The work of American realist painter and illustrator Charles Edward Chambers is characterized by such an exceptional mastery of color and composition that, in his day, his refined figurative paintings may have fooled collectors into thinking he was a graduate of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
Born in 1883 in Ottumwa, Iowa, Chambers studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York under Canadian-American painter George Bridgman. Another of his teachers was illustrator Fanny Munsell (later his wife), who influenced his style and technique. Munsell secured illustration work for a range of magazines, including Cosmopolitan and Women’s Home Companion, before she died in 1920.
Chambers learned to modify his painting technique so that his work was primed for reproduction on a mass scale. He gained recognition as a classical figurative painter and illustrator during World War I when, in 1917, he illustrated a well-known poster for the U.S. Food Administration titled Food Will Win The War. He was also a regular contributor as an illustrator at the time to Harper’s Monthly and created covers for Redbook magazine.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Chambers kept busy with editorial assignments and advertising campaigns. While it’s true that Art Nouveau posters were plastered everywhere along the streets of Paris during the early years of the Belle Époque, poster art continued to remain very relevant in the Art Deco years, too. While creating illustrations for authors such as Pearl Buck, W. Somerset Maugham, Faith Baldwin and Louis Bromfield, Chambers earned advertising commissions from the decades’ prominent companies and brands. These included painting portraits of famous musicians Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alfred Cortot and Ignacy Jan Paderewski for Steinway & Sons and designing billboard ads and posters for cigarette company Chesterfield and soap manufacturer Palmolive.
Today, Chambers’s works remain favorites among collectors of vintage 20th-century art.
Find original Charles Edward Chambers paintings and prints on 1stDibs.
Story illustration for “Appearance and Reality” by Somerset Maugham
By Charles E. Chambers
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Story illustration for “Appearance and Reality” by W. Somerset Maugham, published in Cosmopolitan, November 1934, pages 22-23. Described as "A masterfully witty story of manners and...
Canvas, Oil
Family Escape
By Charles E. Chambers
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1917 Medium: Oil on Board Dimensions: 32.00" x 21.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right Story illustration: Group of people gathered around seated old woman. “Isn't it quite as i...
Oil, Board
“Wang the Tiger had his own port…” Story illustration for Sons by Pearl S. Buck
By Charles E. Chambers
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1932 Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 24.00" x 33.00" Signature: Signed Lower Left Story illustration for “Sons” by Pearl S. Buck, published in Cosmopolitan, October 1932, pages 66-67. "Sons" serves as the poignant sequel to Buck's story The Good Earth...
Canvas, Oil
$2,578
H 13.78 in W 10.63 in
Circle Teniers, Flemish Art, Peasants smoking and drinking in a Tavern Interior
By David Teniers the Younger
Located in Greven, DE
Circle or Follower of David Teniers, Peasant in a Tavern Inn, drinking and smoking. Oil on canvas, Framed: 39 x 47 cm. Typical Flemish Baroque Interior...
Canvas, Oil
$11,135
H 21.26 in W 24.41 in D 2.37 in
Oil painting on board "Rough sea with steamer on the horizon" by S.A.Vinogradoff
Located in Gavere, BE
Sergey VINOGRADOV ( 1869 - 1938 ) Rough sea with steamer on the horizon Sergei Arsenievich Vinogradov ( Russian: 1869–1938 ) was a Russian-Soviet Impressionist painter; known for l...
Gold Leaf
$2,696
H 10.63 in W 13.78 in D 0.4 in
L'Hôtel Portier au Pouldu, Oil on Board, Signed, Circa 1900, 27x35 cm
Located in Montfort l’Amaury, FR
Joseph Paul Meslé (French, 1855–1927) — L’Hôtel Portier au Pouldu, circa 1900. Oil on board. 27 x 35 x 1 cm (46 x 56 x 5 cm frame included). Signed lower right and titled on the ba...
Oil, Board
$1,628
H 20.87 in W 24.81 in D 1.19 in
Ernst Louizor ( 1938-2011 ) oil painting on board
By Ernst Louizor
Located in Hoddesdon, GB
Ernst Louizor (1938-2011) a beautiful oil painting on board. This vibrant artwork depicts a bustling village scene, elegantly mounted in its original carved wooden frame from Haiti. ...
Oil, Board
$19,850
H 25.88 in W 20.25 in D 3.5 in
A Very Fine Italian Oil on Canvas Titled "The Solo Violinist or Violin Teacher "
Located in LA, CA
A very fine Italian oil on canvas titled "The Solo Violinist" by Luigi Da Rios (Italian, 1844-1892), depicting an interior 18th century room scene of a single violinist player; withi...
