Vanessa Stafford Art

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...

Whitehall Building, July 1939 - Harbor Seascape with Tugboat in Watercolor Detailed harbor landscape by Ernest Clegg (British, 1876-1954). The Whitehall Building towers over the sce...

This gouache depicts the road leading to the artist's family home in the countryside. It depicts the road through several seasons and times of day. It represents a symbol of nature, ...

"Moorish Soldier Holding a Rifle" Manuel Garcia Hispaleto (Spanish, 1836-1898) Watercolor on paper Signed lower left "MGHispaleto" Original wood frame with gilded stucco 18 3/4 x 12 1/2 (33 1/2 x 26 frame) inches Manuel García Hispaleto, originally Manuel García y Martínez (22 November 1836, Seville -26 December 1898, Madrid) was a Spanish painter known for portraits and costumbrista (genre) scenes. His brother, Rafael García...

Boulevard. 1961, paper, watercolor, 37x52 cm Laimdonis Grasmanis (1916-1970) 1933 – 1937 – Art school of Applied art in Liepaja 1937 – 1942 – Art Academy of Latvia Artist took pa...

Late Mid Century French watercolour and Gouache on handmade paper of a pair of dancers by Damien Hermellin. Signed and dated bottom right. Pres...

Joel D. Sager (b. 1980) is a contemporary American painter of landscapes, still-life and portraiture. Often drawing on such standard subject matter with economy and singularity— a so...

Fishing Boats Along The Coast Watercolor painting depicting two fishing boats and fishermen along the oceanside by Robert Wayne Daley (American, 1922-1999). Rocks make up a pathway along the beach, while fishermen pull boats along the shore. Blue skies, with the ocean and hilltops making up the near distance. Signed "Robert W Daley...

Outsider Folk Art American Mid-Century Naive WW2 Self Taught WPA Depression Era "Victory for Now" Ralph Fasanella (1914-1997) "Victory and After" 27 x 37 inches Gouache on paper S...

Ganesh Haloi Untitled, Watercolor on Paper 11 x 14 inches 2011 ( Framed & Delivered ) Haloi’s abstract composition in ink exudes a meditative rhythm, where organic forms emerge thro...

London Frank Duffield (British, 1908-1982) original watercolor painting on thick artist paper, unframed size: 8 x 10.5 inches condition: overall very good, minor wear to the edges as...

French Landscape by Bernard Labbe (French mid 20th century) original watercolour on artist paper, unframed size: 11.75 x 8.25 inches condition: very good and ready to be enjoyed. p...