Virginia J. Hughins Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Max Kuehne (1880 - 1968) Train Station, circa 1910 Watercolor on paper 8 1/4 x 10 1/4 inches Signed lower right Provenance: Private Collection, Illinois Max Kuehne was born in Halle, Germany on November 7, 1880. During his adolescence the family immigrated to America and settled in Flushing, New York. As a young man, Max was active in rowing events, bicycle racing, swimming and sailing. After experimenting with various occupations, Kuehne decided to study art, which led him to William Merritt Chase's famous school in New York; he was trained by Chase himself, then by Kenneth Hayes Miller. Chase was at the peak of his career, and his portraits were especially in demand. Kuehne would have profited from Chase's invaluable lessons in technique, as well as his inspirational personality. Miller, only four years older than Kuehne, was another of the many artists to benefit from Chase's teachings. Even though Miller still would have been under the spell of Chase upon Kuehne's arrival, he was already experimenting with an aestheticism that went beyond Chase's realism and virtuosity of the brush. Later Miller developed a style dependent upon volumetric figures that recall Italian Renaissance prototypes. Kuehne moved from Miller to Robert Henri in 1909. Rockwell Kent, who also studied under Chase, Miller, and Henri, expressed what he felt were their respective contributions: "As Chase had taught us to use our eyes, and Henri to enlist our hearts, Miller called on us to use our heads." (Rockwell Kent, It's Me O Lord: The Autobiography of Rockwell Kent. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1955, p. 83). Henri prompted Kuehne to search out the unvarnished realities of urban living; a notable portion of Henri's stylistic formula was incorporated into his work. Having received such a thorough foundation in art, Kuehne spent a year in Europe's major art museums to study techniques of the old masters. His son Richard named Ernest Lawson as one of Max Kuehne's European traveling companions. In 1911 Kuehne moved to New York where he maintained a studio and painted everyday scenes around him, using the rather Manet-like, dark palette of Henri. A trip to Gloucester during the following summer engendered a brighter palette. In the words of Gallatin (1924, p. 60), during that summer Kuehne "executed some of his most successful pictures, paintings full of sunlight . . . revealing the fact that he was becoming a colorist of considerable distinction." Kuehne was away in England the year of the Armory Show (1913), where he worked on powerful, painterly seascapes on the rocky shores of Cornwall. Possibly inspired by Henri - who had discovered Madrid in 1900 then took classes there in 1906, 1908 and 1912 - Kuehne visited Spain in 1914; in all, he would spend three years there, maintaining a studio in Granada. He developed his own impressionism and a greater simplicity while in Spain, under the influence of the brilliant Mediterranean light. George Bellows convinced Kuehne to spend the summer of 1919 in Rockport, Maine (near Camden). The influence of Bellows was more than casual; he would have intensified Kuehne's commitment to paint life "in the raw" around him. After another brief trip to Spain in 1920, Kuehne went to the other Rockport (Cape Ann, Massachusetts) where he was accepted as a member of the vigorous art colony, spearheaded by Aldro T. Hibbard. Rockport's picturesque ambiance fulfilled the needs of an artist-sailor: as a writer in the Gloucester Daily Times explained, "Max Kuehne came to Rockport to paint, but he stayed to sail." The 1920s was a boom decade for Cape Ann, as it was for the rest of the nation. Kuehne's studio in Rockport was formerly occupied by Jonas Lie. Kuehne spent the summer of 1923 in Paris, where in July, André Breton started a brawl as the curtain went up on a play by his rival Tristan Tzara; the event signified the demise of the Dada movement. Kuehne could not relate to this avant-garde art but was apparently influenced by more traditional painters — the Fauves, Nabis, and painters such as Bonnard. Gallatin perceived a looser handling and more brilliant color in the pictures Kuehne brought back to the States in the fall. In 1926, Kuehne won the First Honorable Mention at the Carnegie Institute, and he re-exhibited there, for example, in 1937 (Before the Wind). Besides painting, Kuehne did sculpture, decorative screens, and furniture work with carved and gilded molding. In addition, he designed and carved his own frames, and John Taylor Adams encouraged Kuehne to execute etchings. Through his talents in all these media he was able to survive the Depression, and during the 1940s and 1950s these activities almost eclipsed his easel painting. In later years, Kuehne's landscapes and still-lifes show the influence of Cézanne and Bonnard, and his style changed radically. Max Kuehne died in 1968. He exhibited his work at the National Academy of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, and in various New York City galleries. Kuehne's works are in the following public collections: the Detroit Institute of Arts (Marine Headland), the Whitney Museum (Diamond Hill...

