Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
American, 1904-2000
Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of national artistic success that was nearly unprecedented among Cleveland School artists of his day, with representation by major New York dealers, scores of awards and solo exhibits, and streams of praise flowing from pens of the top art critics. Over the course of his 60+ year career Carter evolved from an exceptionally fine American Scene painter capable of evoking deep reservoirs of mood, into an abstractionist with a strongly surrealist bent.
While his two bodies of work seem at first to be worlds apart, owing to their different formal vocabularies, they, in fact, explore virtually the same subject: the nexus between life and death and the transition from earth to spirit. The early work finds its expressive power through specific people, events, and landscapes—most of which are drawn from his experiences growing up in the river town of Portsmouth, Ohio—while the later work from the 1960s on evokes potent states of being through pure flat shape, color and form that read as universals. As his primary form he adopted the ovoid or egg shape, endowing it with varying degrees of transparency. Alone or in multiples, the egg moves through Carter’s landscapes and architectural settings like a sentient spirit on a restless quest.
Born and raised in southern Ohio along the banks of the mercurial Ohio River and its treacherous floods, Carter developed a love of drawing as a child, and was encouraged by both his parents. He was self-directed, found inspiration all around him, and was strongly encouraged by the fact that his teenage work consistently captured art prizes in county and state fairs. Carter studied at the Cleveland School of Art from 1923-27, where he trained under painters Henry Keller, Frank Wilcox and Paul Travis.
Returning to Cleveland in 1929, Carter had his first solo show, and through Milliken taught studio classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art from 1930-37. In 1938, he moved to Pittsburgh to teach at the Carnegie Institute of Technology until 1944. Carter’s American Scene paintings of the ’30s and ’40s, which launched his artistic star, are the works for which the artist remains best known.
During and immediately after World War II, Clarence Carter realized his attraction to bold pattern, dramatic perspective and eye-catching hard-edged design was a poor fit with the prevailing style of Abstract Expressionism. Fortunately, these same hallmarks of his style were prized within the realm of commercial art.
Around 1964 Carter acknowledged a need to break from the confines of representational painting. Once Carter had found a potent symbol in the egg, he used it to create an astounding body of imagery for the rest of his life. Among the most ambitious of all his later paintings were his Transections, a theological term meaning to cross, specifically between life and death.to
5
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
6
5
1
6
5
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
4
4
2
1
108
596
368
277
249
6
6
Artist: Clarence Holbrook Carter
Torre di Tiberio, Tower of Tiberius, Capri, Italy Landscape, Cleveland School
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000)
Torre di Tiberio, 1951
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower left
21 x 18 inches
28.5 x 26.5 inches, framed
Clarence Holbrook Carter ac...
Category
1950s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Oil
On the Great Lakes
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Long Island City, NY
A watercolor painting by Clarence Holbrook Carter from 1953. Carter's modernist style utilizes strong structural lines and architectural aesthetics to form almost surreal-like scenes. Signed on lower right corner, framed in elegant silver wooden frame.
Artist: Clarence Holbrook Carter, American (1904 - 1998)
Title: On the Great Lakes...
Category
1950s Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Oil Well, Modern American Painting by Clarence Carter
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Long Island City, NY
An acrylic painting by Clarence Holbrook Carter from 1979. Carter's modernist style utilizes strong structural lines and architectural aesthetics to form almost surreal-like scenes. Signed on lower right corner, framed in elegant silver wooden frame.
Artist: Clarence Holbrook Carter, American (1904 - 1998)
Title: Oil Well...
Category
1970s Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Paper, Acrylic
National City Bank of New York, 55 Wall Street, Painting by Clarence Carter
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Long Island City, NY
A watercolor painting by Clarence Holbrook Carter circa 1950. Carter's modernist style utilizes strong structural lines and architectural aesthetics to form almost surreal-like scene...
Category
1950s Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Pipeline, 1955 Signed Gouache on Paper by Clarence Carter
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Long Island City, NY
Pipeline
Clarence Holbrook Carter
American (1904–2000)
Date: 1955
Gouache on Paper, signed l.r.
