Bruno Croatto Art

Till the Clouds Roll By 1945 Frank Sinatra Mid Century Modern Hollywood Film WPA TILL THE COULDS ROLL BY (Film Set), oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches signed “Richard Whorf” lower right and signed and dated on the verso “R. Whorf/ Dec. 21, 1945. Frame by Hendenryk. ABOUT THE PAINTING This painting is from the collection of Barbara and Frank Sinatra, dated December 21, 1945 (just nine days after Frank Sinatra’s 30th birthday), and depicts the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Culver City backlot during the filming of Till the Clouds Roll By, the direction of the film having been taking over by Richard Whorf in December 1945. It is not presently clear if Whorf gave the Sinatras this painting as a gift, as the presence of the Dalzell Hatfield Galleries label on the verso indicates the painting may have been sourced there. Frank and Nancy Sinatra acquired a number of works from Dalzell Hatfield Galleries during the 1940’s, or perhaps they framed it for the couple. Sinatra performed “Old Man River’ in the film. Sinatra and June Allyson are depicted in the center of the painting. PROVENANCE From the Estate of Mrs. Nancy Sinatra; Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles. An image of the Dalzell Hatfield label and the back of the original frame (which we replaced with a stunning Heydenrk frame) are attached. Nancy Sinatra was Fran's first wife. Nancy Rose Barbato was 17 years old when she met Frank Sinatra, an 18-year-old singer from Hoboken, on the Jersey Shore in the summer of 1934. They married in 1939 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City where Frank gave Nancy a recording of a song dedicated to her titled "Our Love" as a wedding present. The young newlyweds lived and worked in New Jersey, where Frank worked as an unknown singing waiter and master of ceremonies at the Rustic Cabin while Nancy worked as a secretary at the American Type Founders. His musical career took off after singing with big band leaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey...

This etching from David Hockney’s celebrated Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm portfolio depicts the somewhat obscure story Old Rinkrank, which Hockney chose to illustrate beca...

Black & White Painting of Victoria Embankment London - a unique original from leading British Cityscape Artist, Angela Wakefield. Art measures 24 x 24 inches Frame measures 29 ...

Charles Levier (1920-2004) Oil Painting on canvas Vase of Flowers, Fleurs Hand signed lower right Dimensions: 34.75 X 20 framed, canvas is 29.5 X 14.75 Charles Levier He was born in...

Abram Tromka ( Polish/ Russian American 1896-1954 ) Hand signed upper center right. Bears label from Marbella Gallery, New York verso "Two Men Praying" (Davening) Dimensions: Sight- ...

Charles Levier (French, 1920-2003) Two Women with European Street Scene La Terasse du Restaurant Oil on Canvas Hand signed lower left Dimensions: Frame size: 51 in. x 40.5 in. Canva...

Luigi Lucioni Mid-Century Italian Still-Life Signed Painting Oil on Canvas This wonderful still life, credited to Luigi Lucioni (1900–1988), is a characteristic example of his "super...

Jane Peterson Cattleya Orchids, circa 1940s Signed lower right Oil on canvas 32 x 32 inches Provenance Estate of the artist Artist’s estate sale, Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1960s Priva...

A Day at the Beach by unkown American School painter, circa 1940-1950, oil on canvas. Framed: 31 x 29 inches

Charles Levier (French, 1920-2003) Fleurs a La Fenetre, Flowers at the Window, Oil on Canvas Hand signed lower left, Hand signed and titled verso depicting a vase of white, blue, p...

Chas Laborde - Paris - Capucine's Boulevard - Original Etching Dimensions : 13 x 10". Paper : Rives vellum. Edition : 225 copies. 1927 From Tableaux de Paris, Emile-Paul Freres, Paris Chas LABORDE Charles Laborde was born in Buenos Aires on August 8, 1886. He was the youngest of the five sons of Adolphe-Sylvestre Laborde-Pinou, a Basque-Bearne millionaire who had made a fortune selling spirits to the Indians and luxury goods imported from France to wealthy Argentines. The family returned to France when Charles was six months old. His mother died when he was two. He spent his childhood at their family château d’Escout outside Oloron-Sainte-Marie in the Pyrenees. His brothers went to a boarding-school, his father was often in Paris on business, and little Charles was left to his devices. Though it was a lonely childhood, he was a darling of his generous and magnanimous father. Charles got his early drawing skills from a village artist and found support in his brother Jean-Felix. Charles frequently accompanied his father visiting artisans and helped him choose de luxe objects to be sold in Argentine. He first attended the Rollin college in Paris, then a lyceum in Pau, where he lived with full board and lodging after his father’s death in 1901. From childhood Charles wanted to be an artist and tried several pseudonyms for himself: Ch. Laborde, Carlos Laborde,Carlos Edrobal and Carl Lab. He started wearing a velvet suit and a large hat. At 17, the timid shortsighted teenager wearing big glasses was expelled from college for smoking and drinking alcohol and went to Paris into the custody of his elder brother Jean-Felix, who carried on his father’s business. Charles enrolled in the prestigious l’Académie Julian, studying under Henri Royer and Marcel Baschet. Simultaneously he was a pupil of William Bouguereau and Luc-Olivier Merson at l’École des Beaux-Arts. The latter was famous for being the designer of the 50 and 100 franc banknotes, and he believed that he was teaching a “little Daumier”. In England, where he went every year from 1905 to 1914 with the family of his friend Cooper, a classmate at l’Académie Julian, he found not only his pseudonym Chas (short for Charley), but also the land of his dreams. Peculiarities of London and its inhabitants were reflected in drawings of William Hogarth and Thomas Rowlandson, whose album The Microcosm of London (1808) prompted Charles to make his London Streets Scenes (1928). Owing to those trips Charles took a liking to the atmosphere of England and its reserved and terse humor. In 1905 the château d’Escout and the Buenos Aires Commercial Fund were sold. After coming into inheritance, Laborde became financially independent and obtained an atelier in Montmartre at 11 bis Rue des Saules. His neighbors were de la Butte, Francis Carco and Pierre Mac Orlan, who sympathized with the easy-going young man with a positive attitude to life. His friend Pierre Falke...

Betsy Podlach (American, born 1964.) Still life with Tin Cup, 1996 17.5 X 16.5 inches. Framed it measures 18.25 X 17.25 Betsy Podlach graduated from Harvard, cum laude, (she studied...