Ralph Ledesma Art

TOBACCO ROAD Mid 20th Century Realism 1940 Drawing from the Novel WPA Literary 2 10 1/2 x 6 (sight), Signed David Fredenthal lower right. Framed by Lowy....

TOBACCO ROAD Mid 20th Century Realism 1940 Drawing from the Novel WPA Literary 3 10 1/2 x 6 (sight), Signed David Fredenthal lower right. Framed by Lowy. Offered here is one of several original drawings by WPA artist David Fredenthal that were first published in the 1940 illustrated edition of the novel TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell. Background on the Drawing Erskine Caldwell remarked, on seeing the work of David Fredenthal, 26-year-old painter: "That boy could draw my Tobacco Road people." A casual comment, it was enormously productive. The young painter was just finishing a two-year Guggenhcim Fellowship, preceded by a year's study in Paris, two one-man shows at New York's Downtown Gallery, and a fellowship at the Cranbrook Academy near Detroit. He was out in Colorado Springs when he heard what Caldwell had said about him. Fredenthal hadn't read Tobacco Road. He had not even seen the play - now breaking all records in its seventh year on Broadway. But he swapped a portrait for a second-hand Ford and headed East. In New York he learned that Dnell, Sloan & Pearce were bringing out a deluxe edition of Tobacco Road. But he had no entrée to the publishers, and Caldwell, to his disappointment, was out of town. So he drove on to Georgia to have a look at the Tobacco Road people. He found Dr. I. C. Caldwell, the author's father, in Wrens, Ga., going on his ministerial rounds among people like the Lesters. Fredenthal got a room from a couple who ran a 1-pump filling station...

"Tobacco Road" Mid 20th Century Realism 1940 Drawing from the Novel WPA Literary 19 1/4 x 11 1/2 (sight), Signed David Fredenthal lower right. Framed by ...

"Planting (Spring Plowing)", a vibrant watercolor and graphite on paper by Thomas Hart Benton, circa 1939-40, embodies the artist's signature Regionalist style. The work depicts a ru...

Figurative ink and wash drawing of beagles and a terrier leading the hunter to the quarry by an unknown artist (American, 20th Century). Unsigned. Displayed in a rustic black and bro...

“Rowing on the Charles River, Harvard University” by Aiden Lassell Ripley (American, 1896-1969) A fantastic, rare view of Harvard University and the Charles River by renowned Americ...

Beautiful mid-century small-scale watercolor landscape of fishermen with their boats on the shore by unknown artist. Signed lower left corner illegibly. Circa 1940's. Unframed. Image...

Original watercolor by Edward Lamson Henry looking back at barge travel through small New York state towns. Delaware & Hudson Canal, Ellenville N...

"Going to the Festival" WPA Ashcan 20th Century American Scene Modern Realism Daniel Celentano (1902 - 1980) "Going to the Festival," 14 1/2 x 10 1/2. Watercolor on paper, c. 1930s....

Edward Dufner is one of America's finest American Impressionists. This is an exceptional work by him. The technique is exquisite with the brushwork being refined and sophisticated,...

Industrial Landscape Contemporary American Watercolor Magic Realism 20th Century Henry Koerner (1915-1991) J&L Oxygen Plant 18 x 24 1/2 inches Watercolo...

An unfinished but spirited plein-air composition of what appears to be the Shenandoah or Potomac River valley with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. Watercolor on board with...