Impressionist Art

Figurative illustration of people arriving at a church by Charles Kinghan (American, 1895-1984). The church is rendered with exquisite detail, typical ...

This piece is a pertinent example of George Holloway's most sought after works, depicting a Garden view with flowers by sunlit homes. As an American Impressionist artist, most of Ho...

Clyde Steadman's "Sheepish" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts an impasto painting of a sheep gathered on a green hillside.

This artwork titled "Volti" c.1990 is an oil painting on canvas by noted Italian artist Umberto Bianchini, 1934-1990. It is signed at the lower left ...

Porfirio Salinas (1910-1973) San Antonio Artist Image Size: 27 x 33 Frame Size: 35 x 41 Medium: Oil On Canvas Late 1940s-Early 1950s "Bluebonnet Time" Texas Hill Country Landscape Biography Porfirio Salinas (1910-1973) Porfirio Salinas was a self-taught artist who painted landscapes of Central Texas with an emphasis on the vast bluebonnet fields that grow there in the springtime. Born in 1910 in Bastrop, Texas, he attended public schools in San Antonio. He also observed works in progress by the director of the San Antonio Art School, Jose Arpa, as well as landscape painter, Robert Wood. Wood is said to have paid Salinas five dollars a picture to paint bluebonnets because "he hated to paint bluebonnets". Salinas served in the military from 1943 to 1945. Although he was assigned to Fort Sam Houston, he was allowed to live at home. At the fort, Colonel Telesphor Gottchalk assigned him to paint murals for the officer's lounge and various other projects, and Salinas continued to be able to paint during his entire conscripted period. Even before he achieved notoriety among galleries, dealers, and museums, Salinas was widely followed and appreciated by many Texans, including former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who may be considered responsible for launching Salinas popularity beyond the boundaries of Texas. In 1973, Texas capital, Austin, honored Salinas for having "done much to bring the culture of Mexico and Texas closer together with his paintings". Salinas died in April 1973 in San Antonio, Texas. From the years of the Great Depression through President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society of the 1960s, Texan Porfirio Salinas (1910-1973) remained one of the Lone Star State's most popular artists. Today, his works remain popular with Texas collectors and those who love landscapes of the beautiful "Hill Country" that lies in the center of the state. One of the first Mexican-American painters to become widely recognized for his art, Salinas was a favorite of President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, as well as of Sam Rayburn, the longest-serving Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Texas Governor John Connelly. In fact, President Johnson was so enamored with his Salinas paintings that the artist will forever be associated with America's first Texas-born President. Works by Porfirio Salinas are in a number of museum collections, grace the halls of the Texas State Capitol and the Governor's Mansion in Austin, and are included in virtually every major private collection of Early Texas Art. Porfirio Salinas was born on November 6, 1910 near the small town of Bastrop, Texas, about thirty miles from Austin. His father, Porfirio G. Salinas (1881-1967), and his mother, Clara G. Chavez, struggled to make a hardscrabble living as tenant farmers, but eventually were forced to give up farming. The family moved to San Antonio, where Salinas' father was able to get a job working as a laborer for the railroad, but the scenic area around Bastrop, with its pine trees and the wide expanse of the Rio Grande River, would forever remain a touchstone for the artist. For the rest of his life, Salinas and his brothers went back frequently to visit their grandmother in her little farmhouse. When in Bastrop, Porfirio painted on the banks of the Rio Grande or in the groves of pine trees. The Salinas family was close-knit and Porfirio was the middle child of five children, so he had an older brother and sister as well as a younger brother and sister. His mother was a native of Mexico, so throughout his childhood the family made the long drive to Mexico to visit Clara Salinas' family. As a child growing up in the bi-lingual section of San Antonio, Salinas drew and painted incessantly and by the time he was ten, he was already producing work that was mature enough to sell to his schoolteachers. Many years later in an article in the New York Times he was described as a "boy whose textbooks were seldom opened and whose sketchbook was never closed." Instead of studying, the young artist spent his spare time watching artists paint in and around San Antonio. As an aspiring painter, Salinas was fortunate to grow up in the historic city, which had the most active art scene in Texas. It was his exposure to older, professional painters that encouraged the precocious young painter to leave school early in order to help his family and pursue a career as a professional artist, despite his father's inability to see art as a career with any future for his son. When Salinas was about fifteen he came to know the artist Robert W. Wood (1889-1979). He met Wood while he was employed in an art supply store and he soon began to work as an assistant to the English-born painter, who had moved from Portland to San Antonio in 1924. Although the diminutive Englishman was already an established professional artist, he did not have a great deal of formal art training and so he was then studying with the academically trained Spanish painter Jose Arpa (1858-1952) in order to augment his knowledge and give his work a more polished look. Salinas was an eager young man, and while working in Wood's downtown San Antonio studio he learned to stretch canvases, frame paintings and to sketch in larger compositions from small plein-air studies for the English artist. He began to accompany Wood and Arpa to the hills outside San Antonio, where they painted small Plein-air studies of fields of blue lupin - the state flower, the famous "Bluebonnets" of Texas - in the springtime and scenes of the gnarled Red Oaks as they changed color in the fall. He was soon assisting Wood in the tedious work of painting the tiny blue flowers that collectors wanted to see in the landscapes they purchased of central Texas. According to a 1972 newspaper story, "Legend has it that one day in the 1920s artist Robert Wood decided he could not bear to paint another bluebonnet in one of his landscapes. He hired young Porfirio Salinas to paint them in for him at five dollars a painting." Whether this story is accurate or apocryphal isn't clear, but the ambitious and independent young Salinas wasn't destined to be anyone's assistant for very long. The formative event of Porfirio Salinas' teenage years was the Texas Wildflower Competitive Exhibitions, a Roaring-Twenties dream of the eccentric oilman Edgar B. Davis (1873-1951). These competitive shows of paintings of wildflowers and Texas life were mounted in San Antonio from 1927 to 