Skip to main content

Charles Alston Art

American, 1907-1977
Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977; Columbia College 1929, Teachers College 1931) was an influential painter during the Harlem Renaissance and the first African American supervisor for the Works Progress Administration. He supervised the WPA murals created at Harlem Hospital, leading a staff of 35 artists and assistants. Alston was also the first African American to teach at both the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Students League and, in 1969, to have been appointed the painter member of the Art Commission of the City of New York. Alston was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was related to renowned artist Romare Bearden through his mother's second marriage. He attended Columbia University as an undergraduate and graduate student, receiving a B.A. from Columbia College in 1929 and an M.F.A. from Columbia University's Teachers College in 1931. After graduating he worked at the Harlem Arts Workshop, and when the program required more space, he secured an additional facility at 306 W. 141st St. The space, known as "306," became a center for the Harlem art community. The influence of Mexican muralists José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, who all used murals to inspire people toward social activism, can be seen in Alston’s work. When Diego Rivera was painting his famous mural at Rockefeller Center, which was destroyed because of its political content, Alston frequently visited the Mexican artist, communicating in French, their only common language. Alston’s gift was not limited to painting. He also worked as a sculptor, and his cartoons and illustrations were published in popular magazines such as The New Yorker and Fortune. During World War II, he worked at the Office of War Information and Public Information, creating cartoons and posters to mobilize the black community to join in the American war effort. He also taught at the City University of New York from 1970 to 1977. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Excerpted from Columbia University, "Columbia Celebrates Black History and Culture"
to
1
3
3
2
2
"Landscape with Hills" Charles Alston, Harlem Renaissance Modernist Landscape
By Charles Alston
Located in New York, NY
Charles Alston Landscape with Hills Signed lower right Watercolor on paper 13 1/2 x 18 1/4 inches Charles Henry Alston was an influential painter during the Harlem Renaissance and ...
Category

20th Century Modern Charles Alston Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Gnarled Tree - African American Artist
By Charles Alston
Located in Miami, FL
Executed in 1930, this abstract yet representational biomorphic charcoal work by African American Artist Charles Henry Alston prefigures his ...
Category

1930s American Realist Charles Alston Art

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Restaurant Scene, Modern Oil Painting on Canvas by Charles Alston
By Charles Alston
Located in Long Island City, NY
An original oil on canvas painting by African American artist, Charles Alston. Completed sometime in the 1930s, "Restaurant Scene" focuses on a crowded ...
Category

1930s Charles Alston Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Related Items
Original Triptych-Drawing Time-Gladiolus-PleinAir-Brit Award Artist-ink on paper
Located in London, GB
The Summer Bloom Series is an ongoing project that Shizico Yi returns to each summer, painting en plein air in her garden. She began gardening in 2015 to create a healing space for h...
Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Charles Alston Art

Materials

Charcoal, Ink, Gouache, Graphite

1940s New York Interior -- An Evening Scene of Artist and His Wife
Located in Soquel, CA
1940s New York Interior -- An Evening Scene of Artist and His Wife Wonderful moody 1940s New York interior and figurative oil painting in Ashcan Schoo...
Category

1940s Ashcan School Charles Alston Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Cardboard

Original-Golden Summer-UK Awarded Artist, British School, Exhibition Collection
Located in London, GB
-In light of new tariffs, we’ve applied a 20% discount off the market price of this piece to support our collectors in facing potential added costs. At the gallery, we work closely w...
Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Charles Alston Art

Materials

Gold

Original-Drawing Time Series-Gladiolus-PleinAir-Brit Awarded Artist-Ink on paper
Located in London, GB
The Summer Bloom Series is an ongoing project that Shizico Yi returns to each summer, painting en plein air in her garden. She began gardening in 2015 to create a healing space for h...
Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Charles Alston Art

