American Modern Art

This artwork titled "Left Bank Cafe, Paris" 1987 is an original color serigraph by noted American artist LeRoy Neiman, 1921-2012. It is hand signed and numbered H.C 166/175 in pencil by the artist. The image size is 26 x 38 inches, sheet size is 32.25 x 44 inches. With the blind stamp of the printer Styria Studio at the lower left corner margin. It is in excellent condition, two small pieces of hanging tape remain on the back. About the artist: Mr. Neiman's kinetic, quickly executed paintings and drawings, many of them published in Playboy, offered his fans gaudily colored visual reports on heavyweight boxing matches, Super Bowl games and Olympic contests, as well as social panoramas like the horse races at Deauville, France, and the Cannes Film Festival. Quite consciously, he cast himself in the mold of French Impressionists like Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir and Degas, chroniclers of public life who found rich social material at racetracks, dance halls and cafes. Mr. Neiman often painted or sketched on live television. With the camera recording his progress at the sketchpad or easel, he interpreted the drama of Olympic Games and Super Bowls for an audience of millions. When Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky faced off in Reykjavik, Iceland, to decide the world chess championship, Mr. Neiman was there, sketching. He was on hand to capture Federico Fellini directing "8 ½" and the Kirov Ballet performing in the Soviet Union. In popularity, Mr. Neiman rivaled American favorites like Norman Rockwell, Grandma Moses and Andrew Wyeth. A prolific one-man industry, he generated hundreds of paintings, drawings, watercolors, limited-edition serigraph prints and coffee-table books yearly, earning gross annual revenue in the tens of millions of dollars. Although he exhibited constantly and his work was included in the collections of dozens of museums around the world, critical respect eluded him. Mainstream art critics either ignored him completely or, if forced to consider his work, dismissed it with contempt as garish and superficial — magazine illustration with pretensions. Mr. Neiman professed not to care. Maybe the critics are right," he told American Artist magazine in 1995. "But what am I supposed to do about it — stop painting, change my work completely? I go back into the studio, and there I am at the easel again. I enjoy what I'm doing and feel good working. Other thoughts are just crowded out." His image suggested an artist well beyond the reach of criticism. A dandy and bon vivant, he cut an arresting figure with his luxuriant ear-to-ear mustache, white suits, flashy hats and Cuban cigars. "He quite intentionally invented himself as a flamboyant artist not unlike Salvador Dalí, in much the same way that I became Mr. Playboy in the late '50s," Hugh Hefner told Cigar Aficionado magazine in 1995. LeRoy Runquist was born on June 8, 1921, in St. Paul. His father, a railroad worker, deserted the family when LeRoy was quite young, and the boy took the surname of his stepfather. He showed a flair for art at an early age. While attending a local Roman Catholic school, he impressed schoolmates by drawing ink tattoos on their arms during recess. As a teenager, he earned money doing illustrations for local grocery stores. "I'd sketch a turkey, a cow, a fish, with the prices," he told Cigar Aficionado. "And then I had the good sense to draw the guy who owned the store. This gave me tremendous power as a kid." After being drafted into the Army in 1942, he served as a cook in the European theater but in his spare time painted risqué murals on the walls of kitchens and mess halls. The Army's Special Services Division, recognizing his talent, put him to work painting stage sets for Red Cross shows when he was stationed in Germany after the war. On leaving the military, he studied briefly at the St. Paul School of Art (now the Minnesota Museum of American Art) before enrolling in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where, after four years of study, he taught figure drawing and fashion illustration throughout the 1950s. When the janitor of the apartment building next door to his threw out half-empty cans of enamel house paint, Mr. Neiman found his métier. Experimenting with the new medium, he embraced a rapid style of applying paint to canvas imposed by the free-flowing quality of the house paint. While doing freelance fashion illustration for the Carson Pirie Scott department store in Chicago in the early 1950s, he became friendly with Mr. Hefner, a copywriter there who was on the verge of publishing the first issue of a men's magazine. In 1954, after five issues of Playboy had appeared, Mr. Neiman ran into Mr. Hefner and invited him to his apartment to see his paintings of boxers, strip clubs and restaurants. Mr. Hefner, impressed, showed the work to Playboy's art director, Art Paul, who commissioned an illustration for "Black Country," a story by Charles Beaumont about a jazz musician. Thus began a relationship that endured for more than half a century and established Mr. Neiman's reputation. In 1955, when Mr. Hefner decided that the party-jokes page needed visual interest, Mr. Neiman came up with the Femlin, a curvaceous brunette who cavorted across the page in thigh-high stockings, high-heeled shoes, opera gloves and nothing else. She appeared in every issue of the magazine thereafter. Three years later, Mr. Neiman devised a running feature, "Man at His Leisure." For the next 15 years, he went on assignment to glamour spots around the world, sending back visual reports on subjects as varied as the races at Royal Ascot, the dining room of the Tour d'Argent in Paris, the nude beaches of the Dalmatian coast, the running of the bulls at Pamplona and Carnaby Street in swinging London. He later produced more than 100 paintings and 2 murals for 18 of the Playboy clubs that opened around the world. "Playboy made the good life a reality for me and made it the subject matter of my paintings — not affluence and luxury as such, but joie de vivre itself," Mr. Neiman told V.I.P. magazine in 1962. Working in the same copywriting department at Carson Pirie Scott as Mr. Hefner was Janet Byrne, a student at the Art Institute. She and Mr. Neiman married in 1957. She survives him. A prolific artist, he generated dozens of paintings each year that routinely commanded five-figure prices. When Christie's auctioned off the Playboy archives in 2003, his 1969 painting Man at His Leisure: Le Mans sold for $107,550. Sales of the signed, limited-edition print versions of his paintings, published in editions of 250 to 500, became a lucrative business in itself after Knoedler Publishing, a wholesale operation, was created in 1975 to publish and distribute his serigraphs, etchings, books and posters. Mr. Neiman's most famous images came from the world of sports. His long association with the Olympics began with the Winter Games in Squaw Valley in 1960, and he went on to cover the games, on live television, in Munich in 1972, Montreal in 1976, Lake Placid in 1980, and Sarajevo and Los Angeles in 1984, using watercolor, ink or felt-tip marker to produce images with the dispatch of a courtroom sketch artist. At the 1978 and 1979 Super Bowls, he used a computerized electronic pen to portray the action for CBS. Although he was best known for scenes filled with people and incident, he also painted many portraits. Athletes predominated, with Muhammad Ali and Joe Namath among his more famous subjects, but he also painted Leonard Bernstein, the ballet dancer Suzanne Farrell...

