Michael Kotasek Paintings

Monumental, important WPA painting signed by Percy Albee. The painting is oil canvas measuring 36" x 48". Titled verso "New Americans", this WPA painting was exhibited at the Carnegi...

An anxious moment waiting to see the doctor is depicted by Clyde Singer in this quiet and still painting. Entitled Doctor's Office (1949), Singer paints a moment of anticipation and...

A long and quiet night in the hotel lobby is depicted by Clyde Singer in this moody and still painting. Entitled Hotel Night Lobby (1947), Singer paints a moment of solitude during ...

This mural study is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Industry and Commerce, 1936, tempera on panel, 16 ½ x 39 ½ inches, signed verso “John Ballator, Portland Ore.” provenance includes: J.C. Penney Company, represented by Russell Tether Fine Arts Assoc.; presented in a newer wood frame About the Painting Industry and Commerce is a prime example of WPA Era muralism. Like a Mediaeval alter, this mural study is filled with icons, but the images of saints and martyrs are replaced with symbols of America's gospel of prosperity through capitalism. Industry and Commerce has a strong narrative quality with vignettes filling the entire surface. Extraction, logistics, design, power generation, and manufacturing for printing, chemicals, automobiles and metal products are all represented. To eliminate any doubt about the mural's themes, Ballator letters a description into the bottom of the study. Ballator also presents an idealized version of industrial cooperation, as his workers, lab-coated technicians and tie-wearing managers work harmoniously toward a common goal in the tidy and neatly designed environments. Although far from the reality of most industrial spaces, Ballator's study reflects the idealized and morale boosting tone that many mural projects adopted during the Great Depression. About the Artist John R Ballator achieved success as a muralist, lithographer, and teacher during the Great Depression. Born in Oregon, he studied at the Portland Museum Art School, the University of Oregon and at Yale University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Art. In 1936, Ballator was commissioned to paint a mural panel for the new Department of Justice Building in Washington DC, an important project that spanned five years with several dozen artists contributing a total of sixty-eight designs. Ballator completed murals for the St. Johns Post Office and Franklin High School, both in Portland, Oregon. He also contributed to the 1938 murals at Nathan Hale School in New Haven, Connecticut. During the late 1930s, Ballator taught art for several years at Washburn College in Topeka, Kanas, where he completed a mural for the Menninger Arts & Craft Shop before accepting a professorship at Hollins College...

This charming rural winter scene of ice skaters fully displays Norman Rockwell's America, but it was painted by female artist Charlotte Joan Sternberg. She combines the mid-century A...

New York City scene of two women walking down a sidewalk with a park in the background, in the foreground a man is walking a small dog. American life is captured in this Clyde Sing...

The danger of American life is captured in this Clyde Singer painting, City Peril (1958), where he depicts a moment in the city where a woman is targeted while walking. An accomplish...

Colin Fraser's remarkable tempera still-life and landscapes have a luminosity that seems to irradiate from them. It’s an effect that conjures a remembering of the timeless moment or mood they seem to captureColin Fraser was born in Glasgow in 1956, studied art in Brighton and currently lives and works in Sweden. Fraser is represented by Mira Godard Gallery...

ANNA WARDĘGA-CZAJA Graduated from the Painting Department at the Academy of Fine Art in Cracow, Poland in 2021. She's dealing with easel painting, wall painting as well as drawing. F...

Colin Fraser's remarkable tempera still-life and landscapes have a luminosity that seems to irradiate from them. It’s an effect that conjures a remembering of the timeless moment or ...

In 1936, Alfred Landon and Frank Knox were the Republican candidates for President and Vice President. They were defeated in a landslide by Franklin Roosevelt. Clyde Singer captures ...

Clyde Singer was a master at capturing the moments, small and significant in everyday American life. This painting, "Calder Sculpture in Lincoln Center", is a glimpse of an ordinar...