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Style: American Modern
Period: 1920s
GIRL DRESSING
Located in Portland, ME
Kuniyoshi, Yasuo. GIRL DRESSING. Davis L-26. Lithograph, 1928. Edition of 30, Printed by Desjobert in Paris on cream colored paper chine-colle to a white support. Signed, dated, and ...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Lithograph
Sea Gull
Located in Santa Monica, CA
HENRIETTA SHORE (1880 -1963)
SEA GULL c 1928
Lithograph, signed and titled in pencil and with the pencil cypher of printer Lynton Kistler (K). Image 7 x 6 1/8 full margins, sheet 12...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Lithograph
Woman Seated A Bronze Sculpture of a Woman by Charles Rumsey
Located in Brookville, NY
The bronze sculpture of a woman by Charles Rumsey is undated, but was created at a point in his career where he began to transition from realism to more modern, looser depictions of ...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Bronze
A Woodcut on Paper, Self-Portrait of Emil Armin
By Emil Armin
Located in Chicago, IL
A woodcut on paper of a self-portrait of artist Emil Armin.
Emil Armin was born in Radautz, Austria in 1883. By the age of 10, Armin was orphaned and was raised by his older siblings. He supported himself by working in restaurants and drew in his spare time. In 1905, at the age of 21, Armin immigrated to Chicago. He began studying at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1907, but financial difficulties forced him to start and stop a number of times, finally graduating in 1920. He studied with George Bellows and Randall Davey. Armin was an integral part of Chicago’s 57th Street Art Colony and exhibited in both the more avant-garde Chicago No-Jury Society Shows, as well as the more formal and conventional Chicago Society of Artists Exhibitions, the Chicago Renaissance Society and Art Institute of Chicago (1922-1949) exhibitions. He taught at Hull House...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Paper, Woodcut
Ink on Paper Drawing of a Cedar Tree and a Northern Lake by Artist Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1926 ink on paper drawing of a Cedar tree and northern lake by artist Harold Haydon.
Harold Emerson Haydon was born in Fort William, Ontario, Canada in 1909. Haydon came to Ch...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Paper, Ink
'Mending Nets' — 1930s Rockport, Massachusetts
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Christian Dull, 'Mending Nets', aquatint, c. 1930, edition 50. Signed and numbered '50/-' in pencil. A fine impression, on cream laid paper, the full sheet with margins (1/2 to 1 1/2...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Aquatint
Woman at Basin, Picasso Style Portrait of a Female Nude, American Modernist
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Woman by Basin" by Philadelphia born modernist and surrealist painter Leon Kelly, is a framed and matted portrait of a female nude.
The 22.5" x 17.75" mixed media on artist board i...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Mixed Media
Roof Top, Oil Painting by Ben Benn
By Ben Benn
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Ben Benn, Polish/American (1884 - 1983)
Title: Roof Top
Year: circa 1920
Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed l.r.
Size: 24 x 18 in. (60.96 x 45.72 cm)
Frame Size: 33.5 x 27.5 inche...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Oil
'The Gateway to the New World' — 1920s New York City
By Otto Kuhler
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Otto Kuhler, 'The Gateway to the New World', etching (artist's proof), edition 16, 1926, Kennedy 25. Signed in pencil and annotated 'Japan Silk Paper - Trial Proof - Ltd. Ed. Del. et...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Etching
Cafe Society: The Smoker, male portait Closerie des Lilas, Lost Generation Paris
By John Wentworth Russell
Located in Norwich, GB
A strong portrait, and a piece of history. It was confidently sketched in 1923, during the heyday of the "Lost Generation" in Paris, at the Closerie des Lilas - Ernest Hemingway's favourite haunt and home-from-home in the City. This historical café is where Hemingway first read The Great Gatsby with his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald and where he wrote most of The Sun Also Rises...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Paper, Graphite
'The Welder' — 1920s American Expressionism
By Otto Kuhler
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Otto Kuhler, 'The Welder', etching, c. 1926, edition unknown but small, Kennedy 9. Signed in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, in dark brown ink, with selectively wiped overal...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Etching
FRUIT FOR SALE
Located in Santa Monica, CA
FRANCES H. GEARHART and Sisters (THE GEARHARTS)
FRUIT FOR SALE c.1928
Color block print. Unsigned. This is an original block print from “Let’s Play”, an intended but unpublished children’s book done in collaboration with her sisters Edna and May in 1928. Image 8 x 7 inches. On a tissue thin laid paper. Irregular sheet 9 3/8 x 8 1/2. The entire series consisted of over 20 children's images.
