Skip to main content

Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

American, b. 1963

Chicago-based fine art painter Bruno A. Surdo creates provocative works centered around the human condition. Classically trained in drawing and oil painting in the tradition of Renaissance masters, Surdo displays a strong command of the human form and explores the depths of humanity through his dynamic compositions of people and places. With a focus on figurative realism and portraiture, he communicates a personal commentary on the world around him through the universal language of visual art. A native to Chicago, Bruno Surdo has exhibited widely throughout the United States and his work is held in prestigious art collections around the world. Founder of The School of Representational Art in Chicago, IL, Surdo is a lecturer and educator who believes in nurturing others.

to
1
1
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
3
2
1
2
2
2
1
3
3
51
143
125
66
62
3
3
Artist: Bruno Surdo
"Broken Spirit, " Charcoal on Paper
By Bruno Surdo
Located in Chicago, IL
Chicago-based fine art painter Bruno A. Surdo is classically trained in drawing and oil painting in the tradition of Renaissance masters. With strong command of the human form, Surdo...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Naturalistic Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Paper

"Faith, " Charcoal on Paper, 2023
By Bruno Surdo
Located in Chicago, IL
Chicago-based fine art painter Bruno A. Surdo is classically trained in drawing and oil painting in the tradition of Renaissance masters. With strong command of the human form, Surdo creates dynamic compositions of people and places that communicate a rich commentary on the world around him. Depicting trees from personal encounters, Surdo’s latest body of work entitled “Tree Spirits” takes us on a foray into the forest, where leaves, branches and burls express something deeply personal. Applying his mastery of figurative realism to the natural world, he experiments with form and texture to uncover the intangible spirits of trees. Entitled “Faith,” this small-scale charcoal drawing depicts a tree trunk carved with two deep cuts in the shape of a cross. The carving has healed over, assimilated into the bark as just another interesting detail. Up close, the work is loosely drawn with a heavy hand, but from afar, the natural scene still achieves a sense of realism. The tree trunk is conveyed through chaotic scribbling and aggressive strokes of light and dark charcoal, resulting in a pattern that simulates the rough texture of bark. Light falls softly on the tree, illuminating its form against the dark, atmospheric surroundings. The striking imagery of this work conveys the strong emotional response elicited by Surdo’s personal encounter with this tree. Restricting the composition to only the scarred portion of the tree trunk, Surdo focuses on symbolism of the cross carved into the tree’s side. The carving was inflicted upon the tree by an individual, whether as an act of graffiti or the object of adoration. Despite this wound, the tree persists and grows, adapting and changing until the mark is but another interesting detail. The tree’s spirit endures and speaks to the strength it takes to heal oneself, whether physically or mentally. Charcoal on paper...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Naturalistic Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

"Memory of Leaves, " Charcoal on Paper
By Bruno Surdo
Located in Chicago, IL
Chicago-based fine art painter Bruno A. Surdo is classically trained in drawing and oil painting in the tradition of Renaissance masters. With strong command of the human form, Surdo creates dynamic compositions of people and places that communicate a rich commentary on the world around him. Depicting trees from personal encounters, Surdo’s latest body of work entitled “Tree Spirits” takes us on a foray into the forest, where leaves, branches and burls express something deeply personal. Applying his mastery of figurative realism to the natural world, he experiments with form and texture to uncover the intangible spirits of trees. This charcoal drawing entitled “Memory of Leaves” beautifully illustrates the branching form of a mature birch tree. Loosely drawn with informal, sketch-like linework, the tree is shown in the middle of winter, bare of leaves and white with frost. Surdo’s skillful placement of shadow illustrates the forking branches with incredible texture and effortless realism. The intricate play of light and dark is accentuated by the stark white background, a negative space that isolates the tree in space and time. Restricting the composition to only a portion of the tree trunk, Surdo accentuates the tree’s abstract form, lingering on areas of unusual shape or texture. Seeking to convey the strong emotional response elicited by his initial encounter with the tree, Surdo focuses on the tree’s sculptural form, contrasting the strong trunk...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Naturalistic Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Related Items
News From a Faraway Land, Original Drawing, Interior Scene, Vase, flowers
Located in AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FR
Work : Original Drawing, Handmade Artwork, Unique Work. The work has been treated with an anti-UV varnish and it is not framed. Medium : Oil based color pencils on Hahnemühle Fine A...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Crayon, Archival Paper, Color Pencil

