Daniel Celentano was born in New York, the fifth of 15 children of Neapolitan immigrants. He lived most of his life in the uptown Manhattan area known as Italian Harlem, and much of his work chronicles the events and people of that neighborhood. At the age of 12, Celentano became the first pupil of renowned American Scene painter Thomas Hart Benton and later assisted Benton in the execution of several murals. The two artists remained friends throughout their lives. By 16, Celentano had won several scholarships, one of which enabled him to study for three years at the Cape Cod School of Art under Charles W. Hawthorne. Other grants came from the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, and the National Academy of Design. Celentano began showing his work in New York City in 1930 when he participated in an exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz's Opportunity Gallery. His success there was followed by exhibitions at other New York galleries and participation in major museum annuals, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Carnegie Institute. Celentano showed six paintings at the Art Exhibition by the Staff Artists of the American Museum of Natural History. In 1936, the Carnegie Institute and the Chicago Art Institute bought works by Celentano exhibited at Walker Galleries. The Whitney Museum of American Art followed suit the next year, purchasing Celentano's entry First Born in the museum's biennial exhibition. The Walker Galleries gave Celentano his first one-man exhibition in 1938. Celentano joined the mural division of the WPA, where he created murals for the Queens Borough Public Library, Flushing Branch (Commerce, 1936), and P.S. 150 in Queens (Children in Constructive Recreation and Cultural Activity, 1940). In 1938, he won a commission through the Treasury Department to execute the mural, The Country Store and Post Office, for the U.S. Post Office in Vidalia, Georgia. With the outbreak of World War II, Celentano joined the art department of the Grumman Aircraft Corporation, Long Island, where he executed a mural entitled The Flight of Man, which depicts the advancement of transportation and communications from ancient times to present. The mural is now at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island. Daniel Celentano's work can be found in many museum collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and High Museum of Art.
Strike Breakers — social realism, Great Depression
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Daniel Ralph Celentano, Untitled (Strike Breakers) pencil, c. 1934. Signed, lower right. A fine, social-realist drawing, on cream wove paper, with margins (1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches), in...
Pencil
$5,500
NYC Subway Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism WPA Modern 1930s
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in New York, NY
NYC Subway Riders Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism WPA Modern 1930s Daniel Celentano (1902 - 1980) Subway Scene, 1930s 8 x 9 inches Ink and wash on paper Singed lower ...
Paper, Ink, Gouache
$10,000Sale Price|20% Off
"Going to the Festival" WPA Ashcan 20th Century American Scene Modern Realism
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in New York, NY
"Going to the Festival" WPA Ashcan 20th Century American Scene Modern Realism Daniel Celentano (1902 - 1980) "Going to the Festival," 14 1/2 x 10 1/2. Watercolor on paper, c. 1930s....
Paper, Watercolor
$28,000Sale Price|20% Off
FLIGHT American Futurism Modernism Scene WPA Mid-Century Oil Painting Realism
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in New York, NY
FLIGHT American Futurism Modernism Scene WPA Mid-Century Oil Painting Realism Daniel Celentano (1902-1980) "Flight," 26 x 26 inches. Oil on canvas, c. 1940s. Signed lower right. Ori...
Canvas, Oil
$266Sale Price|30% Off
H 6.5 in W 8.5 in D 1 in
English School, circa 1800 Georgian watercolor, The Sailor's return
Located in Harkstead, GB
A delightful rustic scene dating to circa 1800 with the sailor returning to his thankful wife and the domestic idyll of his country cottage. The harbour with sailing ships ferrying c...
Watercolor, Laid Paper
Modernist Cityscape
By Esther Rollick
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original modernist oil painting by American female artist Esther Rollick.
Canvas, Oil
$15,500
H 15 in W 19 in D 1.5 in
Two American Old Western Watercolor Painting Ink & Pencil Drawings Cowboy Horses
By Edward (John Edward) Borein
Located in Portland, OR
Two rare, early, original artworks by American Southwest artist, John Edward Borein (1873–1945). A watercolor painting of a mounted cowboy or vaquero, the other of a vaquero driving ...
