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Cityscape Mid-20th Century Modern Social Realism American Scene Regionalism WPA
Located in New York, NY
Cityscape Mid-20th Century Modern Social Realism American Scene Regionalism WPA
Samuel Thal (1903 to 1964)
"Cityscene"
12 x 16 inches
Oil on board, c. 1940s
Signed verso
Framed: 19...
Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Board, Oil
Industrial Mural Study, Veterans Memorial Building, Santa Barbara WPA American
Located in New York, NY
Industrial Mural Study, Veterans Memorial Building, Santa Barbara WPA American
Joseph Edward Knowles (1907-1980)
"Study for Industry Mural, Veterans Memorial Building, Santa Barbara, CA"
19 1/2 x 50 1/2 inches
Oil on board, c. 1930s.
Estate stamp verso
Framed: 27 x 60 inches
The completed mural is currently hanging on the wall, part of the building actually, at the Veterans Memorial Building in Santa Barbara. A photo of the work insitu is included in the attached photos.
BIO
Joseph Edward Knowles was born in Kendall, Montana, on June 15, 1907. He grew up in San Diego, California. At age twenty, two years before the beginning of the Great Depression, he moved north to another town on the coast of California---Santa Barbara. There he began studying fine art at the Santa Barbara School of the Arts* (1927-1930), under the supervision of Frank Morley Fletcher, previously director of the Edinburgh College of Art. Fletcher, who was trained in portraiture, landscape painting, and woodblock* printing, was a great influence on young Knowles. It was there that Knowles learned the art of color woodblock printmaking, a medium in which he showed great skill.
Not long after completing his studies with Fletcher, Knowles began teaching art. For a period of thirty years, from 1930 to1960, he taught at the Cate School in Carpinteria, California. In 1934-1935, Knowles traveled throughout Europe, further developing his artistic skills in England, France, and Italy. Upon his return, he continued to teach art at various schools and institutions: Cate School, Crane Country School, extension classes at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), and at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA). Knowles also served as an art education consultant for the County of Santa Barbara. In addition, he was founding co-director and president of the Santa Barbara Fine Arts Institute (1969-1972), which later developed a specialization in photography and became the Brooks Institute of Photography. Knowles died at his home in Santa Barbara on September 8, 1980.
Much of Knowles' watercolor work is associated with what has been termed the "California School*," a loose grouping of artists throughout the state that included such figures as Millard Sheets, Phil Dike, Dong Kingman, George Post, and the Santa Barbara painters Dan Lutz and Standish Backus, Jr. The California School artists, including Knowles, were known for their fresh, direct, spontaneous style of watercolor painting. Knowles and other members of the school found inspiration in nature and the built environment alike, emphasizing elements of design in their exuberant, boldly stated, colorful scenes from everyday life. While painting in a representational* manner, Knowles generally avoided photographic realism, preferring subjective interpretation of his subjects. In this, as well as in his experimental approach and vigorous brushwork, he displayed a strongly modern sensibility.
Knowles often used the wet-on-wet watercolor technique as he painted seascapes and landscapes, mostly along the California coast. He also employed dry-brush* techniques in many of his paintings, often leaving some of the white of the watercolor paper exposed. Some of the latter depict trees and other forms in a broken and airy manner that recalls Cezanne.
Knowles' colored woodblock prints are more reserved and exact in their draftsmanship than his paintings. Spare, clean, lyrical lines are drawn to illustrate floral motifs and boat scenes with a touch of asymmetry conjuring Japanese woodblock prints. His murals from the post-World War II period are considerably more modern in their approach and show an emphasis on design and color.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
California Watercolor Society (1940 - 1955)
Santa Barbara Art Association (Vice President - 1952)
ONE-MAN EXHIBITIONS
Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) - San Francisco, California
San Diego Fine Arts Gallery (SDMA) - San Diego, California
Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) - Santa Barbara, California
Cowie Galleries - Los Angeles, California
Gallery de Silva - Santa Barbara, California
Bradley Galleries - Santa Barbara, California
MURALS
Westmont College - Ellen Porter Hall Mural - Santa Barbara, California
Safeway Grocery (now Vons Grocery on West Victoria Street) - Exterior Tile Mosaic -
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara Bank & Trust - Interior Mosaic Panels, Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara Girls Club - Interior Mosaic Mural - Santa Barbara, California
Ernest Righetti High School - Mosaic Mural - Santa Maria, California
Shell Oil Company - Mosaic Panel - California
Beckman Instruments, Corporate Headquarters - Mosaic - Fullerton, California
STAINED GLASS WINDOWS, WALLS and PANELS
Katherine Thayer Cate Memorial Chapel - Cate School, Carpinteria, California
William S. Porter Memorial Chapel - Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara, California
La Rinconada Building - Santa Barbara, California
ILLUSTRATIONS
"California's Wonderful Corner: True Stories for Children from the History of the Santa Barbara Region," by Walter A. Tompkins (1962 & 1975)
China Designs:
Two sets of dinnerware for Winfield China...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
"Snowy City Scene" American Scene Social Realism WPA Era Mid-20th Century Modern
Located in New York, NY
"Snowy City Scene" American Scene Social Realism WPA Era Mid-20th Century Modern
Syd J. Browne (1907-1991)
"Snowy City Scene"
22 x 30 inches
Oil on canvas. c. 1930s
Signed lower lef...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Money Lender" WPA American Scene Social Realism Modern Mid 20th Century
By Mervin Jules
Located in New York, NY
"Money Lender" WPA American Scene Social Realism Modernism Mid Century
Mervin M Jules (1912-1994
"The Money Lender"
15 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches
Oil on board, c. 1940s
Signed lower left
F...
Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
"High School Dance" WPA Mid-20th Century Modern American Scene Social Realism
Located in New York, NY
"High School Dance" WPA Mid-20th Century Modern American Scene Social Realism
Heusing (20th Century)
"High School Dance"
27 x 32 inches
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated '47 Lower Righ...
Category
1940s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Morning Beneath the EL NYC American Scene WPA Modern 20th Century Social Realism
By Bernard Gussow
Located in New York, NY
"Morning Beneath the EL" NYC American Scene Ashcan WPA Modern 20th Century Social Realism
Bernard Gussow (1881-1957)
"Morning Beneath the EL"
24 1/4 x 30 inches
Oil on canvas
Signed...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"3rd Avenue EL" NYC American Scene Ashcan WPA Modern 20th Century Social Realism
By Bernard Gussow
Located in New York, NY
"3rd Avenue EL" NYC American Scene Ashcan WPA Modern 20th Century Social Realism
Bernard Gussow (1881-1957)
3rd Avenue El
28 1/8 x 30 1/4 inches
Oil on canvas
Signed lower left
Fram...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"The Faces We Wore" WPA Family American Scene Figurative Abstract Woman Artist
Located in New York, NY
"The Faces We Wore" WPA Family American Scene Figurative Abstract Woman Artist
Juanita Guccione (1904 - 1999)
The Faces We Wore
20 x 16 inches
Oil on...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Glassblowers" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century New York City WPA
By Ernest Fiene
Located in New York, NY
"Glassblowers" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century New York City WPA
Ernest Fiene (1894-1965)
Glass Blowers
28 x 23 inches
Oil on canvas board
Signed and dated 1944 lower...
Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
"Study for Long Beach" WPA American Scene Social Realism Modernism Ashcan
Located in New York, NY
"Study for Long Beach" WPA Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism Modernism Ashcan
Daniel Ralph Celantano (1902-1980)
"Study for Long Beach"
8 x 10 inches
Oil on artist bo...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
Under the Viaduct American Scene Social Realism WPA Era Mid-20th Century Modern
Located in New York, NY
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
...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Summer Pier Fishing" American Scene Social Realism WPA Mid-20th Century Modern
Located in New York, NY
"Summer Pier Fishing" American Scene Social Realism WPA Mid-20th Century Modern
Syd J. Browne (1907-1991)
"Summer Pier Fishing"
22 x 30 inches
Oil on canvas. c. 1930s
Signed lower r...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"6th Avenue El" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century New York City
By Ernest Fiene
Located in New York, NY
"6th Avenue El" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century New York City
Ernest Fiene (1894-1965)
"6th Avenue El"
12 1/4 x 14 1/4
Oil on canvas board, c. 1940s
Signed lower righ...
Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
"Cruise Ship Rolls In" Mid 20th Century American Contemporary Modern Realism
Located in New York, NY
"Cruise Ship Rolls In" Mid 20th Century American Contemporary Modern Realism
This is one sensational painting. And we can even identify the artist, but can't find anything about the...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Cop on Vacation" Brute Gay LGBT Contemporary NYC Male Portrait Painting
By Robert Loughlin
Located in New York, NY
"Cop on Vacation" Brute Gay LGBT Contemporary NYC Male Portrait Painting
Robert Loughlin (1949-2011)
"Cop on Vacation"
Oil and mixed media on canvas
24 h x 30 w inches
Signed and ti...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Union Square" NYC American Scene Social Realism Modernism WPA Mid-20th Century
By Agnes Hart
Located in New York, NY
"Union Square" NYC American Scene Social Realism Modernism WPA Mid-20th Century
Agnes Hart (American, 1912-1979)
"Union Square, New York City"
Sight: 14 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches
Gouache...