Gesso, Canvas, Wood, Oil
$4,102
H 20.08 in W 28.75 in D 1.19 in
Italian Impressionist Oil on Board Marine Landscape Painting Naples Bay View
By Francesco Coppola Castaldo
Located in Firenze, IT
Everyday fishermen life is captured in this wonderful Italian impressionist late 19th century oil painting on thin board titled fishermen ashore. We love the neutral and natural colo...
Oil, Board
$5,274
H 11.82 in W 16.93 in D 0.79 in
Oil painting on canvas " Rough sea with coastline on the horizon " by Schubring
By Richard Schubring
Located in Gavere, BE
Schubring, Richard (1853-1902) Rough sea with coastline on the horizon Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower right. “1895” Richard SCHUBRING is an artist born in 1853 and deceased...
Gold Leaf
Oil on Canvas “BS Trust”
By Frank Arnold
Located in Fresno, CA
“BS Trust” is 36” x 36”. Frank Arnold’s paintings exhibit the highest quality materials for a truly archival piece, created to last generations. Much of Frank Arnold’s work is sourc...
Canvas, Oil
Twentieth Century Shore Scene with Flowers in the Foreground
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Unknown Artist (Mid twentieth century) Shore with Flowers Oil on prepared board, 16 x 20 1/8 inches FRAMED: 24 x 28 inches (approx.) There appears to be an indistinct signature at ...
Oil, Board
Forgot 7
By Frank Arnold
Located in Fresno, CA
"Forgot 7" Oil on Canvas features an abstract form surrounded by characters and a surreal landscape. The canvas is painted with shades of green, blue, yellow, and white. Frank Arnold is viewed as one of the foremost abstract figurative painters and sculptors of our time. He is a living master guided by a personal mission to “turn on a light in the human soul,” through his passionate creation of “Messengers” from his deeper mind connection with Carl Jung's archetypal images, the collective unconscious, and Jungian Synchronicity. These unconscious forms from his deeper mind resonate as personal messages of universal acceptance, reaching out to the viewer. Arnold has been honored as IAD Artist of the year 2018 by International Artist Day, and 2013 FAC Horizon Artist Award. He has exhibited his artwork in numerous galleries and museums and is in collections worldwide. Arnold divides his working days between oil painting in San Jose del Cabo, Baja Sur...
Canvas, Oil
$2,109
H 16.15 in W 23.63 in D 1.58 in
Pierre Coquet - Cubist Still Life, Oil on Board, Framed, French School, 1980s
Located in Montfort l’Amaury, FR
Reference number F355 Framed with a ebony color floated frame 41 x 60 cm frame included (27 x 46 cm without frame) This work is painted with oil on a board. Stamp of the signature in...
Board, Oil
$2,813
H 25.6 in W 19.69 in D 0.79 in
Paris, rue des Solitaires, oil painting by Pierre Coquet
Located in Montfort l’Amaury, FR
Paris, rue des Solitaires, oil painting by Pierre Coquet Reference number F489 The painting is framed with a natural oak floated frame. 65 x 50 cm (70 x 55 cm frame included) This work is painted with oil on a paper that is laid on a board and placed in a made to measure wood strectcher. It is signed in the low right Paris is one of Pierre most important subjects. Pierre's Paris is always depicted in a grey atmosphere. Buildings are stylized but the city is recognizable with its typical grey galvanised steel and orange terracota chimneys. The composition here is a little atypical, as there is a certain symmetry between the top and bottom of the painting. You could almost turn it upside down, there's a kind of mirror effect. The support for the painting is a cardboard box salvaged from the art school where he taught (Corvisart-Paris). The students used it to protect their tables. Pierre kept them and painted on them, and we can see little drawings or annotations made by students who had fun scribbling on them. Provenance : Workshop of the artist (stamped and numbered on the back) About Pierre : Pierre Coquet (1926-2021) is a French painter who was born in Limas near Lyon, France. He entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Lyon in 1942 and followed the teaching of Antoine Chartres, Henri Vielly and René Chancrin...
Oil, Board
Couple Parting on Porch in Snow
By Charles E. Chambers
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1915 Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 30.00" x 21.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right Couple parting on porch in snow. “They had formed a little code of leave-taking” Story illustration: “The Turmoil”, author: Booth Tarkington...
Canvas, Oil