1929. Held at the newly opened Witte Museum each spring, the exhibition featured large cash prizes donated by the philanthropic Davis, which were an inducement for artists to travel from all over the United States to paint in the Hill Country of Texas. The "Davis Competitions," as they were known, helped to cement San Antonio's reputation as an art center, a legacy that remains with the "River City" today. The shows generated a great deal of excitement in the area, helping to make celebrities of the some of the artists who had already settled there and encouraging others to make San Antonio their home. Over the three years that the wildflower competitions were held, more than 300 paintings were exhibited, and many thousands of viewers saw the paintings at the Witte Museum and on tours throughout the state and in New York. Each year Davis would generously purchase the winning paintings and then donate them to the San Antonio Art League. Young Porfirio Salinas would have been able to not only watch his two mentors - Robert W. Wood and Jose Arpa - paint the works that they entered in the Davis Competitions, he would have been able to see Arpa take several of the major prizes, receiving the judge's accolades for "Verbena," "Cactus Flower" and "Picking Cotton," works that are still on view at the San Antonio Art League Museum today. Unfortunately, Davis eventually put his donations to work in other charitable endeavors, bringing to an end the wildflower events, but only after they inspired Salinas and other young painters and had helped to make wildflower paintings the most sought-after subject for traditionalist Texas collectors. In 1930, when he was only twenty, Salinas hung out a shingle and began to paint professionally, augmenting the sales of his easel paintings with what little business he could garner by painting signs for local concerns. It was a struggle for the young artist to make a living, as the effects of the Great Depression were settling in. His early works are very similar to those of Robert Wood's, both in subject matter and treatment. Salinas did small paintings of Bluebonnets for the tourists who visited San Antonio to see the famous Alamo as well as paintings of the Texas missions. While a few of his early works have a soft, tonalist quality, with subtle gradations of sunset colors, most were painted in a style that fits well within the currents of the late American Impressionist style, with solid drawing and a warm, chromatic palette. Like Robert Wood's works of the 1930s, the paintings Salinas produced as a young man were usually well composed and detailed views of the spring wildflowers in full bloom in the Texas countryside. In contrast to Wood's work, however, early Salinas compositions were usually pure landscapes without the pioneer farms or dilapidated fences that Wood often used to add visual interest to his wildflower scenes, and he also painted scenes of San Antonio itself as his mentor Jose Arpa had done. To residents of the Hill Country, Salinas was especially adept at accurately capturing the palette of the region and its unique atmosphere. In 1939 Salinas began working with Dewey Bradford (1896-1985), one of the great characters of Texas art. Bradford was a second-generation dealer whose family operated the Bradford Paint Company in Austin, where they sold art supplies, framed artwork, restored paintings and exhibited paintings by Texas artists. Salinas was struggling when he met Bradford, but the older man took the young artist under his wing and began to sell his work reliably, even though the prices that people would pay for a painting were still low due to the lingering effects of the Great Depression. Bradford was a born salesman with a gift for storytelling, and truth be told, a bit of embroidery. The relationship between Bradford and Salinas was often rocky, but it was to last the rest of the artist's life and give him a modest sense of loyalty and security, things which are all too rare in the art world. While Bradford could be critical of his work, Salinas knew that he had a dealer who encouraged him, believed in him and was not shy about singing his praises to anyone who entered Bradford's store on Guadalupe Street. During the early years of World War II Salinas met a pretty Mexican woman from Guadalajara named Maria Bonillas, who was working as a secretary for the Mexican National Railways office in San Antonio. While he was walking downtown with a painting of a bullfighter under his arm, he started a conversation with the young woman, and things progressed rapidly. The couple were married on February 15, 1942 and settled into life in bi-lingual San Antonio and they eventually purchased a tidy stone home on Buena Vista street that had a detached studio in back. By the time the United States entered World War II, Salinas was starting to make a decent living selling his art and beginning to garner recognition across Texas. However, in 1943, like millions of other young men, he was drafted into the service of his country. Fortunately, as an older Army draftee with special talents, after his training he was assigned to Fort Sam Houston, right in San Antonio, allowing him to remain at home while still completing his obligation to "Uncle Sam." Because of his artistic abilities, Salinas was asked to do paintings for the Army as well as a mural for the Officer's Club, which has been re-discovered in recent years. In his spare time he kept working on landscapes and when the war ended in 1945, he was not faced with the same rocky transition from military to civilian life as many veterans. That same year, Salinas became a father as he and Maria celebrated the birth of his only child, Christina Maria Salinas. Like most landscape artists of the era, Salinas was an avid Plein-air painter, and he took his easel and paint box with him on trips throughout Texas and into Mexico. He and his wife traveled deep into her native country, where the artist painted the majestic volcanic peaks of Iztaccihuatl (known as the "Sleeping Woman" because of its unique shape) and Popocatepetl (called the "smoking mountain" because the volcano is still active), south of Mexico City. Salinas also painted studies of rustic villages and their residents. While his most popular paintings were always the scenes of the Texas Bluebonnets and other wildflowers that bloom all over the Hill Country in the spring, he also painted scenes of the twisted Texas oak trees of central Texas, the more arid landscapes of the Texas panhandle and West Texas, and the historic Texas missions; he even sold rapidly executed scenes of bullfights and cockfights for Mexican-American collectors. By the late 1940s, the American economy was finally growing again and wealthier Texans began to collect Salinas paintings, purchasing them from galleries in San Antonio and Dallas and at Dewey Bradford's County Store Gallery in Austin. Salinas also sold work to the Atlanta dealer Dr. Carlton Palmer, who represented Robert W. Wood for many years. In 1948 Palmer sold two large Salinas paintings to the Citizen National Bank in Abilene, Texas. Because Austin was the state capitol, Bradford counted