Born to a prominent family in Philadelphia on January 24, 1885, George Biddle put his interest in art aside to accommodate his family's wishes and study law. He graduated from Harvard University in 1908 and Harvard Law in 1911, becoming a member of the Philadelphia bar. However, by the end of that same year, Biddle abandoned law and began studying art at the Académie Julian in Paris. Biddle continued his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts during 1912 and 1913. He returned to Europe in 1914, studying in Munich and then in Madrid, where he studied printmaking. Biddle also spent the summers of 1915 and 1916 painting Impressionist works in France before he enlisted in the army in 1917. Following World War I, Biddle experimented in sculpture and graphics in Tahiti for two years and then in France between 1924–26. In 1927, Biddle returned to the United States settling in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. The following year, he traveled through Mexico on a sketching trip with Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera. During the Great Depression, Biddle actively sought government funding for the arts. His correspondence with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was a former classmate at Groton Preparatory School and Harvard, resulted in the establishment of the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration. The Depression fueled Biddle's desire to create socially conscious art. He established himself as a Social Realist through powerful murals depicting poverty. The Tenement, which he created in 1935 for the Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C., was his first federally commissioned mural. The project led to controversy as people deemed his depiction of poverty to be inartistic. In addition to his artwork, Biddle authored several art books including An Artist at War and An American Artist's Story and he contributed regularly to national art magazines. In 1937, Biddle wrote the introduction for Boardman Robinson: Ninety-Three Drawings which was published by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, where he taught in 1936 and 1937. In addition to teaching in Colorado, Biddle later taught at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, the American Academy in Rome and Saugatuck, Michigan. He served as a chairman of the U.S. War Artists Committee during World War II and in 1950, President Truman appointed him to the Fine Arts Commission for which he served a 14-year term. Biddle died on November 6, 1973, in Croton-on-Hudson.
Portrait of Helene Sardeau (The Artist’s Wife)
By George Biddle
Located in Los Angeles, CA
(Note: This work is part of our exhibition Connected by Creativity: WPA Era Works from the Collection of Leata and Edward Beatty Rowan) Fresco, 20 x 16 inches unframed, 22 x 18 inch...
Plaster, Mixed Media
$489
H 16 in W 12 in
America impressionist portrait young boy 1937 Modern Figurative Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
A fantastic modern portrait of a young boy. This work is signed what appears to be Paul Sellers and dated 1937, but we have not found information on the artist. The work dated 1936...
Oil, Board
$1,600
H 21 in W 8.5 in
"Don't Cry Long" Abstracted and Distorted Self-Portrait, One Crying Eye
Located in Detroit, MI
"Don't Cry Long" is a self-portrait of the artist and an unusual one at that in which the artist portrays herself shedding tears. Perhaps it is an expression of some grief experienced by Ms. Woodlock, but it also admonishes her to not "Cry Long" while at the same time poking fun because of her elongated face and the one lone "long" tear tracing a pattern down her face. In addition to self-portraits, Ethelyn painted commissioned portraits. In this painting her head is cocked and her famous bangs hang down her forehead. Compare two self-portraits, “Up From Under”, and “M’Eyes" to "Don't Cry Long." The major differences are the close facial view and the brilliant blood red paint that fills the entire canvas. This painting is included in the book, "Dreams Have Wings: An Artist's Journey into Magic and Mystery" printed in the United States, 1985. She describes "Don't Cry Long" as showing how funny looking we are, if we cry too long. Ethelyn Woodlock...
Oil, Masonite
$12,000
H 33.38 in W 28.38 in D 2.5 in
“The Big City, 1948” Grand Central Station NYC Manhattan Female WPA Modernist
Located in Yardley, PA
“The Big City, 1948” by Anna Elkan Meltzer (American, 1896-1974) One of Meltzer’s finest works, this painting encapsulates the organized chaos of Grand Central Terminal in NYC in th...
Oil, Canvas
$6,800
H 15.5 in W 14.5 in D 16 in
Saturday Evening Post Illustration. “ The Devil’s Stronghold” Original Magazine
By Edwin Georgi
Located in Miami, FL
The work is mostly black and white to indicate that this is a night scene. On closer inspection, you will see areas of magenta and ivory throughout The publisher's label on verso ide...
Gouache, Illustration Board, India Ink, Pencil
"Portrait of Millen Brand"
By Nahum Tschacbasov
Located in Southampton, NY
Here for your consideration is a museum exhibited oil on canvas work by the Russian/American artist, Nahum Tschacbasov. Signed lower left and dated 1975. The border of this painting...
Oil, Canvas
$21,600Sale Price|20% Off
H 26 in W 121 in D 3 in
An Ideal Head of a Woman
By Alfred Henry Maurer
Located in New York, NY
In the tradition of Modigliani, Maurer's depictions of women are expressive and lively. America had very few modernists who painted in this manner but Maurer is famous for exactly t...