There were very few printed. The editions of the various children varied but likely no more than 50. This impression very well printed with good colors, Very good condition. The margins are likely as issued with the irregular edges. The margins and paper used for this series varies from one print to the next. A bit of tape remnants at top center sheet edge. A very nice example of this print.
It is not unusual for impressions of this series to be unsigned, although many are signed "The Gearharts"
The Provenance of this example is fascinating. It was acquired from a gentleman who knew the Gearharts as a child in the early 50's in Pasadena. It was part of a collection given to him by Frances. In his adult years he was in the military and took the collection with him as he traveled around Europe,
After 81 years, based on the original prints, this book was published by
the “California Book...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Woodcut, Linocut
Staten Island
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Staten Island
Watercolor on paper, c. 1928
Signed with the Estate stamp lower left
Sheet size: 19 1/8 x 23 7/8 inches
Titled on verso
Part of small series of watercolors done of the ...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor
Vintage Watercolor “Steel Rocks” Palm Springs, California; Roy H. Collins 1929
Located in Baltimore, MD
Roy Huse Collins was a Midwestern artist associated with Chicago and Minnesota. Born in Saint Paul in 1884, he exhibited often at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) during the 1920’s and 30’s. He also exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1925 and 1931. Collins was a painter and illustrator until he died in 1949.
This watercolor includes (on the back) the original exhibition label from the AIC in 1929. The work is titled “Steel Rocks...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor
"Homo" Verne
By Geoffrey Archbold
Located in Fairlawn, OH
"Homo"Verne, (Still Life with wine bottle, wine glass, glass of beer and dice)
Pochoir printed on black textured colored paper, c. 1930
Signed and numbered in white pencil by the art...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Screen
Boothbay Harbor, Maine Dock Seascape, Early 20th Century, Cleveland School
Located in Beachwood, OH
George Gustav Adomeit (American, 1879-1967)
Boothbay Harbor, 1924
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right
15 x 17 inches
20.25 x 22.25 inches, framed
A major painter of American scene subj...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Oil
Plaster Works, Los Angeles, 1925
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Plaster Works, Los Angeles, 1925
Toned silver print
Negative by Edward Weston
Print by Cole Weston (1919-2003)
From: Edward Weston Portfolio, 1971
Published by Witkin-Berley Ltd., Ne...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Lower East Side Tenements Yiddish Barber Shop 1920's Aquatint Etching Judaica
By Max Pollak
Located in Surfside, FL
Hand signed, numbered and titled. It depicts the old lower east side of New York city with its tenements and different language signes, barber shop poles...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Etching, Aquatint
Fisherman's Island, Boothbay, Maine, early 20th century landscape watercolor
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964)
Fisherman's Island, Boothbay, Maine, c. 1925
Watercolor on paper
Signed lower left
15 x 20 inches
20.75 x 25.75 inches, framed
Frank Nelso...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor
Schooner, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, Early 20th Century Seascape Watercolor
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964)
Schooner, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, c. 1924
Gouache and watercolor on paper
Signed lower right
14 x 20 inches
19.5 x 25.5 inches, as framed
F...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Gouache, Watercolor
Original "Ring It Again, Third Liberty Loan vintage WW1 poster
Located in Spokane, WA
Original poster: Ring it Again Third Liberty Loan. Buy U. S. Gov't Bonds. World War 1 lithograph poster over 100 years old. It is mounted on acid-free archival linen. It looks l...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Lithograph
Hooves
Located in Storrs, CT
Hooves. 1927. Woodcut. 7 1/2 x 12 (sheet 11 7/8 x 15 1/8). Printed on heavy Japanese mulberry paper. Signed, dated, and titled in pencil. An example of this work is in the collectio...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Woodcut
Spanish Woman with Guitar
By Jan Matulka
Located in New York, NY
Jan Matulka (1890-1972), Spanish Woman with Guitar, lithograph, 1925, an unsigned proof impression. Reference: Flint 13, only a few impressions known...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Lithograph
'Coenties Slip' — 1920s Lower Manhattan, Financial District
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Luigi Kasimir, 'Coenties Slip', color etching with aquatint, 1927, edition 100. Signed in pencil. Dated in the plate, lower right. Annotated 'NEW YORK HANOVER SQUARE (COENTIES SLIP)'...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Etching, Aquatint
'Brooklyn Bridge' — 1920s view of an iconic New York City landmark
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Luigi Kasimir, 'Brooklyn Bridge', color etching with aquatint, 1927, edition 100. Signed in pencil.