many of the state's elite among his patrons, and due to his interest in history and literature, he played a large role in the cultural history of central Texas. Bradford introduced a number of the major Texas political figures to Salinas' work, including Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973), who was then in the House of Representatives and on his way to winning a controversial election that vaulted him in the United States Senate. Johnson became an enthusiastic collector, as did his political mentor, the legendary House Speaker Sam Rayburn (1882-1961). Johnson decorated his Washington offices with Salinas paintings and he brought a number of them home to his vast LBJ Ranch, near Johnson City, Texas. In spite of his important patrons, Salinas went through a fallow and difficult period in the late 1950s. He had a volatile temperament, which made relationships difficult, and it took great patience for his wife to help him manage his career. As Salinas entered middle age his work began to sell steadily, but except for tourists who purchased his paintings in San Antonio, he was known primarily only to Texas art collectors. All that changed in 1961 with the election of John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) to the Presidency of the United States and his running mate Lyndon Johnson to the Vice Presidency. Johnson was an expansive, larger-than-life character and his status as a long, tall Texan in a cowboy hat was a large part of his imposing political image. During his storied career in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson (1912-2007) spent their time in Washington in a modest house on the edge of Rock Creek Park, but this home would not do for a Vice President. So, in 1961, the Johnsons purchased a French chateau-styled home in the Spring Valley section of the Capitol. Obtained from the famed socialite and ambassador Perle Mesta (1889-1975), the house came with a fine collection of French furniture and tapestries, and the designer Genevieve Hendricks was hired to meld the French look with objects from the Johnsons' overseas travels and paintings of the flora and fauna of their native Texas. Featured prominently in the foyer were the paintings of Porfirio Salinas. Because of the Johnsons' patronage, his work was mentioned in Time Magazine and other national publications. Lady Bird Johnson loved her landscapes of the Texas Hill Country and told reporters that, "I want to see them when ever I open the door, to remind me where I come from." After President Kennedy's death thrust Lyndon Johnson into the Presidency, he brought his Salinas paintings into the historic halls of the White House, further enhaning the Texas painter's national reputation. At the time of the President Kennedy's assassination, Salinas had completed a scene of a horse drinking titled "Rocky Creek" that was to have been presented to Kennedy during his ill-fated visit to Dallas. Instead, in an effort to memorialize the fallen President, Salinas painted a symbolic work of a lone horse depicted against foreboding clouds. During his tenure in the White House, President Johnson presented a Salinas landscape as a state gift to the President of Mexico, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz (1911-1979). During the 1960s, Salinas paintings sold briskly and, thanks to Presidential patronage, for escalating prices. In an interview with a writer from the New York Times, President Johnson enthused about the work of "his favorite artist" and said that, "his work reminds me of the country around the ranch." Salinas was invited to the LBJ Ranch frequently during the Johnson administration and his paintings were hung throughout the ranch, in the President's offices and even in the private quarters of the White House. The connection to President Johnson was a great boon to sales of Salinas paintings, and in 1964, when the demand was at its height, Texas Governor John Connelly (1917-1993) was told that all Salinas'work was sold and that he would have to wait for a painting. In 1960, a half century after his birth, Salinas was honored by his home town of Bastrop, a celebration that touched the modest artist. In 1962 Salinas was given a solo exhibition at the Witte Museum in San Antonio that featured more than twenty of his works. By the early 1960s, sales of reproductions of the artist's landscapes by the New York Graphic Society and other publishers grew rapidly, enlarging his audience throughout the United States. In 1967, Dewey Bradford helped to organize the production of a book of Texas stories titled "Bluebonnets and Cactus" (Austin: Pemberton Press: 1967), which was profusely illustrated with paintings by Salinas. His works were still popular when Salinas died after a brief illness in April of 1973, just a few months after former President Johnson's passing. He was memorialized in the City of Austin by Porfirio Salinas Day, which honored him for having "done much to bring the culture of Mexico and Texas together with his paintings." Bastrop, Texas, the city of the artist's birth, has been holding a Salinas Art Exhibition annually since 1981. He painted hundreds of scenes of the wildflowers, including the various varieties of Blue Lupin, the state flower, as well as other flowering flora. These show the influence of his artistic mentors Robert W. Wood and Jose Arpa Y Perea. Salinas also painted a number of scenes of Prickly Pear Cactus that show the influence of the English painter Dawson Dawson-Watson (1864-1939), who painted many such works during his tenure in Texas. He painted the more arid Texas landscape infrequently and these works are very rare today and sought after by collectors from the Texas Panhandle and West Texas. Salinas also painted many river landscapes along the Guadalupe, Rio Frio, the San Antonio and the Rio Grande. On trips to his wife's homeland of Mexico, he painted a number of scenes of the volcanic peaks as well as scenes of peasant villages and villagers. Figurative paintings are rare among Salinas' works and these scenes of bullfights, fandangos and cock fights are probably the least sought after of his paintings. There are also a small number of modest marines, painted on trips to the Texas and California coast. Salinas paintings are highly prized by collectors of early Texas art, with the paintings of wildflowers in greatest demand. Works by Porfirio Salinas can be found in a number of public collections, including the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas; the Texas State Capitol; the Texas Governor's Mansion; the Lyndon Baines Johnson Ranch; the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum in Bonham, Texas; Amarillo High School; the Witte Museum in San Antonio; the historic Joan and Price Daniel House in San Antonio; the Stark Museum in Orange, Texas; the R.W. Norton Art Gallery in Shreveport, Louisiana; the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center in Pueblo, Colorado; Texas A & M University and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Salinas has been featured in a number of reference works as well as anthologies devoted to American Western Art...

