Erik Johnsen Art

Born in Russia, the son of Friede (1878 – 1956) and Benjamin Hoffman (1878 – a. 1942). Benjamin was a dealer in mineral and seltzer water and the family resided on Snediker Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, just down the streetfrom the home where George Gershwin (1898 – 1937) was born. This area of Brooklyn, known as Brownsville, “witnessed the development of one of the largest communities of Eastern European Jewish immigrants during the last decade of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20 th century.” Today, little remains of this once thriving Jewish section of Brooklyn, which today houses many commercial and repair businesses. Hoffman studied at the Art Students League of New York, the National Academy of Design and in the art program at Cooper Union. His work at the National Academy received praise, and in 1921 he was awarded the 2nd prize and an honorable mention from the John Armstrong Chaloner Paris Prize Foundation at the National Academy, which allowed the recipient to study in Paris, France for as long as five years. The following year he was awarded the 1 st prize in the competition (with The Reform Advocate running the headline “Young Jew Wins Art Prize”) as well as the Suydam Bronze Medal for his achievements in the Academy’s Men’s Night Class. In 1923 he was residing in Long Branch, New Jersey, when he was awarded 4th place in the Chaloner competition. Early on, Hoffman exhibited his work throughout the city, including in 1925 with the recently organized Society of Independent Artists. He also received several solo exhibitions during the first part of his career, including one at Ferargil Galleries in 1929. In the spring of 1930 a solo exhibition of his portraits, including paintings and drawings, was held at at Babcock Galleries, where a reviewer noted: “Portraiture is obviously Mr. Hoffman’s specialty… his best work is characterized by a sensitive appreciation of character set down in a vigorous decisive statement. Later that same year, in August, he participated in Babcock’s summer exhibition where reviewer Jerome Klein, writing for The Baltimore Sun, felt Hoffman’s and other artists work was already becoming old fashioned, remarking “…if an effort toward accomplishment is to be made, it must be in the language of today. It is for that reason that such contemporaries as Eugene Higgins and Nathan Hoffman, in this show, seem artists of a bygone era…” The onset of the Great Depression appears to have slowed his success, as was the case for many up-and-coming artists. By 1939 Hoffman had become a gallerist in addition to being a painter, operating the collective exhibition space “Sutton Gallery,” which was originally located at 358 East 57th Street. There Hoffman exhibited his own works as well as those created by other prominent New York artists including David Burliuk (1882 – 1967), Charles C. Curran (1861 – 1942), Louis Eilshemius (1864 – 1941), Ann Goldthwaite (1869 – 1944), Maurice Kish (1895 – 1987), Lawrence Lebduska (1894 – 1966), Bradford Perin and Ellis Wilson...

Sir Matthew Smith, CBE (British, 1879 – 1959) Still life with sculpture oil on board 21.1/4 x 23.3/4 in. (54 x 60.3 cm.) Provenance: Removed with the contents of his Aix studio, by Marion Monay, tfor the aertistin early 1940, to Beauchene, the nearby house of fellow artist Harry Morton Colvile (1905-1992) Given by the artist toColvile in January 1946 along with otherstudio effects. Given by Colvile’s only child, Professor Georgiana Colvile (1943-2018) to the present owner circa 2000 Literature: Alice Keene, ‘The Two Mr Smiths, The Life and Works of Matthew Smith’, 1995, pp.61,65,70 & 128 When in early 1940 Smith went back to Aix to pack up and close his studio there and send back to London all the paintings possible, the residue was hidden (see Literature, Keene 1995, p.61,65 &70) in various locations around Aix by Marion Monay, a good deal at Beauchene the house of his and her friend Harry Colvile who had been Monay’s lover prior to Smith (see Literature, Keene 1995, p.59) In 1946 with the war over, Smith went to Aix to retrieve all he could manage to ship back to England but what he had to leave at Beauchene he give to Colvile, including the clay female...

**Technical Sheet** Title: Cadaqués Artist: Rafael Durán Benet (Terrassa, 1931 - Barcelona, 2015) Technique: Oil on canvas board Dimensions: 13 x 16 inches (33 x 41 cm) Year: Un...

Signed fauvist oil on canvas landscape circa 1910 by French post impressionist painter Robert Antoine Pinchon. This piece depicts a garden in bloom in summer. The garden is beside th...

Grant Wiggins makes colorful paintings with dynamic compositions and clean lines. His vibrant geometric paintings draw upon the energy of contemporary graphic culture.

"Trois Pêcheurs" Louis Pastour (France, 1876-1948) Oil on board Signed l.l. 7 7/8 x 4 7/8 (8 1/8 x 11 1/8 frame) inches Louis Pastour was called the “...

Original oil on artist board painting by the Russian/American artist Ben Benn. Signed lower right and signed titled and dated in pencil verso. 1929. Overall in custom contemporary ...

Unique piece Pedestal in walnut wood 10,5 x 20 x 2,5 cm - 4,1 x 7,8 x 0,9 in Arnaud Billottet is a French artist born in 1977 who lives & works in Paris, France. Arnaud is an artist...

In this oil painting , I sought to capture the ephemeral dance of light through vibrant leaves, a tribute to nature's quiet yet profound transitions. The impressionistic strokes conj...

**Technical Sheet** **Title:** Cadaqués **Artist:** Rafael Durán Benet **Technique:** Oil on canvas board **Dimensions:** 13 x 16.1 inches **Support:** Canvas board **Fram...

Rafael Duran Benet (1931-2015) - Sitges - Oil Oil on canvas glued to cardboard. Measures work 33x41 cm. Frameless. Rafael Duran Benet (Terrassa, 1931 - Barcelona, 2015) is a Catalan...

**TECHNICAL SHEET** - **Author:** Rafael Durán Benet (1931-2015) - **Title:** Robledo - **Technique:** Oil on canvas mounted on board - **Dimensions:** 13 x 16 in - **Framed:** No -...