"Second Mesa (Hopi Pueblo, Arizona)" is a stunning mixed media artwork by Bert Van Bork (1928-2014), created using watercolor, ink, and charcoal on paper...

This original oil painting, titled Autumn Harvest by Edward Marecak (1919-1993), was created in 1987. It features a stunning autumnal landscape, with seven women actively engaged in ...

"Times Square" Mid 20th Century 1937 Modernism Broadway Drawing NYC Cityscape Philip Goodwin (20th Century) "Times Square," 23 ½ x 17 ¼ inches. Gouache...

Original EXPO ’74 World’s Fair Spokane, USA calendar. Archival linen backed and in excellent condition, ready to frame. As a World’s Fair calendar, you would expect this item to be r...

This rare 1933 lithograph by renowned modernist artist Arnold Rönnebeck captures a dramatic black-and-white winter scene of a Colorado mountain mine, blanketed in snow. The bold cont...

Milwaukee Handicraft Project, Applied Design Blockprinted Textiles Volume VI Supplement, c. 1935 - 1942, twelve block printed designs on linen, images are various sizes, each is mounted in its original folder which measures 24 x 19 inches, all bear the Milwaukee Handicraft Project label, various designers, including Barbara Warren (1915 - 2005) ("Checkered Flower" and perhaps others), includes original portfolio binder The Milwaukee Handicraft Project (MHP) was the most prolific and successful of the decorative arts projects of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It served as a model for many other similar projects across the United States and attracted the attention of thought leaders as diverse as Frank Lloyd Wright and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Designed with the dual goals of providing work for underprivileged women and the creation of well-designed household objects, the MHP began in 1935 under the direction of Elsa Ulbricht...

Sailboat and Gull Ferol K. Sibley Warthen (American, 1890-1986) Color Woodblock Print Edition 31/31 7 x 7 inches 14 x 14 inches with frame Signed Lower Right Titled and Numbered Lower Left Born 1890, Died 1986...

Dink Siegel (American, 1910-2003) That's a Wrap, Playboy cartoon, August 1973 Mixed media on board 11.25 x 8.5 in. Signed lower right

WPA Post Office Mural Study American Scene Regionalism Social Realism Louise Emerson Ronnebeck (1901 - 1980) Oil Riggers, Mural Study Image: 6 1/2 x 37 inches Watercolor and egg tem...

Circus Elephants American Modernism WPA Regionalism Mid-Century Modern Oil. Signed lower left. Not much is known about Marco de Marco, but just look at...