Measures Painting 20 x 16 inches Framed 27 x 23 inches This lovely early 20th century William Wendt (1865 - 1946) painting c. 1909 features a Pasadena California landscape domina...

Serene depiction of an Ohlone Mother and Child walking a forest path by Anton Dahl (Swedish-American). Ohlone Mother and child are walking through the North...

Signed lower left, 'Mogens Hertz' (Danish, 1909-1999) and painted circa 1935. This notable Impressionist first studied with the classically-trained Academician, Laurits Ring and, su...

Artist: Vahe Yeremyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Canvas Year: 2024 Style: Impressionism, Title: Trees, Size: 10" x 11.5" x 0.8'' ...

Fine work by celebrated 19th century artist, Colin Hunter (1841-1904) ARA, RI, RSW, RE. 'Highland Bridge' shows one of the old stone bridges in the Scottish countryside with horse an...

One of my favorite plein air paintings, Spring Meadow is an impressionistic landscape oil painting on canvas panel that showcases a beautiful early spring farm scene near my home wh...

Sweeping Big Sur landscape of rolling hills in beautiful pastel colors illuminated with sunlight, by California artist Kathleen Murray (American, 1958). Oil on artists canvas board (...

A lively, impressionistic depiction of a Mother and Daughter discovering a monumental Claude Monet painting at the Paris Museum. We are whisked away in this cherished scene with the ...

Vibrant plein air painting of blooming meadows, and oil on paper landscape by J. A. Johnson (American, 20th C.). Presented in a wooden frame. Pr...

Outstanding late 19th century English Impressionist landscape, with a horse and cart in a village. Described in 1893 by George Moore as "our greatest living landscape painter," Will...

