Lancy Smith Santa

Painter, sculptor, muralist, designer and magazine illustrator Eduard Buk Ulreich was born in Austria-Hungary and moved to America with his family as a child. Ulreich attended the Kansas City Art Institute, where he studied under Mademoiselle F. Blumberg and later received a scholarship to continue his education at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. After serving in the First World War, Ulreich moved to New York and worked as a WPA artist painting murals throughout the United States. His works include murals in the Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center and United States Post Offices in Columbia, Missouri; Tallahassee, Florida; Concord, North Carolina; and New Rockford, North Dakota. Ulreich additionally designed and painted murals in Chicago for the Temple Building and a marble mosaic mural for the 1933 Chicago World Fair's Century of Progress Exhibition. Ulreich was a member of the Guild of Freelance Artists. He exhibited widely and with success including at the Art Institute of Chicago (1925), the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (1914-15, 1929–31, 1934, 1939), Corcoran Gallery (1928, 1930), Anderson Gallery (1923), the Whitney Museum of American Art and Gump's Gallery in San Francisco (1943).

Revitalize your interiors — introduce drawings and watercolor paintings to your home to evoke emotions, stir conversation and show off your personality and elevated taste.

Drawing is often considered one of the world’s oldest art forms, with historians pointing to cave art as evidence. In fact, a cave in South Africa, home to Stone Age–era artists, houses artwork that is believed to be around 73,000 years old. It has indeed been argued that cave walls were the canvases for early watercolorists as well as for landscape painters in general, who endeavor to depict and elevate natural scenery through their works of art.

The supplies and methods used by artists and illustrators to create drawings and paintings have evolved over the years, and so too have the intentions. Artists can use their drawing and painting talents to observe and capture a moment, to explore or communicate ideas and convey or evoke emotion. No matter if an artist is working in charcoal or in watercolor and has chosen to portray the marvels of the pure human form, to create realistic depictions of animals in their natural habitats or perhaps to forge a new path that references the long history of abstract visual art, adding a drawing or watercolor painting to your living room or dining room that speaks to you will in turn speak to your guests and conjure stimulating energy in your space.

When you introduce a new piece of art into a common area of your home — a figurative painting by Italian watercolorist Mino Maccari or a colorful still life, such as a detailed botanical work by Deborah Eddy — you’re bringing in textures that can add visual weight to your interior design. You’ll also be creating a much-needed focal point that can instantly guide an eye toward a designated space, particularly in a room that sees a lot of foot traffic.

When you’re shopping for new visual art, whether it’s for your apartment or weekend house, remember to choose something that resonates. It doesn’t always need to make you happy, but you should at least enjoy its energy. On 1stDibs, browse a wide-ranging collection of drawings and watercolor paintings and find out how to arrange wall art when you’re ready to hang your new works.