Elizabeth Chase

Untitled Portrait Head (perhaps Arnold Geissbuhler, the artist’s husband)

c. 1920s

This sculpture is part of our exhibition Charles Goeller: A Wistful Loneliness. Carved and painted wood and gesso, 23 x 15 3/4 x 3 inches, Signed verso "Carved by Charles L. Goeller...

This sculpture is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s. Two Figures, 1949, ebony wood, 24 x 7 x 5 inches, unsigned, but comes from Thomas' daughters and includes a copy of a 1949 photo of this work listing the artist's name, title of work and date Robert Chester Thomas was a California sculptor. A native of Wichita, Kansas, Thomas moved with his family to Southern California as a child. During World War II, he joined the army and served for a time in the European theater. When he returned to California, he studied sculpture with David Green in Pasadena in 1946 and 1947, before taking advantage of the GI Bill in 1948 to study with Ossip Zadkine in Paris. He first exhibited at Galerie St. Placide as part of an exhibition of American artists working in late 1940s Paris...

This sculpture is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Music (attributed), brass and wire construction, c. 1936, 28 x 14 x 5 inches; perhaps exhibited at Hollywood Riviera Gallery, 1936 (third prize); provenance includes Estate of Jon Spencer Helfen (Los Angeles, CA About the Sculpture In 1935, Philip Paval bought a box of metal in a “blind auction.” Paval, a painter, sculptor, and jeweler, had hoped the box contained silver. To his dismay, it was brass. Seeing an opportunity, Paval started to make sculptures from the brass sheets. His subjects included Cinema, Hollywood, Radio, Dance, Aviation and Music. The works were well-received with the Hollywood crowd and critically acclaimed. Actor and comedian, Ben Bard, purchased four of them for his theater, and novelist and screenwriter, Vicki Baum ordered four more for her drawing room. Movie director King Vidor also purchased them. Los Angeles Times art critic, Arthur Millier, described Paval’s “contraptions” as “ingenious, decorative, different.” Paval exhibited these works for several years in the late 1930s, including at the American Artists’ Congress Gallery in Los Angeles in an exhibition called Formalism and Abstraction in 1938 and at a solo show at Stendahl Galleries in 1939. The appeal of these works must have been irresistible, as a 1936 Los Angeles Times article noted, “Two feet of brass art has been stolen from the Hollywood Riviera Galleries. The work is an abstraction. It portrays the spirit of music and rested on the grand piano in the main hall. The work of Philip Paval, it won third prize in the current gallery exhibition at the gallery.” One can only wonder whether this is the “contraption” which was pilfered from the gallery nearly one hundred years ago. Given the description of the work, its subject matter and size, it seems likely. About the Artist Philip Paval was a sculptor, painter, and jeweler. Born in Denmark, Paval was apprenticed to a silversmith and studied art in Denmark. He immigrated to the US in 1919 and first worked as a merchant seaman in New York. The following year, Paval settled in Los Angeles where he later opened his own jewelry shop featuring works he designed and produced. Paval became a favorite in the entertainment world, making a good living selling silver...

Portrait (Untitled), c. mid 1930s, hammered copper, 11 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches Beryl McCarthy Wynnyk was a California-based painter, sculptor, and craftsperson. She studied at the Califo...

The Bride by Janet Scudder (1869-1940) Bronze with dark brown patina signed "Janet Scudder" on the base cast by Alexis Rudier, fondeur Paris (foundry mark) France early 20th century height 28 cm Biography : Janet Scudder (1869-1940) was an American sculptor. Born Netta Deweze Frazee, but called Janet, her childhood was difficult. Her mother died at age 38 in 1874. Despite limited financial means, her father sent her to study drawing at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. She also studied sculpture with Louis Rebisso. She taught in 1888 women wood...

Mark Kostabi - Divine Embrace - Bronze sculpture Divine Embrace is a unique bronze sculpture by renowned artist Mark Kostabi, featuring two faceless figures in an intimate embrace...

Max Kalish (American, 1891-1945) Nude Walking, 1930 Bronze Signed and dated on base 17 x 9 x 4 inches Born in Poland March 1, 1891, figurative sculptor Max Kalish came to the United States in 1894, his family settling in Ohio. A talented youth, Kalish enrolled at the Cleveland Institute of Art as a fifteen-year-old, receiving a first-place award for modeling the figure during studies with Herman Matzen. Kalish went to New York City following graduation, studying with Isidore Konti and Herbert Adams...

Edris Eckhardt (American, 1905-1998) Vernal Equinox, c. 1975 Bronze Signed on base 16.5 x 4 x 3 inches Born in Cleveland, Ohio January 28, 1905, Edris was given the name Edythe Alin...