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.
$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,...
Egg Tempera, Board
$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 ...
Canvas, Oil
$2,300Sale Price|50% Off
H 24 in W 28 in D 2 in
God Bless Our Home, Social Realist Scene, Figurative Americana Interior Scene
Located in Doylestown, PA
"God Bless Our Home" is an interior and figurative scene of a woman sitting on her couch in serious and proper expression. The Americana style paint...
Canvas, Oil
$4,800
H 22 in W 26 in D 1 in
Interior J&L Works, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania American Industrial Scene Painting
Located in Marco Island, FL
An interior scene of industrial America where workers kept the production of steel going in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This detailed and atmospheric painting shows the hard work and ...
Oil, Board
$3,550
H 48 in W 48 in D 0.75 in
The Artist's Apartment - Mid-Century Fauvist Interior Scene, Oil on Canvas 48x48
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...
Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars
$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...
Canvas, Oil
Blacksmith (Untitled)
By Erle Loran
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Blacksmith (Untitled), 1936, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 28 x 30 inches Erle Loran was an influential American painter, art historian, and educator, renowned for h...
Canvas, Oil
$1,200
H 36.5 in W 31 in D 1.5 in
A Large, Compelling Mid-Century Modern Figurative Painting- Equestrienne & Clown
By Gerrit Hondius
Located in Chicago, IL
A Large, Compelling Mid-Century Modern Figurative Painting by New York Artist, Gerrit Hondius, Titled "Equestrienne & Clown". Artwork size: 30 x 24 inches (Oil on Masonite); Frame...
Masonite, Oil
$1,600
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 ...
Canvas, Oil
$2,120Sale Price|20% Off
H 40 in W 28 in D 3 in
Mid Century Modern Jazz Ensemble -- The Band Box Quartet, Signed
Located in Soquel, CA
Mid Century Modern Jazz Quartet Figurative -- "The Band Box" Signed A vivid, mid-century modernist interpretation of a jazz ensemble by Louis M. Centofanti (American, 1921-2018). "B...
Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars
$600
H 27.5 in W 23.5 in D 1 in
A Mid-Century Modern Painting, "Refreshment" by Lucille Leighton, ca. 1958
Located in Chicago, IL
A dynamic ca. 1958 Mid-Century Modern painting titled "Refreshment" by Woman Artist, Lucille Leighton. Oil on canvas, in original frame. Artwork size: 22" x 18". Framed size: 27 1...
Canvas, Oil
Man at Machine
By Theodore Roszak
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Man at Machine, 1939, oil on canvas, unsigned, 9 ½ x 16 inches, label verso bears artist’s name and address, title, date, size and medium of the painting, exhibited Roszak Early Pain...
Canvas, Oil
$150,000
H 39 in W 61 in
"Hotel Chelsea" New York interior painting by Paul Oxborough
By Paul G. Oxborough
Located in Greenwich, CT
Signed lower right Unframed dimensions: 30 x 52 inches Framed dimensions: 39 x 61 inches Paul G. Oxborough studied at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and Atelier Lesueur, a 4...
Oil, Linen
$750
H 9.75 in W 8.5 in D 1.5 in
A Delightful Mid-Century Modern Painting of Mother and Child by Francis Chapin
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A Delightful, Intimate Mid-Century Modern Portrait Painting of Mother and Child by Noted Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Artwork size: 5 3/4 x 4 Inches (Framed size...
Masonite, Oil