Alexander Runciman Art

ARTISTE: after Auguste RODIN TITLE : Dante & Virgilus MEDIUM : Etching/photogravure after the original drawing SIGNATURE : Unsigned YEAR : 1897 PAPER : Vellum SIZE : 13 x 10" INFOR...

This late 19th-century mixed-method engraving by George Sidney Hunt (1856-1917) after Edwin Long RA (1829-1891) is one in a series of three depicting the Old Testament story of Jephthah. Here, we see Jephthah’s daughter contemplating her fate during a two-month sojourn in the wilderness. The heart-rending story of Jephthah captured Victorian minds and inspired artist Edwin Long to produce three exhibition pieces, which are now held at the Russell Cotes Art Gallery & Museum. Prior to a fearsome battle with the Ammonites, Jephthah, a leader in Isreal, committed a vow to God that he’d make a sacrifice if his armies were triumphant. “whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering...

Jan De Ruth (American/ Czech, 1922-1991), " After the Bath" Edition 19/250, Figurative Lithograph on Paper signed and titled in Pencil, 30 x 21 (Image: 25 x 15.50), ca. 1970s, Late 20th Century Colors: Blue, Yellow, Red, Grey, White, Purple Jan De Ruth enjoyed special popularity as a portrait artist and has become one of the best known painters of the nude female in the world today. It's a long way from sketching in leftover coffee to painting a portrait of Ethel Kennedy for the cover of Time Magazine, twenty-five years in fact; and during that period, Jan De Ruth's personal experiences have been enough to fill two ordinary lifetimes. Through them all, art has sustained him and been his primary interest. To begin with, De Ruth, a native of Czechoslovakia and now an American citizen, spent the years of World War II being shunted through 5 different concentration camps, including the infamous Auschwitz. He made four escape attempts and finally made good on his fifth try. De Ruth constantly sought materials with which to draw, but "The only things we had were the few pieces of cloth we wore," he recalls. By chance, he was transferred to Germany as part of a labor detail and managed to sneak a pencil away from the camp supervisor-"I became a perfect thief during those years," he says. Jan drew a mother and child on a scrap of paper he scrounged from the factory where he worked, filled it in with shadings of coffee in various strengths-his finger was his brush. He exchanged the sketch for a piece of bread from a camp guard, and in effect, sold his first painting. In March of 1945, after being transferred to his native Czechoslovakia, he made his successful escape "knowing every step of the way." After the war, De Ruth became the commissar in a small Czech town and remained in the post for one year, just long enough to forge some documents that allowed him to flee to England. He took up residence in London and enrolled at the Ruskin Art School in Oxford University. He arrived in the USA in 1948. There are times in the life of a painter when his dedication to his art is overshadowed by the immediate requirements of self-preservation. This was one of those times! From '48 to 1955 he supported himself by working at night, earning his way painting designs on neckties and bathroom cups; as a fashion designer, illustrator, vacuum cleaner salesman, theatre manager, and actor. In '55 Jan De Ruth made his professional debut as a full-time artist and two years later his first one-man show established him as a serious painter. His work has been acclaimed for combining the technique of the old masters with a modern manner, and has been exhibited in more than 40 one-man shows in galleries and museums across the United States. He has been judged positively by juries in 28 national exhibitions and his numerous awards include the Purchase Prize of the Butler Institute of American Art, and the Gold Medal of the National Arts Club. De Ruth, author of the books "Portrait Painting" and "Painting the Nude," has devoted his entire life to painting the female face and form. He enjoys special popularity as a portraitist and has become one of the best known painters of the nude female in the world today. Often asked why he concentrates on this most demanding of all art subjects he replies: . . . "Each painting of the nude becomes a new experience . . . It (the human figure) is nature's most perfect and most imperfect creation, communicating, even in silence and immobility, the physical and spiritual power-and frailty-of humanity." Articulate, sophisticated, outspoken and well informed, De Ruth has also been a welcome guest on radio and television shows. But, it is painting that gives a purpose to Jan De Ruth's existence: "It is an unending challenge-there is no end, no final result-to be found in painting the human body. I have never seen two gestures that are alike, but so are the possibilities of expression. There will always be painters who will find one more way of saying: "See! This is what I feel about humans." . . . So until a greater challenge and a more profound symbol comes along, it is the human figure I wish to paint." AWARDS Butler Institute of American Art Purchase Prize Oguniquit Art Center Knickerbocker Artist 1964 Audubon Artist, Grumbacher Purchase Prize National Arts Club of America Gold Medal Windsor-Newton Award of the National Arts Club ONE MAN MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS B'nai B'rith Museum - Washington D.C. Florida Gulf Coast Art...

By Giuseppe Vasi after Giovanni Piranesi: Etching and engraving with hand coloring in watercolor on laid paper with an E and R watermark, full margins. Minor...

c. 1654. Etching with engraving on thin laid paper with an early and large unidentified watermark with a sundial and a many-pointed star, and an unidentified collector's stamp in the...

Original etching and lavis in black ink on Arches watermarked crème laid paper by Paul Gauguin. Titled: “La Femme aux Figues” (The Woman with Figs). This impression is from the 3rd s...

Etching on buff laid paper with a partial indiscernible watermark, full margins. In very good condition with some minor scattered spots of foxing in the margins. Some pencil notatio...

ARTIST: after Auguste RODIN TITLE : Icarus and Phaeton MEDIUM : Etching/photogravure after the original drawing SIGNATURE : Unsigned YEAR : 1897 PAPER : Vellum SIZE : 13 x 10" ...

James Gillray (13 August 1756 – 1 June 1815) was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810. Many of his works are held at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Description: Pitt (left) as a bank-clerk, very thin and much caricatured, a pen thrust through his wig, stands behind an L-shaped counter offering a handful of bank-notes to John Bull. In his right hand is a scoop with which he sweeps up notes from the counter. John is a yokel no longer bewildered. He stands stolidly, holding out his left hand for the notes, his right hand in his coat pocket. Fox (right) wears a high cocked hat...

Marble relief of a trireme from the Temple of Fortuna, Praeneste, from Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed ornamenti antichi disegnati ed incisi dal Cav. Gio. Ba...

Yosha Zuko Fuzu Meiji 33 (1900) Woodblock with Original Hand-Coloring Writer: Kosugi Onson, Imaizumi Teisuke Publisher: Yoshikawa Hanshichi The Japanese litters and palanquins...

Etching on thin cream laid paper with a partial "M" or "W" watermark, 5 x 5 15/16 inches (126 x 150 mm), thread margins. Inscribed in the plate in the upper-right: “Antoni Waterlo fe...