Bearded Irises - Floral Garden Watercolor Still-Life
By Jean Warren
Located in Soquel, CA
Lovely abstracted floral watercolor painting of bearded irises by artist Jean Warren (American, b. 1945). Signed "J. Warren" lower edge, bi...
Category

1980s American Impressionist Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Laid Paper

Cold Light, Winter Trees (Dark Charcoal Landscape Drawing of a Country Forest)
By Sue Bryan
Located in Hudson, NY
Black and white landscape drawing of country forest with hints of green pastel charcoal and carbon on Arches paper 8 x 10 inches un...
Category

2010s Modern Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Carbon Pencil

White Poppies - Botanical Watercolor on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
White Poppies - Botanical Watercolor on Paper Detailed floral watercolor by Harry Federico (American, 1922-2022). Several white poppies ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Laid Paper

Whimsical Illustration Skiing Cartoon, 1938 Mt Tremblant Ski Lodge William Steig
By William Steig (b.1907)
Located in Surfside, FL
Lighthearted Illustration of Outdoor Pursuits This one being a Skiing scene, a boy and a girl on skis. signed W. Steig Provenance: from Mrs. Joseph B. Ryan, Commissioned by Joe Ryan for the bar at his ski resort, Mount Tremblant Lodge, in 1938. Mont Tremblant, P.Q., Canada Watercolor and ink on illustration board, sights sizes 8 1/2 x 16 1/2 in., framed. In 1938 Joe Ryan, described as a millionaire from Philadelphia, bushwhacked his way to the summit of Mont Tremblant and was inspired to create a world class ski resort at the site. In 1939 he opened the Mont Tremblant Lodge, which remains part of the Pedestrian Village today. This original illustration is on Whatman Illustration board. the board measures 14 X 22 inches. label from McClees Galleries, Philadelphia, on the frame backing paper. William Steig, 1907 – 2003 was an American cartoonist, sculptor, and, in his later life, an illustrator and writer of children's books. Best known for the picture books Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Abel's Island, and Doctor De Soto, he was also the creator of Shrek!, which inspired the film series of the same name. He was the U.S. nominee for both of the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Awards, as a children's book illustrator in 1982 and a writer in 1988. Steig was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1907, and grew up in the Bronx. His parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants from Austria, both socialists. His father, Joseph Steig, was a house painter, and his mother, Laura Ebel Steig, was a seamstress who encouraged his artistic leanings. As a child, he dabbled in painting and was an avid reader of literature. Among other works, he was said to have been especially fascinated by Pinocchio.He graduated from Townsend Harris High School at 15 but never completed college, though he attended three, spending two years at City College of New York, three years at the National Academy of Design and a mere five days at the Yale School of Fine Arts before dropping out of each. Hailed as the "King of Cartoons" Steig began drawing illustrations and cartoons for The New Yorker in 1930, producing more than 2,600 drawings and 117 covers for the magazine. Steig, later, when he was 61, began writing children's books. In 1968, he wrote his first children's book. He excelled here as well, and his third book, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969), won the Caldecott Medal. He went on to write more than 30 children's books, including the Doctor DeSoto series, and he continued to write into his nineties. Among his other well-known works, the picture book Shrek! (1990) formed the basis for the DreamWorks Animation film Shrek (2001). After the release of Shrek 2 in 2004, Steig became the first sole-creator of an animated movie franchise that went on to generate over $1 billion from theatrical and ancillary markets after only one sequel. Along with Maurice Sendak, Saul Steinberg, Ludwig Bemelmans and Laurent de Brunhofff his is one of those rare cartoonist whose works form part of our collective cultural heritage. In 1984, Steig's film adaptation of Doctor DeSoto directed by Michael Sporn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. As one of the most admired cartoonists of all time, Steig spent seven decades drawing for the New Yorker magazine. He touched generations of readers with his tongue–in–cheek pen–and–ink drawings, which often expressed states of mind like shame, embarrassment or anger. Later in life, Steig turned to children's books, working as both a writer and illustrator. Steig's children's books were also wildly popular because of the crazy, complicated language he used—words like lunatic, palsied, sequestration, and cleave. Kids love the sound of those words even if they do not quite understand the meaning. Steig's descriptions were also clever. He once described a beached whale as "breaded with sand." Throughout the course of his career, Steig compiled his cartoons and drawings into books. Some of them were published first in the New Yorker. Others were deemed too dark to be printed there. Most of these collections centered on the cold, dark psychoanalytical truth about relationships. They featured husbands and wives fighting and parents snapping at their kids. His first adult book, Man About Town, was published in 1932, followed by About People, published in 1939, which focused on social outsiders. Sick of Each Other, published in 2000, included a drawing depicting a wife holding her husband at gunpoint, saying, "Say you adore me." According to the Los Angeles Times, fellow New Yorker artist Edward Sorel...
Category