Paper, Pencil, Pen, Watercolor
$358
H 19.1 in W 12.6 in D 0.04 in
Interior Design - Drawing by Victor Courtray - 1948
Located in Roma, IT
Interior Design is a beautiful drawing on paper, realized in 1948 by the French architect Victor Courtray (1897-1971). Ink and watercolor on paper. Hand-signed and dated on the low...
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
$175,000
H 37 in W 45 in D 1.5 in
“Middleton Place II, 1974” Wolf Kahn, West Brattleboro, Vermont Barn Oil Canvas
By Wolf Kahn
Located in Yardley, PA
A fantastic early painting from Kahn’s iconic barn series depicting Dr. Middleton’s property in West Brattleboro, VT. Here, Kahn turns a familiar rural motif into something hovering ...
Canvas, Oil
$4,900
H 20 in W 17 in
42nd Street NYC 1923 Deco WPA Ashcan American Modern Cityscape Realism Broadway
By Louis Wolchonok
Located in New York, NY
42nd Street NYC 1923 Deco WPA Ashcan American Modern Cityscape Realism Broadway. 10 x 7 1/2 inches. Graphite on paper. Signed, titled "42nd Street" and dated July 26, 1923, lower l...
Paper, Pencil
$1,250
H 28 in W 25 in
Modernist American Landscape Painting 1950 Mountain Shadow Rare Framed Tranquil
By Francis Kelly
Located in Buffalo, NY
Wonderful modernist landscape painting. Francis Kelly was born in 1927 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received his early education in Chicago and California. He served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1948 when he entered the Art Center School, Los Angeles. During 1951 in 1952 he lived in Paris, attending the Academie de la Grande, Chaumiere. In 1953 he went to the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, and then to the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was graphic laboratory assistant to John Paul Jones. Awarded a Fulbright Grant in 1955 he came to the Graphic Department of the Central School, London. The St. George's Gallery first introduced his etchings in Britain. In 1958 Kelly was awarded the Stacy Grant for painting. His work has been shown at Royal Academy Exhibitions and he has traveled extensively. In 1966 he was appointed Art organizer for the U.S. Embassy "Festival of Arts in Humanities". His paintings were shown in the exhibition "Five American Artists in Britain". During 1976 he acted in a similar capacity on behalf of Windsor & Newton Ltd., who sponsored an exhibition of American artists commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial. He appeared in the film Science in Art. Kelly has studied painting conservation at the Courtald Institute. In 1967 he was sent to the Italian Art and Archives Rescue Fund to Florence to restore flood damaged paintings. In 1971 his book, Art Restoration, was published by David and Charles and in the U.S. by McGraw-Hill. His second book, The Studio and The Artist was published in 1975. Kelly's work has been shown at 24 museums in Great Britain and numerous galleries. Acquisitions have been made by many public and private collections, universities and educational services. During more than 40 years in Britain he has found a growing affinity with the countryside, observing less the well-known landmarks but rather more the timeless rural lanes and by-ways as yet still unspoiled by building and industry. A member of the group in Brighton preserving Brighton's West Pier, he has produced a series of works recording the ravages of time on this finest of Victorian structures.
Canvas, Oil
Vintage Painting of a Tropical Boat Dock
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Transporting oil painting on canvas of a tropical bayscape, possibly the Florida Keys, with boats, pelicans and figures executed in a bold modern style. Signed in the lower right S. ...
Canvas, Oil
$36,000
H 20 in W 30.25 in D 2 in
Late Afternoon - Modernist Mid-Century Midwest Oil Painting
Located in Marco Island, FL
A quintessential American Scene landscape painted by the Chicago Modernist, William Schwartz. Workers in tilled fields surrounding a farmstead under dramatic skies. Painted in 1935...