This is a pop art photo print of the original Stormtrooper toy from Kenner. "The Toys" by LA based Pop Artists DESTRO. This is the first release in the much anticipated series "The ...

Original Laguna Beach Tourist Map - Vintage 1998 Fun Map of Southern California Beach Town Linen backed in excellent condition, ready to frame. The special linen backing will he...

Louisa Lizbeth Chase was born in 1951 to Benjamin and Wilda Stengel Chase in Panama City, Panama, where her father, a West Point graduate, was stationed. The family moved to Pennsylv...

Landscape, Classic Red Porsche Carrera, Palm Tree, Mid Century Modern, Limited Series. Archival Inkjet Print on Cotton Paper. Mid Century Modern Architecture Design. Tom Blachford,...

Weegee (1899-1968) was equally fascinated and inspired by cinema and all of its tangents, from Hollywood movie stars to ordinary civilians going to the movies. While Weegee is typically associated with crime/disaster images, the broad theme of "entertainment" is a major component of his oeuvre. An interesting and provocative sub-genre of his cinema-related work are his images of couples (often heavy-petting) in movie theatres. Recent scholarship has established that many of Weegee's supposed clandestine images were actually staged or arranged with friends or co-operative strangers. Nevertheless, Weegee created these photographs in the dark with an array of clever techniques including infrared film, filtered flashbulb and triangular prism lens. Employed in shots such as this one, the prism lens would allow the artist to “see around corners,” useful at times when his subjects were in compromising locations. These images of kissing couples, Weegee wrote in 1959, were “his best seller, year in and year out.” "Sailor and GIrl at the Movies...

A Unique, 1960s Mid-Century Modern, European City View Watercolor by Noted Chicago Artist, Rudolph T. Pen. Artwork is formatted in a trapezoid shape, an innovative compositional dev...

Donald Stacy "Group Meeting" c.1950s Gouache paint on paper 24" x 18'" unframed Unsigned Came from artist's estate Donald Stacy (1925-2011) New Jersey Studied: Newark School of Fin...

A Large, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Ink Drawing of Quebec City by Rudolph Pen. Artwork is formatted in a trapezoid shape, an innovative composition device for which the artist's work ...

Melanie Sherman Bowl with Vintage Chair Earthenware, 24K German Gold Luster, Glaze, Underglaze, China Paints, Vintage Transfers, Multiple Cone 6 Firings, Hand-built 2024 Size: 1.75 ...

Serene depiction of a barn at the end of a driveway by Claude Wolf (American, 19th/20th C). Several trees cast strong blue-tinted shadows, creating lovely patterns on the ground and ...

A Very Finely Drawn 1930s Modern Portrait Figure Study of a Young Male Model by Notable Chicago Modern Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An early charcoal drawing by Haydon sh...

A Fine 1930s, Art Deco Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing of a Standing Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed ea...

A Fine 1930s Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing, Seated Male Nude Model (Back) by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 1930s...

A Fine 1930s Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing, Standing Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 1930s cha...

A Fine 1930s Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing, Seated Male Nude Model (Back) by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 1930s...

Dynamic jungle drummer scene by unknown NYC American artist. Oil on canvas measuring 20 x 26 inches. Signed "T 42" in ink on verso. Anco stretchers and Grumbacher NYC store stamp con...

A Fine 1930s, Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing of a Seated Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 1930s c...

A Fine 1930s, Art Deco Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing of a Seated Male Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 193...

A Fine 1930s Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing, Seated Male Nude Model (Back) by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 1930s...

Boogie Woogie II, 1993 Peter Ambrose (American, b. 1953) Charcoal on Paper Signed and Dated Lower Right Titled Lower Left 41 x 29 inches 46.25 x 34.25 inches with frame BORN 1953 New York, NY EDUCATION 1977 MFA, The School of Art Institute of Chicago 1975 BFA, Carnegie Mellon University 1974 Yale University, Summer School of Art and Music TEACHING EXPERIENCE 1983 Visiting Artist, 2-D, 3-D Design and Graduate Advisor, Carnegie Mellon University 1995-96 Independent Study in Exhibition installation, art handling, restoration, Saint Louis University 1998 Adjunct faculty, Sculpture, Saint Louis University SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 1999 Elliott Smith...

A Fine 1930s, Art Deco Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing of a Standing Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed ea...

A Fine 1930s Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing, Standing Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 1930s char...

A Fine 1930s Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing, Seated Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 1930s charco...

A Fine 1930s, Art Deco Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing of a Standing Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed ea...

A Fine 1930s Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing, Seated Male Nude Model (Back) by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 1930s...

