Frank Richards Art

Work : Original Drawing, Handmade Artwork, Unique Work. The work has been treated with UV-resistant varnish and it is not framed. Medium : Watercolour, Soft Pastel and Oil based col...

Max Kuehne (1880 - 1968) Train Station, circa 1910 Watercolor on paper 8 1/4 x 10 1/4 inches Signed lower right Provenance: Private Collection, Illinois Max Kuehne was born in Halle, Germany on November 7, 1880. During his adolescence the family immigrated to America and settled in Flushing, New York. As a young man, Max was active in rowing events, bicycle racing, swimming and sailing. After experimenting with various occupations, Kuehne decided to study art, which led him to William Merritt Chase's famous school in New York; he was trained by Chase himself, then by Kenneth Hayes Miller. Chase was at the peak of his career, and his portraits were especially in demand. Kuehne would have profited from Chase's invaluable lessons in technique, as well as his inspirational personality. Miller, only four years older than Kuehne, was another of the many artists to benefit from Chase's teachings. Even though Miller still would have been under the spell of Chase upon Kuehne's arrival, he was already experimenting with an aestheticism that went beyond Chase's realism and virtuosity of the brush. Later Miller developed a style dependent upon volumetric figures that recall Italian Renaissance prototypes. Kuehne moved from Miller to Robert Henri in 1909. Rockwell Kent, who also studied under Chase, Miller, and Henri, expressed what he felt were their respective contributions: "As Chase had taught us to use our eyes, and Henri to enlist our hearts, Miller called on us to use our heads." (Rockwell Kent, It's Me O Lord: The Autobiography of Rockwell Kent. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1955, p. 83). Henri prompted Kuehne to search out the unvarnished realities of urban living; a notable portion of Henri's stylistic formula was incorporated into his work. Having received such a thorough foundation in art, Kuehne spent a year in Europe's major art museums to study techniques of the old masters. His son Richard named Ernest Lawson as one of Max Kuehne's European traveling companions. In 1911 Kuehne moved to New York where he maintained a studio and painted everyday scenes around him, using the rather Manet-like, dark palette of Henri. A trip to Gloucester during the following summer engendered a brighter palette. In the words of Gallatin (1924, p. 60), during that summer Kuehne "executed some of his most successful pictures, paintings full of sunlight . . . revealing the fact that he was becoming a colorist of considerable distinction." Kuehne was away in England the year of the Armory Show (1913), where he worked on powerful, painterly seascapes on the rocky shores of Cornwall. Possibly inspired by Henri - who had discovered Madrid in 1900 then took classes there in 1906, 1908 and 1912 - Kuehne visited Spain in 1914; in all, he would spend three years there, maintaining a studio in Granada. He developed his own impressionism and a greater simplicity while in Spain, under the influence of the brilliant Mediterranean light. George Bellows convinced Kuehne to spend the summer of 1919 in Rockport, Maine (near Camden). The influence of Bellows was more than casual; he would have intensified Kuehne's commitment to paint life "in the raw" around him. After another brief trip to Spain in 1920, Kuehne went to the other Rockport (Cape Ann, Massachusetts) where he was accepted as a member of the vigorous art colony, spearheaded by Aldro T. Hibbard. Rockport's picturesque ambiance fulfilled the needs of an artist-sailor: as a writer in the Gloucester Daily Times explained, "Max Kuehne came to Rockport to paint, but he stayed to sail." The 1920s was a boom decade for Cape Ann, as it was for the rest of the nation. Kuehne's studio in Rockport was formerly occupied by Jonas Lie. Kuehne spent the summer of 1923 in Paris, where in July, André Breton started a brawl as the curtain went up on a play by his rival Tristan Tzara; the event signified the demise of the Dada movement. Kuehne could not relate to this avant-garde art but was apparently influenced by more traditional painters — the Fauves, Nabis, and painters such as Bonnard. Gallatin perceived a looser handling and more brilliant color in the pictures Kuehne brought back to the States in the fall. In 1926, Kuehne won the First Honorable Mention at the Carnegie Institute, and he re-exhibited there, for example, in 1937 (Before the Wind). Besides painting, Kuehne did sculpture, decorative screens, and furniture work with carved and gilded molding. In addition, he designed and carved his own frames, and John Taylor Adams encouraged Kuehne to execute etchings. Through his talents in all these media he was able to survive the Depression, and during the 1940s and 1950s these activities almost eclipsed his easel painting. In later years, Kuehne's landscapes and still-lifes show the influence of Cézanne and Bonnard, and his style changed radically. Max Kuehne died in 1968. He exhibited his work at the National Academy of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, and in various New York City galleries. Kuehne's works are in the following public collections: the Detroit Institute of Arts (Marine Headland), the Whitney Museum (Diamond Hill...

