Samella Lewis

The House of Shango — African American artist

1992

Robert Riggs, 'Psychopathic Ward', 2-color lithograph, c. 1940, edition c. 50, Beall 60, Bassham 78. Signed, titled, and numbered '14' in pencil. Signed in the stone, lower right. A ...

Ernst Haeckel, 'Art Forms in Nature' (Plate 56 - Calanus), color lithograph, 1899. Signed and titled in typeset, upper left. Titled 'Tafel 56 — Calanus'...

Ernst Haeckel, 'Art Forms in Nature' (Plate 80 - Pentremites), offset lithograph, 1899. Signed and titled in typeset, upper left. Titled 'Tafel 80 — Pentremites', upper right and 'Blastoidea. — Knospensterne', bottom center. Lithographic plate rendered and printed by master lithographer Adolf Giltsch, from the original 1899 publication, the full sheet, in excellent condition. Archivally sleeved, unmatted. Image size 11 x 7 7/8 inches; sheet size 14 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches. ABOUT THE IMAGE Pentremites, an extinct genus of stemmed, immobile echinoderms (forms related to the starfish), are abundant as marine fossils...

Ernst Haeckel, 'Art Forms in Nature' (Plate 79 - Basiliscus), offset lithograph, 1899. Signed and titled in typeset, upper left. Titled 'Tafel 79 — Basi...

Ernst Haeckel, 'Art Forms in Nature' (Plate 49 - Heliactis), offset lithograph, 1899. Signed and titled in typeset, upper left. Titled 'Tafel 49 — Helia...

William Robinson Leigh, 'Foul Rope (Left)', etching, c. 1920, edition unknown but small. Signed in pencil. Signed in the plate, lower left. A superb, richly-inked impression, in dark brown ink, on buff wove Umbria paper, the full sheet with margins (1 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches); slight toning at the sheet edges, otherwise in excellent condition. Very scarce. Image size 14 7/8 x 11 15/16 inches (378 x 303 mm); sheet size 20 3/8 x 15 3/8 inches (518 x 391 mm). Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed. ABOUT THE ARTIST Born near Falling Waters, West Virginia on a plantation a year after the Civil War, and raised in Baltimore, William Robinson Leigh (1866 - 1955) became one of the foremost painters of the American West. His career spanning some seventy-five years, Leigh created some of the most iconic depictions of the western landscape, admirers referring to him as ‘The Sagebrush Rembrandt’. The son of impoverished Southern aristocrats, Leigh took his first art training at age 14 from Hugh Newell at the Maryland Institute where he was regarded as the best student in his class. From 1883 to 1895, he studied in Europe, mainly at the Royal Academy in Munich with Ludwig Loefftz. From 1891 to 1896, he painted six cycloramas or murals in the round, a giant German panorama. In 1896, Leigh began working as a magazine illustrator in New York City for Scribner's and Collier's Weekly Magazine, and he also painted portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes. Leigh's trips to the Southwest began in 1906 when he made an agreement with William Simpson, Santa Fe Railway advertising manager, to paint the Grand Canyon in exchange for free transportation West. In 1907, he completed his Grand Canyon painting, which led to more commissions and an extensive painting trip through Arizona and New Mexico. These travels inspired him to paint western subjects for the next 50 years, his primary interest being the Hopi and Navajo Indians. In 1910, he traveled to Wyoming, where he painted in Yellowstone Park and created sketches, many of which he later converted into large canvases such as ‘Lower Falls of the Yellowstone’ (1915) and ‘Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone’ (1911). In 1926 he traveled to Africa at the invitation of Carl Akeley for the American Museum of Natural History, and from this experience wrote and illustrated 'Frontiers of Enchantment: An Artist's Adventures in Africa'. In 1933, he wrote and illustrated 'The Western Pony'. His adventures were chronicled in a number of popular magazines including Life, the Saturday Evening Post, and Colliers. For many years, his work was handled exclusively in New York by Grand Central Art Galleries at the Biltmore Hotel. In 1953 Leigh was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, becoming a full Academician in 1955. In March 1999, the Historical Center of Cody, Wyoming, held an exhibition of his field sketches and finished works depicting his experiences near Cody in the early part of the century. These years, between 1910 and 1921, when he often painted in the Carter Mountain vicinity, were considered pivotal to his artistic development and his devotion to the western landscape. Leigh's work is held in many museum collections of American western art...

This print by Nicole Eisenman depicts one of her signature motifs: leisure time in bars and saloons, as also depicted in some of her paintings like "Br...

A masked performer gestures his hands, wearing bright green garb, a long hat, and jaunty black shoes with white socks. Hockney paints in loose strokes of color: garnet, sapphire, bright yellow, and emerald green. This vintage David Hockney...

This vintage exhibition poster reproduces The Boy Hidden in an Egg by David Hockney from his Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, 1969. A shirtless young man curls up inside a dark grey speckled egg, as a small bird looks on. The poster was produced in 1981 to commemorate Hockney’s 1970 exhibition at Galerie Der Spiegel...

Kitaj’s drawing is of a fisherman in profile, wearing a sou’wester: a collapsible rain hat. The image is a wry portrait, ostensibly of Albert Blake Dick, ...

Vintage David Hockney poster for the XIV 1984 Olympic Games in Sarajevo published as part of the official 1984 Olympic Fine Art Posters Series. The Olympic Committee commissioned 15 ...

Shading in bright turquoise above a Southwestern style thunderbird Kilim rug adorns this original exhibition poster for David Hockney's 1969 show at Andre Emmerich, New York. This po...