Charles Quest, a successful artist, and fine art instructor, worked in a variety of mediums including mosaic, stained glass, mural painting, and sculpture, but remains best known as a printmaker. Quest grew up in St. Louis, his talent evident as a teenager when he began copying the works of masters such as Michelangelo on his bedroom walls. He studied at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University where he later taught from 1944–71. He traveled to Europe after his graduation in 1929, and studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and Académie Colarossi, Paris, continuing to draw inspiration from the works of the Old Masters. After returning to St. Louis, Quest received several commissions to paint murals in public buildings, schools, and churches, including one from Joseph Cardinal Ritter to paint a replica of Velázquez's Crucifixion over the main altar of the Old Cathedral in St. Louis.
Quest soon became interested in the woodcut medium which he apparently learned through his study of J. J. Lankes' A Woodcut Manual (1932) and Paul Landacre's articles in the American Artist magazine since no artists in St. Louis were working in wood at that time. Quest also revealed that for him, woodcutting and engraving were ‘more enjoyable than any other means of expression.’ In the late 1940s, his graphic works began attracting a lot of critical attention — several of his woodcuts won prizes and were acquired by major American and European museums. His wood engraving entitled Lovers was included in the American Federation of Art's traveling print exhibition in 1947. Two years later Quest's two prize-winning prints, Still Life with Grindstone and Break Forth into Singing were exhibited in major American museums in a traveling show organized by the Philadelphia Print Club. His work was included in the Chicago Art Institute's exhibition, Woodcut Through Six Centuries and the print Still Life with Vise, which was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1951, he was invited by artist-curator Jacob Kainen to exhibit 30 wood engravings and color woodcuts in the Graphic Arts Division of the Smithsonian's National Museum (now known as the American History Museum). This one-man exhibition was a remarkable achievement for Quest, who had been working in the medium for only about 10 years.
In the press release for the show, Kainen praised the ‘technical refinement’ of Quest's work. “He obtains a great variety of textural effects through the use of the graver, and these dense or transparent grays are set off against whites or blacks to achieve sparkling results. His work has the handsome qualities characteristic of the craftsman and designer,” noted Kainen. At the time of the Smithsonian exhibition, Quest's work was represented by three New York galleries in addition to one in his hometown. He had also won 38 prizes, and his prints were in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In cooperation with the Art in Embassies program, his color woodcuts were displayed at the American Embassy in Paris in 1951. Recognition at home came in 1955 with his first solo exhibition in St. Louis. Press coverage of the show heralded the growth of graphic arts toward rivaling painting and sculpture as a major independent medium.
Quest retired from teaching in 1971 and made relatively few prints in his later years, as the rigors of the medium were too demanding. He moved to Tryon, North Carolina, with his wife Dorothy, an artist and portrait painter, and remained active as a painter until he died in 1993. An exhibition of his prints at the Bethesda Art Gallery in 1983 attracted the interest of Curator Emeritus Joseph A. Haller, S. J., who began purchasing his work for the University's collection. In 1990, Georgetown University Library's Special Collections Division became the grateful recipient of a large body of Quest's work including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, and stained glass, as well as his archive of correspondence and professional memorabilia. These extensive holdings, including some 260 of his fine prints, provide a rich opportunity for further study and appreciation of this versatile and not-to-be-forgotten mid-Western American artist of the 20th century.
Price Upon Request
The Old Courthouse
By Charles Quest
Located in Missouri, MO
The Old Courthouse, 1968 By. Charles Quest (American, 1904-1993) Signed and Dated Lower Left 32 x 44 inches 38.25 x 50.25 inches with frame Born in Troy, New York, Charles Quest was...
Canvas, Oil
$1,500
H 9 in W 12 in D 1 in
Rolling Surf Pacific Coast Landscape Small Paintings 9" x 12" Framed Waves
By Steve Parker
Located in Houston, TX
Framed 15" x 18"( "Rolling Surf" by Steve Parker is 9" x 12" .Rolling Surf was painted along the Pacific Coast Coast in 2024. It is Oil on Canvas with a custom made frame. There ...
Cotton Canvas, Oil
$2,750
H 30 in W 26 in D 1.5 in
'River Birch' by James Cobb, Framed 20" x 16" Oil on Canvas Painting, 2020
By Jim Cobb
Located in Oklahoma City, OK
This framed 19.875" x 16" oil painting on canvas by Oklahoma-based artist James Cobb depicts a strand of river birch trees in freshly fallen snow. at the he...
Canvas, Oil
$20,000
H 30 in W 35 in
"Winter Scene, " George Gardner Symons, Snowy Hill Landscape, Pennsylvania
By George Gardner Symons
Located in New York, NY
George Gardner Symons (1863 - 1930) Winter Scene Oil on canvas 20 x 25 inches Signed lower right Provenance: Private Collection, St. Louis, Missouri William A. Karges Fine Art Gallery, Carmel, California Private Collection, Washington A landscape and marine artist, George Symons was one of America's more noted plein-air painters who combined styles of impressionism and realism. His works are cited for their energy and simplicity, and he often did panoramic views. He was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1861, with the name of George Gardner Simon, but he changed his last name to Symons when he returned from study in England because of concern about anti-semitism. Not much is known about his early life. He first studied at the Chicago Art Institute where he became a close, life-long friend of William Wendt. They painted together in California and then in Cornwall, England in 1898. He also studied in Paris, and Munich and London, and joining a colony of artists at St. Ives, adopted the plein-air techniques of Julius Olsson, Adrian Stokes, and Rudolph Hellwag. He worked in Chicago as a commercial artist, and about 1903 returned to California with Wendt and built a studio in Laguna Beach and became active in western art societies including the California Art Club. He returned often, but maintained his primary studio...
