Mary Chapman Art

Lionel S. Reiss (1894 - 1988) Lobstermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts, circa 1943 Watercolor on paper Sight 17 1/2 x 23 inches Signed lower left Provenance: Private Collection, Las Vegas, Nevada In describing his own style, Lionel Reiss wrote, “By nature, inclination, and training, I have long since recognized the fact that...I belong to the category of those who can only gladly affirm the reality of the world I live in.” Reiss’s subject matter was wide-ranging, including gritty New York scenes, landscapes of bucolic Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and seascapes around Gloucester, Massachusetts. However, it was as a painter of Jewish life—both in Israel and in Europe before World War II—that Reiss excelled. I.B. Singer, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, noted that Reiss was “essentially an artist of the nineteenth century, and because of this he had the power and the courage to tell visually the story of a people.” Although Reiss was born in Jaroslaw, Poland, his family immigrated to the United States in 1898 when he was four years old. Reiss's family settled on New York City’s Lower East Side and he lived in the city for most of his life. Reiss attended the Art Students League and then worked as a commercial artist for newspapers and publishers. As art director for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he supposedly created the studio’s famous lion logo. After World War I, Reiss became fascinated with Jewish life in the ‘Old World.’ In 1921 he left his advertising work and spent the next ten years traveling in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Like noted Jewish photographers Alter Kacyzne and Roman Vishniac, Reiss depicted Jewish life in Poland prior to World War II. He later wrote, “My trip encompassed three main objectives: to make ethnic studies of Jewish types wherever I traveled; to paint and draw Jewish life, as I saw it and felt it, in all aspects; and to round out my work in Israel.” In Europe, Reiss recorded quotidian scenes in a variety of media and different settings such as Paris, Amsterdam, the Venice ghetto, the Jewish cemetery in Prague, and an array of shops, synagogues, streets, and marketplaces in the Jewish quarters of Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lublin, Vilna, Ternopil, and Kovno. He paid great attention to details of dress, hair, and facial features, and his work became noted for its descriptive quality. A selection of Reiss’s portraits appeared in 1938 in his book My Models Were Jews. In this book, published on the eve of the Holocaust, Reiss argued that there was “no such thing as a ‘Jewish race’.” Instead, he claimed that the Jewish people were a cultural group with a great deal of diversity within and between Jewish communities around the world. Franz Boas...

May Mott Smith (1879 - 1952) A Martinique Native in French Guiana, circa 1925 Watercolor on paper 24 x 20 inches Signed lower right; titled on the reverse “Martinique Native” is an ...

Otto Eerelman 1839-1926 Dutch Concours de Chiens au Promenade Watercolor on paper Signed “O. Eerelman 1904” (lower left) A tour de force watercolor by celebrated Dutch artist Otto Eerelman, one of 19th-century Europe's most popular and important animal portraitists, this charming composition captures a bustling cross-section of fashionable elites walking their equally fashionable canine companions. Eerleman takes care to render the detailed attire of his subjects, complete with plumed hats and layers of lace trim. The artist paints the plethora of pets in equally painstaking detail, capturing the nuances of each different breed represented. Eerelman mastered the art of depicting not only the dogs’ physical characteristics but also their unique expressions and personalities. His wealthy clientele would bring their pets to his home in The Hague where they would live for a period of time while having their portraits done, allowing for a remarkably true-to-life portrayal. This energetic watercolor, with its profusion of color and texture, harnesses the affluence of its subjects and the leisurely whimsy of their luxurious lives. Hailing from Groningen, Netherlands, Eerelman was dubbed the “Northern Rembrandt” during his lifetime. He received his artistic training at the Academy Minerva in Groningen, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and then private lessons in the studio of the great Lawrence Alma Tadema. He successfully captured the attention of the Dutch court, particularly Princess Wilhelmina...

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1836-1912 Dutch The Balneator Signed and inscribed "L Alma Tadema. op CLXXVI." (lower right) Pencil and watercolor with scratching out on paper on board ...

Anne Diggory (b. 1951) Out of the Sun (Under the Racetrack Grandstand), 1978 Watercolor on paper 7 x 10 inches Signed and dated lower left Provenance: Ac...

Anne Diggory (b. 1951) Five at the Rail, Saratoga Springs Racecourse, New York, circa 1978 Watercolor on paper 4 3/4 x 6 inches Initialed lower right: Dig...

Feelin Good, Ink on archival paper. Keith Carrington’s experiences have led him to express his talents through the fluid & exacting mediums of watercolor and ink. He has honed his s...

Landscape with Haystacks by Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro (1878-1952) Watercolour on paper 15 x 34 cm (5 ⁷/₈ x 13 ³/₈ inches) Signed with Estate stamp (initials) lower right, LR an early wor...

Feminine Mistique, ink on archival paper. Keith Carrington’s experiences have led him to express his talents through the fluid & exacting mediums of watercolor and ink. He has honed...

This work is hand signed in ink by the artist "Feininger" at the upper right corner. Provenance: The Collection of Peter Kamnitzer. Peter Kamnitzer (1922-2016) was a renowned and r...

Bob Thompson Untitled, 1964 Felt tip pen on printed paper 11 x 20 1/2 inches Provenance: The artist Kathy Komaroff Goodman (gift from the artist) Hollis Taggart, New York Exhibited...

Painting is titled “Paddy’s Dilemma" by Erskine Nicol (Erskine Nicol RSA ARA, 1825 – 1904), Irishman. Detailed and richly decorated in objects picture of a cozy interior takes us str...