A superb impression, with fresh colors, on heavy, cream wove paper; with margins...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Etching, Aquatint
Headland & Rocks, White Island, Maine, early 20th century watercolor
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964)
Headland & Rocks, White Island, Maine, c. 1923
Watercolor on paper
Signed lower left
15 x 19.5 inches
Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 18...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor
'Soaring Steel' — 1920s Realism, Chicago Cityscape
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Samuel Chamberlain, 'Soaring Steel', drypoint, 1929, edition 100, Chamberlain and Kingsland 79. Signed, titled, and numbered '64/100' in pencil. Annotated '48.00' in pencil, in the artist's hand, bottom right margin. A superb, finely-detailed impression, with selectively wiped plate tone, on heavy Rives cream wove paper; full margins (1 3/8 to 1 7/8 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed.
The subject of the print is the construction of the Daily News Building in Chicago, Illinois.
Image size 12 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches (311 x 241 mm); sheet size 15 1/2 x 12 3/8 inches (394 x 314 mm).
Impressions of this work are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Boston Public Library, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York Public Library, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Western Australia Museum.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
'There is something about the atmospheric vibrancy of an etching which imparts a peculiar and irresistible life to architectural drawing...A copper plate offers receptive ground to the meticulously detailed drawing which so often appeals to the architect'. —Samuel Chamberlain, from the Catalogue Raisonné of his prints.
Samuel V. Chamberlain (1896 - 1975), printmaker, photographer, author, and teacher, was born in Iowa. His family moved to Aberdeen, Washington in 1901, and in 1913, Chamberlain enrolled in the University of Washington in Seattle, where he studied architecture under Carl Gould. By 1915, he was enrolled in the School of Architecture of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. With the United States' involvement in the First World War, Chamberlain sailed to France, where he volunteered in the American Field Service. In 1918, he was transferred to the United States Army to complete his tour of duty. After the war, he returned to Boston and resumed his architectural studies, which he eventually discontinued, working for a few years as a commercial artist.
Chamberlain received the American Field Service Scholarship in 1923, which he used to travel to Spain, North Africa, and Italy. In 1924 he was living in Paris, where he studied lithography with Gaston Dorfinant and etching and drypoint with Edouard Léon, publishing his first etching the following year. In 1927, he studied drypoint with Malcolm...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Drypoint
'Manhattan Old and New' —1920s Realism, Cityscape
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Samuel Chamberlain, 'Manhattan Old and New', drypoint, 1929, edition 100, Chamberlain and Kingsland 81. Signed, titled, and numbered '81/100' in pencil. Titled and annotated '30.00' in pencil, in the artist's hand, bottom margin. Matted to museum standards, unframed.
A superb, finely-detailed impression, with selectively wiped plate tone, on heavy Rives cream wove paper; full margins (1 1/2 to 2 1/4 inches), in excellent condition.
The subject of the print is the lower Manhattan cityscape just before the Depression.
Image size 8 3/4 x 6 13/16 inches (222 x 173 mm); sheet size 12 3/4 x 10 inches (324 x 254 mm).
Impressions of this work are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Art and the Zimmerli Art Museum.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
'There is something about the atmospheric vibrancy of an etching which imparts a peculiar and irresistible life to architectural drawing...A copper plate offers receptive ground to the meticulously detailed drawing which so often appeals to the architect'. —Samuel Chamberlain, from the Catalogue Raisonné of his prints.
Samuel V. Chamberlain (1896 - 1975), printmaker, photographer, author, and teacher, was born in Iowa. His family moved to Aberdeen, Washington in 1901, and in 1913, Chamberlain enrolled in the University of Washington in Seattle, where he studied architecture under Carl Gould. By 1915, he was enrolled in the School of Architecture of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. With the United States' involvement in the First World War, Chamberlain sailed to France, where he volunteered in the American Field Service. In 1918, he was transferred to the United States Army to complete his tour of duty. After the war, he returned to Boston and resumed his architectural studies, which he eventually discontinued, working for a few years as a commercial artist.
Chamberlain received the American Field Service Scholarship in 1923, which he used to travel to Spain, North Africa, and Italy. In 1924 he was living in Paris, where he studied lithography with Gaston Dorfinant and etching and drypoint with Edouard Léon, publishing his first etching the following year. In 1927, he studied drypoint with Malcolm Osborne...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Drypoint
Landscape with Trees
By Leon Kelly
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Landscape with Trees
Watercolor on paper, 1929
Signed in pencil lower right corner
Obviously influenced by the Cezanne works in the collection of his patron Alfred C. Barnes of Phila...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor
New Masses Magazine May 1926, Vol 1, No 1. VG Condition. Workers Communist Party
By Hugo Gellert
Located in New York, NY
New Masses Magazine May 1926, Vol 1, No 1. VG Condition. Workers Communist Party
New Masses Magazine. May 1926, Inaugural: Vol 1, No 1. Published by the New Masses Inc., 39 West 8th St., New York City.