Eve Nethercott, American (1925 - 2015) - Flowers (P5.39), Year: 1960, Medium: Watercolor on Paper, Size: 22 x 15 in. (55.88 x 38.1 cm), Description: Casting a shadow across t...

Artist: Voskan Galstian Work: Original Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on linen Year: 2013 Style: Abstract Art, Title: In The Season 2 Size: 47" x 62" x 1.5'...

Gorgeous mid century impressionist seascape of Southern California coastal rocks and waves by Georgia Crittenden Bemis (American, 1908-2008), 1939. Signed lower left corner and on verso. Presented in gilt-toned gesso frame of period. Image size: 30"H x 36"W. Framed size; 34"H x 40"W. Painting was exhibited at the San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, 1939. Georgia Crittenden Bemis was born in Delano, MN on Jan. 13, 1908. Bemis moved to San Diego, CA in 1928. She studied there at the Academy of Fine Arts and with Pauline DeVol, Charles Reiffel, Otto Schneider...

"Streets of London" by Clyde Steadman (United States) is a handmade cityscape painting that is unframed, but ready to hang.

Oh the stories that this coastal scene at the last light of the day could tell! The sky is nearly flashing as the sun light diminishes sending pools of sparkles on the water's surface. The crew and guests on the schooners, smaller sailboats and dinghy become absorbed in the culmination of their day's journey and the journeys of the passengers in the other remaining boats as they navigate their boats with safe passage to their home dock destination. Rising star fine artist Paul Beebe...

Shorebirds in the Surf an Original Pastel by Gregory Biolchini Shorbirds in the Florida Surf by Gregory Biolchini (American, B- 1948). Lively pastel with eager Shorebirds hunting for...

Antique French impressionist seascape signed oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Image size, 28L x 20H.

This painting by artist Ray Simonini titled "Meryl" is a 12x16 farm animal oil painting on canvas featuring a portrait of a white sheep against a colorful green background. Afternoon...

Medium: lithograph (after Renoir). One of the most famous Renoir lithographs, this is a portrait of Julie Manet and her cousin Jeanne (Julie Manet was the niece of Edouard Manet and ...

Antique American impressionist coastal seascape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Measuring 30 by 36 inches overall and 24 by 30 painting alone.

White and Purple Dahlias - Floral Still Life in Oil on Illustration Board Delicate still life of dahlias in a green vase by Gertrud Stimming ...

Nicely painted contemporary cafe interior scene. Oil on board. Framed. Signed.