1930s Naturalistic Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor, Illustration Board

"Yellow Butterflies" - pastel drawing, nature, plants, still life, landscape
Located in Atlanta, GA
This piece is framed measuring 27.5 by 35 inches. Based in Carrollton, Georgia, Erin Dixon is a mixed media artist whose work bridges realism and surrealis...
Category

2010s Contemporary Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Archival Paper

The Terrace
By Maurice Savin
Located in London, GB
'The Terrace', watercolour on art paper, by Maurice Savin (circa 1950s). An inviting scene from the South of France depicts a quiet sun terrace on a balmy day with azure skies. The v...
Category

1950s Modern Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Treesong (Contemporary, Realist Charcoal Landscape Drawing by Sue Bryan)
By Sue Bryan
Located in Hudson, NY
Treesong (Contemporary, Realist Charcoal Landscape Drawing by Sue Bryan) 18 x 24 x 2 inches Charcoal and acrylic on Primed Arches Paper Mounted on Wood Panel Excellent condition, Ready to hang as is This contemporary charcoal landscape drawing on arches paper was completed in 2021 by Sue Bryan. Born in Ireland, the artist uses landscapes from her childhood as inspiration for her current work primarily consisting of beautifully detailed charcoal drawings of trees and wooded landscapes. The artist captures exquisite detail and luminous light with the mere use of black and white charcoal and carbon pencil. The artist creates this tree through a blend of light and shadow that demonstrates the artist's masterful technique. Dark leaves and winding branches in black charcoal contrast elegantly against a light filled sky. There is sturdy wire installed on the back for easy hanging. Artist Statement: "My work is drawing based. As a native of Ireland, the landscape there has certainly shaped and influenced my own history. Many of my drawings are of places that have a deep personal association for me; an endeavor perhaps to stay connected to my roots. My aim is not only to convey a sense of place and belonging, but also an attempt to capture the ineffable, to evoke a feeling or a memory, to invite the viewer to look beyond and beneath what they see. My process is one of building up tones and textures using a combination of charcoal, carbon and graphite, all of which yield a wonderful range of blacks and grays that vary in density and transparency as much as in tonality. Much of drawing’s appeal to me lies in its very constraint, in its simplification, in the reduction of nature’s macrocosm to the coal-black char of organic matter. For me, the act of drawing is an end in itself." About the work: A native of Ireland, Sue Bryan explores the memories of youth rooted in her homeland's landscape. Employing charcoal on both paper and panel, these moody and misty studies reminds us that the water-locked terrain is not always sunny and green. Exquisite detail found in each tree branch or mass of tall grasses lining the horizon dominates the foreground. Light emulates from the background attempting to penetrate the density of opaque cloud cover. Bryan's small scale drawings convey an intimate and highly personal sense of place and belonging. SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2019 'A Quiet Respite", Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY 2018 'DRAWN',5th Annual International Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing, Manifest Gallery, OH 2018 'On Paper - An Exhibition of Drawings', Florence Academy of Art, NJ 2018 'MONOCHROME', Bo.Lee Gallery, London 2017 'Arboreal', Manifest Gallery, OH 2017 'Hudson Valley Landscapes', Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY 2017 'Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London, October 2017 'A Long Way from Home', Bo.Lee Gallery, London 2017 187th Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland 2017 'Palette', Abend Gallery, Denver, CO 2017 'Summer Exhibit', Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York 2017 'Exquisite Abandon : Contemporary Miniature Works', Laguna College of Art & Design 2017 8th Annual Drawing Discourse, University of North Carolina Ashville 2017 'Small is Beautiful', Le Salon Vert, Geneva Switzerland 2016 'Smart Dust', Group Show, Sla307, 307 West 30th Street, New York, NY 2016 'Inside Outside', Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY 2016 7th Annual Drawing Discourse, S Tucker Cooke Gallery, University of North Carolina Asheville 2016 186th Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland 2016 DRAWN, 3rd Annual International Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing, Manifest Gallery, OH 2016 'Summer Group Invitational', George Billis Gallery, NYC 2015 'Radical Inventions', Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY 2015 'Strange Paradise', First Street Gallery's National Juried Exhibition, Juror Steven Harvey 2015 185th Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland 2015 'DRAWN' 2nd Annual International Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing, Manifest Gallery 2015 7th Annual Juried Exhibition, Prince Street Gallery, NYC, Juror Robert Berlind 2015 Bradley International Print & Drawing Exhibition, Heuser Art Center, IL, Juror Beth Grabowski 2015 'Interactive Lines' Small Group Invitational, Cabarrus Arts Council, Condor, NC 2014 ‘Regarding the Sublime’, Small Group Invitational, North Park University, IL 2014 27th Northern National Art Competition, Nicolet College Art Gallery 2014 184th Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland 2014 'DRAWN’ 1st Annual International Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing, Manifest Gallery 2014 POP-UP : On and Off the Wall, Series 2, Invited Artist, First Street Gallery, NYC 2014 5th Drawing Discourse, University of North Carolina, Asheville, Juror Tim Lowly 2013 VISTA [landscape in contemporary art], National Juried Show, Manifest Gallery 2013 Marks, A National Juried Drawing Exhibition, Madelon Powers Art Gallery, East Stroudsburg University, PA 2013 American Art Today : Figures, The Bascom, A Center for Visual Art, Juror Jonathan Stuhlman 2013 First Street Gallery's National Juried Exhibition, Juror Donald Kuspit 2013 4th Annual Drawing Discourse, S Tucker Cooke Gallery, University of North Carolina, Asheville, Juror Susan Hauptman 2012 Fort Wayne Museum of Art Contemporary Realism Biennial, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Juror Frank Bernarducci 2012 25th Northern National Art Competition, Nicolet College Art Gallery, Juror Sarah McKenzie 2011 Salmagundi Annual Non-Member Open Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC 2011 33rd Bradley International Print & Drawing Exhibition, Juror Robert E Marx
Category

