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.
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
$12,000
H 32 in W 35.75 in
Docks & Boats by Cottages, New York City Art Dealer, Grace Borgenicht Gallery
Located in Grand Rapids, MI
Grace Borgenicht Brandt (American, 1915-2001) Signed: G. Borgenicht " Docks & Boats by Cottages " circa 1950-1955 Oil on canvas 20" x 24" Housed in a Vintage 4" Ornamented Frame...
Canvas, Oil
$4,000
H 19.75 in W 23.625 in D 0.5 in
Signed Lowell Herrero Beach Scene Painting
Located in New York, NY
Lowell Herrero (American, 1921-2015) Untitled, c. Late 20th-Early 21st Century Oil on canvas 16 x 20 in. Framed: 19 3/4 x 23 5/8 in. Signed lower right:...
Canvas, Oil
$1,600
H 20 in W 24 in D 1.25 in
A Serene 1940's Vermont Landscape Painting by Harold Haydon
By Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A scenic, American Modern 1940s Vermont summer landscape painting, depicting evergreen trees overlooking a placid lake by notable Chicago artist, Harold Haydon. Oil on canvas, measu...
Oil, Canvas
$2,800
H 25 in W 31 in D 1.5 in
A Serene 1940s, Modern Western Landscape Painting with Horses by Francis Chapin
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A serene, 1940s Modern Western landscape painting with horses by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin. Accompanied with a handsome walnut brown stained wooden frame. Canvas size: 22 x 28 inches. Framed size: 25 x 31 inches. Estate stamped on reverse. Provenance: Estate of the artist. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of the city’s most popular and celebrated painters in his day. Born at the dawn of the 20th Century in Bristolville, Ohio, Chapin graduated from Washington and Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922. He would set down deep roots at the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibiting there over 31 times between 1926 and 1951. In 1927 Chapin won the prestigious Bryan Lathrop Fellowship from the Art Institute – a prize that funded the artist’s yearlong study trip to Europe. Upon his return to the United States, Chapin decided to remain in Chicago, noting the freedom Chicago artists have in developing independently of the pressure to conform to pre-existing molds (as was experienced by artists in New York, for example). Chapin became a popular instructor at the Art Institute, teaching there from 1929 to 1947 and at the Art Institute’s summer art school in Saugatuck, Michigan (now called Oxbow) between 1934 – 1938 (he was the director of the school from 1941-1945). Chapin’s contemporaries among Chicago’s artists included such luminaries as Ivan Le Lorraine Albright...
Canvas, Oil
Red House (The Hoffman House)
By Harry Leith-Ross
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Harry Leith-Ross (American, 1886 - 1973) Red House (Hoffman House) Oil on canvas, weathered wood 20th century frame 35” x 30” Signed lower right, ‘Leith-Ross’ Exhibition sticker v...
Canvas, Oil
$2,600
H 24.5 in W 36.5 in D 1 in
A Large Compelling Mid-Century Modern Painting, Rome at Night, Ponte Sant’Angelo
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A large, compelling Mid-Century Modern painting of Rome by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin. Depicting a vibrant nocturne view of the historic Ponte Sant’Angelo, the painting da...
Oil, Canvas
$78,000
H 51 in W 33 in D 2 in
Summer Resort in Michigan -Modernist Mid-Century Saugatuck Oil Painting
By William Schwartz
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 ...
Canvas, Oil
$1,600
H 30.25 in W 24.25 in D 2 in
A Fantastic, Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Jockey, Horse Race, by Rudolph Pen
By Rudolph Pen
Located in Chicago, IL
A Wonderful, Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Jockey & Horse Race by Noted Chicago Artist, Rudolph Pen. Painted circa 1955, the painting exemplifies the artist's love of horse racin...
Canvas, Oil
$1,100
H 23 in W 18 in D 1 in
Modern American Scene Painting, Historic Geauga County Courthouse, Chardon, Ohio
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A Colorful, Picturesque 1950s American Scene Autumn Landscape Painting "Courthouse" by Famed Chicago Modern Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). The painting depicts the historic...
Oil, Canvas
$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
$2,600
H 23 in W 29 in D 1.75 in
A Fine, Vintage 1930s Landscape, Island Lake, Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada
By Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A striking, finely painted vintage 1930s Modern Northwoods landscape scene, Island Lake, painted in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada by notable Chicago artist, Harold Haydon. Many of...
Oil, Canvas
$9,500
H 32 in W 42.5 in
"Tugboat in New York Harbor" Ernest Fiene, Modernist, WPA, Cloudy Horizon
By Ernest Fiene
Located in New York, NY
Ernest Fiene Tugboat in New York Harbor Signed lower right Oil on canvas 24 1/2 x 34 1/2 inches Ernest Fiene was born in Elberfeld, Germany in 1894. As a teenager, Fiene immigrated...
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