Porfirio Salinas (1910-1973) San Antonio Artist Image Size: 30 x 40 Frame Size: 39 x 49 Medium: Oil on Canvas Dated 1957 "Bluebonnet Creek" Texas Hill Country Biography Porfirio Salinas (1910-1973) Porfirio Salinas was a self-taught artist who painted landscapes of Central Texas with an emphasis on the vast bluebonnet fields that grow there in the springtime. Born in 1910 in Bastrop, Texas, he attended public schools in San Antonio. He also observed works in progress by the director of the San Antonio Art School, Jose Arpa, as well as landscape painter, Robert Wood. Wood is said to have paid Salinas five dollars a picture to paint bluebonnets because "he hated to paint bluebonnets". Salinas served in the military from 1943 to 1945. Although he was assigned to Fort Sam Houston, he was allowed to live at home. At the fort, Colonel Telesphor Gottchalk assigned him to paint murals for the officer's lounge and various other projects, and Salinas continued to be able to paint during his entire conscripted period. Even before he achieved notoriety among galleries, dealers, and museums, Salinas was widely followed and appreciated by many Texans, including former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who may be considered responsible for launching Salinas popularity beyond the boundaries of Texas. In 1973, Texas capital, Austin, honored Salinas for having "done much to bring the culture of Mexico and Texas closer together with his paintings". Salinas died in April 1973 in San Antonio, Texas. From the years of the Great Depression through President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society of the 1960s, Texan Porfirio Salinas (1910-1973) remained one of the Lone Star State's most popular artists. Today, his works remain popular with Texas collectors and those who love landscapes of the beautiful "Hill Country" that lies in the center of the state. One of the first Mexican American painters to become widely recognized for his art, Salinas was a favorite of President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, as well as of Sam Rayburn, the longest-serving Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Texas Governor John Connelly. In fact, President Johnson was so enamored with his Salinas paintings that the artist will forever be associated with America's first Texas-born President. Works by Porfirio Salinas are in a number of museum collections, grace the halls of the Texas State Capitol and the Governor's Mansion in Austin, and are included in virtually every major private collection of Early Texas Art. Porfirio Salinas was born on November 6, 1910, near the small town of Bastrop, Texas, about thirty miles from Austin. His father, Porfirio G. Salinas (1881-1967), and his mother, Clara G. Chavez, struggled to make a hardscrabble living as tenant farmers, but eventually were forced to give up farming. The family moved to San Antonio, where Salinas' father was able to get a job working as a laborer for the railroad, but the scenic area around Bastrop, with its pine trees and the wide expanse of the Rio Grande River, would forever remain a touchstone for the artist. For the rest of his life, Salinas and his brothers went back frequently to visit their grandmother in her little farmhouse. When in Bastrop, Porfirio painted on the banks of the Rio Grande or in the groves of pine trees. The Salinas family was close-knit and Porfirio was the middle child of five children, so he had an older brother and sister as well as a younger brother and sister. His mother was a native of Mexico, so throughout his childhood the family made the long drive to Mexico to visit Clara Salinas' family. As a child growing up in the bi-lingual section of San Antonio, Salinas drew and painted incessantly and by the time he was ten, he was already producing work that was mature enough to sell to his schoolteachers. Many years later in an article in the New York Times he was described as a "boy whose textbooks were seldom opened and whose sketchbook was never closed." Instead of studying, the young artist spent his spare time watching artists paint in and around San Antonio. As an aspiring painter, Salinas was fortunate to grow up in the historic city, which had the most active art scene in Texas. It was his exposure to older, professional painters that encouraged the precocious young painter to leave school early in order to help his family and pursue a career as a professional artist, despite his father's inability to see art as a career with any future for his son. When Salinas was about fifteen he came to know the artist Robert W. Wood (1889-1979). He met Wood while he was employed in an art supply store and he soon began to work as an assistant to the English-born painter, who had moved from Portland to San Antonio in 1924. Although the diminutive Englishman was already an established professional artist, he did not have a great deal of formal art training and so he was then studying with the academically trained Spanish painter Jose Arpa (1858-1952) in order to augment his knowledge and give his work a more polished look. Salinas was an eager young man, and while working in Wood's downtown San Antonio studio he learned to stretch canvases, frame paintings and to sketch in larger compositions from small plein-air studies for the English artist. He began to accompany Wood and Arpa to the hills outside San Antonio, where they painted small Plein-air studies of fields of blue lupin - the state flower, the famous "Bluebonnets" of Texas - in the springtime and scenes of the gnarled Red Oaks as they changed color in the fall. He was soon assisting Wood in the tedious work of painting the tiny blue flowers that collectors wanted to see in the landscapes they purchased of central Texas. According to a 1972 newspaper story, "Legend has it that one day in the 1920s artist Robert Wood decided he could not bear to paint another bluebonnet in one of his landscapes. He hired young Porfirio Salinas to paint them in for him at five dollars a painting." Whether this story is accurate or apocryphal isn't clear, but the ambitious and independent young Salinas wasn't destined to be anyone's assistant for very long. The formative event of Porfirio Salinas' teenage years was the Texas Wildflower Competitive Exhibitions, a Roaring-Twenties dream of the eccentric oilman Edgar B. Davis (1873-1951). These competitive shows of paintings of wildflowers and Texas life were mounted in San Antonio from 1927 to 1929. Held at the newly opened Witte Museum each spring, the exhibition featured large cash prizes donated by the philanthropic Davis, which were an inducement for artists to travel from all over the United States to paint in the Hill Country of Texas. The "Davis Competitions," as they were known, helped to cement San Antonio's reputation as an art center, a legacy that remains with the "River City" today. The shows generated a great deal of excitement in the area, helping to make celebrities of the some of the artists who had already settled there and encouraging others to make San Antonio their home. Over the three years that the wildflower competitions were held, more than 300 paintings were exhibited, and many thousands of viewers saw the paintings at the Witte Museum and on tours throughout the state and in New York. Each year Davis would generously purchase the winning paintings and then donate them to the San Antonio Art League. Young Porfirio Salinas would have been able to not only watch his two mentors - Robert W. Wood and Jose Arpa - paint the works that they entered in the Davis Competitions, he would have been able to see Arpa take several of the major prizes, receiving the judge's accolades for "Verbena," "Cactus Flower" and "Picking Cotton," works that are still on view at the San Antonio Art League Museum today. Unfortunately, Davis eventually put his donations to work in other charitable endeavors, bringing to an end the wildflower events, but only after they inspired Salinas and other young painters and had helped to make wildflower paintings the most sought-after subject for traditionalist Texas collectors. In 1930, when he was only twenty, Salinas hung out a shingle and began to paint professionally, augmenting the sales of his easel paintings with what little business he could garner by painting signs for local concerns. It was a struggle for the young artist to make a living, as the effects of the Great Depression were settling in. His early works are very similar to those of Robert Wood's, both in subject matter and treatment. Salinas did small paintings of Bluebonnets for the tourists who visited San Antonio to see the famous Alamo as well as paintings of the Texas missions...

An original oil on board painting measuring 11 x 14 inches by Polish/American artist Leonard Rodowicz, signed lower left.

