Jean de Botton Art

Signed Lower Right Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to New York when he was 20. From 1913 to 1916, he enjoyed a scholarship from the Art Students League, and worked with John C. Johansen (a portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent), and Anders Zorn. He accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art in 1916, remaining there until 1921. This enabled him to travel to Europe to study Cézanne’s paintings and works of the Old Masters. He traveled to Paris, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Munich seeking the works of Titian, Cranach, Rembrandt, Veronese, and Holbein, which gave him new perspective. Vytlacil studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, settling there in 1921. Fellow students were Ernest Thurn and Worth Ryder, who introduced him to famous abstractionist Hans Hofmann. He worked with Hofmann from about 1922 to 1926, as a student and teaching assistant. During the summer of 1928, after returning to the United States, Vytlacil gave lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on modern European art. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Art Students League faculty. After one year, he returned to Europe and successfully persuaded Hofmann to teach at the League as well. He spent about six years in Europe, studying the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Dufy. In 1935, he returned to New York and became a co-founder of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He later had teaching posts at Queens College in New York; the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California; Black Mountain College in North Carolina; and the Art Students League. His paintings exhibit a clear inclination toward modernism. His still lives and interiors from the 1920s indicate an understanding of the art of Cézanne. In the 1930s, his works displayed two very different kinds of art at the same time. His cityscapes and landscapes combine Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. Vytlacil also used old wood, metal, cork, and string in constructions, influenced by his friend and former student, Rupert Turnbull. He eventually ceased creating constructions as he considered them too limiting. The spatial challenges of painting were still his preference. During the 1940s and 1950s, his works indicated a sense of spontaneity not felt in his earlier work. He married Elizabeth Foster in Florence, Italy, in 1927 and they lived and worked in Positano, Italy for extended periods of time. Later on, they divided their time between homes in Sparkill, New York and Chilmark, Massachusetts, where Vyt, as he was affectionately called, taught at the Martha's Vineyard Art...

A stunning antique American still life painting from the recently acquired estate of New York/New Jersey artist Sallie Van Horn. Van Horn taught painting and drawing to high school ...

A wonderful example of the artist's work depicting an idyllic scene in the Norfolk countryside. Owen Waters (1916-2004) Norfolk pastures Signed, inscribed...

A fluidly painted impression of this well known sailors' haven at Pin Mill on the River Orwell, Suffolk. Hugh Boycott Brown (1909-1990) Thames Bar...

A most attractive and striking image of daffodils placed against a darker background Howard J Morgan (1949-2020) Daffodils in a china jug Signed and S...

Exquisite antique painting of terrier dogs by Jacques Cartier (1907 - 2001. Oil on board. Framed. Image size, 15H x 18L.

American artist Franklin Briscoe (1844-1903) known for his hirtorical and portrait paintings, paints a Civil War piece; it is a portrait of an officer with his white horse. The brus...

A charming painting of a quaint lake at night with the moon reflecting on calm waters. Bearing an Albright Knox Art Gallery "Art Week" label from 1941 t...

Antique French Impressionist Oil on Panel by Paul de Frick, Place des Vosges Paris, 1908. Antique oil painting by French Impressionist artist Paul de Frick (1864-1935), signed & date...

Signed and Dated Lower Right Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the ...

Signed LL and on Verso Born in Adelaide, Australia, Hayley Lever was known for his town-shore landscapes and still-life painting in a style that combined impressionism with vivid co...

Dave Seeley's mesmerizing oil painting, "Venus of Los Angeles (Olympia)," is a contemporary masterpiece that pays homage to the timeless beauty of the female form. Created in 2023, t...