This artwork "Landscape with Trail" c.1980 is a watercolor on paper by noted American artist Gerald F. Brommer, 1927-2020. It is signed at the lower right corner by the artist. The a...

Edward Dufner (1872 - 1957) Monhegan Island, Maine Watercolor on paper Sight 16 x 20 inches Signed lower right With a long-time career as an art teacher and painter of both 'light' and 'dark', Edward Dufner was one of the first students of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy to earn an Albright Scholarship to study painting in New York. In Buffalo, he had exchanged odd job work for drawing lessons from architect Charles Sumner. He also earned money as an illustrator of a German-language newspaper, and in 1890 took lessons from George Bridgman at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. In 1893, using his scholarship, Dufner moved to Manhattan and enrolled at the Art Students League where he studied with Henry Siddons Mowbray, figure painter and muralist. He also did illustration work for Life, Harper's and Scribner's magazines. Five years later, in 1898, Dufner went to Paris where he studied at the Academy Julian with Jean-Paul Laurens and privately with James McNeill Whistler. Verification of this relationship, which has been debated by art scholars, comes from researcher Nancy Turk who located at the Smithsonian Institution two 1927 interviews given by Dufner. Turk wrote that Dufner "talks in detail about Whistler, about how he prepared his canvasas and about numerous pieces he painted. . . A great read, the interview puts to bed" the ongoing confusion about whether or not he studied with Whistler. During his time in France, Dufner summered in the south at Le Pouleu with artists Richard Emil Miller...

This artwork "Man Fishing in a Lake" c.1980, is a gouache on paper by noted Montana artist Shirley Cleary, b.1942. It is signed at the lower right corner by the artist. The artwork (image) size is 7 x 20 inches, framed size is 14.65 x 27.75 inches. Custom framed in a wooden gold frame, with light green matting and gold color spacer. It is in excellent condition, the frame have a very small minor restoration, practically invisible. About the artist: Shirley Cleary was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1942. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Washington University in St. Louis in 1964, studied at the University of Valencia in Spain in 1965, and at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1966, in Rome in 1967, and received her Masters of Fine Arts in 1968. Shirley Cleary received her BFA Degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her MFA Degree from Tyler School of Art of Temple University in Philadelphia and Rome, Italy. She also studied at the University of Valencia (Spain) and the Corcoran in Washington, DC. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, has lived in Montana since 1971 and spends part of the winter painting and fishing in New Zealand. Her paintings have been featured in many publications including "American Artist", "Art West", "The Artist's Magazine", "US Art", "Inform Art", "Fly Fisher's Magazine", "Angler's Journal", "Disegnare & Dipingere" and in several issues of "Wildlife Art". She is listed in Samuel's "Contemporary Western Artists", "An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West" and "Who's Who in American Art" (since 1987). Shirley has participated in many invitational and juried exhibitions including a one woman exhibition at the American Museum of Flyfishing in Manchester, Vermont and group exhibitions including "Women Artists of the West" at the Tucson Museum of Art in Arizona; Maryland Waterfowl Festival; Easton Academy of the Arts (Maryland) "the Art of Flyfishing-A Visual History"; Foothills Art Center (Golden, Colorado), "Rivers: The Song of Life", "Stampede Western Invitational Exhibit", (Greeley, Colorado); The Southeast Wildlife Festival in Charleston, South Carolina; "Wild Thing" and "The Artful Angler" and the CM Russell Auction at CM Russell Museum (Great Falls, Montana). Her work is licensed through Wild Wings, Inc., Lake City, Minnesota. Shirley was the winner of the 1990 Oregon Trout Stamp/Print competition and the 1992 Association of Northwest Steelheaders Stamp/ Print. In 1999 she received the "Communication in Conservation Award" from National Trout Unlimited and was the 2001 print...

An early-20th-century, landscape showing a view of the coastline at Moss Beach in Monterey County with slate-blue skies overhead and a view towards a stand ...

Theophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923) Men at the Pont du Carrousel, Signed "St" on the lower right pencil on paper 9 x 15 cm framed : 24,5 x 30 cm In good condition, slightly ye...

This artwork titled "State Capitol at night, Sacramento, California" c.1960 is a watercolor on paper by noted California artist William Jack Laycox, 1921-1984. It is signed at he low...

In this drawing, Sylvia Spicuzza presents the viewer with a dark, subtle view of two apples, still clinging to their leaves. Examples like this show the ability of Spicuzza to draw i...