Canvas, Oil
"Mountain Village in Winter" Anthony Thieme, Snowy Landscape
By Anthony Thieme
Located in New York, NY
Anthony Thieme Mountain Village in Winter Signed lower left Oil on canvas 25 x 30 inches Anthony Thieme was born in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam in 1888. He studied at the Acade...
Canvas, Oil
$55,000
H 35 in W 40 in
"Main Street, Rockport, Cape Ann " Anthony Thieme, Summer Street Scene Landscape
By Anthony Thieme
Located in New York, NY
Anthony Thieme (1888 - 1954) Main Street, Rockport Oil on canvas 25 x 30 inches Signed lower right Anthony Thieme was born in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam in 1888. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam, at the Royal Academy at the Hague, as an apprentice to George Hoecker, a well known stage designer in Düsseldorf, Germany, and to Antonio Mancini, an Italian Impressionist. After completing his studies, Thieme journeyed throughout Europe and South America, working in stage design to support his travels. Thieme first came to the United States in 1917 and initially worked as a set designer and book illustrator first in New York and later in Boston. By the late 1920s, Thieme had married and moved from Boston to Cape Ann in Rockport, Massachusetts, an emerging art colony. Like the other Rockport artists...
Canvas, Oil
$12,000
H 31.5 in W 36.5 in
"Winter Landscape with Stream" Carl Rudolph Krafft, Early 20th Century Landscape
By Carl Rudolph Krafft
Located in New York, NY
Carl Rudolph Krafft Winter Landscape with Stream Signed lower right and with thumbprint Oil on canvas 25 x 30 inches Carl Rudolph Krafft was born in 1884 in Reading, Ohio, and his ...
Canvas, Oil
$12,000
H 26.5 in W 30.5 in
"Rockport" William Lester Stevens, North East Coastal American Landscape
By William Lester Stevens
Located in New York, NY
William Lester Stevens Rockport Signed lower right Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches Born on June 15, 1888, in Rockport, Massachusetts, Stevens displayed his artistic abilities from a y...
Canvas, Oil
New England Hillside
By Harriet Randall Lumis
Located in Milford, NH
A fine landscape oil painting by American artist Harriet Randall Lumis (1870-1853). Lumis was born in Salem, CT, and ironically, her art background did not begin until after she marr...
Canvas, Oil
$36,000
H 25.25 in W 31.25 in
"Stone Wharf, Brittany" Jane Peterson, American Impressionist, Boats in Canal
By Jane Peterson
Located in New York, NY
Jane Peterson Stone Wharf, Brittany, circa 1910 Signed lower right Oil on canvas 18 x 24 inches Provenance Private Collection, New York Born Jennie Christine in Elgin, Illinois, s...
Canvas, Oil
$10,000
H 22 in W 29 in
"La Marre de Soire, " George Leonard, American Impressionist, Beach Seascape
Located in New York, NY
George Henry Leonard, Jr. (1869 - 1928) La Marre de Soire Oil on canvas 15 x 21 3/4 inches Signed lower right A landscape painter--primarily using a late impressionist loose stroke as his main mode of expression--Leonard drew not only upon French influences, but also the American school of impressionism characterized by Frank Boggs...
Canvas, Oil
$45,000
H 40 in W 46 in
"Other Side of Town (Leading to Pigeon Cove)" Anthony Thieme, Rockport Cape Ann
By Anthony Thieme
Located in New York, NY
Anthony Thieme (1888 - 1954) Other Side of Town (Leading to Pigeon Cove) Oil on canvas 30 x 36 inches Signed lower left Provenance: David H. Hall Fine Art, Dover, Massachusetts Vose Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts Private Collection, New Jersey Anthony Thieme was born in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam in 1888. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam, at the Royal Academy at the Hague, as an apprentice to George Hoecker, a well known stage designer in Düsseldorf, Germany, and to Antonio Mancini, an Italian Impressionist. After completing his studies, Thieme journeyed throughout Europe and South America, working in stage design to support his travels. Thieme first came to the United States in 1917 and initially worked as a set designer and book illustrator first in New York and later in Boston. By the late 1920s, Thieme had married and moved from Boston to Cape Ann in Rockport, Massachusetts, an emerging art colony. Like the other Rockport artists...
Canvas, Oil
$12,000
H 22 in W 28.5 in
"Untitled (Coastal Cliffs, Brittany)" George Oberteuffer, Impressionist, Sea
Located in New York, NY
George Oberteuffer Untitled (Coastal Cliffs, Brittany), circa 1912 Oil on canvasboard 15 x 21 1/2 inches Born in Philadelphia, George Oberteuffer is best remembered for his Impress...
Canvas, Oil, Board