New Masses (1926-1948) was an American Marxist magazine launched in New York City. It was closely associated with the Communist Party USA. With the coming of the Great Depression in 1929 America became more receptive to ideas from the political Left and New Masses became highly influential in intellectual circles. The magazine has been called
the principal organ of the American cultural left from 1926 onwards. It featured the work of an array of independent writers and artists.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s just opened new exhibition, “Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s” celebrates the American spirit during the depression era. In the exhibition several issues of "New Masses" are exhibited, but not Vol 1. No. 1. We offer that.
Lithograph by Hugo Gellert on the cover and multiple illustrations in magazine. Hugo Gellert (1892-1985) was a Hungarian-American illustrator and muralist. A committed radical and member of the Communist Party of America, Gellert is considered by some art critics as among the best political work of the first half of the 20th century.
The artists who works are inside Vol 1, No. 1 include: William Gropper, Adolph Dehn, Stuart Davis, Art Young, I. Klein, Boardman Robinson, Wanda Gag, Louis Lozowick, F. S. Hynd, New Masses, Otto Soclow, Hans Stengel and Arnold Ronnebeck.
The writers included in this issue: Babette Deutsch, Robert Dljnn, Robinson Jeffers, William Carlos Williams, Nathan Asch, Norman Studer, M. H. Hedges, Art Shields, Karol Rembov, Hal Saunders-White, Edwin Seaver, George Sterling, Scott Nearing and Whittaker Chambers.
Editors: Egmont Arens, Joseph Freeman, Hugo Gellert, Michael Gold, James Rorty, and Joan Sloan.Executive Board: Egmont Arens, Maurice Becker, Helen Black, John Dos Passos, Robert Dunn...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Paper
Subway Construction
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This painting is part of our exhibition American Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s
Subway Construction, c. 1928, oil on board, 19 x 15 ¾ inches, signed upper left, artist and tit...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Oil
'Tanks #1' — 1920s American Precisionism
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Louis Lozowick, 'Tanks #1', lithograph, 1929, edition 50, Flint 39. Signed, titled, and numbered '11/50' in pencil. Signed with the artist's monogram in the stone, lower left. A superb, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper, the full sheet with margins (3/4 to 1 7/8 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards.
Image size 13 15/16 x 8 1/16 inches (355 x 204 mm), sheet size 15 3/4 x 11 1/4 inches (400 x 286 mm).
Exhibited: 'The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock', Stephen Coppel, The British Museum, 2008.
Literature: 'Prints and Their Creators, A World History', Carl Zigrosser, Crown Publishers Inc, 1974; 'American Lithographers...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Lithograph
Jazz Age Dancer Illustration by Broadway Designer Mabel E. Johnston
Located in Larchmont, NY
Mabel E. Johnston
Untitled, c. 1930s
Watercolor and pencil on paper
Sight: 12 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.
Framed: 21 1/8 x 17 1/4 x 1/2 in.
Signed lower right: Mabel E. Johnston
The first tidb...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor, Pencil
Art Deco Costume Illustration by Broadway Designer Mabel E. Johnston
Located in Larchmont, NY
Mabel E. Johnston
Untitled, c. 1920s
Watercolor and pencil on paper
Sight: 12 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.
Framed: 21 1/8 x 17 1/4 x 1/2 in.
Signed lower right: Mabel E. Johnston
The first tidb...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor, Pencil
Broadway Costume Illustration by Designer Mabel E. Johnston
Located in Larchmont, NY
Mabel E. Johnston
Untitled, c. 1920s
Watercolor and pencil on paper
Sight: 18 x 12 1/2 in.
Framed: 39 x 21 1/4 x 1/2 in.
Signed lower right: Mabel E. Johnston
The first tidbit I fou...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor, Pencil
Brooklyn Waterfront
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Brooklyn Waterfront
Lithograph, 1931
Signed, titled, and dated in pencil by the artist
Edition: Undetermined (very small), plus artist's proofs
Printed by Meister Schulz, Berlin
Provenance:
Estate of the artist
Virginia Dehn, the artist's widow
Dehn Quests
Bibliography:
Lumsdaine and O'Sullivan 152
Illustrated: Adams, The Sensuous Life of Adolf Dehn, Fig. 9.14, page 213 (This impression)
Adolf Dehn, American Watercolorist and Printmaker, 1895-1968
Adolf Dehn was an artist who achieved extraordinary artistic heights, but in a very particular artistic sphere—not so much in oil painting as in watercolor and lithography. Long recognized as a master by serious print collectors, he is gradually gaining recognition as a notable and influential figure in the overall history of American art.
