James Van Fossan Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Maurycy Trębacz (1861 – 1941) was one of the most popular Jewish painters in Poland in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many of his paintings were lost in the Holocaust, but a representative selection of his artwork survived.Trębacz died of starvation in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto during the Nazi German occupation of Poland. Maurycy Trębacz, along with Samuel Hirszenberg, Jakub Weinles, and Leopold Pilichowski, belonged to the first generation of Jewish artists in Poland who broke away from the religious prohibition on portraying a human figure (see below). The studies show his mastery of painting, his own unique style and great imagination. Trębacz was noted within the European art-world as a master portrait and landscape painter,[1] but above all he was also a rare chronicler of the contemporary Jewish life, depicting a world that is now lost. His popular subjects included praying Rabbis, old men, street and Jewish domestic scenes, and genre painting depicting the everyday side of life. His psychological portraits of Jews earned him the greatest popularity and critical acclaim, and influenced the work of other Jewish painters in Poland. Notably, Trębacz's oil painting "The Good Samaritan", reportedly stolen in 1904 at the World's Fair, was recently sold at auction at Sotheby's. Born in 1861 in Warsaw, the son of David Trębacz, a house painter, Maurycy (Mojżesz) at the age of 16 years was admitted to the school of drawing by professor Wojciech Gerson and Aleksander Kamiński. Three years later, with the support of Leopold Horowitz, he received a scholarship sponsored by lawyer Stanisław Rotwand, and moved to Kraków where he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in the studios of Jan Matejko, Leopold Loeffler and Władysław Łuszczkiewicz. From 1882, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Sandor Wagner (until 1884) and received the grand silver medal there at the completion of his studies for the work "Martyrdom". Between 1889 and 1890, he studied in Paris at the Académie Colarossi. He lived and worked in Munich for 4 years before returning to Warsaw. Over time, Trębacz worked in Lviv and Drohobych, and eventually moved permanently to Łódź, where he founded and ran a private art school until September 1939. He is often criticized for giving in to popular demand later on in his career. Pressured by financial sponsors, he began to produce sentimental theme portraits pertaining to the bucolic life of country folk. Trębacz made his successful artistic début twice, first at the Munich Kunstverein, and then at the Krywult Salon in Warsaw as a 23-year-old painter. His another big success was the participation of painting "Good Samaritan" (1886, pictured) in a Kunstverein exhibition in Munich as well as at the I National Art Exhibition in Kraków and in Warsaw at the Zachęta Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts. The painting was also awarded a gold medal at the Universal World Exposition in Chicago. Subsequently, Trębacz also received a bronze medal at the Paris Universal World Exposition of 1889. "Good Samaritan" (1886), book engraving from painting by Maurycy Trębacz, Warsaw Maurycy Trębacz died of hunger in the Łódź Ghetto...

Graphite and conté crayon on paper Signed and dated, l.r. This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Mark Beard, born in 1956 in Salt Lake City, now lives in Ne...

John Collingham Moore (England, 1829-1880) four children, circa 1860s Rare pencil, watercolor and white wash by listed artist John Collingham Moore, 19th century. Here we have the children of Henry and Elizabeth Young...

English School, 18th century Pen and black ink with gray wash on cream laid paper, 9 1/4 x 5 inches (238 x132 mm). 1/4 inch repaired loss, top center, to the left of the figure’s h...

Conté crayon on paper Signed, l.r. This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Mark Beard, born in 1956 in Salt Lake City, now lives in New York City. His works ...

One of the characters in this scene is a mature man, kneeling with his head bowed and hands clasped near his chest in a gesture of supplication. His posture conveys a sense of humili...

Graphite on paper Signed, c.l. This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Mark Beard, born in 1956 in Salt Lake City, now live...

Pastel titled Dona Lupe by Miguel Arguello (Spain, 1941-2005), who was invited in 1978 by the University of Santa Cruz, California to teach as an artist in residence. In 1993 he emba...

Portrait. 1966. watercolor on paper, 35.5x30 cm Dzidra Ezergaile (1926-2013) Born in Riga. School years alternate with summer work in the countryside...

Sketchbook Page with Figures and Anatomical Details in Pencil on Paper Drawings of a man at a desk and other figurative sections by an unknown artist (19th Century). On the left sid...

Four (4) original individual drawings depicting the complete suit of playing cards. (Diamond): Infanta Vida y Muerte, (Heart): Infanta Viento Frio, (Club): Infanta Conocimiento and (...

"Performance I & II" are thoughtful and dynamic charcoal drawings on paper by Patsy McArthur. They are monotone, black and white, and show a woman wearing a fashionable striped skirt...