Original multicolor linocut by the American artist, Lucina Smith Wakefield. Signed by the artist lower left margin. Circa 1930. Condition is very good, no issues. The linocut is hou...

Robert Alexander Darrah “R.A.D.” Miller (1905 - 1966) Robert Alexander Darrah Miller, called “RAD” by his friends, was born in Philadelphia. He enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1923 to 1927 under the tutelage of Daniel Garber. In 1928, Miller moved to Bucks County where he would meet and marry Celia Belden Marshall, daughter of Dr. George M. Marshall, who at that time owned the Phillips Mill property. Nearly a year later, in 1929, a committee headed by artist, William Lathrop, negotiated to purchase the Mill property from Dr. Marshall for the purpose of holding art exhibitions. Thus, the Phillips Mill Art Association was formed. RAD Miller was a regular exhibitor at the Phillips Mill with the traditional New Hope Impressionists. Many of the original founders of the New Hope Art Colony, set in their ways, frowned upon the concept of modernist painting. A decision was made by the Association to not include the growing group of modernist painters in the area to exhibit with them at Phillips Mill. Although clearly not a traditional impressionist, Miller was not being excluded with the others, largely because his father-in-law formerly owned the mill and was one of the Association’s board of directors. RAD was sympathetic to his fellow modernists. In 1933, he was one of the original members of the Independents, a group formed for modernist artists who chose to embark on a more non-traditional creative path. They would exhibit in tandem with the Impressionists but at different locations. Around the time of his arrival to New Hope in 1928, Miller struck up a friendship with Thomas Hart Benton, and in 1932 he worked under Benton on a mural project. RAD’s paintings...

With the printed signature of Picassp and date, as issued Based on an original composition of 1920, printed in 1946 Picture Dimensions: 21 x 31 cm. Sheet Dimensions: 31 x 41 cm Prin...

This artwork "Untitled #1" c.1970 is a colors pastel and crayon on thick paper by American artist Jerry Opper, 1924-2014. It is hand signed in pencil at the lower right corner by the artist. The image size is 26.5 x 20.5 inches, sheet size is 28.5 x 22.5 inches. It is in excellent condition, there are pastel marks on the margin all around the artwork and also on the back, see picture #1. About the artist: Jerry Opper was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 5, 1924. He moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1933. After graduating from Hollywood High School, he worked in movie studios and attended art classes at Chouinard Art Institute. In May 1942, Opper was drafted into the army and was then able to study at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center while his outfit was stationed in Colorado. Later he was sent to Guam and was discharged in December 1945. Opper returned to Chouinard and his work in movie studios until 1947, when he moved to San Francisco. He enrolled as a full-time student at the California School of Fine Arts (now SFAI) and received his diploma in June of 1950. In 1948, Opper met his wife Gertrud Ruth Friedmann, daughter of artist Gustav Friedmann, whose works are also in the Lost Art Salon collection. It was love at first sight and a few weeks after their first encounter at the Black Cat in San Francisco's North Beach, they got married and enjoyed a passionate, life-long romance. Shortly after he finished school, Opper worked briefly as a decorator’s assistant and then started his career as a commercial artist, working for several firms such as Fibreboard, Beatrix Food and Precision. Working full-time and dedicating himself to having a rich family life occupied most of Opper's time, but he continued to be creative. He was above all a family man with the pride of having raised two exceptional daughters, Erika and Jody. Year after year, Opper would painstakingly craft their Halloween costumes...

Title: French Gouache Portrait Study of Navajo Hopi and Apache Figures by Emile GALLOIS (1882-1965, French) Signed: Yes Medium: Original gouache painting on thick unframed paper, Siz...

Oil on canvas

Woman Outside Restaurant and Poodle Outside Hairdresser, where "coiffeur" is French for hairdresser. 16 x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed La...

Artist: Christo Title: The Umbrellas, Joint Project for Japan and the U.S.A. Medium: Offset lithograph in colors on wove paper Date: 1987 Edition: Unnumbered Sheet Size: 36 3/4" x 27...

Vibrant and playful landscape by California artist Richard "Don" Klopfer (1920-2009). Signed and dated "R. Klopfer 3.86" on verso. No frame. Board size: 13"H x 19"W Richard "Don" Kl...

Oil and charcoal on canvas, 1984. 1220x790 mm; 48x31 inches. Signed and dated in charcoal, upper right recto. Provenance: Babcock Galleries, New York, with the label; estate of the ...