Manuel Valencia (American, 1856-1935), California Landscape Scene, Oil on Canvas, signed "M. Valencia" lower right, wood frame. Areas of in-painting with prior repairs to canvas. Ima...

A charming Parisian scene oil on canvas painting by the French artist, Johanne Schiefer. This painting is a wonderful example of his work from the prime of his career. Here you see figures walking the streets by the Porto st. Martin in Paris with an abundance of color and life. The magic is being felt with all the magnificent details, as Schiefer captures the architecture of Paris so beautifully; you can feel the energy of the day and the excitement. The piece is signed by the artist lower right and titled lower left and it comes housed in a wonderful wood carved antique frame with original name plate affixed bottom center and hanging wire on verso ready to be displayed. Art measures 20 x 24 inches Frame measures 28 x 32.5 inches Johannes Schiefer was born in 1896 in the Netherlands, and quickly gained notoriety for his landscapes, still life’s and portraits. Schiefer won the Prix de Rome at the age of 19 and studied at the Düsseldorf Academy in Germany, and then moved to Paris where he continued his studies in art at the Beaux Arts, and later at the Villa Medici in Rome. He traveled to paint across Europe, primarily France and Italy and also Latin America. When he married, he settled down in Nice France, and during the late thirties, he traveled and painted the coastline of the South of France, as well as Venice and the Adriatic. He remained in France until 1942, when he moved to New York with his family after the birth of their daughter, future actress Joanna Miles. Already an artist of stature when he arrived in New York, he settled with his family on Long Island, and for the next 30 years, Schiefer kept on painting and built a solid reputation as an important American artist. The Schiefers also had a son, Johannes Jr. After the war, Schiefer maintained a Paris studio and became a resident of Los Angeles for a time in the 1950s. For the next 30 years Schiefer kept on painting and during his career had numerous one man shows, having exhibitions at: Gallery Zak in Paris; Kunsthaus in Hamburg; Kunsthalle in Munich; Stiebel Galleries in Paris; O'Connor Gallery in Ontario; Museum of Modern Art, Wildenstein & Co, Carol Carstairs Gallery and Schoeneman Galleries in New York City; Esther Robles Gallery, County Museum and Vigoveno Galleries in Los Angeles; and the San Francisco Museum. Like Picasso, Schiefer never permitted himself to be “type-cast” in a single monotonous style. If there is anything that typifies his work, it is his versatility, his deft handling of subdued tones to create a unique brilliance of light and color that stamps every painting with his own individuality. In February 1964, Ethel Kennedy...

WILLIAM SELTZER RICE (1873 – 1963) WIND BLOWN POPLARS c. 1915-20 Color woodcut, Signed and titled in pencil. 9 x 12”. On thin paper....

Impressionist winter pastoral scene of a quaint lake side snow covered home by New Britain, Bucks County PA. Willett has portrayed this charming scene in a most intimate, yet energet...

Artist: Victor Rousseau (Belgian, 1865-1954) Title: Landscape with house Year: Circa 1910 Medium: Oil on cardboard Board size: 6 x 7...

Beautifully detailed mid-century coastal landscape of Pillar Point Fishing Dock near Half Moon Bay, California by William Winthrop Ward (American, 1901-1985). Signed lower left: "W. ...

Artist: Vahe Yeremyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Canvas Year: 2024 Style: Impressionism, Title: Morning Colors Size: 29" x 35" x 1...

Eva Makk has been called “the world’s foremost living impressionist painter”. She is celebrated for graceful, light-infused compositions executed with shimmer...

Dreamy figurative seascape of two ladies on the beach wading in shallow waters, depicted in a beautiful tonal palette of soft cyan and lavender hues, by Alan David Cours (American, b. 1950). The subtle reflections of the women in the water add a touch of detail to the almost abstracted blend of colors that makes up the water and sky, and tiny sails dot the horizon line to imply space. Cours' background as an abstract artist is apparent in this scene, which is grounded in reality only by use of the most important details. The artist allows the mood of the colors to come to the forefront, and any unnecessary details, like the faces of the women or delineation of successive waves in the water, to fall away. Signed "A. Cours" in the lower right corner. Unframed. Image size: 24"H x 30"W. Cours, Alan David (American, b. 1950) was born in Ohio in 1950. He remained there until 1972, when he graduated from Kenyon College with Highest Honors in art. In 1974, Cours moved to New York to accept a grant from the Whitney Museum of American Art. He subsequently obtained an M.F.A. in painting from Hunter College in New York. Originally trained as an abstract artist, Cours became interested in American Impressionism after viewing the work of A. Gisson. He became an informal apprenticeship with Gisson which lasted over ten years. Today, Cours’ style bears evidence of Gisson’s influence but has a delicate touch which is uniquely suited to his vision of our world. He is deeply interested in exploring the power of color to evoke light and mood. His subjects are landscapes, beach scenes, florals, architectural scenes, nudes, and still life. The work of A. David Cours has been exhibited throughout most of the United States. He has become a very successful artist and his work is in both large and small collections in the United States and abroad. “A. David Cours is an exceptionally gifted artist. He has studied with me informally for over ten years. He is far and away the leading proponent of the “Gisson” school of American Impressionism. I most enthusiastically recommend his work” -Anders Gisson