Canvas, Oil
$78,000
H 51 in W 33 in D 2 in
Summer Resort in Michigan -Modernist Mid-Century Saugatuck Oil Painting
Located in Marco Island, FL
Summer Resort in Michigan is an exceptional work painted by the Chicago Modernist, William Schwartz. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago shortly ...
Oil, Canvas
$18,000
H 28.5 in W 36.5 in
"Susannah and the Elders" Ben Shahn, Social Realist, Biblical Scene, Mid-Century
By Ben Shahn
Located in New York, NY
Ben Shahn Susannah and the Elders, 1947 Signed lower right Watercolor and ink on paper 22 x 29 3/4 inches Provenance The artist The Downtown Gallery, New York Felix Landau Gallery, ...
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Bejeweled Nocturne
By Arthur Meltzer
Located in New York, NY
Arthur Meltzer (American, 1893-1989) Title: Bejeweled Nocturne Medium: Oil on Canvas Size: 22 x 32 inches / 28 ¾ x 38 ½ Markings: Signed lower left Titled and dated 1980 on ...
Canvas, Oil
Self Portrait
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Self Portrait, c. 1940s, oil on canvas, 14 ¼ x 12 1/4 inches, signed lower left, presented in a newer frame This work is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s. Daniel Celentano was an American Scene painter who is well known for depictions of his Italian neighborhood in East Harlem. The son of Italian immigrants, Celentano was born into a large family. As a child, he suffered from polio which impacted the use of his right leg. During this time of struggle and with the support of his parents, Celentano began to focus on art. Once recovered, he began to study painting at the age of twelve with Thomas Hart Benton. In 1918 Celentano won the first of several scholarships to study art at Charles Hawthorne's Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, the New York School of Fine and Applied Art in Greenwich Village, and the National Academy of Design. During the Great Depression, Celentano worked as an artist for Federal public works projects, receiving a commission in 1938 from the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture for a mural entitled The Country Store and Post Office for the post office in Vidalia, Georgia. He also painted murals for two high schools, Andrew Jackson (1940) and St. Albans (1941), both in Queens, and a large mural called Children in Constructive Recreation and Cultural Activity in Public School 150 in Long Island City, as well as assisting William C...
Canvas, Oil
Sold
H 16 in W 18 in D 2 in
Long Beach WPA Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism Modernism Ashcan
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in New York, NY
Long Beach WPA Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism Modernism Ashcan Daniel Ralph Celantano (1902-1980) "Long Beach" 8 x 10 inches Oil on artist board Signed lower left:...
Oil, Board
Sold
H 14 in W 16 in
"A Marro" WPA Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism Modernism Ashcan
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in New York, NY
"A Marro" WPA Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism Modernism Ashcan. Signed lower right. Verso, label of Walker Galleries New York and signed in pencil and titled, A Marro....
Oil, Board
Sold
H 15 in W 17 in D 1 in
"Houseboat" WPA Depression Era American Scene Modernism Realism Work on Paper
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in New York, NY
"Houseboat" WPA Depression Era American Scene Modernism Realism Work on Paper . Daniel Celentano (1902-1980) "Houseboat," 7 x 10 inches. Ink on paper, c. 1930s. Provenance: Janet Ma...
Paper, Ink
Subway
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Daniel Ralph Celentano, Untitled (Subway) pencil, c. 1935. Signed, lower right. A fine, social realist drawing, on cream wove paper, with margins (1 1/8 to 1 1/2 inches); attached wi...
Pencil
Sold
H 16 in W 16 in D 1 in
"Riviters" WPA modernism Mid-Century Workers Modern American Industrial Drawing
By Daniel Ralph Celentano
Located in New York, NY
"Riviters" WPA modernism Mid-Century Workers Modern American Industrial Drawing Daniel Celentano (American 1902 – 1980) "Riveters," 10 x 10 ink on paper. Circa 1940s. WPA modern A...
Paper, Ink