In the 19th century, with the invention of the rotary press, which made possible enormous print runs, and the development of the popular, mass-market magazines, newspaper and magazine illustration developed into an artistic realm of its own, often surprisingly divorced from the world of museums and art exhibitions, and today remains surprisingly overlooked by most art historians. Dehn in many regards was an outgrowth of this world, although in an unusual way, since as a young man he produced most of his illustrative work not for popular magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post, but rather for radical journals, such as The Masses or The Liberator, or artistic “little magazines” such as The Dial. This background established the foundation of his outlook, and led later to his unique and distinctive contribution to American graphic art.
If there’s a distinctive quality to his work, it was his skill in introducing unusual tonal and textural effects into his work, particularly in printmaking but also in watercolor. Jackson Pollock seems to have been one of many notable artists who were influenced by his techniques.
Early Years, 1895-1922
For an artist largely remembered for scenes of Vienna and Paris, Adolf Dehn’s background was a surprising one. Born in Waterville, Minnesota, on November 22, 1895, Dehn was the descendent of farmers who had emigrated from Germany and homesteaded in the region, initially in a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor. Adolf’s father, Arthur Clark Dehn, was a hunter and trapper who took pride that he had no boss but himself, and who had little use for art. Indeed, during Adolf’s boyhood the walls of his bedroom and the space under his bed were filled with the pelts of mink, muskrats and skunks that his father had killed, skinned and stretched on drying boards. It was Adolf’s mother, Emilie Haas Dehn, a faithful member of the German Lutheran Evangelical Church, who encouraged his interest in art, which became apparent early in childhood. Both parents were ardent socialists, and supporters of Eugene Debs. In many ways Dehn’s later artistic achievement was clearly a reaction against the grinding rural poverty of his childhood.
After graduating from high school in 1914 at the age of 19—an age not unusual in farming communities at the time, where school attendance was often irregular—Dehn attended the Minneapolis School of Art from 1914 to 1917, whose character followed strongly reflected that of its director, Munich-trained Robert Kohler, an artistic conservative but a social radical. There Dehn joined a group of students who went on to nationally significant careers, including Wanda Gag (later author of best-selling children’s books); John Flanagan (a sculptor notable for his use of direct carving) Harry Gottlieb (a notable social realist and member of the Woodstock Art Colony), Elizabeth Olds (a printmaker and administrator for the WPA), Arnold Blanch (landscape, still-life and figure painter, and member of the Woodstock group), Lucille Lunquist, later Lucille Blanch (also a gifted painter and founder of the Woodstock art colony), and Johan Egilrud (who stayed in Minneapolis and became a journalist and poet).
Adolf became particularly close to Wanda Gag (1893-1946), with whom he established an intense but platonic relationship. Two years older than he, Gag was the daughter of a Bohemian artist and decorator, Anton Gag, who had died in 1908. After her husband died, Wanda’s mother, Lizzi Gag, became a helpless invalid, so Wanda was entrusted with the task of raising and financially supporting her six younger siblings. This endowed her with toughness and an independent streak, but nonetheless, when she met Dehn, Wanda was Victorian and conventional in her artistic taste and social values. Dehn was more socially radical, and introduced her to radical ideas about politics and free love, as well as to socialist publications such as The Masses and The Appeal to Reason.
Never very interested in oil painting, in Minneapolis Dehn focused on caricature and illustration--often of a humorous or politically radical character. In 1917 both Dehn and Wanda won scholarships to attend the Art Students League, and consequently, in the fall of that year both moved to New York. Dehn’s art education, however, ended in the summer of 1918, shortly after the United States entered World War I, when he was drafted to serve in the U. S. Army. Unwilling to fight, he applied for status as a conscientious objector, but was first imprisoned, then segregated in semi-imprisonment with other Pacifists, until the war ended. The abuse he suffered at this time may well explain his later withdrawal from taking political stands or making art of an overtly political nature. After his release from the army, Dehn returned to New York where he fell under the spell of the radical cartoonist Boardman Robinson and produced his first lithographs. He also finally consummated his sexual relationship with Wanda Gag.
