Skip to main content

Leon Bibel Art

1913-1995

Leon Bibel, a painter, printmaker and sculptor, was born in Poland in 1913 but moved with his family to San Francisco as a child. He trained at the California School of Fine Arts and received a scholarship to study under the German Impressionist Maria Riedelstein. He worked in collaboration with Bernard Zackheim, a student of Diego Rivera, to create frescoes for the San Francisco Jewish Community Center and the University of California Medical School. In 1936, Bibel moved from California to join the Federal Art Project of the New York City Work Projects Administration. He was assigned to the Graphic Art Project and the Easel Project at Harlem Art Center. He also taught at both PS 94 Kings College School and Bronx House in New York City. Bibel’s program in the WPA ended in 1941 and he moved with his wife to South Brunswick, New Jersey, ceasing his artistic pursuits to support his family. He resumed his artistic work in the early 1960s and continued to explore the mediums of painting and sculpture until his death. A constant innovator, Bibel experimented with diverse printmaking mediums. His work is distinguished by its boldly conceived, dramatic composition and passionately executed expressionist renderings. Bibel's parents immigrated from Poland and he remained staunchly pacifist, even throughout WWII. Much of his work during this period focused on the destructiveness of war and the consequent suffering and alienation of humankind. An artist of the people, his work is imbued with a sense of humanity and a concern for social justice and the plight of the working man. Bibel’s numerous exhibitions include the solo exhibition at Newark Museum in 1966, Jersey City Museum in 1967, Hunterdon Art Museum, Rutgers State University and New Jersey State Museum in 1978. He has also exhibited at Rider College, in 1983, Rutgers Hillel Foundation from 1985–86. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Newark Museum, the Zimmerli Art Museum of Rutgers, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Klutznick Museum and the New Brunswick State Theater, as well as many corporate and private collections.

to
6
1
1
2
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
11
10
1
10
7
4
7
5
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
3
3
3
3
11
10,829
2,842
2,494
1,422
4
11
Artist: Leon Bibel
'Abstract Boats' — American Modernism, WPA
'Abstract Boats' — American Modernism, WPA

'Abstract Boats' — American Modernism, WPA

By Leon Bibel

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

Leon Bibel, 'Abstract Boats', color serigraph, 1938, edition 12. Signed, dated, and numbered ' /12' in pencil. A fine, painterly impression, with fresh colors, on buff wove paper; t...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Screen

Death March — Spanish Civil War, Anti-fascism
Death March — Spanish Civil War, Anti-fascism

Death March — Spanish Civil War, Anti-fascism

By Leon Bibel

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

Leon Bibel, 'Untitled (Death March)', brush and ink, c. 1936. Estate stamped, verso. A fine expressionist rendering, on cream wove drawing board, with margins (3/8 to 5/16 inch). Minor toning at the board edges, otherwise in very good condition. Image size 12 5/16 x 9 3/8 inches; sheet size 13 x 10 inches. Matted to museum standards, unframed. One of a series of powerful Anti-fascist brush and ink drawings created by the artist at the commencement of the Spanish Civil War...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Ink

'Food Not Cannon' — WPA Modernist Work of  Social Conscience
'Food Not Cannon' — WPA Modernist Work of  Social Conscience

'Food Not Cannon' — WPA Modernist Work of Social Conscience

By Leon Bibel

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

Leon Bibel, 'Food Not Cannon', etching, 1937, edition 12 (an early state, probably unique). Signed in pencil. A fine impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (7/8 to 2 1/8 ...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Etching

"Audience" Mid 20th Century American Figurative Theatre Performance Contemporary
"Audience" Mid 20th Century American Figurative Theatre Performance Contemporary

"Audience" Mid 20th Century American Figurative Theatre Performance Contemporary

By Leon Bibel

Located in New York, NY

"Audience" Mid 20th Century American Figurative Theatre Performance Contemporary Leon Bibel (1912 - 1995) "The Audience," 52 ½ x 41 ¼ inches. Oil on canvas, c. 1963. Signed lower right. Framed. BIO Painter, printmaker and sculptor, Leon Bibel was born in San Francisco in 1913. He trained at the California School of Fine Arts and received a scholarship to study under the German Impressionist Maria Riedelstein. He worked in collaboration with Bernard Zackheim, a student of Diego Rivera, to create frescoes for the San Francisco Jewish Community Center and the University of California Medical School. In 1936 Bibel moved from California to join the Federal Art Project at Harlem Art...

