Joan Franklin Art

Abstract Work on Paper Mid-Century Modernism Greek American Gouache Drawing. A modernist artist who emigrated to America from Greece in 1904, when he was fourteen years old, Jean Xceron is described as having a reputation as an artist that has mysteriously fallen into obscurity---especially since he was reportedly quite prominent during his lifetime. However, a partial explanation of that omission is the fact that many of his papers and early records have been lost. He was a painter of biomorphic abstractions and did collages, which were influenced by Dadaism. Xceron was active in New York City when modernism was gaining influence. Of him during this period, it was written that his artistic role was "a vital link between what is commonly termed as the first-generation (the Stieglitz group, the Synchromists, etc.) and second-generation, the American Abstract Artists, the Transcendental Painting...

This piece is a quintessential late watercolor and pencil drawing by Botero, made the year before his death. Two reclining nudes rendered in his signature inflated volumes, with a li...

This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...

Walter Goodall (1830–1889) England A Village Celebration, 1862 signed and dated Walter Goodall 1862 lower right watercolour on paper visible image 42.5 × 75.5 cm (16.7 × 29.7 in) f...

Richard Westall, R.A. (1765-1836) Venus signed and dated ‘R. Westall 1794’ (lower right) pencil and watercolour, with white heightening image 11 ⅞ x 15 ¼ in. (30.2 x 38.7 cm.) frame 22 ⅛ x 26 in. (56.3 x 66.1 cm.) Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Venus (1794) was produced during a highly creative and defining period of Richard Westall’s career and artistic development, when from 1790-95 the ambitious young artist was sharing a house at 57 Greek Street, Soho, with his friend Sir Thomas Lawrence, the future President of the Royal Academy. Whilst lodging together, Lawrence became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1791, Westall the following year, and both were elected full-members in 1794 – the year Lawrence was appointed Painter-in-Ordinary to His Majesty King George III. Westall was to become Queen Victoria’s first Drawing Master, before her ascension to the throne. It was in this very year, 1794 - as the two young artists became Royal Academicians - that the present watercolour was executed, and it is exciting to speculate that Lawrence would have examined and given his thoughts on the work. Highly comparable to The Wallace Collection’s Nymph and cupids (c.1793, cat. P757), acquired by Francis Seymour-Conway (1777-1842), 3rd Marquess of Hertford, (who hung it in his bedroom), the mid-1790s saw Westall exhibiting and returning to similar subject-matter on a number of occasions. Two works with titles that could be applied to the present picture were exhibited at the Royal Academy, in 1794 (no. 341 Nymph and Cupids) and 1795 (no. 620, A Wood–nymph and Cupids). However, a print after the watercolour, engraved by F. Screen, entitles the piece Venus. Westall is regarded as a great virtuoso watercolourist, and Venus is evidence of the young artist’s mastery of the medium. Indeed, it is unusual to find a watercolour of comparable age so well preserved, and retaining such vibrancy - the superb condition providing an insight into his exceptional brushwork and use of colour. Venus languishes luxuriously on her woodland bed, the trunk of a tree resembling a curtain, while three winged putti play beside her, seeming to gesture to someone in the woods. Cupid draws back his bow and aims an arrow of love, perhaps about to pierce the heart of a hunting nobleman, or unsuspecting woodcutter. The striking contrast between the almost luminescent nymph, with the deep, rich, luxuriant forest, gives the glade an alluring sense of mystery – perhaps an allusion to the mysteries of the heart, a pre-occupation with Romanticism, central to the emerging thought of the time. Westall can be classified as one of the great Romantic artists, and even painted Lord Byron’s portrait...

This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. Exquisite landscape of a "Mystic Louisiana Marsh". Details: + Title: Mystic Louisiana Marsh + Year: 2025 + Edition Size:...

This is a contemporary abstract watercolor painting by artist David Ruth. This series of paintings often feature bright colors and vibrant layouts that draw the viewer in. They are c...

This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. Lovely scene of a hidden pond in a Scandinavian forest. Details: + Title: Scandinavian Enchanted Forest + Year: 2026 + ...

Original oil pastel and gouache figure drawing by celebrated, twentieth-century California landscape painter, Ronald Shap. Sketch of nude man crouching. Be...

Original oil pastel and gouache figure drawing by celebrated, twentieth-century California landscape painter, Ronald Shap. Sketch of nude man bent over. 24x18 inches. Signed. Some p...

Untitled Landscape, an original mixed media on paper by Tom Perkinson, is a piece for the true collector. His use of saturated violets, vivid yellows, and resplendent oranges pushes ...

About this work: “St. Michael’s Church, Charleston, SC" 1937 by Sandor Bernath (1892-1984). This beautiful view of St. Michael’s Church by Bernath captures one of Charleston’s great...

A rare Walter Anderson of zebras in the Audubon zoo in New Orleans. Circa 1940 to 1950. One of a pair. Framed size 17 5/8"x 20.25" Walter Inglis Anderson (1903-1965) is considered o...

Hilding Werner (1880–1944) Sweden Solnedgång (Sunset), 1897 watercolour on paper signed and dated lower left H. Werner 1897 Inscribed Solnedgång (“Sunset”) on the reverse. the shee...

Original oil pastel and gouache figure drawing by celebrated, twentieth-century California landscape painter, Ronald Shap. Sketch of woman sitting with...