The Years in Europe: 1922-1929
In September of 1921, however, he abruptly departed for Europe, arriving in Paris and then moving on to Vienna. There in the winter of 1922 he fell in love with a Russian dancer, Mura Zipperovitch, ending his seven-year relationship with Wanda Gag. He and Mura were married in 1926. It was also in Vienna that he produced his first notable artistic work.
Influenced by European artists such as Jules Pascin and Georg Grosz, Dehn began producing drawings of people in cafes, streets, and parks, which while mostly executed in his studio, were based on spontaneous life studies and have an expressive, sometimes almost childishly wandering quality of line. The mixture of sophistication and naiveté in these drawings was new to American audiences, as was the raciness of their subject matter, which often featured pleasure-seekers, prostitutes or scenes of sexual dalliance, presented with a strong element of caricature. Some of these drawings contain an element of social criticism, reminiscent of that found in the work of George Grosz, although Dehn’s work tended to focus on humorous commentary rather than savagely attacking his subjects or making a partisan political statement. Many Americans, including some who had originally been supporters of Dehn such as Boardman Robinson, were shocked by these European drawings, although George Grocz (who became a friend of the artist in this period) admired them, and recognized that Dehn could also bring a new vision to America subject matter. As he told Dehn: “You will do things in America which haven’t been done, which need to be done, which only you can do—as far at least as I know America.”
A key factor in Dehn’s artistic evolution at this time was his association with Scofield Thayer, the publisher of the most notable modernist art and poetry magazine...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Lithograph
Street in Porto Maurizio
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique cream laid paper with a partial watermark, 9 5/8 x 4 1/4 inches (246 x 109 mm); full margins. Signed and dated "1928" in pencil, lower margin. Inscribed "Street in Porto Maurizio...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
'Fruit Piece' — 1920's American Modernism
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Pamela Bianco, 'Fruit Piece', lithograph, c. 1925. Signed and titled in pencil. Signed in the stone, lower left. Annotated 'No. 8' in pencil, upper right...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Lithograph
Original 'Balsam Aperitif au Quinquina' stone lithograph vintage poster 1923
Located in Spokane, WA
Original Balsam, Aperitif au Quinaquina vintage stone lithograph printed in 1923. The great artist Jean d’Ylen created this poster after assuming the head of Vercasson after Leone...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Lithograph
Street in Porto Maurizio
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique handmade laid paper, 9 5/8 x 4 1/4 inches (246 x 109 mm), full margins. Signed and dated (1928) in pencil, lower margin. Printed by Frederick Reynolds. In very goo...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching
Plate with Ram (Untitled)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
(Note: This work is part of our exhibition Connected by Creativity: WPA Era Works from the Collection of Leata and Edward Beatty Rowan)
Glazed and incised ceramic, 8 ½ inches diamet...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Ceramic
Original "Next Monday" vintage 1929 Mather Work Incentive poster
Located in Spokane, WA
Original “Next Monday” Vintage 1929 Work Incentive Poster The original “Next Monday” (also known as the "Futurist Monday") vintage 1929 Work Incentive poster is a reminder of a bygone era. This aesthetically magnificent lithograph by artist Willard Frederick Elmes created is a scarce print from the 1920s. It is striking for its intricacy and its size; the poster is linen backed and has a huge image, measuring approximately 28” x 20”.
The poster displays...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Lithograph
Brookdale, New Jersey
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Brookdale, New Jersey
Graphite on paper, 1922
Signed with the artist's initials l.l., and dated 1922 (see photo)
Annotated "Brookdale" front and back of she...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Graphite
Three Nudes in a Garden
By Aaron Bohrod
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Three Nudes in a Garden
Graphite, c. 1928-1933
Initialed in pencil lower left (see photo)
Illustrated: Elliott & Wooden, Aaron Bohrod: Figure Sketches, Fige 9, page 32 (see photo)
A...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Graphite
Bowling
Located in Los Angeles, CA
(Note: This work is part of our exhibition Connected by Creativity: WPA Era Works from the Collection of Leata and Edward Beatty Rowan)
Watercolor on paper, 7 ¾ x 10 ½ inches unframed, 14 ½ x 16 ½ inches framed, signed, dated, and located lower left as follows: “David McCosh...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor
Ponte Neuf (The Old Bridge)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
(Note: This work is part of our exhibition Connected by Creativity: WPA Era Works from the Collection of Leata and Edward Beatty Rowan)
Oil on panel, 14 ½ x 18 inches unframed, 22 x 25 ½ inches framed, inscribed “painted by David McCosh Property of Edward b. Rowan” and numbered “8” verso
Exhibited:
The First Exhibit of the Iowa Artist...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Oil
Ontario St. Grading and Temporary Ramps
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Ontario St. Grading and Temporary Ramps
Drypoint, August 1929
Signed in pencil lower right (see photo)
From: The Cleveland Set (23 plates), this being No. 13
Edition: Small
A brilliant example of American industrial art. A wonderful, rich impression, with lots of burr and contrasts.
