Michael Kotasek Paintings

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...

Self Portrait at 43

As they take center stage, four acrobats are depicted, forming an architectural structure composed of contorted human bodies. The small gallery of onlookers displays a variety of ex...

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...

Michael Coleman (b 1946), is known for his landscapes of rich colors in a combination of realism and atmospheric styles, often with animals depicted and the suggestion of natural har...

American School, Portrait of a Girl, Oil on Panel, signed "W. Gaylen" lower right, carved giltwood frame. Image: 9.5" H x 7.25" W; frame: 20" H x 17.75" W x 1.5" D. Provenance: Fro...

Strawberries , Marbles and Cream Egg Tempera, Realism 9.5 " x 7.5" It is painted in egg tempera which goes back centuries in the art world. Notice the reflections in the painting. ...

About the artist: Susan Cohen’s paintings are exhibited with New York City galleries: George Billis, Garvey Simon, First Street,The Painting Center; and the Cynthia Winings Gallery...

Fred Wessel's "Sienese Icon (Tropical Trinity)" is an egg tempera painting with gold leaf, cultured pearls and tiger eye gems on a panel. This piece measures 28 x 28 inches and is re...

Douglas Safranek's Touch of Green calls back to 17th century Dutch still lifes. Filled with humor and complexity, Safranek's rather const...

Autumn Landscape, by 1958, tempera on Masonite, 24 x 36 inches, signed lower left, exhibited: 1) 133rd Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design, New York, NY, February 20 – March 16, 1958 (Henry Ward Ranger Purchase Prize); and 2) Henry Ward Ranger Centennial Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, NY, September 25 - October 12, 1958, #133 (see Levin, Meyer, Illustrative Paintings Gathered for Ranger Show at National Academy, St. Petersburg Times, October 13, 1958 (“There’s a warm, low-keyed picture of golden fields, with distant structures, called “Autumn Landscape,” by Robert Vickrey, whose magic realism is felt in so “regular” a subject.”), literature: 1) Watson, Ernest William, Composition in Landscape and Still Life, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1959, pp. 24, 155 and 157 (illustrated); and 2) Vickrey, Robert and Cochrane, Diane, New Techniques in Egg Tempera, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1973, p. 111 (illustrated); ex collection National Academy of Design Reflecting on his art, Robert Vickery...

Tempera mixed with gum arabic and alcohol on Renaissance Panel There is from frame burn and scattered surface abrasions but they are minor. Additionally, there are a 3 or 4 very fine hair line scratches not visible unless you look very closely. The work is varnished and has a reflective quality to it that makes it hard to photograph. In person the viewing experience is much better. You can see more detail in the shadow areas. The colors are rich, deep and saturated. Riggs was very particular in researching the tribal costumes...