Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

American, 1907-1985

Michael Loew was born on May 8, 1907 and was the son of a New York City baker. After high school, he was an apprentice to a stained-glass maker and from 1926–29, he studied at the Art Students League. In 1929, he traveled to Paris, North Africa, Germany and Italy with a group of artists, including Max Schnitzler and Alfred Jensen. When he returned to New York City in 1931, the Great Depression hit Loew unexpectedly and for the next two years, he paid his apartment rent with his paintings. In 1935, he found work with the Works Progress Administration where he painted murals and partnered up with longtime friend Willem de Kooning in 1939 on a mural for the Hall of Pharmacy at the New York World's Fair. Their friendship lasted for the rest of their lives and in fact, Loew met his wife Mildred through a friend of de Kooning's. He traveled to Mexico in the late 1930s. Loew had a strong interest in artists' rights and activism and as president of the Artists Union, he led a protest which involved artists chaining themselves to poles in Union Square. After Pearl Harbor, Loew joined the Navy and served as the battalion artist for the Seabees in the Pacific. When he returned in 1946, his painting moved quickly toward abstraction. From 1947–49, he studied post-cubism at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts. In 1948, he joined the Spiral Group, an organization of artists devoted to the exhibition of experimental art. The Artists Gallery in New York hosted his first one-man show in 1949 and one year later, he enrolled at the Atelier Léger in Paris. In 1956, he began teaching in the United States. By 1985 he had been an instructor at the Portland Museum School, University of California at Berkeley and the School of Visual Arts. His works are in the collections of prominent institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He died on November 14, 1985, in New York.

Artist: Michael Loew

Michael Loew"Concert" Early 20th Century WPA Modernism American City Landscape Scene Ashcan, 1928

$7,500

"Concert" Early 20th Century WPA Modernism American City Landscape Scene Ashcan

By Michael Loew

Located in New York, NY

"Concert" Early 20th Century WPA Modernism American City Landscape Scene Ashcan The size of the canvas 28 3/4 x 43 1/4 inches. The painting comes directly from the artist's estate. It is signed lower right as well as signed, titled and dated verso. We have available more than two dozen paintings and works on paper from the 1930s - 80s that come directly from the Loew estate. BIO Michael Loew (1907 – 1985) was the son of a New York City baker. After high school, he was an apprentice to a stained-glass maker, and from 1926-1929, he studied at the Art Students League. In 1929, he traveled to Paris, North Africa, Germany, and Italy with a group of artists. When he returned to New York City in 1931, the Great Depression hit Loew unexpectedly, and for the next two years he paid his apartment rent with his paintings. In 1935, he found work with the WPA where he painted murals and partnered up with longtime friend Willem de Kooning in 1939 on a mural for the Hall of Pharmacy at the New York World’s Fair. Their friendship lasted for the rest of their lives. In the mid-30’s he painted in Mexico and the Yucatán documenting the construction of a U.S. Naval airbase on Tinian Island. It was from this airbase that the Enola...

Category

1920s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Michael LoewWPA Mural Study 1940 American Scene Modern Social Realism Figurative Mid Century, 1940

$12,500

WPA Mural Study 1940 American Scene Modern Social Realism Figurative Mid Century

By Michael Loew

Located in New York, NY

WPA Mural Study 1940 American Scene Modern Social Realism Figurative Mid Century Michael Loew (1907-1985) Detail for Mural (Social Security Building Washington D.C.) 24 x 24 inches ...

Category

1940s American Realist Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Michael LoewMural Study 1933 Depression Era Mid-Century WPA Modern American Scene Drawing, 1933

$7,500

Mural Study 1933 Depression Era Mid-Century WPA Modern American Scene Drawing

By Michael Loew

Located in New York, NY

Mural Study 1933 Depression Era Mid-Century WPA Modern American Scene Drawing. Study to Scale Mural Sketch for “Evolution of Textile Production” East. All,...

Category

1930s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Egg Tempera, Board

Albert Heckman"Cubist Landscape" Albert Heckman, American Modernism, Woodstock, Earth Tones, circa 1940s

$6,000

H 16 in W 20 in

"Cubist Landscape" Albert Heckman, American Modernism, Woodstock, Earth Tones

By Albert Heckman

Located in New York, NY

Albert Heckman Cubist Landscape Oil on canvas 16 x 20 inches Albert Heckman was born in Meadville, Western Pennsylvania, 1893. He went to New York City to try his hand at the art w...

Category

1940s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Rudolph PenA Large, Fabulous Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Chicago Night Club, Burlesque, Circa 1948

$3,500

H 40.5 in W 50.5 in D 1.25 in

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

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 Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Charles E. WilletteConey Island, Fourth of July, c. 1940s

$4,500

H 26 in W 21.5 in D 2 in

Coney Island, Fourth of July

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Coney Island, Fourth of July, c. 1940s, oil on canvas applied to Masonite, signed upper right, 26 x 21 1/2 inches, presented in its original frame During the 1930s and 40s, Coney I...

