William Coombs Art

"Paper Making" WPA Industrial Mid-Century American Scene Social Realism Workers Douglas Crockwell (1904-1968) "Paper Making" 19 x 39 inches Oil on board, c. 1936 Signed verso Framed: 28 x 47 Provenance: Estate of the Artist BIO Spencer Douglass Crockwell was born into a comfortable middle class household on April 29, 1904 in Columbus, Ohio. His father, Charles Roland Crockwell, was a mining engineer; his mother, Cora, was the daughter of an Iowa attorney. He became a commercial artist and experimental filmmaker who spent a good part of his career creating illustrations and advertisements for the Saturday Evening Post. In 1907 the Crockwell family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he graduated from high school and then attended from Washington University. Initially he studied engineering, but soon switched to business. While still an undergraduate, Crockwell took courses at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts and quickly realized that he wanted to be an artist. After graduating from Washington University in 1926, Crockwell continued to study at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts until 1929. The following year he relocated to Chicago and continued his studies at the American Academy of Art. In 1930 and 1931 he studied in Europe on a Traveling Fellowship. In 1932 Douglass Crockwell moved to Glens Falls, New York, which was to be his home for the remainder of his life. The following year he married Margaret Braman. They had three children, a son Douglass and two daughters, Johanna and Margaret. During the depression he created murals and posters for the Works Progress Administration including Post Office murals in White River junction, Vermont; Endicott, New York; and Macon, Mississippi. In 1934 he painted Paper Workers, Finch Pruyn & Co. (the leading Glens Falls, New York company) for the WPA. In the 1930s Crockwell developed an interest in experimental animated films that occupied him for the rest of his life. In 1936 and 1937, he collaborated with David Smith, a sculptor, to create surrealist films. Because of his interest in experimental films, his output of paintings was limited to just twenty to forty illustrations a year during this time. Crockwell painted his first of many Saturday Evening Post cover in 1933. He also worked for Life, Look, and Esquire, and numerous national advertisers including Friskies dog food, Welch’s Grape Juice, Republic Steel...

Rene Genis (French 1922-2004) “bouquet au fons rouille” / bouquet with rusty frons. Oil on woven paper stock with deckled edges laid down on matt board. Signed lower right, titled v...

Guy Bardone (1927 - 2015, French) "Nature Morte à la Table Blau (?)" / Still Life at the (?) Table. Oil on canvas with a lovely frame surrounding. The picture in greens and browns...

Mural Study for "History of Water" American Scene Modernism Social Realism WPA Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975) "Water Story" (Study for The History of Water) Tempera and o...

Hunt Slonem "Violet Spring" Purple and Green Flower A single violet gestured in purple, yellow and green on a matching background in a vintage frame Unframed: 10 x 8 inches Framed: ...

After Heemskerck, Painting in the style of Heemskerck and Dutch Master, probably painted in the 19th Century.

Zygmund Jankowski (1925–2009) painted traditional subjects with exuberant irreverence for traditional rules of color, composition, and perspective. He disparaged imitation and deligh...

Mid 20th Century sgraffito work on plaster by Jean Pierre de Cayeux. The work is signed and dated on the skirt of the card player, bottom right, and on the stretcher of the chair, bo...

Rene Genis (French 1922-2004) “Nature Morte A La Table Pliante” Still Life On A Folding Table. Oil on Woven Paper (BFK). Oranges and reds predominate wit...

Chicago Modernist, William Schwartz, painted this intimate painting of a woman reading titled On the Beach. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago shortly after emigrating to th...

Carlo Pollonera (1849-1923) 'Dolomites at Santa Cristina' ‍ Oil on cardboard 48.5 x 69 cm Signed and dated lower left 1921 1920's landscape painting of the Dolomite Mountains in It...

"Industrial Cityscape, Chicago" WPA Modernism Mid-Century Cityscape 20th Century Aaron Bohrod (American 1907 – 1992) Industrial Cityscape 20 x 16 inches Oil on board Signed lower ri...