Category

1960s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Unemployed Marchers' — American Modernism, WPA
'Unemployed Marchers' — American Modernism, WPA

'Unemployed Marchers' — American Modernism, WPA

By Leon Bibel

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

Leon Bibel, 'Unemployed Marchers', 2-color lithograph, c. 1938, edition 25. Signed, titled, and numbered '2/25' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression on off-white, wove paper, w...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Lithograph

"Drama Teacher" 1938 WPA Mid 20th Century American Theatre Surrealism Modernism
"Drama Teacher" 1938 WPA Mid 20th Century American Theatre Surrealism Modernism

"Drama Teacher" 1938 WPA Mid 20th Century American Theatre Surrealism Modernism

By Leon Bibel

Located in New York, NY

"Drama Teacher" 1938 WPA Mid 20th Century American Theatre Surrealism Modernism. 30 x 24 inches. Oil on Canvas. Signed land dated ’38 lower left. The photograph in the listing depicts the artist's friend who taught drama and about whom the painting is based Painter, printmaker and sculptor, Leon Bibel was born in San Francisco in 1913. He trained at the California School of Fine Arts and received a scholarship to study under the German Impressionist Maria Riedelstein. He worked in collaboration with Bernard Zackheim, a student of Diego Rivera, to create frescoes for the San Francisco Jewish Community Center and the University of California Medical School. In 1936 Bibel moved from California to join the Federal Art Project at Harlem Art...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

War Machine     — Spanish Civil War, Anti-fascism
War Machine     — Spanish Civil War, Anti-fascism

War Machine — Spanish Civil War, Anti-fascism

By Leon Bibel

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

Leon Bibel, 'Untitled (War Machine)', brush and ink, c. 1936. Estate stamped, verso. A fine expressionist rendering, on cream wove drawing board, with marg...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Ink

'Clown' — WPA American Expressionism
'Clown' — WPA American Expressionism

'Clown' — WPA American Expressionism

By Leon Bibel

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

Leon Bibel, 'Clown', color serigraph, 1939, edition 20. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered '/20' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked, painterly impression, with fresh colors, on buff la...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Screen

"Shattered" WPA Mid 20th Century Modernism American Scene Surrealism Figurative
"Shattered" WPA Mid 20th Century Modernism American Scene Surrealism Figurative

"Shattered" WPA Mid 20th Century Modernism American Scene Surrealism Figurative

By Leon Bibel

Located in New York, NY

"Shattered" WPA Mid 20th Century Modernism American Scene Surrealism Figurative Estate stamp on the stretcher, verso. Provenance: Estate of the artist. 20 x 24 inches. Look at the last two photos in the listing. A new book about Leon Bibel was just published and there's a photo of the artist taken in front of the painting. Amazingness. BIO Leon Bibel continued painting through 1941 and resumed work in both painting and especially wood sculpture by 1960. He worked until his very last day in 1995. His last series of large wood sculptures were modeled on spice boxes, which were miniature buildings...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

EUCALYPTUS TREE
EUCALYPTUS TREE

EUCALYPTUS TREE

By Leon Bibel

Located in Portland, ME

Bibel, Leon (American, born Poland, 1912-1995). EUCALYPTUS TREE. Screenprint, 1938. Edition of 25. Signed, titled, dated and numbered 14/25, all in pencil, and also signed in the mat...

Category

1930s Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Screen

Related Items
Cypriano (A Basque Boy)

Cypriano (A Basque Boy)

By Gerald Leslie Brockhurst

Located in Middletown, NY

Etching on cream wove paper. 6 5/16 x 3 3/4 inches (159 x 94 mm), full margin. Signed in pencil lower center margin, from the edition of 111. A well inked impression with a minor cre...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Handmade Paper, Etching

Muse (a young novice in colorful swim suit struggles thru a pool of blue)
Muse (a young novice in colorful swim suit struggles thru a pool of blue)

Muse (a young novice in colorful swim suit struggles thru a pool of blue)

By Art Werger

Located in New Orleans, LA

Muse is #43 of 45. It depicts a young woman in a colorful swimsuit doing her best to swim through the blue waters of the pool. Her mouth is pursed and the bubbles flow out. I sold an impression of this image to an olympic swimming...

