) AKA KANSAS FARMYARD Lithograph as published by Associated American Artists. Edition 250. Signed in pencil and in the...

Original Egypt Fly TWA vintage poster. Artist: David Klein. Linen backed in excellent condition, grade A. Ready to frame. A camel head dominates the image with a very colorful tassel-decorated harness. Beautifully contrasting with the clear blue sky and the TWA airplane. David Klein does not sign the poster. It was produced during the Israeli and Egyptian conflict going on at the time. He produced the artwork for the posters, but all posters going to Egypt remained unsigned. TWA (Trans World Airlines) was formed in 1924 as Transcontinental & Western Air. The airline's first route was from New York to Los Angeles, followed by multiple National routes. The airline expanded to serve Europe, the Middle East, and Asia after WWII when the company was under Howard Hughes's owner's control from 1939 until 1961. Hughes was a dominant force in expanding and promoting his company's routes. The economy was vastly improving, and travel by air for business and pleasure increased, too. Posters were a crucial element in promoting this form of travel and TWA. The airline started a decline in the 1970s that ended up in a third bankruptcy that caused its acquisition by American Airlines in 2001. The airline operated in 132 destinations worldwide and had a fleet size of 190. This Rome poster was created by the gifted American artist David Klein (1918 -2005), and depicts a member of the Pontifical Swiss Guard in the center wearing the iconic yellow, blue, and red uniform. The Guard is playing a drum that has the pontifical emblem. In the background, we see a representation of the ancient Roman Coliseum and the Baroque Saint...