Louis Conrad Rosenberg
1890-1983
An American architectural etcher and engraver of the 1920's and 1930's era, Louis Conrad Rosenberg first studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then enrolled at the Royal College of Art, London, to study etching techniques under Malcolm Osborne...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Drypoint
Untitled (seated female nude)
By Henry Keller
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Seated Femake Nude
Graphite and chalk on tan paper, c. 1920
Signed "Keller" and signed again with the artist's initials in a cypher
A finished life drawing most probably exhibited at...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Graphite
Nude Drawings On Red Paper
Located in Delray Beach, FL
Standing Nude,
Pencil signed and dated March 25, 21.
Printmaker, painter and illustrator, George Kenneth Hartwell was born in Fitchburg 1891-1949, Massachusetts. He studied at the Art Students' League in New York City under Kenneth Hayes Miller, Edward Hopper, and George Bellows.
His work was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago (1923), the Society of Independent Artists (1923), Salons of America (1928 and 1934), Library of Congress (1944-46), the Laguna Beach Art...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Pencil, Pastel
Cows by Woodland Pond, Toledo, Ohio, Early 20th Century Cleveland School
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964)
Cows by Woodland Pond, Toledo, Ohio, c. 1920
Watercolor and graphite on board
Signed lower right
22 x 30 inches
Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox was a respected librarian.
In 1906 Wilcox enrolled from the Cleveland School of Art under the tutelage of Henry Keller, Louis Rorimer, and Frederick Gottwald. He also attended Keller's Berlin Heights summer school from 1909. After graduating in 1910, Wilcox traveled and studied in Europe, sometimes dropping by Académie Colarossi in the evening to sketch the model or the other students at their easels, where he was influenced by French impressionism. Wilcox was influenced by Keller's innovative watercolor techniques, and from 1910 to 1916 they experimented together with impressionism and post-impressionism. Wilcox soon developed his own signature style in the American Scene or Regionalist tradition of the early 20th century. He joined the Cleveland School of Art faculty in 1913. Among his students were Lawrence Edwin Blazey, Carl Gaertner, Paul Travis, and Charles E. Burchfield. Around this time Wilcox became associated with Cowan Pottery.
In 1916 Wilcox married fellow artist Florence Bard, and they spent most of their honeymoon painting in Berlin Heights with Keller. They had one daughter, Mary. In 1918 he joined the Cleveland Society of Artists, a conservative counter to the Bohemian Kokoon Arts Club, and would later serve as its president. He also began teaching night school at the John Huntington Polytechnic Institute at this time, and taught briefly at Baldwin-Wallace College.
Wilcox wrote and illustrated Ohio Indian Trails in 1933, which was favorably reviewed by the New York Times in 1934. This book was edited and reprinted in 1970 by William A. McGill. McGill also edited and reprinted Wilcox' Canals of the Old Northwest in 1969. Wilcox also wrote, illustrated, and published Weather Wisdom in 1949, a limited edition (50 copies) of twenty-four serigraphs (silk screen prints) accompanied by commentary "based upon familiar weather observations commonly made by people living in the country."
Wilcox displayed over 250 works at Cleveland's annual May Show. He received numerous awards, including the Penton Medal for as The Omnibus, Paris (1920), Fish Tug on Lake Erie (1921), Blacksmith Shop (1922), and The Gravel Pit (1922). Other paintings include The Trailing Fog (1929), Under the Big Top (1930), and Ohio Landscape...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor, Graphite
Circus Lot at Toledo, Ohio, Early 20th Century Cleveland School Artist
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964)
Circus Lot at Toledo, c. 1920
Watercolor on Whatman board
Signed lower right
22 x 30 inches
Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox was a respected librarian.
In 1906 Wilcox enrolled from the Cleveland School of Art under the tutelage of Henry Keller, Louis Rorimer, and Frederick Gottwald. He also attended Keller's Berlin Heights summer school from 1909. After graduating in 1910, Wilcox traveled and studied in Europe, sometimes dropping by Académie Colarossi in the evening to sketch the model or the other students at their easels, where he was influenced by French impressionism. Wilcox was influenced by Keller's innovative watercolor techniques, and from 1910 to 1916 they experimented together with impressionism and post-impressionism. Wilcox soon developed his own signature style in the American Scene or Regionalist tradition of the early 20th century. He joined the Cleveland School of Art faculty in 1913. Among his students were Lawrence Edwin Blazey, Carl Gaertner, Paul Travis, and Charles E. Burchfield. Around this time Wilcox became associated with Cowan Pottery.