Category

Early 2000s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Etching

Ratfinkbonerthunk : Surrealist Rat - Original Giclee Print, Handsigned
Ratfinkbonerthunk : Surrealist Rat - Original Giclee Print, Handsigned

Ratfinkbonerthunk : Surrealist Rat - Original Giclee Print, Handsigned

By Kenny Scharf

Located in Paris, IDF

Kenny Scharf Ratfinkbonerthunk : Surrealist Rat, 1990 Original Giclee Print Handsigned in pencil On Arches vellum 56 x 76 cm (c. 22 x 30 in) Published by Editions Vermorel in 1990 ...

Category

1990s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Giclée, Screen

Headstand (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) - Exhibition Poster
Headstand (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) - Exhibition Poster

Headstand (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) - Exhibition Poster

By Keith Haring

Located in Paris, IDF

Keith Haring Headstand Original vintage exhibition Poster printed in Screenprint On thick paper 90 x 60 cm (c. 36 x 24 in) INFORMATION: Official screenprint poster for the Haring e...

Category

1980s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Screen

New York : Statue of Liberty - Original Handsigned Lithograph
New York : Statue of Liberty - Original Handsigned Lithograph

New York : Statue of Liberty - Original Handsigned Lithograph

By Bernard Buffet

Located in Paris, IDF

Bernard BUFFET New York : Statue of Liberty, 1986 Original lithograph Handsigned in pencil Justified EA (artist proof) On Arches vellum 76 x 58 cm (c. 30 x 22 inch) REFRENCES : Catalogue raisonne Bernard Buffet lithograph...

Category

1950s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Lithograph

A Fine, Expressive 1930s Modern Figure Study Drawing of a Seated Male Nude Model
A Fine, Expressive 1930s Modern Figure Study Drawing of a Seated Male Nude Model

A Fine, Expressive 1930s Modern Figure Study Drawing of a Seated Male Nude Model

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A Fine, Expressive 1930s Modern Figure Study Drawing of a Seated Male Nude Model by Famed Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A wonderful, early example of Chapin's figu...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Paper, Ink

"Derriere Le Miroir, " Three Original Color Lithographs by Saul Steinberg
"Derriere Le Miroir, " Three Original Color Lithographs by Saul Steinberg

"Derriere Le Miroir, " Three Original Color Lithographs by Saul Steinberg

By Saul Steinberg

Located in Milwaukee, WI

"Derriere Le Miroir" is an original color lithograph signed by the artist Saul Steinberg. The artist's signature is in the bottom left margin. Image Size: 14"x20" Frame Size: 25 5/8...

Category

1970s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Lithograph, Paper

A Large, Fabulous Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Chicago Night Club, Burlesque
A Large, Fabulous Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Chicago Night Club, Burlesque

A Large, Fabulous Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Chicago Night Club, Burlesque

By Rudolph Pen

Located in Chicago, IL

A Fabulous, Large and Dynamic Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Chicago Night Club by Notable Chicago Artist, Rudolph T. Pen (Am. 1918 - 1989). Painted circa 1948, this is a large, a...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Grand Canal, Venice
The Grand Canal, Venice

The Grand Canal, Venice

By Elias S. Mandel Grossman

Located in Middletown, NY

1926. Etching in sepia ink on Japon paper, 9 5/8 x 11 1/2 inches (245 x 292 mm), full margins with the lower margin slightly notched. Signed, titled and dated in pencil in the lower ...

