Anton Refregier was a painter and muralist active in Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project commissions, and in teaching art. He was a Russian immigrant to the United States. He is known, among other works, for his mural The History of California located in the Rincon Center, in downtown San Francisco, California. It depicts the state's history across 27 panels that he painted from 1940–48. The style of this historic mural had many of Refregier's key characteristics. The palette was composed of yellows, browns, and grays, punctuated by red in certain areas to evoke emotion. Earthy tones and the lack of bright colors remind viewers of the struggles and hardships he is depicting. Refregier also uses white to represent virtue in those inspired by a cause. His style is very flat and one-dimensional. Refregier uses solid blocks of color to denote shadows, along with depth and shade. His painting style appears to be very rudimentary and simple, but complex because of the way he uses color to evoke emotion and powerful images to tell a story. Refregier died in 1979 while in Moscow. Refregier was working on a mural for a medical center in his home city. The same year, his Rincon Mural was placed under the protection of the National Register of Historic Places.
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“Girl in the Grass”
By Anton Refregier
Located in Southampton, NY
Original oil on canvas painting by Anton Refregier of a young girl resting in the grass. Signed upper right and dated 1962. Condition is very good. The painting is in its original oa...
Canvas, Oil
Picnic, Modern Figurative Oil Painting by Anton Refregier
By Anton Refregier
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Anton Refregier Title: Picnic Year: 1959 Medium: Oil on Masonite, signed and dated l.r. Size: 24 x 44 inches (61 x 112 cm) Frame: 31.5 x 51.5 inches
Oil
$489
H 16 in W 12 in
America impressionist portrait young boy 1937 Modern Figurative Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
A fantastic modern portrait of a young boy. This work is signed what appears to be Paul Sellers and dated 1937, but we have not found information on the artist. The work dated 1936...
Oil, Board
$1,200
H 26.5 in W 18.5 in D 1 in
A Fabulous 1950s Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Seated Woman, "Southern Belle"
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A Fabulous 1950s Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Seated Woman, "Southern Belle" by Noted Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A colorful Southern painting depicting a ...
Masonite, Oil
$33,000
H 56 in W 47 in
Industrial Mid-20th Century WPA Modern Men Working American Scene Social Realism
Located in New York, NY
Industrial Mid-20th Century WPA Modern Men Working American Scene Social Realism George Pearse Ennis (American, 1884-1936) "Forging a Gun Tube #1...
Canvas, Oil
Blacksmith (Untitled)
By Erle Loran
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Blacksmith (Untitled), 1936, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 28 x 30 inches Erle Loran was an influential American painter, art historian, and educator, renowned for h...
Canvas, Oil
$3,000
H 10 in W 8 in
"Woodstock Landscape" Albert Heckman, American Modernist, Atmospheric Valley
By Albert Heckman
Located in New York, NY
Albert Heckman Woodstock Landscape Oil on board 10 x 8 inches Albert Heckman was born in Meadville, Western Pennsylvania, 1893. He went to New York City to try his hand at the art ...
Oil, Board
$78,000
H 51 in W 33 in D 2 in
Summer Resort in Michigan -Modernist Mid-Century Saugatuck Oil Painting
By William Schwartz
Located in Marco Island, FL
Summer Resort in Michigan is an exceptional work painted by the Chicago Modernist, William Schwartz. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago shortly ...
Canvas, Oil
A Laborer Resting
By Robert Gilbert
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A Laborer Resting, 1930, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower center, 36 x 30 inches, inscribed verso “July – 1930 / Title – A Laborer Resting / Artist – Robert Gilbert / Price - $2...
Canvas, Oil
$6,500
H 21.88 in W 17.38 in D 2 in
On the Beach. Woman Reading. Mid-Century Chicago Modernist Oil Painting.
By William Schwartz
Located in Marco Island, FL
Chicago Modernist, William Schwartz, painted this intimate painting of a woman reading titled On the Beach. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago shortly after emigrating to th...
Canvas, Oil, Board
$2,500
H 22 in W 24 in
A Rare 1930s Modern, American Scene, Midwestern Summer Country Landscape
Located in Chicago, IL
A rare and special 1936 Modern American Scene country landscape painting with figures by important Chicago artist (William) Davenport Griffen. Oil on canvas, signed and dated "Griffen ‘36", lower right. Image size: 18 x 20 inches. Framed size: 22 x 24 inches. (William) Davenport Griffen was born in 1894 in Millbrook, NY. He graduated from Iowa State College in Ames, IA in 1918 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering; however, Griffen’s true love was painting. In 1919, he enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and subsequently studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1923-1928. In 1926, he was awarded the American Travel Scholarship and began painting in Provincetown, MA. In 1928, he was awarded the John Quincy Adams Scholarship and spent six months painting in Paris, France. Griffen also painted in the U.S. Virgin Islands for 11 months between 1930-1931. Griffen had one-man exhibitions of his Virgin Islands paintings...