Category
1940s American Modern Landscape Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
Original Painting. New Yorker Magazine Published 1935 American Scene Modern WPA
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
Original Painting. New Yorker Magazine Published 1935 American Scene Modern WPA
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 - 1994)
Movers
New Yorker published, September 20, 1935
18 X 11 1/2 inches...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
"Pay Day" American Scene Social Realism WPA Era Mid 20th Century Modern Workers
By Don Freeman
Located in New York, NY
"Pay Day" American Scene Social Realism WPA Era Mid 20th Century Modern Workers
Don Freeman (1908-1978)
Pay Day
20 x 30 inches
Oil on board, c. 1940s
Signed lower right
BIO
Illustr...
Category
1940s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
WPA Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern Workers
By Seymour Fogel
Located in New York, NY
WPA Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern Workers
Seymour Fogel (1911-1984)
Mural Study, untitled
11 x 49 1/4 inches (sight)
Tempera on board
Provenance:...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Egg Tempera, Board
Figurative Cubist Surrealist Abstraction Mid 20th Century American Modern Large
By O. Louis Guglielmi
Located in New York, NY
Figurative Cubist Surrealist Abstraction Mid 20th Century American Modern Large
O. Louis Guglielmi (1906 - 1956)
OBSESSIVE THEME
44 x 33 inches
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated '48 lo...
Category
1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Brooklyn Bridge NYC American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern WPA
By Cecil Crosley Bell
Located in New York, NY
Brooklyn Bridge NYC American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern WPA
Cecil C. Bell (American, 1906-1970)
Brookyn Bridge amid the NYC Waterfront
35 ½ x 23 ½ inches
Oil on Bo...
Category
1930s American Realist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
WWII Aircraft Factory Workers Industrial 20th Century American Scene WPA Modern
Located in New York, NY
WWII Aircraft Factory Workers Industrial 20th Century American Scene WPA Modern
Frederick Buchholz (1901-1983)
WW2 Aircraft Factory
18 x 24 inches
Oil ...
Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Industrial Railroad WPA Mid 20th Century American Scene Rural Modern Realism
By Louis Bosa
Located in New York, NY
Industrial Railroad WPA Mid 20th Century American Scene Rural Modern Realism
Large oil on canvas genre painting depicting laborers working on a railroad, with rural landscape in the...
Category
1940s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Coney Island Fire Eaters American Scene Modernism WPA Social Realism Mid-Century
Located in New York, NY
Coney Island Fire Eaters American Scene Modernism WPA Social Realism Mid-Century
Frederick "Fritz" Frey Rockwell (1917-1977)
Coney Island Fire Eaters
25 x 30 inches
Oil on Canvas
Si...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
NYC Subway Mid 20th Century Modern American Scene Social Realism Contemporary
Located in New York, NY
NYC Subway Mid 20th Century Modern American Scene Social Realism Contemporary
David Atkins (1910 – 2012)
Subway Train Departure
24 x 30 inches
Oil on can...
Category
1960s American Modern Interior Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Parade" Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern American Scene WPA Regionalism
By Gerrit Sinclair
Located in New York, NY
"Parade" Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern American Scene WPA Regionalism
Gerrit Van Sinclair (1890 – 1955)
Parade
20 x 15 inches
Oil on board, c. 1940s
Signed lower right
Fram...
Category
1940s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
Shooting Gallery Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Abstract Realism Modern
Located in New York, NY
Shooting Gallery Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Abstract Realism Modern
*William Kienbusch (1914 – 1980)
Shooting Gallery, Sixth Avenue
Post...
Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Paint, Paper
"Workers" Russian Constructivist 1920s Modern Social Realism Cubism Figurative
Located in New York, NY
"Workers" Russian Constructivist 1920s Modern Social Realism Cubism Figurative
VLADIMIR VASIL’EVICH LEBEDEV (1891-1967)
"Workers"
Gouache on paper
Monog...
Category
1920s Constructivist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Paper, Gouache
Post Office WPA Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Modern 20th Century
By Carlos Lopez
Located in New York, NY
Post Office WPA Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Modern 20th Century
Carlos Lopez (1910-1953)
"Bounty" WPA Mural Study for Michigan Post Office
19 ½ x 22 ½ inches
Oil on B...
