Oil Pastel Figurative Prints

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...

Kiyomi Barrier & Seiken Temple Near Okitsu - Japanese Woodcut Print on Rice Paper Woodblock print of boats in a harbor by Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797-1858). Originally publish...

This lithograph titled "Thebes, Great Hall at Karnak" is a notable work by the Scottish painter David Roberts (1796-1864). This particular scene is part of Roberts' most famous colle...

"Lautrec Book: From Au Pied du Sinai written by Georges Clemenceau" lithographs created by the legendary Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. This book, Au Pied...

Kiyomizu Temple, Scenes of Famous Places along Tôkaidô Road - Woodblock on Paper Full Title: Kyoto: Kiyomizu Temple (Kyô Kiyomizudera), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along...

"First Horse Day, 1896" - Chiyoda Palace - Japanese Woodblock by Chikanobu Yoshu Colorful and expressive court scne by Toyohara Chikanobu,"Yoshu" (Japanese, 1838-1912). This is the r...

This embossed, numbered and signed lithograph, part of the “Four Seasons Suite,” is by Alvar Suñol Muñoz-Ramos (b. 1935), a renowned Spanish ar...

"Grave of Santa Anna's Leg" Original Woodblock Print, Signed Artist's Proof Boldly colored woodblock print by Carol Summers (American, 1925-2016). This piece is a segment of a grave, with a headstone that has a skull and cross. There are two bright green plants flanking the headstone. Below the headstone and plants, there is a large arched blue shape, with a crescent moon and stars. A red leg, bent at the knee, cuts across the blue arch. Signed "Carol Summers" along the right edge of the blue shape. Numbered and titled "A/P Grave of Sant Anna's Leg" along the left edge of the blue shape. Presented in a silver colored aluminum frame. Frame size: 32.245"H x 27.25"W Paper size: 29.75"H x 24.5"W Carol Summers (1925-2016) has worked as an artist throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the first years of the next, outliving most of his mid-century modernist peers. Initially trained as a painter, Summers was drawn to color woodcuts around 1950 and it became his specialty thereafter. Over the years he has developed a process and style that is both innovative and readily recognizable. His art is known for it’s large scale, saturated fields of bold color, semi-abstract treatment of landscapes from around the world and a luminescent quality achieved through a printmaking process he invented. In a career that has extended over half a century, Summers has hand-pulled approximately 245 woodcuts in editions that have typically run from 25 to 100 in number. His talent was both inherited and learned. Born in 1925 in Kingston, a small town in upstate New York, Summers was raised in nearby Woodstock with his older sister, Mary. His parents were both artists who had met in art school in St. Louis. During the Great Depression, when Carol was growing up, his father supported the family as a medical illustrator until he could return to painting. His mother was a watercolorist and also quite knowledgeable about the different kinds of papers used for various kinds of painting. Many years later, Summers would paint or print on thinly textured paper originally collected by his mother. From 1948 to 1951, Carol Summers trained in the classical fine and studio arts at Bard College and at the Art Students League of New York. He studied painting with Steven Hirsh and printmaking with Louis Schanker. He admired the shapes and colors favored by early modernists Paul Klee (Sw: 1879-1940) and Matt Phillips (Am: b.1927- ). After graduating, Summers quit working as a part-time carpenter and cabinetmaker (which had supported his schooling and living expenses) to focus fulltime on art. That same year, an early abstract, Bridge No. 1 was selected for a Purchase Prize in a competition sponsored by the Brooklyn Museum. In 1952, his work (Cathedral, Construction and Icarus) was shown the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in an exhibition of American woodcuts...

"Confidences" James Abbott McNeill Whistler Conversation with a Fellow Artist "Confidences" James Abbott McNeill Whistler Conversation with a Fellow Artist A Drypoint etching on Wove...

"Illustrations of the Book of Job" Engraving "The Fire of God is Fallen From Heaven...And the Lord said unto Satan Behold All that he hath is in thy Power" Engraving, third printing...

"Enshoku Sanju-roku Kasen" (Thirty-six Enchanting Flowers) Woodblock on paper Elegant woodblock print by Toyohara Kunuchika (Japanese, 1835-1900). Three women are in talking with each other inside, while a man waits outside holding a bag of some kind. The colors in this piece are rich and saturated, primarily blues, greens, and purple. Mat size: 16"H x 20"W Paper size: 14.75"H x 9.88"W Born in 1835, Toyohara Kunichika grew up in the Kyobashi district of Edo in the midst of merchants and artisans. In 1848, at age 13, he was accepted as an apprentice into the studio of Utagawa Kunisada I...

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...