Oil, Gesso, Board
The Red Balloon
Located in Grand Rapids, MI
American, Late 20th Century In the Manner of Lucio Ranucci Signed: Ramsey (Lower, Left) " The Red Balloon " Oil on Canvas 36" x 24" Housed in a 3" Wood Frame with a 5/8" Linen...
Canvas, Oil
$3,450Sale Price|40% Off
H 24.75 in W 30.5 in D 1.75 in
Framed Watercolor Portrait of Two Women – Figurative Exterior Scene Art
By Lloyd Moylan
Located in Denver, CO
This vibrant modernist watercolor on paper by Lloyd Moylan features a captivating portrait of two women seated in an outdoor landscape. Richly painted in a harmonious palette of pink...
Watercolor
$1,200
H 24.75 in W 17.75 in D 1 in
An Introspective, Modern 1940s Portrait of a Seated Young Female Ballet Dancer
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A captivating, Modern 1940s portrait painting of a young female ballet dancer by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A skilled and expressive studio portrait of a ...
Masonite, Oil
$2,600
H 29 in W 24 in D 1 in
Woman at Basin, Picasso Style Portrait of a Female Nude, American Modernist
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Woman by Basin" by Philadelphia born modernist and surrealist painter Leon Kelly, is a framed and matted portrait of a female nude. The 22.5" x 17.75" mixed media on artist board i...
Mixed Media
$9,500
H 26 in W 22 in D 2 in
American modernist portrait of a young woman by Allen Tucker
By Allen Tucker
Located in Colfax, CA
American modern portrait of a young woman with a bow in her hair by Allen Tucker. Tucker was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1866 and graduated from the School of Mines at Columbia Uni...
Oil
Portrait of a Child
By Will Barnet
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original modern abstract portrait of a child by American artist Will Barnet. The work has a letter of provenance from the artist's wife. The i...
Oil, Wood
Winter (Winter on the Hudson)
By George Biddle
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This work is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Winter or Winter on the Hudson, 1927, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 36 x 36 inches, ...
Oil
Sold
H 22.5 in W 26.5 in D 1.5 in
Hooverville by Day (Colorado), 1940s Signed Oil Landscape Painting Neighborhood
By George Biddle
Located in Denver, CO
1940s oil on canvas painting by George Biddle (1885-1973) titled "Hooverville by Day (Colorado)". Signed and dated by the artist in the lower left corner, titled verso. Painting depi...
Canvas, Oil
Industrial Scene
By George Biddle
Located in Los Angeles, CA
GEORGE BIDDLE "INDUSTRIAL SCENE" OIL ON CANVASBOARD, SIGNED AMERICAN, C.1930 16 X 20 INCHES George Biddle 1885-1973 George Biddle, sculptor, painter and graphic artist and illustrator was born in Philadelphia in 1885. Biddle's early academic schooling was "constantly at war with natural creative instincts, and was possibly the cause for his two early breakdowns, at sixteen, and again at twenty-three." Biddle got an A.B. and LL.D. degree from Harvard and at the time accepted that he, like other Biddle's before him would follow in the tradition of the famous Biddle family of lawyers. He passed the state bar exams at the age of twenty-six, and at the very same time, much to the chagrin of his family, "at last determined to become a painter" the war within was over. He studied in Paris, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (two years) and Munich. Biddle also studied with Ole Nordmark. He stated "I gobbled up museums, French impressionism, cubism, futurism, the Old Masters; I copied Valequez in Madrid, Rubens in Munich; I fell under the spell of Mary Cassatt's' passion and integrity, and through her eyes I was influenced by Degas. I was desperately in earnest to overcome my late start." The onset of the World War, in which Biddle served for two years, was another setback the artist had to overcome for he was already thirty-four and still a student. Undeterred Biddle turned at first to Europe then the tropics for inspiration and spent two years in Polynesia toiling with failed attempts at expressionistic painting. He then went to Paris to further experiment with stone and wood, and modeled in clay. He cut block prints and made designs for marquetry, embroidery, stitch work and pottery. Of those years that he regarded as unhappy, he wrote in his autobiography: "I began to feel how different from our own is the French mentality; and I realized how actually different in motivation and content is our own best American art." He returned to America in 1922 at the age of thirty-seven. In the early summer of 1930, he traveled to Charleston, South Carolina and made ink and watercolor sketches that he later transformed into oil paintings and lithographs. During the mid thirties Biddle settled in Croton-on-Hudson with his second wife where he remained for the rest of his life. Biddle used his friendship with Franklin Roosevelt to initiate the ambitious Federal Art Project, later known as the W.P.A., that employed artists of all sorts. Biddle completed murals for the New Brunswick, NJ, post office; Department of Justice...
Oil