Category

1940s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

Francis ChapinA Dynamic 1930s Boxing Match Painting by Famed Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin, circa 1935

$1,800

H 15.5 in W 31.5 in D 1.25 in

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 Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Francis ChapinA Stylish Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Seated Young Woman in a Pink Dress, Circa 1940

$1,800

H 24.5 in W 23.75 in D 2 in

A Stylish Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Seated Young Woman in a Pink Dress

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A stylish, colorful Mid-Century Modern portrait of a seated young woman in a pink dress by famed Chicago Modern artist, Francis Chapin. A fashionably dressed, young model is seated ...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Norman BarrNeighbors, 1939

$3,250

H 22 in W 26 in D 1 in

Neighbors

By Norman Barr

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Neighbors, 1939, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 22 x 26 inches Norman Barr was an American Scene painter and muralist known for his poignant depictions of working-clas...

Category

1930s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

J MirendaNight Life in the City - Figurative Cityscape, 1960s

$750

H 16 in W 20 in D 0.13 in

Night Life in the City - Figurative Cityscape

Located in Soquel, CA

Night Life in the City - Figurative Cityscape Mid 1960s cityscape by an unknown artist. Oil on artists board. Image, 16"H x 20"W

Category

1960s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Illustration Board

Clyde SingerBe Good or Be Gone. McSorley's Old Ale House, New York City. American Scene., 1972

$20,000

H 15 in W 17.75 in

Be Good or Be Gone. McSorley's Old Ale House, New York City. American Scene.

Located in Marco Island, FL

Clyde Singer captures a moment between bar patrons at the historic McSorley's Old Ale House in New York City. The painting titled, Be Good or Be Gone, takes its name from a sign be...

Category

1970s American Realist Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

William SchwartzLate Afternoon - Modernist Mid-Century Midwest Oil Painting, 1935

$36,000

H 20 in W 30.25 in D 2 in

Late Afternoon - Modernist Mid-Century Midwest Oil Painting

Located in Marco Island, FL

A quintessential American Scene landscape painted by the Chicago Modernist, William Schwartz. Workers in tilled fields surrounding a farmstead under dramatic skies. Painted in 1935...

Category

1930s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Frances RinaldoThe Artist's Apartment Mid-Century Fauvist Interior Scene Original Oil on Canvas, 1968

$3,550

H 48 in W 48 in D 0.75 in

The Artist's Apartment Mid-Century Fauvist Interior Scene Original Oil on Canvas

Located in Soquel, CA

The Artist's Apartment Mid-Century Fauvist Interior Scene Original Oil on Canvas Vibrant interior scene by Santa Cruz California artist Frances Rinaldo (American, b. 1943). A bright...

Category

1960s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Harold HaydonA Cheeky 1945 Nude Interior Scene, "En Route to VT, Hotel Room" by Harold Haydon, 1945

$850

H 9.5 in W 8.25 in D 1 in

A Cheeky 1945 Nude Interior Scene, "En Route to VT, Hotel Room" by Harold Haydon

By Harold Haydon

Located in Chicago, IL

A charming, diminutive & humorous 1945 oil painting titled "En Route to VT, Hotel Room" by notable Chicago Modern artist Harold Haydon. Haydon affectionally called these colorful, s...

Category

1940s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Paper

William EinsteinMissouri American Modernist famous in Europe - abstracted mid century Venice, 1957

$1,300

H 24.41 in W 15.75 in

Missouri American Modernist famous in Europe - abstracted mid century Venice

Located in Norwich, GB

Meet the genuinely exciting modernist William Einstein, who is probably better known in Europe, where numerous publications on his work have been written, than in his native US! Eins...

Category

1950s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Previously Available Items

Michael Loew"Refugees" Mexican American Oil Painting Depression Era WPA Mid-Century Modern, 1937

Sold

H 28 in W 33 in D 1 in

"Refugees" Mexican American Oil Painting Depression Era WPA Mid-Century Modern

By Michael Loew

Located in New York, NY

"Refugees" Mexican American Oil Painting Depression Era WPA Mid-Century Modern. The Whitney Museum's current exhibition, VIDA AMERICA, prompts us to share this Michael Loew work, which he painted in Mexico in 1937. The 28 x 33 inch oil on canvas is unframed. You may already be familiar with Michael Loew for his abstract expressionist works. But earlier in his career, he worked for the WPA and in the late 1930's he traveled to Mexico. We are currently working with the Loew estate which owns many photographs he took in Mexico and the diaries of his time there. We can share lots of details. This particular painting, Refugees, was in the artist's estate when he died in 1985 and has been in storage since that time. It is in fine vintage condition. There is some paint loss but the colors are vibrant and it will restore beautifully. This painting, and other works by Loew, are available. Michael Loew was born in 1907 and was the son of a New York City baker. After high school, he was an apprentice to a stained-glass maker, and from 1926-1929, he studied at the Art Student's League. In 1929, he traveled to Paris, North Africa, Germany, and Italy with a group of artists, including Max Schnitzler...

Category

1930s American Modern Michael Loew Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Michael Loew figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Michael Loew figurative paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Michael Loew in paint, canvas, fabric 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 Michael Loew figurative paintings, so small editions measuring 21 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Mervin Jules, Harold Haydon, and Emanuel Glicenstein Romano. Michael Loew figurative paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $7,500 and tops out at $12,500, while the average work can sell for $7,500.