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.
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
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
“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
$1,580
H 19.69 in W 22.84 in D 1.78 in
No Ordinary Winter's Tale: Resilience, the War 1943, German Expressionist oil
Located in Norwich, GB
This is no ordinary winter scene. It is the story of prosecution and survival; of resolve and resilience during World War 2, as it was experienced by German Expressionist Heinz Lohma...
Oil, Board
$3,800
H 25 in W 21 in D 1 in
After the Game (Figurative Painting, Two Men in Athletic Uniforms by Mark Beard)
By Mark Beard
Located in Hudson, NY
Academic style figurative portrait painting of a handsome young men "After the Game", By Mark Beard as Bruce Sargeant (pseudonym in homage to the fashion photographer, Bruce Weber, a...
Canvas, Oil
$4,750
H 25.5 in W 29.5 in D 2 in
“Sierra Heights” by Paul Grimm Sierra Nevada Mountains California Landscape Oil
By Paul Grimm
Located in Yardley, PA
About this work: “Sierra Heights, 1971” by Paul Grimm (1892-1974). A beautiful view of the Sierra Nevada mountains by Grimm, one of the most beloved painters of the California lands...
Oil, Board
$7,500
H 35 in W 29 in
"Composition with Two Purple Flowers" Ed Baynard, Still Life, Japanese Influence
By Ed Baynard
Located in New York, NY
Ed Baynard Composition with Two Purple Flowers, 2000 Signed, titled and dated on the reverse Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches Provenance Private Collection, Minnesota Private Collection...
Canvas, Oil
$18,000
H 25 in W 32 in
NYC Cafe WPA American Scene Social Realism Regionalism Modernism Woman Artist
Located in New York, NY
NYC Cafe WPA American Scene Social Realism Regionalism Modernism Woman Artist Dorothy Eaton (1893-1968) New York City Cafe Scene, 1931. 20 x 29 inches ...
Canvas, Oil
For Your Eyes Only
By Roxana Khonkulova
Located in Zofingen, AG
The work speaks of a moment of intimacy - as a state of trust that is only beginning to form. It is a space where it becomes possible to be imperfect. Openness ceases to be a risk an...
Canvas, Oil
$3,110
H 16.25 in W 24.25 in D 2 in
19th Century landscape oil painting of a village
By Georgina Lara
Located in Nr Broadway, Worcestershire
Georgina Lara British, (fl. 1862-1871) A Busy Village Oil on canvas, unsigned Image size: 11.75 inches x 19.25 inches Size including frame: 16.25 inches x 24.25 inches Provenance: Cooling Galleries, Bond Street, London A pleasing village scene featuring figures, horse and other animals in a village square. To the left, a team of horses with a hay cart can be seen resting whilst a group of people chat outside a village store. In the foreground a group of children play marbles by a dog as two women chat by a log. Meanwhile, a horse and cart is shown entering the village alongside a barn. Georgina Lara also known as Edwina Lara was a London painter of rustic farmyard and village scenes. Her work also closely resembles that of Edward Masters...
Oil, Canvas
Emilio Grau Sala, SCÈNE FAMILLIALLE
By Emilio Grau Sala
Located in Madrid, ES
EMILIO GRAU SALA Spanish, 1911 - 1975 SCÈNE FAMILLIALLE signed "Grau Sala" (lower right) signed, titled, located and dated "GRAU SALA / SCÈNE FALLIALLE / PARIS 1969" (on the reverse)...
Canvas, Oil
The sunshade porch
By Emma Ciardi
Located in Roma, RM
Emma Ciardi (Venice, 1879 – 1933), The Portico in the Sun Oil painting on wood panel, measuring 27.5 x 37 cm, signed and dated “Venezia” in the lower right corner; the following ins...
Oil, Board
$400
H 7.5 in W 7.5 in D 2 in
"My Something Pink Heart" Pink Pop Art Oil Painting with White Floater Frame
By Cindy Shaoul
Located in New York, NY
Motivated by bold color and fast brushwork, we are moved by the simplicity and thick textured oil paints in these works. Shaoul’s “My Heart Collection” is a vibrant and energetic dis...
Oil, Board
$29,751
H 29 in W 33 in D 3 in
At the Seaside. A 19th Century antique oil painting signed and framed
By Gaston Hippolyte Ambroise Boucart
Located in St. Albans, GB
Gaston Hippolyte Ambroise Boucart 1878-1962 Artwork Size: 21 1/2 x 25 3/4" (55 x 65cm) Artwork Size with Frame: 28 1/2 x 32 3/4" (72 x 82cm) Size: Medium Signed Oil on Canvas He was born at Angouleme (Charente) and spent all his life in France. He was a pupil of the progressive artist Gustave Moreau- then later Aime Morot, Francois Flameng and Fernand Cormon at the school of fine art in Paris. Boucart specialised in painting architectural subjects, landscapes with animals and urban landscapes. He is especially known for his depictions of country lanes, his well observed interiors and all the waterways and architecture of Venice- a subject he became particularly fond of. He showed his work at the Salon of French Artists in Paris from 1913 to 1939, and went on to become a member there, receiving an honourable mention in 1928 and a knighthood for his services to art in 1937. His work is represented in the museums of Angouleme and Niort. Categories: Artists Boucart, Gaston Hippolyte Ambroise European Art Impressionist Art Marine Art Tags: Beach European European Art European Artists European Paintings Impressionist Impressionist Art Impressionist Artists Impressionist Paintings Marine...
Canvas, Oil
"Fiori" Olio cm. 61 x 48 1970
Located in Torino, IT
Bellissima natura morta con fiori e porcellane Cornice decò in legno
Oil, Cardboard
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