Michael Kotasek Figurative 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...

**Technical Sheet** **Title:** "Street of the Old Quarter" **Author:** British School, 19th Century **Date:** 1892 **Technique:** Oil on canvas **Dimensions:** 14.17 x 10.63 inc...

John Hanlen (1922-2003). Beach Snack Shack, ca. 1950. Tempera on paper, sheet measures 18 x 23 inches. Measurement with matting: 26 x 31 inches. The piece is unframed. There is ...

Lani Vlaanderen's (US based) "Medicine Hat" is an oil painting that depicts a small group of wild horses grazing peacefully in golden sunlit meadow Bio/artist statement: Living in the mountains near Rocky Mountain National Park Lani is never lacking something inspiring to paint, be it a grand sunrise on Long's Peak or a small sparrow perched on a pine branch. All fill her with the desire to put paint to canvas. Her goal is not to replicate what she sees, but to express her emotional response from the source of inspiration visually in paint and convey it to the world. She wants to communicate the awe she feels when in the natural world and the joy she experiences from seeing even the seemingly most insignificant moment in time that will never come again. She strives to convey her belief that all things, all beings, all life and non-life, share equal significance and are essential to the whole. "I began my art quest by taking a few classes at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, then enrolled in Kim English's class at the Art Student's Leaque of Denver. After four years with Kim and functioning as his class monitor, I had the opportunity to participate in a painting group with Richard Schmid in Loveland Colorado. I painted there with him for six years. I have taken workshops from such masters as David Leffel, Sherrie McGraw...

Self Portrait at 43

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...

Flight by Zolton Sepeshy This is an important, large painting of an approaching storm on the sand dunes that line Michigan's coast, entitled Flight. Zolton Sepeshy, who lived and p...

Wig City by Clyde Singer New York City scene of a woman stopping to look in the window of Wig City in 1969. American life is captured in this Clyde Singer painting, where he depi...

Burton Silverman's "At Long Last", an oil on linen portrait painting dated 2020, is a masterful realist capturing of a contemplative young woman with short hair in modern casual clothes...

John Hanlen (1922-2003). Flower Market, Lima Peru, ca. 1950. Tempera on paper, sheet measures 14.25 x 22.5 inches. Measurement with matting: 18.5 x 26.5 inches. The piece is unfra...

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...

"Potomac Falls" by Diego Glazer is an original oil painting depicting a river with rushing waters. Artist Statement: Painted on location during a trip to Virginia. About the Artis...