Russ Havard Paintings

Lionel S. Reiss (1894 - 1988) Lobstermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts, circa 1943 Watercolor on paper Sight 17 1/2 x 23 inches Signed lower left Provenance: Private Collection, Las Vegas, Nevada In describing his own style, Lionel Reiss wrote, “By nature, inclination, and training, I have long since recognized the fact that...I belong to the category of those who can only gladly affirm the reality of the world I live in.” Reiss’s subject matter was wide-ranging, including gritty New York scenes, landscapes of bucolic Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and seascapes around Gloucester, Massachusetts. However, it was as a painter of Jewish life—both in Israel and in Europe before World War II—that Reiss excelled. I.B. Singer, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, noted that Reiss was “essentially an artist of the nineteenth century, and because of this he had the power and the courage to tell visually the story of a people.” Although Reiss was born in Jaroslaw, Poland, his family immigrated to the United States in 1898 when he was four years old. Reiss's family settled on New York City’s Lower East Side and he lived in the city for most of his life. Reiss attended the Art Students League and then worked as a commercial artist for newspapers and publishers. As art director for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he supposedly created the studio’s famous lion logo. After World War I, Reiss became fascinated with Jewish life in the ‘Old World.’ In 1921 he left his advertising work and spent the next ten years traveling in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Like noted Jewish photographers Alter Kacyzne and Roman Vishniac, Reiss depicted Jewish life in Poland prior to World War II. He later wrote, “My trip encompassed three main objectives: to make ethnic studies of Jewish types wherever I traveled; to paint and draw Jewish life, as I saw it and felt it, in all aspects; and to round out my work in Israel.” In Europe, Reiss recorded quotidian scenes in a variety of media and different settings such as Paris, Amsterdam, the Venice ghetto, the Jewish cemetery in Prague, and an array of shops, synagogues, streets, and marketplaces in the Jewish quarters of Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lublin, Vilna, Ternopil, and Kovno. He paid great attention to details of dress, hair, and facial features, and his work became noted for its descriptive quality. A selection of Reiss’s portraits appeared in 1938 in his book My Models Were Jews. In this book, published on the eve of the Holocaust, Reiss argued that there was “no such thing as a ‘Jewish race’.” Instead, he claimed that the Jewish people were a cultural group with a great deal of diversity within and between Jewish communities around the world. Franz Boas...

Wonderful mid century mixed media coastal/figurative in loose/painterly style by Irmal Gertrude Attridge (American, 1894-1962), circa 1950. Signed lower right. Presented in vintage frame under glass (included as-is). Image size: 9"H x 12"W. Irma Gertrude Attridge was born in Chicago and studied at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles with Henry McFee and Oscar Van Young. Member of Calif. AC; AEA; Cal. WC. Soc.; Women Painters...

This series of cyanotype triptychs showcases the beauty of nature scenes, including stunning beaches and oceans, as well as the intricate textures of water, forests, and skies. These...

This artwork "Fisherman's village" is a compelling tableau that arrests the viewer's attention with its dynamic and almost abstract portrayal of a tranquil lakeside scene. The pain...

Twin Lights, Thacher Island is a superlative early Luminist rendering of Thacher Island off the coast of Rockport, Massachusetts executed in 1873 at an important early point in the a...

Original Painting New Yorker Mag Cover proposal. Army Wedding American Scene WPA Antonio Petruccelli (1907 – 1994) Army Wedding New Yorker cover proposal, c. 1939 11 1/2 X 8 inches ...

Michaela Jean is an accomplished painter, devoted gardener, and mother from Southern California (USA). Her lifelong passion for art and nature began in childhood, inspired by her gra...

Mixed media abstracted landscape composition on handmade paper of a town on the edge of a lake, in monochromatic orange tones with white accents, by Grace Eichholz (American, b. 1927...

This series of cyanotype triptychs showcases the beauty of nature scenes, including stunning beaches and oceans, as well as the intricate textures of w...

Beautiful mixed media abstracted landscape evoking the elegant beauty of the first snow in winter by Grace Eichholz (American, b. 1927). Warm neutrals with highly abstracted landscap...

This arresting artwork " Peaceful beach escape" masterfully encapsulates the interplay of land and sea with dynamic brushstrokes and a rich palette of blues and greens. The compos...

George Howell Gay (American, 1858-1931) Untitled Seascape, c. late 19th-early 20th century Watercolor on board 12 x 17 3/4 in. Framed: 16 1/4 x 22 1/4 in. Signed lower right: Geo Howell Gay George H. Gay was well known for his watercolor landscapes, seascapes and paintings of rivers and ships, mostly along the shores of New England. Gay also painted snowscapes, but these are scarcer. It is unusual to find an oil painting by this artist, as he worked mainly in watercolor. Some of his works display a tonalist aesthetic. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 2, 1858, and lived in Chicago and then in 1889, settled in Bronxville, New York. Gay was a pupil of Paul Brown and Henry Elkins in Chicago. He is known to have exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1890; Boston Art...