In 1916 Wilcox married fellow artist Florence Bard, and they spent most of their honeymoon painting in Berlin Heights with Keller. They had one daughter, Mary. In 1918 he joined the Cleveland Society of Artists, a conservative counter to the Bohemian Kokoon Arts Club, and would later serve as its president. He also began teaching night school at the John Huntington Polytechnic Institute at this time, and taught briefly at Baldwin-Wallace College.
Wilcox wrote and illustrated Ohio Indian Trails in 1933, which was favorably reviewed by the New York Times in 1934. This book was edited and reprinted in 1970 by William A. McGill. McGill also edited and reprinted Wilcox' Canals of the Old Northwest in 1969. Wilcox also wrote, illustrated, and published Weather Wisdom in 1949, a limited edition (50 copies) of twenty-four serigraphs (silk screen prints) accompanied by commentary "based upon familiar weather observations commonly made by people living in the country."
Wilcox displayed over 250 works at Cleveland's annual May Show. He received numerous awards, including the Penton Medal for as The Omnibus, Paris (1920), Fish Tug on Lake Erie (1921), Blacksmith Shop (1922), and The Gravel Pit (1922). Other paintings include The Trailing Fog (1929), Under the Big Top (1930), and Ohio Landscape...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor
On the Back Porch, Brecksville, Ohio, Early 20th Century Cleveland School
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964)
On the Back Porch, Brecksville, Ohio, c. 1922
Watercolor on paper
Monogram lower right
21.5 x 27. 5 inc...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor
Stevedores, Ohio River, Early 20th Century Cleveland School Artist
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964)
Stevedores, Ohio River, c. 1920
Watercolor on paper
Signed lower right
21.5 x 29. 5 inches
"The trip Otto Ege and I made from Pittsburgh to Marietta by riverboat and then by train to Mammoth Cave, was the next high spot in my artistic explorations. We saw something of the Old Southern river life on the way - the roustabouts, the showboat and river town life at Point Pleasant, and then to the sombre tonal mysteries of the Cave. These sights added much to my pictorial vocabulary..." - Frank Wilcox
Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor
Binder, Brecksville, Ohio, Early 20th Century Cleveland School Farm/Landscape
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964)
Binder, Brecksville, Ohio, c. 1922
Watercolor on paper
18 x 24 inches
24.25 x 30 inches, framed
"Being a city boy I had no experience with farm machinery, but knew well the dangers of mowing machines, corn huskers and the like. Having a little experience with horses, I could appreciate the risks in driving them." - Out in Brecksville, Frank Wilcox
Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Watercolor
Nude Drawing on Gray Paper
Located in Delray Beach, FL
Standing Nude drawing on gray paper
Pencil signed and dated April 8, 21.
Printmaker, painter and illustrator, George Kenneth Hartwell was born in Fitchburg 1891-1949, Massachusetts. He studied at the Art Students' League in New York City under Kenneth Hayes Miller, Edward Hopper, and George Bellows.
His work was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago (1923), the Society of Independent Artists (1923), Salons of America (1928 and 1934), Library of Congress (1944-46), the Laguna Beach Art...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Pencil, Pastel
Seated Nude
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Seated Nude
Match Stick ink drawing, c. 1925
Signed by the artist in pencil lower right: A. Biehle
Created at the Kakoon Arts Club, Cleveland. Influenced by friend and fellow artist...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Ink
Fireman Textile Fabric Design 1920s American Scene Modern Working Men Art Deco
Located in New York, NY
Fireman Textile Fabric Design 1920s American Scene Modern Working Men Art Deco
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 - 1994)
Firemen
Textile design, c. 1929
19 1/4 ...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Gouache, Board
The Gargoyle and His Quarry
Located in Storrs, CT
The Gargoyle and His Quarry, Notre Dame. 1920. Etching.Fletcher 90. 7 1/8 x 5 1/4 (sheet 10 1/2 x 9 1/16). Gargoyle series #1. Edition 75. A rich impression printed on 'FJHead&Co' c...
Category
1920s American Modern Art
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
American Modern art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic American Modern art available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add art created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Slim Aarons, Destro, Howard Schatz, and John Taylor Arms. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large American Modern art, so small editions measuring 0.25 inches across are also available.
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