Oil, Canvas
$18,000
H 26.5 in W 25.5 in
Industrial Working Man Social Realism Mid-20 Century Modern American Scene Art
By Edith Kramer
Located in New York, NY
Industrial Working Man Social Realism Mid-20 Century Modern American Scene Art Edith Kramer (1916-2014) "Man on Lathe II" Oil on linen, 1949 23 x 22 inches Signed and dated in blac...
Oil, Linen
$950
H 18.5 in W 24.5 in D 1.25 in
A Colorful 1950s Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Bull Fight by Francis Chapin
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A colorful, 1950s Mid-Century Modern painting of a bull fight by notable Chicago artist, Francis Chapin. Oil on canvas, in a dark walnut brown stained frame. Painted most likely in...
Canvas, Oil
$2,800
H 25 in W 31 in D 1.5 in
A Serene 1940s, Modern Western Landscape Painting with Horses by Francis Chapin
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A serene, 1940s Modern Western landscape painting with horses by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin. Accompanied with a handsome walnut brown stained wooden frame. Canvas size: 22 x 28 inches. Framed size: 25 x 31 inches. Estate stamped on reverse. Provenance: Estate of the artist. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of the city’s most popular and celebrated painters in his day. Born at the dawn of the 20th Century in Bristolville, Ohio, Chapin graduated from Washington and Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922. He would set down deep roots at the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibiting there over 31 times between 1926 and 1951. In 1927 Chapin won the prestigious Bryan Lathrop Fellowship from the Art Institute – a prize that funded the artist’s yearlong study trip to Europe. Upon his return to the United States, Chapin decided to remain in Chicago, noting the freedom Chicago artists have in developing independently of the pressure to conform to pre-existing molds (as was experienced by artists in New York, for example). Chapin became a popular instructor at the Art Institute, teaching there from 1929 to 1947 and at the Art Institute’s summer art school in Saugatuck, Michigan (now called Oxbow) between 1934 – 1938 (he was the director of the school from 1941-1945). Chapin’s contemporaries among Chicago’s artists included such luminaries as Ivan Le Lorraine Albright...
Canvas, Oil
Sold
H 37 in W 29 in D 2 in
"Hop Scotch" Mid 20th Century Social Realism WPA Modern American Scene 1950s SF
By Anton Refregier
Located in New York, NY
"Hop Scotch" Mid 20th Century Social Realism WPA Modern American Scene 1950s SF, .30 1/4 x 22 1/4 inches. Signed and dated 1951 lower right. Provenance: ACA Gallery label verso. BIO Anton Refregier was born March 20, 1905 in Moscow, Russia. He immigrated to the United States in 1920. He received his artistic training from the Rhode Island School of Design*, Providence, Rhode Island, 1921-1925; studied abroad with the sculptor Nicolai Vassilief in Paris in 1920; and with Hans Hofmann in Munich, 1927. From 1934 to 1940, Refregier, living in New York City, worked on various WPA Federal Art Projects* as a teacher, supervising artist, and mural supervisor. His most famous work is arguably the mural project at San Francisco's Rincon Center, the costliest and one of the most controversial of all the WPA commissions. It is a multi-scene panorama* that sparked national debate because of its inclusion of controversial events in California history. Refregier found inspiration in tragic events, which is reflected in his Depression Era-WPA work...
Masonite, Oil
“Flowers and Radishes”
By Anton Refregier
Located in Southampton, NY
Original oil pastel on archival paper drawing by Anton Refregier of flowers and radishes in a still life. Signed upper right. Circa 1965. Condition is good. Overall measurements fra...
Oil Pastel, Archival Paper
Sold
H 42 in W 52 in D 2 in
"Coulee Dam Construction" WPA Precisionist Industrial Figurative American Scene
By Anton Refregier
Located in New York, NY
Anton Refregier painting "Coulee Dam Construction, " a WPA era industrial American Scene oil painting, The figurative work is signed on the upper right Born in Moscow, Refregier stu...
Canvas, Oil