R2DR - STAR WARS Exhibition Poster from series "The Toys" A retrospective on 80's and 90's pop culture by pop artists "Destro" Original offset lithograph poster printed on acid-free...

House Beautiful Cover Proposal. American Scene Social Realism Industrial WPA Antonio Petruccelli (1907 – 1994) Mixing Mortar 12 1/2 X 14 3/4 inche...

Dramatic imagery from FILM NOIR series of black and white monotypes, blending surrealistic mindscapes with stark realism About Tom Bennett: With quick brushstrokes, Tom Bennett crea...

This stunning mixed-media painting by German-American artist Bert Van Bork (1928–2014), titled Walpi #9 (Hopi Village on First Mesa, Arizona), is a vibra...

This striking 1945 abstract landscape watercolor by pioneering modernist artist Eve (Van Ek) Drewelowe, titled "The Champagne Cascades, Crescendos, Crashes," is a bold interpretation...

Modern interior/figurative painting of red-haired woman "Hayley" seated in sunroom by American painter, Patricia Gren Hayes (b. 1932), Circa 1975. Signed on verso, "Hayley" written on edge Provenance: Purchased as part of larger collection of artist's work Unframed. Canvas size: 30"H x 440"W. Patricia Gren Hayes (American, b. 1932) is a Bay Area Figurative & Feminist Art Movement artist who studied at Winnipeg Public Art School in 1950. She received early recognition in Museum and Gallery competitions and exhibitions and was awarded a Special Education in Art recognition by the Winnipeg Museum of Fine Art, and was awarded a scholarship to the Banff College of Fine Art. Further studies were at The University of Manitoba. She was a Member of Winnipeg Free Press Sketch Club and was a Cartoonist and paste-up for a French-English bi-weekly, in Eastern Canada; She studied outdoor impressionism in New York in 1960; in 1962, attended The California College of Arts and Crafts, and in 1976 B.A., U.C. Berkeley where she studied under Elmer Bischoff, David Simpson, Joan Brown, Felix Ruvolo, Yolanda Lopez and Vincent Perez. She started a freelance commercial art business in 1963; copyrighted a National Cartoon, 1976, and served as Exhibition Director for San Francisco Woman Artists Gallery and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1976-1978. She was a workshop instructor at the San Francisco Woman Artists Gallery, 1977-1985; and was Manager/Owner Stanton Art Gallery, Alameda, CA, 1976-1982. Solo Exhibitions: Berkeley Marina, 1974; Oakland Center for The Visual Arts, "Images of Women", 1979 Group Exhibitions: Oakland's Dept of Education, 1963, Studio One; Alameda County Fair, 1975, 1976, 1978; San Francisco Art Festival, 1969, 1970, 1976, 1977, 1978; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1976, 1977, 1978; San Francisco Women Artists Gallery Exhibition, award winner - 1970, 1977, 1978; Hayward Bay Fair Art Festival, award winner - 1971; Capricorn Assunder Gallery, 1973; Oakland Art Festival, 1973, 1974; Alameda Art Association, 1978; El Cerrito...

Dennis Hopper, Out of the Sixties 1986 exhibit poster published Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York 1986 Image: Dennis Hopper's Biker Couple' (1961) Off-set lithograph. 17 x 24 inche...

Crying Clown Portrait in Oil on Canvas Portrait of a sad clown by San Francisco artist John Peers (American, 1922-2009). This portrait is closely fra...

Original The Owl And The Pussycat, by Edward Lear with all text in Greek. Linen backed and in very good condition. One tiny printing flaw under the foot of the cat. Translation:...

Oil on canvas, natural phenomenon, people watching erupting volcano

This stunning original 1942 oil painting, titled "Victor, Colorado", is by acclaimed American artist Martyl Suzanne Schweig (1918–2013). A vibrant and historically rich landscape, this work captures the abandoned ghost town of Victor, Colorado, set against the majestic backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. Rendered in rich hues of green, gold, and earthy brown, Schweig brings to life the rugged beauty and quiet mystery of Colorado’s once-booming mining towns. The painting was completed during a plein-air painting trip with noted artist Adolph Dehn...

The Last Mediterranean Hummingbird Size: 51x41 framed under glass 64.5x54.5 x1 Joseph Norman. The artist created this stunning work of art in Spain in the late 80s; it is from a S...

Paul Butler, patriarch of one of America's foremost polo families, with his son, daughter, grandchildren and son-in-law, Palm Beach, April 1981. Left to right: Adam Butler, Reutie Bu...

The Philadelphia modernist Arthur B. Carles was a brilliant colorist and an extraordinarily innovative painter. Though Carles trained initially at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fin...