Materials

Charcoal, Ink, Graphite, Gouache

Mid Century Portrait Charlotte with Flowers
By Irina Belotelkin Roublon
Located in Soquel, CA
Wonderful mid century portrait of woman named Charlotte by Irinia Belotelkin Roublon (Russian/American, 1913 - 2009), circa 1960. Signed lower right corner and on verso. Unframed. Image size: 14"H x 11"W. Irina Belotelkin Roublon, née Roudakoff, was born in Elisavetgrad, Ukraine to the Russian noblesse ancienne, descendant of Catherine the Great, she was a student at the Mariinsky Noble Ladies' Institute , Novocherkassk, Russia. She was orphaned at the time of the Russian Civil War after her father, General Paul Roudakoff, was fatally wounded in battle; 5 days later her mother died of typhus. Still unaware of her parents' death, and after witnessing her two sisters' deaths from starvation, the young Irina, then 8 years old, made her way over 1,000 kilometers, alone and through many privations to Moscow and the Estonian embassy there, with whom her Estonian uncle Volodya Blonsky had made arrangements. After a year in Moscow, and appeals to the Estonian consul, Irina was aided in a dramatic escape from the Soviet Union, to her aunt Anna Blonsky Lassburg (1882–1940) and her husband Doctor Genrick Lassburg in Tallinn, Estonia. Eventually, after in 1929, traveling through Ellis Island and admitted as a student, of voice studies, she joined her brother who had settled, in 1923, in the United States. Irina came to San Francisco during the Second World War, Among Irina's devotions were ballet and opera. She often entertained friends Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Sergei Leiferkus when they were in town. Natalia Makarova and Yuri Possokhov were often guests at Irina's Russian Christmas and Easter parties. From the early 1960s through the late 1980s, Irina studied and prolifically created still life and portrait paintings in oil and water color, excelling in flower compositions. She held studio and feature exhibitions; she competed and won prizes. Her work is in holdings throughout the San Francisco Bay area, Europe and Russia. In 1965 she undertook private study with two prominent Russian painters, including Serge Ivanoff; she executed a portrait of her two masters. She cherished her portrait as executed by Serge Ivanoff. Among her most accomplished pieces are those of iris and the large white Matilija...
Category

1960s American Impressionist Charles Alston Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Landscape BW" Contemporary Drawing Framed, Large size by Marilina Marchica
By Marilina Marchica
Located in Agrigento, AG
Landscape Black ad white abstract drawing mineral oxide on paper ( Canson Montaval Paper 300 gr.) large size 75x110 Frame Size 122 x91 cm by Marilina Marchica signed with certificate...
Category

2010s Contemporary Charles Alston Art

Materials

Charcoal, Ink, Archival Paper

Large Hudson River Figurative Modernist Landscape Oil Painting Edward Avedisian
By Edward Avedisian
Located in Surfside, FL
Edward Avedisian ( 1936-2007 ) Gouache or oil on paper, 3 guys around a car, hand signed in paint lower left, Measures 30"x 22.5" Edward Avedisian (June 15, 1936, Lowell, Massachusetts – August 17, 2007, Philmont, New York) was an American abstract painter who came into prominence during the 1960s. His work was initially associated with Color field painting and in the late 1960s with Lyrical Abstraction and Abstract Expressionism. He studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. By the late 1950s he moved to New York City. Between 1958 and 1963 Avedisian had six solo shows in New York. In 1958 he initially showed at the Hansa Gallery, then he had three shows at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery and in 1962 and 1963 at the Robert Elkon Gallery. He continued to show at the Robert Elkon Gallery almost every year until 1975. During the 1960s his work was broadly visible in the contemporary art world. He joined the dynamic art scene in Greenwich Village, frequenting the Cedar Tavern on Tenth Street, associating with the critic Clement Greenberg, and joining a new generation of abstract artists, such as Darby Bannard, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and Larry Poons. Avedisian was among the leading figures to emerge in the New York art world during the 1960s. An artist who mixed the hot colors of Pop Art with the cool, more analytical qualities of Color Field painting, he was instrumental in the exploration of new abstract methods to examine the primacy of optical experience. One of his paintings was appeared on the cover of Artforum, in 1969, his work was included in the 1965 Op Art The Responsive Eye exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and in four annuals at the Whitney Museum of American Art. His paintings were widely sought after by collectors and acquired by major museums in New York and elsewhere. He has been exhibited in prominent galleries, such as the Anita Shapolsky Gallery and the Berry Campbell Gallery in New York City. Edward Avedisian was known for his brightly colored, boldly composed canvases that combined Minimalism's rigor, Pop art exuberance and the saturated tones of Color Field painting. Roberta Smith of the NYT writes of Avedesian: "Edward Avedisian helped establish the hotly colored, but emotionally cool, abstract painting that succeeded Abstract Expressionism in the early 1960s. This young luminary harnessed elements of minimalism, pop, and color field painting to create prominent works of epic proportions that energized the New York art scene of the time." In 1996 Avedisian showed his paintings from the 1960s at the Mitchell Algus Gallery, then in SoHo. His last show, dominated by recent landscapes, was in 2003 at the Algus gallery, now in Chelsea. Selected Exhibitions: Op Art: The Responsive Eye, at the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum’s Young America 1965 Expo 67, held in Montreal, Canada. Six Painters (along with Darby Bannard, Dan Christensen, Ron Davis...
Category