This exquisite watercolor by the Swedish artist Olle Hjortzberg (1872–1959) captures a serene view of Montreux, Switzerland, in July 1902. Known for his masterful use of color and li...

Original watercolor on archival paper of a Rocky Mountain Meadow by the well known American artist, Werner Drewes. Signed lower right. Titled and dated 1956 on verso of sheet. Con...

Exclusive limited edition cyanotype diptych. Details: + Title: Azure Clouds + Year: 2024 + Edition Size: 20 + Stamped and Certificate of Authenticity provided + Measurements : 100x21...

Initialed lower left, 'C.H.' for Charles Constantine Hoffbauer (French, 1875-1957) and painted circa 1900. Accompanied by the original artist-signed mat, original backing with inscription and newspaper clipping from Los Angeles Times' review of Hoffbauer's 1949 Legion of Honor Exhibition. Mat dimensions: 12.75 x 13.5 Inches An exceptionally fine and detailed, cabinet-sized gouache showing members of the Napoleonic guard relaxing in the courtyard of the Cathedral of Uspensky Sobor during France's brief occupation of Moscow during the fall of 1812. Born in Paris in 1875, Charles Hoffbauer studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Fernand Cormon and Gustave Moreau and, during his studies, became acquainted with Matisse, Rouault, and Marquet. He was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards including an Honorable Mention in the Salon of 1896, and prizes at the Salons of 1898 and 1899. He was awarded a bronze medal at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900 and, in the same year, a French government scholarship, the Prix National du Salon, that allowed him to travel and study in Italy, Greece and Egypt. In 1902, he won the Prix Rosa Bonheur. At the Salon of 1904, the French government purchased 'Champs de Bataille' for the Musée du Luxembourg and Hoffbauer was elected a member of the Legion of Honor. Hoffbauer served in the French Army as an official war artist during the first world war, winning the Croix de Guerre and acting as liaison officer to the American camouflage section. On the recommendation of the mural painter, James Wall Finn, Hoffbauer received the 1935 commission to paint the murals for Battle Abbey, the Confederate memorial in Richmond, Virginia. He revisited America to accept a commission for the mural in the Missouri State Capitol, and was appointed to membership of the jury of the 1937 International Exposition. Two years later, he became an American citizen and settled in Rockport, Massachusetts. Charles Hoffbauer's work may be found in the permanent collections of numerous national museums including the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Reference: Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 2, p. 1585; Thieme-Becker Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zu Gengenwart, Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1992, Vol. 17/18, p. 246; E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 7, p. 105; Biographical Encyclopedia of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers of the U.S.: Colonial to 2002, Bob Creps, Dealer’s Choice Books, Inc. 2002, Vol. 1, p. 643; Steen, James T. "The Story of a Painting," Carnegie Magazine 31/32 (February 1957): 57-59; Charles Hoffbauer (1875-1957). Drawings, Temperas & Oil Paintings. Exh. cat. Somerville, MA: Gropper Art Gallery, 1977; Glueck, Grace. New York: The Painted City. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books...

Anne Diggory (b. 1951) Five at the Rail, Saratoga Springs Racecourse, New York, circa 1978 Watercolor on paper 4 3/4 x 6 inches Initialed lower right: Dig...

Signed lower left, 'Denis Paul Noyer' (French, b. 1940) and created circa 1975. An exceptionally finely-detailed, silver point and colored pencil drawing showing a view of a Parisia...

Signed lower right, 'V. Isbrand' for Victor Isbrand (Danish, 1897-1989) and titled, 'Venedig' (Venice). Precocious as a child, Victor Isbrand painted professionally from a young age...

Beautiful mid century landscape of a historic California mission, highlighting its iconic architectural details such as a columned arches, white was...

A Day out in the Highlands Scottish School, circa 1830's period original watercolour painting on paper unframed painting: 12.75 x 16.5 inches A lovely tranquil scene of figures enj...

Important Russian-French Impressionist Gouache & Watercolor painting by Pyotr Alexandrovich Nilus (Пётр Александрович Нилус in French Pierre Nilouss (1869–1943), signed & dated 1928....