Albert Al Hirschfeld Mixed Media

A simply marvelous drawing - a self-portrait of the artist himself. It also reads as a very elegant and expressive line drawing of any gentleman - a hallmark depiction of a bon-vi...

Lionel S. Reiss (1894 - 1988) Lobstermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts, circa 1943 Watercolor on paper Sight 17 1/2 x 23 inches Signed lower left Provenance: Private Collection, Las Vegas, Nevada In describing his own style, Lionel Reiss wrote, “By nature, inclination, and training, I have long since recognized the fact that...I belong to the category of those who can only gladly affirm the reality of the world I live in.” Reiss’s subject matter was wide-ranging, including gritty New York scenes, landscapes of bucolic Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and seascapes around Gloucester, Massachusetts. However, it was as a painter of Jewish life—both in Israel and in Europe before World War II—that Reiss excelled. I.B. Singer, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, noted that Reiss was “essentially an artist of the nineteenth century, and because of this he had the power and the courage to tell visually the story of a people.” Although Reiss was born in Jaroslaw, Poland, his family immigrated to the United States in 1898 when he was four years old. Reiss's family settled on New York City’s Lower East Side and he lived in the city for most of his life. Reiss attended the Art Students League and then worked as a commercial artist for newspapers and publishers. As art director for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he supposedly created the studio’s famous lion logo. After World War I, Reiss became fascinated with Jewish life in the ‘Old World.’ In 1921 he left his advertising work and spent the next ten years traveling in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Like noted Jewish photographers Alter Kacyzne and Roman Vishniac, Reiss depicted Jewish life in Poland prior to World War II. He later wrote, “My trip encompassed three main objectives: to make ethnic studies of Jewish types wherever I traveled; to paint and draw Jewish life, as I saw it and felt it, in all aspects; and to round out my work in Israel.” In Europe, Reiss recorded quotidian scenes in a variety of media and different settings such as Paris, Amsterdam, the Venice ghetto, the Jewish cemetery in Prague, and an array of shops, synagogues, streets, and marketplaces in the Jewish quarters of Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lublin, Vilna, Ternopil, and Kovno. He paid great attention to details of dress, hair, and facial features, and his work became noted for its descriptive quality. A selection of Reiss’s portraits appeared in 1938 in his book My Models Were Jews. In this book, published on the eve of the Holocaust, Reiss argued that there was “no such thing as a ‘Jewish race’.” Instead, he claimed that the Jewish people were a cultural group with a great deal of diversity within and between Jewish communities around the world. Franz Boas...

Graphite on paper Signed and dated, l.r. 13.5 x 10.5 inches, sheet 21.25 x 17.25 inches, frame This drawing is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. John Lear is an America...

Large Watercolour of Pleasure Boats Moored on the River in Florida by USA Artist David Coolidge AWS (American 20th-21st Century) Art measures 40 x 30 i...

Graceful depiction of seated nude female figure by Joseph Yeager (American, 20th Century). Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of Joseph Yeager works directly from the estate. This piece is on heavy bond paper with ragged edges. No frame. Joseph "Joe" Yeager (American, 20th Century) was raised in Cleveland Ohio, where he went to art school at night and started his art career at 19. He was a commercial artist for the Cleveland Press...

Skillful late 19th century realist drawing of illustration Newspaper artists at work at the Republican National Convention by Adolph Methfessel (American, 1876-1912)., c.1898. This p...

Early work when Stuart Davis was an illustrator. Christie's, New York Catalogue Raisonné

I am Human Watercolor, ink on paper 49"x42" framed Keith Carrington Keith Carrington’s experiences have led him to express his talents through the fluid a...

Bold modernist portrait of a goat done in black and blue watercolor by Karen Druker (American, 1945). Signed "Druker" in the lower right corner. Presented in an off-white mat. No fra...

The Pin-Up of ravishing young beauties in mid-century America was a widely popular art form. The assumption that Pin-Up art was the exclusive domain of men is a misnomer. Female illu...

Stunning use of cross-hatching. Close up this is an abstract drawing. Ink on Strathmore Bristol Board - Perfect Condition and looks better in person. Elegantly matted but not frame...

"The poor little bridesmaid ... in her pink cotton gown ... though doubtless, there never was such a pretty girl." A kitchen scene is depicted with a young bridesmaid admiring her f...