Size: 8 x 11 in. (20.32 x 27.94 cm)
Frame Size: 16 x 19.5 inches
Category
1950s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Gouache
Pipeline
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Long Island City, NY
A watercolor painting by Clarence Holbrook Carter from 1955. Carter's modernist style utilizes strong structural lines and architectural aesthetics to form almost surreal-like scenes...
Category
1950s Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Paper, Gouache
Related Items
1950s Old Airfield in Capitola, California Landscape Oil Painting with Trees
By Jon Blanchette
Located in Denver, CO
This vintage 1950s-1960s oil painting titled 'Old Airfield in Capitola, California' beautifully captures a serene Northern California landscape. The scene depicts a lush countryside with vibrant trees, a charming white house with a green roof, a red tractor...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Oil
H 23 in W 27 in D 1.125 in
1940s Modernist Oil Painting – Adobe Church Landscape, New Mexico Southwest Art
By Paul Kauvar Smith
Located in Denver, CO
This evocative vintage oil painting from the 1930s–1940s captures a classic adobe church in New Mexico, likely inspired by the historic San Francisco de Asís Mission Church in Rancho de Taos. Painted by Denver modernist Paul K...
Category
1940s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Oil
H 22 in W 26 in D 1.5 in
"Bearsville, New York" Georgina Klitgaard, Modernist New York Wooded Landscape
By Georgina Klitgaard
Located in New York, NY
Georgina Klitgaard
Bearsville, New York
Signed lower right
Oil on canvas
26 1/4 x 32 inches
Georgina Klitgaard’s art has sometimes gotten lost in the critical propensity to assign ...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
'Monterey Pier', California Modernist, Woman Artist, Santa Cruz Art League
By Muriel Backman
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left "Muriel Backman" for Muriel Durgin Backman and dated 1955.
An elegant, Cubist-derived, mid-century view of the old Fisherman's Wha...
Category
1950s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Gouache, Handmade Paper
Artists Sketching, California, 1940s Large Modernist Gouache Painting, Landscape
By Frederick Shane
Located in Denver, CO
This original 1940s American Modernist gouache painting, "Artists Sketching (California)," captures a dynamic scene of three artists at work against a majestic mountain backdrop. With expressive brushwork and a rich color palette, the piece embodies Frederick E. Shane’s signature blend of realism and modernist abstraction. Signed, titled, and dated by the artist in the lower margin, this remarkable artwork reflects the era’s Regionalist influence and the artist’s keen eye for capturing creative moments in the natural landscape.
The painting is professionally housed in a custom archival frame, ensuring long-term preservation. Frame dimensions: 25.5 x 37.5 x 1.5 inches. Image size: 20.25 x 29.75 inches.
Provenance: Estate of the Artist, Frederick Shane
About the Artist: Frederick E. Shane (1906-1992)
A celebrated Missouri Regionalist painter and printmaker, Frederick E. Shane was known for his compelling genre scenes, landscapes, seascapes, and portraits in a variety of media, including oil, watercolor, gouache, tempera, and lithography. While fundamentally a realist, Shane often incorporated elements of abstraction, expressionism, and surrealism, adding depth and emotion to his compositions.
During the summers of 1925-26, Shane studied under Randall Davey at the Broadmoor Academy in Colorado Springs, an institution founded in 1919 by philanthropists Spencer and Julie Penrose. Shane remained closely connected to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, the Academy’s successor, throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, participating in Artists West of the Mississippi exhibitions and forming lasting friendships with key figures like Boardman Robinson and Adolph Dehn...
Category
1940s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Gouache
H 25.5 in W 37.5 in D 1.5 in
Twilight of History, 1940s Original Figurative American Modernist Oil Painting
By Frederick Shane
Located in Denver, CO
"Twilight of History" is an original oil on board painting by Frederick Shane (1906-1992), created in 1947. This captivating piece depicts a powerful scene reflecting the "twilight" ...
Category
1940s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
H 24.5 in W 28.5 in D 2.75 in
Vintage Sunrise Landscape - Sandpipers on the Shore in Oil on Canvas
Located in Soquel, CA
Vintage Sunrise Landscape - Sandpipers on the Shore in Oil on Canvas
Gorgeous landscape of a coastline in warm sunrise colors by San Diego artist Richard Keith (American, 1937-2003)...