20th Century American Modern Charles Alston Art

Materials

Oil, Gouache, Archival Paper

Winter Coming
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Donna Dearden'; additionally signed on old backing, titled, 'Winter Coming' and painted circa 1975. A semi-abstracted study of abscised leaves against a variegat...
Category

1970s Abstract Charles Alston Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Gouache

Original-Drawing Time Series-Gladiolus PleinAir-Brit Awarded Artist-Ink on paper
Located in London, GB
The Summer Bloom Series is an ongoing project that Shizico Yi returns to each summer, painting en plein air in her garden. She began gardening in 2015 to create a healing space for h...
Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Charles Alston Art

Materials

Charcoal, Ink, Graphite, Gouache

"Cruise Room #8, " Bar Scene in Red by Jim Beckner
By Jim Beckner
Located in Denver, CO
Jim Beckner's (US based) "Cruise Room #8" is an original, handmade oil painting depicting a Denver landmark born the day after the repeal in 1933. The Cruise Room is Denver's longest...
Category

2010s Impressionist Charles Alston Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Original-Drawing Time-Dahlias&Gladiolus PleinAir-Brit Awarded Artist-ink onPaper
Located in London, GB
The Summer Bloom Series is an ongoing project that Shizico Yi returns to each summer, painting en plein air in her garden. She began gardening in 2015 to create a healing space for h...
Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Charles Alston Art

Materials

Charcoal, Ink, Graphite, Gouache

'Figure Seated in Interior', Woman Artist, Berkeley, San Francisco Museum of Art
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Millicent Tomkins' for Millicent Hanson Tomkins (American, 1930-2021) and dated 1959. Millicent Tomkins began painting at a young age and, as a child, was awarde...
Category

1950s Modern Charles Alston Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Previously Available Items
"Saturday Night" Local Genre, Figurative, Dance, Harlem Renaissance, Signed
By Charles Alston
Located in Detroit, MI
"Saturday Night" is a joyful and colorful rendition of a happy pastime in the style of the Harlem Renaissance – dancing perhaps in a nightclub suggested by the drinks in the foreground. It also appears that it might be a basement speakeasy since the background shows patrons entering and leaving via stairs. This was painted after prohibition, but places operated with alcohol unable or unwilling to purchase a liquor license until well into the early 1970s. Charles Alston...
Category

1930s American Modern Charles Alston Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Graphite

Charles Alston art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Charles Alston art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Charles Alston in canvas, fabric, oil paint and more. Not every interior allows for large Charles Alston art, so small editions measuring 33 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Arthur Osver, Donald S. Vogel, and Mervin Jules.

Artists Similar to Charles Alston

Recently Viewed

View All