Category

Early 20th Century American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Handmade Paper, Etching

A Boldly Drawn 1930s Art Deco Modern Figure Study, Reclining Male Nude Model
A Boldly Drawn 1930s Art Deco Modern Figure Study, Reclining Male Nude Model

A Boldly Drawn 1930s Art Deco Modern Figure Study, Reclining Male Nude Model

By Harold Haydon

Located in Chicago, IL

A Boldly Drawn 1930s Art Deco Modern Figure Study of a Reclining Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An early ink drawing by Haydon demonstrat...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Paper, Ink

A Dynamic 1930s Boxing Match Painting by Famed Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin
A Dynamic 1930s Boxing Match Painting by Famed Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin

A Dynamic 1930s Boxing Match Painting by Famed Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A dynamic, colorful 1930s painting of a boxing match in Mexico by famed Chicago Modern artist Francis Chapin. Painted during one of the artist's early trips to Mexico, an exceptional painting showing Chapin's steadfast interest in sporting scenes, particularly boxing matches. Image size: 12 x 28 inches. Framed size: 15 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches. Estate stamped on reverse. Provenance: Estate of the artist. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of the city’s most popular and celebrated painters in his day. Born at the dawn of the 20th Century in Bristolville, Ohio, Chapin graduated from Washington and Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922. He would set down deep roots at the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibiting there over 31 times between 1926 and 1951. In 1927 Chapin won the prestigious Bryan Lathrop Fellowship from the Art Institute – a prize that funded the artist’s yearlong study trip to Europe. Upon his return to the United States, Chapin decided to remain in Chicago, noting the freedom Chicago artists have in developing independently of the pressure to conform to pre-existing molds (as was experienced by artists in New York, for example). Chapin became a popular instructor at the Art Institute, teaching there from 1929 to 1947 and at the Art Institute’s summer art school in Saugatuck, Michigan (now called Oxbow) between 1934 – 1938 (he was the director of the school from 1941-1945). Chapin’s contemporaries among Chicago’s artists included such luminaries as Ivan Le Lorraine Albright...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Previously Available Items
'Archway' — American Modernism, WPA
'Archway' — American Modernism, WPA

'Archway' — American Modernism, WPA

By Leon Bibel

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

Leon Bibel, 'Archway', color serigraph, 1939, edition 25. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered ' /25' in pencil. A rich, painterly impression, with fresh colors, on buff wove paper; ...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Screen

War Casualty — American Surrealism, Spanish Civil War, Anti-Fascism
War Casualty — American Surrealism, Spanish Civil War, Anti-Fascism

War Casualty — American Surrealism, Spanish Civil War, Anti-Fascism

By Leon Bibel

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

Leon Bibel, 'War Casualty', etching, 1937, edition 6. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered '5/6' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1/2 to 1 7/8 inches); slight toning at the sheet edges, otherwise in excellent condition. Very scarce. Image size 7 3/8 x 9 7/8 inches (187 x 251 mm); sheet size 10 5/8 x 11 3/8 inches (270 x 289 mm). Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed. Created at the time of the Spanish Civil War and the rise of Hitler in Germany, this work stands as one of the most powerful surrealist/modernist anti-war images of the Work Progress Administration (WPA) period. ABOUT THE ARTIST Painter, printmaker, and sculptor, Leon Bibel, was born in Poland in 1913 but moved with his family to San Francisco as a child. He trained at the California School of Fine Arts and received a scholarship to study under the German Impressionist Maria Riedelstein. He worked in collaboration with Bernard Zackheim, a student of Diego Rivera, to create frescoes for the San Francisco Jewish Community Center and the University of California Medical School. In 1936 Bibel moved from California to join the Federal Art Project of the New York City WPA. He was assigned to the Graphic Art Project and the Easel Project at Harlem Art...

Category

1930s Surrealist Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Etching

George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge

George Washington Bridge

By Leon Bibel

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

Leon Bibel, 'G. W. Bridge', lithograph, 1938, edition 10. Signed 'L Bibel', dated, titled, and numbered '/10' in pencil. A superb, finely-nuanced impression, on off-white, wove paper...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Bibel Art

Materials

Lithograph

Leon Bibel art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Leon Bibel art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Leon Bibel in canvas, fabric, oil paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Leon Bibel art, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Rockwell Kent, Arnold Ronnebeck, and Howard Norton Cook. Leon Bibel art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $2,400 and tops out at $24,500, while the average work can sell for $5,500.

Artists Similar to Leon Bibel