Category
1970s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
H 33.25 in W 33.25 in D 1.5 in
Family Farm in France
Located in London, GB
'Family Farm in France', gouache on art paper, by Michel Debiève (circa 1970s). An extremely endearing depiction of a French family farm, the delight is...
Category
1970s Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Paper, Gouache
'Golden Gate, San Francisco', Bay Area Woman Modernist, Crocker Art Museum
By Muriel Backman
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right "Muriel Backman" for Muriel Durgin Backman (American, 1902-1996) and titled verso "The Cool Gray City".
An elegant mid-century view of the San Francisco skyline a...
Category
1950s Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Gouache, Handmade Paper
"Parterre at Casa de Mateus" Landscape painting by Pacific Northwest Tom Fawkes
By Tom Fawkes
Located in Portland, OR
"Parterre at Casa de Mateus," Acrylic on Paper over Wood Panel, Tom Fawkes (1941- present), painted 2007. This painting is so wonderfully detailed & depicti...
Category
Early 2000s Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Paper, Acrylic, Wood Panel
H 24.5 in W 24.5 in D 2 in
San Francisco Cable Car WPA Artist Adolf Dehn Modernist Art Gouache Oil Painting
By Adolf Dehn
Located in Surfside, FL
ADOLF ARTHUR DEHN (American, 1895-1969)
San Francisco Bay Area street scene, with Trolley, Streetcar, Cable Car with bay and Alcatraz Island in background.
Hand signed LRC.
Sight 19" x 15", overall 23" x 19".
Adolf Dehn (November 22, 1895 – May 19, 1968) was an American artist known mainly as a lithographer. Throughout his artistic career, he participated in and helped define some important movements in American art, including regionalism, social realism, and caricature. A two-time recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, he was known for both his technical skills and his high-spirited, droll depictions of human foibles.
Adolph Dehn was born in 1895 in Waterville, Minnesota. He began creating artwork at the age of six, and by the time of his death had created nearly 650 images.
Dehn went to the Minneapolis School of Art (known today as the Minneapolis College of Art and Design), where he met and became a close friend of Wanda Gag. In 1917 he and Gág were two of only a dozen students in the country to earn a scholarship to the Art Students League of New York. He was drafted to serve in World War I in 1918, but declared himself a conscientious objector and spent four months in a guardhouse detention camp in Spartanburg, SC and then worked for eight months as a painting teacher at an arm rehabilitation hospital in Asheville, NC. Later, Dehn returned to the Art Students League for another year of study and created his first lithograph, The Harvest.
In 1921 Dehn's lithographs were featured in his first exhibition at Weyhe Gallery in New York City. From 1920 to 1921 in Manhattan, he was connected to New York's politically left-leaning activists. In 1921, he went to Europe. In Paris and Vienna he belonged to a group of expatriate intellectuals and artists, including Andrée Ruellan, Gertrude Stein, and ee cummings...
Category
1930s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Oil
Shanty Town
By Robert Noel Blair
Located in Buffalo, NY
You are viewing a modernist American acrylic painting depicting a charming but rundown seaside town at night.
Robert Noel Blair (American, 1912-2003) was an American artist, paint...
Category
1950s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Archival Paper
Previously Available Items
Autumn
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed and dated '59 lower left
Provenance:
Hirschl & Adler Gallery
City Frame, New York
Category
1950s Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Materials
Oil
Clarence Holbrook Carter landscape paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Clarence Holbrook Carter landscape paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Clarence Holbrook Carter in paint, paper, watercolor and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Clarence Holbrook Carter landscape paintings, so small editions measuring 19 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Henry Martin Gasser, Harold Vincent Skene, and Enid Smiley. Clarence Holbrook Carter landscape paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $7,500 and tops out at $30,000, while the average work can sell for $24,000.
Artists Similar to Clarence Holbrook Carter
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Clarence Holbrook Carter Art
Clarence Holbrook Carter Figurative Paintings
Clarence Holbrook Carter Abstract Paintings
Clarence Holbrook Carter Animal Paintings
Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Clarence Holbrook Carter Prints and Multiples
Clarence Holbrook Carter Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Clarence Holbrook Carter Mixed Media