Floral Vintage Linoleum

Tunis Ponsen, born in the town of Wageningen in The Netherlands on February 19, 1891, was the son of a house painter whose trade he learned as a boy. He manifested an early interest in the fine arts, copying a painting at the Rijksmuseum when he was 14. He emigrated to the United States in 1913 and first settled in Muskegon, Michigan where, at age 30, he had his first solo exhibitions. Ponsen's success as a traditional painter strengthened in 1924 when he relocated to Chicago, where he painted. Around 1924, Ponsen entered the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1938, Ponsen's work was included in 34 important museum exhibitions. Critics regularly praised his work which found a strong following at the Detroit Institute of Art, Toledo Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Flint Institute of Arts, Muskegon Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, among others. At a 1938 solo exhibition of Ponsen's paintings at Chicago's Drake Hotel, it was observed that “There is a kind of Dutch honesty in a painting by Tunis Ponsen. Ponsen's paintings grow on you. At first, they may strike you as a trifle harsh, perhaps a bit too blunt. But go back to the creations again and you will appreciate that while Ponsen's method is conscientiously abrupt, it is far from crude. You begin to feel the downright integrity of the artist. These paintings are not color poems, mood symphonies, or anything of the sort. This is prose, straightforward and deliberate shorn of all superlatives, done by a man well trained in the grammar of art.”

Tunis Ponsen was highly prolific during his professional years, 1930–67. His methods included oil paintings on canvas, watercolors and an extremely limited number of single-color lithographs and linoleum block prints. Ponsen painted images that captured his heart and now evoke for some viewers, emotions of nostalgia. From landscapes depicting the verdant rolling fields of western Michigan and eastern seaboard water scenes, to still lifes and florals, compelling portraits and personal interior scenes, Ponsen's imagery conveys visually what may be the artist's diary of his life. The rediscovered Tunis Ponsen has been the focus of considerable interest among collectors and scholars. A traveling exhibition of 52 Ponsen paintings between 1994–96 set attendance records at seven midwest museums. From 1920–67, Tunis Ponsen's paintings and watercolors were included in hundreds of exhibitions and he won many awards and prizes. Although he exhibited widely and sold many paintings during his lifetime, at the time of his death in 1968 his niece, Angenita Morris, discovered and inherited more than 1,000 paintings and watercolors from Ponsen's studio. Those oil paintings, a few acrylics, and an unexpected collection of woodblock prints and black and white lithographs have later been inherited by the children of Angenita Morris.  Never married, his true loves were his painting, sister and niece. In Chicago, he slipped on the winter ice and complications from surgery resulted in his death in 1968.

It could be argued that cave walls were the canvases for the world’s first landscape paintings, which depict and elevate natural scenery through art, but there is a richer history to consider.

The Netherlands was home to landscapes as a major theme in painting as early as the 1500s, and ink-on-silk paintings in China featured mountains and large bodies of water as far back as the third century. Greeks created vast wall paintings that depicted landscapes and grandiose garden scenes, while in the late 15th century and early 16th century, landscapes were increasingly the subject of watercolor works by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolomeo.

The popularity of religious paintings eventually declined altogether, and by the early 19th century, painters of classical landscapes took to painting out-of-doors (plein-air painting). Paintings of natural scenery were increasingly realistic but romanticized too. Into the 20th century, landscapes remained a major theme for many artists, and while the term “landscape painting” may call to mind images of lush, grassy fields and open seascapes, the genre is characterized by more variety, colors and diverse styles than you may think. Painters working in the photorealist style of landscape painting, for example, seek to create works so lifelike that you may confuse their paint for camera pixels. But if you’re shopping for art to outfit an important room, the work needs to be something with a bit of gravitas (and the right frame is important, too).

Adding a landscape painting to your home can introduce peace and serenity within the confines of your own space. (Some may think of it as an aspirational window of sorts rather than a canvas.) Abstract landscape paintings by the likes of Korean painter Seungyoon Choi or Georgia-based artist Katherine Sandoz, on the other hand, bring pops of color and movement into a room. These landscapes refuse to serve as a background. Elsewhere, Adam Straus’s technology-inspired paintings highlight how our extreme involvement with our devices has removed us from the glory of the world around us. Influenced by modern life and steeped in social commentary, Straus’s landscape paintings make us see our surroundings anew.

Whether you’re seeking works by the world’s most notable names or those authored by underground legends, find a vast collection of landscape paintings on 1stDibs.