Wes Hempel Figurative Paintings

"Old Shoemaker" Ashcan 20th Century Modernism 1924 California WPA Realism Worker. Signed “Otis Oldfield” lower left. 14 x 12 inches. Exhibited: Galerie des Beaux Arts, San Francisco, CA, 1925 Provenance: Estate of the Artist Born in Sacramento, CA on July 3, 1890, Otis Oldfield left high school at age 16 to work in a local print shop. In 1909 he arrived in San Francisco and enrolled at the Best Art School. After working for two years as a bellhop at the Argonaut Hotel and as a hat check boy at the Cliff House, he had saved enough money for further studies in Paris. In 1911 he sailed for France and enrolled at Académie Julian. Caught up in the activities of wartime Paris, he was an apprentice for a book...

Elizabeth Bell’s Dappled Elegance is a masterfully rendered oil painting celebrating the grace and stature of an Arabian or American Saddlebred horse in motion. The artist captures t...

NYC EL American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern WPA Era Figurative Cecil Bell (1906 – 1970) Street Life Under the EL 22 x 30 inches Oil on canvas, c. 1930s Signed upper...

"Girl with Muff" is aa American figurative portrait oil on canvas painting by Robert Henri in 1912. The artwork is 57 1/4 x 38 1/4 inches and, with the frame, is 64 1/4 x 45 1/4 x 2 ...

A quaint depiction of Figures in the snow by the Cabin in the Country. Nemethy uses fine detailed techniques with wonderful impressions. We can feel the warmth of the piece with uniq...

About this work: “Reflection (Self-Portrait)" 1951 by Edith Emerson (American, 1888-1981). An exceptional, large self-portrait by important Philadelphia artist, curator, muralist, a...

Under the Viaduct American Scene Social Realism WPA Era Mid-20th Century Modern Syd J. Browne (1907-1991) Under the Viaduct 22 x 30 inches Oil on canvas. c. 1930s Signed lower left ...

In the depths of the Great Depression, American women sought escape from their worries. For 25¢,“Hearst’s International Cosmopolitan” magazine delivered. The magazine published ficti...

The Wrestlers by Clyde Singer is an excellent Mid-Century painting of a popular Aschan subject. The artist George Bellows (1882-1925) was a precursor of Singer's who often depicted ...

The classic hard luck, independent kid, maybe 8 or 10 years old here, selling the day’s papers out on the grubby streets of early 1900s New York City. He’s paused in a quiet spot, ap...

A long and quiet night in the hotel lobby is depicted by Clyde Singer in this moody and still painting. Entitled Hotel Night Lobby (1947), Singer paints a moment of solitude during ...

William John Hennessy was born in Ireland. He came to America in 1849 with his mother and brother a year after his father had fled their homeland after taking part in the unsuccessful Young Ireland Party uprising. The Hennessys settled in New York, and when young William came of age, he decided upon a career as an artist. At the age of fifteen, he enrolled at the National Academy of Design, where he learned to draw from the antique, and the following year he was granted admission to the Academy’s life-drawing class. Hennessy first exhibited at the National Academy in 1857, starting a continuous run of appearances in their annuals that lasted until 1870, when he expatriated himself to Europe. During his time in America, Hennessy was principally known as a genre painter and prolific illustrator for such publications as Harper’s Weekly and a number of books, including illustrated works of William Cullen Bryant...