Noel Daggett, American (1925 - 2005) - Fan Nap: Vietnam Sketchbook, Year: 1970, Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed, Size: 24 x 20 in. (60.96 x 50.8 cm), Frame Size: 33 x 28 inches

Wonderfully painted luminous European sunset landscape painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed. Image size, 16H by 11L.

Impressive early American impressionist flower landscape painting by Lila Caroline McGillivray Knowles (1886 - 1979). Oil on board. Framed. Signed. Image size, 10 by 12 inches.

A wonderful Impressionist winter pastoral scene of a colorful quaint home by the river. Willet has portrayed this piece in a most intimate, yet energetic way, and has packed much fee...

Small limited edition run of 49 and 6 E.A."s (Edition of the artist). Each canvas reproduction is crafted by a skilled printer under the supervision of the artist. Román Francés has...

Renzo Vespignani, Italian (1924 - 2001) - Spiaggia di Nettuno, Year: circa 1970, Medium: Etching, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: AP, Image Size: 4.5 x 10.75 inches, Size: 1...

Wonderful mid century landscape of Ojai, California with charming stucco cottage and almond trees in bloom and mountains in background titled, "Storm over Ojai" by Margaret Anna Dobson (American, 1888-1981), 1959. Signed faintly, lower right. Signed in pencil "Margaret Dobson", titled "Storm Over Ojai" and dated "1959" on verso. Presented in vintage gilt-toned wood frame. Image size: 12"H x 16"W. Framed size: 14"H x 17.75"W. Margaret Dobson was a painter, illustrator, muralist, etcher. Born in Baltimore, MD on Nov. 9, 1888. Dobson studied at the Maryland Institute, PAFA, Fontainebleau School of Art (Paris), and Syracuse University. She studied privately with Daniel Garber, Cecilia Beaux, Violet Oakley, Emil Carlsen, Robert Vonnoh, Hugh Breckenridge, and others. She was active in London, England until 1933. She then settled in Los Angeles where she remained until her death on Jan. 20, 1981. Primarily a muralist, she also painted floral still lifes and landscapes of the Sierra and southern California. Member: NAC; Royal Society of Etchers (London); Laguna Beach AA; Women Painters of the West; Santa Monica AA; Calif. Art Club; LAAA; Artists of the SW. Exhibits: Fontainebleau, 1927 (prize); Egan Gallery (LA), 1933; Calif. PM Society, 1935, 1936; Ebell Club (LA) 1936 (1st prize); Academy of Western Painters, LACMA, 1937; Santa Cruz Art League, 1938; Friday Morning Club (LA), 1939; GGIE, 1939; Society for Sanity in Art, CPLH, 1944. Murals: Santa Monica Women's Club; Palace of Fontainebleau and Fontainebleau Hospital (France); Kaufman (TX) Post Office (Driving the Steers); Girl Scouts...

Antique American impressionist landscape oil painting. Oil on canvasboard. Framed. Signed.

Mid century still life of bronze chrysanthemums with yellow draping backing. This piece is rendered in warm tones, as if flooded by later afternoon summe...

Bruce Crane Autumn Landscape Signed lower right Oil on canvas 16 x 24 inches Bruce Crane Was born in New York City, he studied with Alexander H. Wyant before attending the Art Stud...

A charming depiction of Snow in New York City with figures walking and taxis in the distance. A cozy impressionistic street scene with colors of cobalts, light pink, whites, and burn...

Farm Scene oil/panel 8x12 unframed, 11.5 x 15.5 framed Farm Scene is an impressionistic landscape plein air oil painting that I did on location near my studio in 2020 The painting is...

Wonderful Austrian landscape with Church on a mountain . Hermann Reisz Austrian (1865-1920)Reisz was a well-regarded 19th century Austrian landscape...

Alexander Charles Stuart The Attack of the Merrimac Signed lower left Oil on artist board 13 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches Alexander Charles Stuart, a Scottish-born painter of ships and marin...

Jim Beckner's (US based) "Beaches 7" is an original, handmade oil painting depicting a beach scene with colorful striped umbrellas shading lounging beach goers. About the Artist: ...

Dale Bessire Winter Landscape Signed lower right Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches A founding member of the Brown County Art Gallery Association, Dale Bessire was a native of Indianapol...