Alice Schille Old Adobe Village, New Mexico Signed lower right Watercolor on paper 5 x 6 inches Provenance: Estate of the artist Keny and Johnson Gallery, Columbus, Ohio Santa Fe East Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico Private Collection, California A painter in watercolor and oil, Alice Schille was a prolific artist using modernist styles of Post-Impressionism, Pointillism and Fauvism. Her subjects included portraits of women and children, landscapes with and without figures, a series of scenes of New York City. New Mexico, and Gloucester, Massachusetts. Her paintings also reflected her widespread international travels in Europe, North Africa, Russia, the Middle East, Mexico, and Guatemala. Although personally very shy, Schille possessed unusual courage and strength of will, which was reflected in both her independent lifestyle and in her work, as she continually worked to master new modes of painting throughout her career. A German critic once referred to Schille as "this daredevil disciple of art who is interested in anything and afraid of nothing." Alice Schille was born in Columbus, Ohio to a family supported by her father's success in manufacturing. She was raised in Columbus, and by the time she was age six, she determined to be an artist. She graduated at the top of her class from Central High School in 1887, studied from 1891 to 1893 at the Columbus Art School, and returned there as a teacher from 1902 to 1948. Going to New York City as a young woman, she enrolled in the Art Students League from 1897 to 1899 and then the New York School of Art with William Merritt Chase and Kenyon Cox. (Some years later, she attended Chase's Shinnecock Summer School on Long Island). From 1903 to 1904, Alice Schille was in Paris at the Academie Colarosi, and also studied privately with Raphael Collin, Rene Prinet, Gustave Courtois and Chase, who was then in Europe. In 1904, five of her paintings were accepted for exhibition at Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts, and from that time on her work was included regularly in important American annual exhibitions including the Pennsylvania Academy, the Corcoran Gallery, American Watercolor Society, Boston Art Club, and the 1987 inaugural exhibition of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC. Between 1905 and 1914, Alice Schille painted in Europe, and during the summers of 1916 to 1918, worked in New York and Gloucester. In 1919, she was in New Mexico. On this trip, her first to the Southwest, she spent a summer in Taos and Santa Fe and painted scenes including the Taos Pueblo, Canyon Road and local Hispanic and Indian figures. Reportedly the Ranchos de Taos Church was one of her favorite subjects. Many of these New Mexico paintings were hung at annual exhibitions of the Philadelphia Water Color Club. Between 1920 and 1940, she traveled frequently in the summers, returning to New Mexico and going to Central America and Africa. In 1922, she began her first series of North-African watercolors...

Signed lower left, 'J. W. Nicoll' for John W. Nicoll (American, 1865-1943), titled lower left, 'Santa Barbara' and painted circa 1925. Sheet dimensions: 9 x 12.75 inches. A luminous, early twentieth-century landscape showing a picturesque view of a Spanish style cottage set in a lush garden with a view beyond towards the Santa Ynez Mountains rising towards clouded, blue skies. An unusual and elegant view of old-time Santa Barbara that retains much of its crispness and freshness of color. Born in New York, John Nicoll first studied with his uncle, the landscape painter, James Nicoll. He subsequently moved to Paris where he furthered his education for three years under Bouguereau and Ferrier at the Académie Julian. He then continued on to Seville where he studied for three years at the Academia Real, spending his winters traveling and painting in North Africa. By 1899, Nicoll had settled in Pasadena where he painted, exhibited and taught drawing at the College of Fine Arts from 1906-1935. Upon his retirement, he moved to San Diego where he continued to paint and exhibit until his death in 1943. Over the course of a long career, James Nicoll exhibited widely and with success including at the Stickley Building, Pasadena, 1899; Blanchard Hall, Los Angeles, 1899; the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St Louis, 1904; the Ruskin Art Club, Los Angeles, 1904; Lewis & Clark Expo Portland, 1905 (Bronze Medal); the Painters Club, Los Angeles, 1906-09; the Nicholson Gallery...

This artwork "Tree" c.1980, is a pastel drawing on paper by noted American artist Albert Handell, b.1937. It is signed at the lower right corner by the artist. The artwork (Image) size is 15.5 x 21 inches, framed size is 24.25 x 28.75 inches. Custom framed in original wooden gold with brown patina frame, with off-white matting. It is in excellent condition, the frame have some small minor restorations, practically invisible. About the artist: ALBERT HANDELL was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1937. At an early age, a favorite activity of his was drawing with chalks...

This artwork titled "St Emilion" c.1970, is a watercolor by American artist Wayne Ensrud, b.1934. It is signed at the lower right side by the artist. The artwork size is 19 x 24 inch...