2010s Contemporary Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Acrylic, Wood Panel, Archival Paper

Strawberry Island Sunset, black and white charcoal drawing of the ocean
Located in New York, NY
Charcoal on paper drawing by Toronto-based artist Katherine Curci. Unframed. Katherine Curci began this series of charcoal drawings, premiered in This Land., at the start of the pan...
Category

2010s Contemporary Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

The Lumber Wharf
By Gordon Grant
Located in New York, NY
Gordon Hope Grant (1875-1962) created the watercolor entitled “The Lumber Wharf” in circa 1947. It is signed in the lower left 1 inch above the paper edge. The watercolor paper size ...
Category

1940s Naturalistic Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

The Lumber Wharf
The Lumber Wharf
H 24 in W 28 in D 0.13 in
Sunrise at Mount Fuji, black and white charcoal drawing of mountains in Japan
Located in New York, NY
Charcoal on paper drawing by Toronto-based artist Katherine Curci. Unframed. Katherine Curci began this series of charcoal drawings, premiered in This...
Category

2010s Contemporary Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Plants, Bristol 1863 Watercolor Painting American Artist Charles DeWolf Brownell
By Charles De Wolf Brownell
Located in Surfside, FL
Charles De Wolf Brownell (American, 1822 - 1909) Watercolor on paper depicting several plants in close proximity Hand dated and inscribed "Br...
Category

19th Century Naturalistic Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Previously Available Items
"Cast Shadows, " Oil on Canvas, 2021
By Bruno Surdo
Located in Chicago, IL
Chicago-based fine art painter Bruno A. Surdo is classically trained in drawing and oil painting in the tradition of Renaissance masters. With strong command of the human form, Surdo...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Naturalistic Bruno Surdo Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil

Bruno Surdo landscape drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Bruno Surdo landscape drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Bruno Surdo in charcoal, oil paint, paint and more. Not every interior allows for large Bruno Surdo landscape drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 6 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Charles De Wolf Brownell, Emile Lejeune, and Emily Stackhouse. Bruno Surdo landscape drawings and watercolors prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $950 and tops out at $4,500, while the average work can sell for $1,650.

Recently Viewed

View All