Henrietta Berk was the daughter of a seamstress and spent much of her childhood in an orphanage. She moved to the Bay Area in the 1950s and studied at the California College of Art in Oakland. Berk was famed for her still-life paintings of flowers, interiors and abstract landscapes, and her work was exhibited in galleries from New York to Tokyo. Celebrities including Julie Andrews, Blake Edwards, Kim Novak and Edward G. Robinson collected her works. One of her paintings, which was shown in the 1967 movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? still hangs in the U.S. Embassy in Peru. Berk is still remembered in the Bay Area for a 1972 publicity stunt benefitting the Oakland Symphony, where she dressed as Lady Godiva and rode through Jack London Square wearing a bodystocking and several wigs to “cover the entire situation,” as she put it. In her later years, Berk suffered from blindness caused by diabetes.
"Taos Road" Henrietta Berk, Abstracted Landscape, Bright Red, Expressionist
By Henrietta Berk
Located in New York, NY
Henrietta Berk Taos Road, circa 1966 Signed lower left Oil on canvas 54 x 47 inches Provenance The artist The Carter Gallery, Los Angeles Phyllis and Stanley Goldberg, Palm Springs,...
Canvas, Oil
$75,000
H 31 in W 27 in D 2 in
Till the Clouds Roll By 1945 Frank Sinatra Mid Century Modern Hollywood Film WPA
By Richard Whorf
Located in New York, NY
Till the Clouds Roll By 1945 Frank Sinatra Mid Century Modern Hollywood Film WPA TILL THE COULDS ROLL BY (Film Set), oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches signed “Richard Whorf” lower right and signed and dated on the verso “R. Whorf/ Dec. 21, 1945. Frame by Hendenryk. ABOUT THE PAINTING This painting is from the collection of Barbara and Frank Sinatra, dated December 21, 1945 (just nine days after Frank Sinatra’s 30th birthday), and depicts the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Culver City backlot during the filming of Till the Clouds Roll By, the direction of the film having been taking over by Richard Whorf in December 1945. It is not presently clear if Whorf gave the Sinatras this painting as a gift, as the presence of the Dalzell Hatfield Galleries label on the verso indicates the painting may have been sourced there. Frank and Nancy Sinatra acquired a number of works from Dalzell Hatfield Galleries during the 1940’s, or perhaps they framed it for the couple. Sinatra performed “Old Man River’ in the film. Sinatra and June Allyson are depicted in the center of the painting. PROVENANCE From the Estate of Mrs. Nancy Sinatra; Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles. An image of the Dalzell Hatfield label and the back of the original frame (which we replaced with a stunning Heydenrk frame) are attached. Nancy Sinatra was Fran's first wife. Nancy Rose Barbato was 17 years old when she met Frank Sinatra, an 18-year-old singer from Hoboken, on the Jersey Shore in the summer of 1934. They married in 1939 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City where Frank gave Nancy a recording of a song dedicated to her titled "Our Love" as a wedding present. The young newlyweds lived and worked in New Jersey, where Frank worked as an unknown singing waiter and master of ceremonies at the Rustic Cabin while Nancy worked as a secretary at the American Type Founders. His musical career took off after singing with big band leaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey...
Canvas, Oil
Coney Island, Fourth of July
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Coney Island, Fourth of July, c. 1940s, oil on canvas applied to Masonite, signed upper right, 26 x 21 1/2 inches, presented in its original frame During the 1930s and 40s, Coney I...
Canvas, Oil, Board
Neighbors
By Norman Barr
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Neighbors, 1939, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 22 x 26 inches Norman Barr was an American Scene painter and muralist known for his poignant depictions of working-clas...
Canvas, Oil
$2,040Sale Price|20% Off
H 48 in W 48 in D 1 in
"One Thousand Words" - Surreal Figurative
Located in Soquel, CA
Bold figurative work by Richard Cronin (American, b. 1952). Two figures stand on a patio, turned away from each other. The figures and scene are rendere...
Canvas, Oil
$2,900
H 15 in W 19 in
Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism Modernism
By Henry Ernst Schnakenberg
Located in New York, NY
Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism Modernism Henry Schnakenberg (1982 - 1970) Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape 11 1/2 x 15 1/2 sight Oil on Canvas Signed lower left 14 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches, Framed Bio In many cases, American artists visited the Armory Show in New York in 1913, and returned to their studios to react to or against what they saw. However, for Henry Ernest Schnakenberg it was much more life altering. Prior to visiting this important exhibition of American and European modernist art...
Canvas, Oil
$950
H 10.5 in W 19.75 in D 1.25 in
A Bustling, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Summer Harbor Scene of Martha's Vineyard
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A Bustling 1950s Mid-Century Modern Harbor Scene of Martha's Vineyard by Famed Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A busy harbor scene of sandy shoreline, docks and boat...
Canvas, Oil
Night Life in the City - Figurative Cityscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Night Life in the City - Figurative Cityscape Mid 1960s cityscape by an unknown artist. Oil on artists board. Image, 16"H x 20"W
Canvas, Oil, Illustration Board
$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
$1,300
H 24.41 in W 15.75 in
Missouri American Modernist famous in Europe - abstracted mid century Venice
Located in Norwich, GB
Meet the genuinely exciting modernist William Einstein, who is probably better known in Europe, where numerous publications on his work have been written, than in his native US! Eins...
Canvas, Oil
$7,500
H 30 in W 36 in
Fish Story oil painting by Williams Charles Palmer
Located in Hudson, NY
This painting is illustrated in the Catalogue of the 1945 Encyclopedia Britannica Collection of Contemporary American Painting, p.84. Written and edited by Grace Pagano. "Painting ...
Canvas, Oil
A Laborer Resting
By Robert Gilbert
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A Laborer Resting, 1930, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower center, 36 x 30 inches, inscribed verso “July – 1930 / Title – A Laborer Resting / Artist – Robert Gilbert / Price - $2...
Canvas, Oil
Morning Sunrise, Mid Century Laguna Hills Figurative Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Beautiful mid century plein air figural landscape of Laguna Niguel, California by an unknown artist (American, 20th Century). The morning sun gli...
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
Grove
By Henrietta Berk
Located in La Canada Flintridge, CA
Henrietta Berk (American, 1919-1990), Grove, 1968, oil on canvas, signed lower left, canvas size is : 44"h x 44"w. Some cracks on the painting because of age and some small painting...
Oil
Dawn
By Henrietta Berk
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Beautiful expressionist painting by Bay Area Figurative Movement artist, Henrietta Berk (1919-1990). Dawn, 1965. Oil on canvas measures 16 x 16 inches; 19 x 19 inches in original fra...
Cotton Canvas, Oil