Category
1940s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
"Two Seas and a Moon" Surrealism American Scene WWII Modern WWI Denver WPA Era
By Arnold Rönnebeck
Located in New York, NY
"Two Seas and a Moon" Surrealism American Scene WWII Modern WWI Denver WPA Era
Arnold Ronnebeck (1885 - 1947)
Two Seas and a Moon
30 x 22 1/2 inches
Oil on Canvas, c. 1943
Signed u...
Category
1940s Surrealist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"History of US Postal Service" American Scene Social Realism WPA Modern Chicago
By Harold Haydon
Located in New York, NY
"History of US Postal Service" American Scene Social Realism WPA Modern Chicago
Harold Haydon
"History of the U.S. Postal Service"
21 x 25 1/2 inches
O...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism Modernism
By Henry Ernst Schnakenberg
Located in New York, NY
Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism Modernism
Henry Schnakenberg (1982 - 1970)
Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape
11 1/2 x 15 1/2 sight
Oil on Canvas
Signed lower left
14 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches, Framed
Bio
In many cases, American artists visited the Armory Show in New York in 1913, and returned to their studios to react to or against what they saw. However, for Henry Ernest Schnakenberg it was much more life altering. Prior to visiting this important exhibition of American and European modernist art...
Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Neon Lighting WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism American Scene Modern Figures
By Maurice Becker
Located in New York, NY
Neon Lighting WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism American Scene Modern Figures
MAURICE BECKER (1889-1975)
'Neon Lighting
17 1/4 x 13 3/4 inches
Oil on masonite
Signed, dated 1936 and titled on verso
BIO
Maurice Becker, painter, political cartoonist and social reformer, was born in 1889 either in Gorky or Niznij Novgorod, in Russia. His family came to the United States in 1892, to New York City. After high school, Becker worked in a clothing factory. He studied with Ash Can School artist Robert Henri in 1908, and exhibited in the famous 1913 Armory Show in New York City when he was only twenty-four years of age.
At the Armory show, Becker showed a drawing of a dog's head...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
A Summer Day WPA American Scene Social Realism Modern Ashcan Early 20th Century
By Leon Kroll
Located in New York, NY
A Summer Day WPA American Scene Social Realism Modern Ashcan Early 20th Century
Leon Kroll (1884-1974)
"A Summer Day"
14 x 17 inches (image...
Category
1930s Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
UN Poster Design American Scene Mid 20th Century Modernism WPA World Peace
By Jo Cain
Located in New York, NY
UN Poster Design American Scene Mid 20th Century Modernism WPA World Peace
Jo Cain (1904 – 2003)
We Are All Members of the Human Race: UN Poster Proposal
21 x...
Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Egg Tempera, Board
St, Louis River Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century WPA
By Jo Cain
Located in New York, NY
St, Louis River Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century WPA
Jo Cain (1904-2003)
The Drama of the St. Louis Great River
23 1/4 x 25 ½ inches
Gouache on board c. 19...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
NYC EL American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern WPA Era Figurative
By Cecil Crosley Bell
Located in New York, NY
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...
Category
1930s American Realist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
NYC 1939 World's Fair Mural Study American Scene WPA Modern Mid 20th Century
Located in New York, NY
NYC 1939 World's Fair Mural Study American Scene WPA Modern Mid 20th Century
Eugene Savage (1883 – 1978)
1939 World’s Fair Mural Study
45 x 30 inches
Oil on Canvas
Signed lower right
The painting is part of a 1,000 piece collection of art and objects from the 1939 World’s Fair. The collection as a whole is available.
Savage created the mural for the facade of the Communications Building. An image of the completed mural, along with a published postcard, is part of the listing. Note the center top female figure, she resembles the figure in the offered painting.
BIO
Eugene Francis Savage was born in Covington, Indiana 1883. He underwent various forms of art training in the early years. He was a pupil of The Corcoran Gallery and The Art Institute of Chicago, and was later awarded a fellowship to study in Rome at The American Academy.
While under the spell of that ancient city the young artist began to render historic figures that were suitable for the classic style needed for mural painting in the traditional manor. During this period he was able to study and observe Roman and Greek sculpture, although much of the academic training was accomplished by using plaster casts along with the incorporation of live models. This method survived and was used efficiently throughout Europe and the United States.
After leaving the Academy, Savage was commissioned to paint numerous murals throughout the United States and Europe. This artist received acclaim for the works he produced while under commissions from various sources. This young master was a contemporary of Mexican muralists David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974), Jose Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957). In this period he was to show the influence of his contemporaries in formulating a modern style. Savage also played a vital role in the WPA Federal Art program, and he was a member of The Mural Art Guild..
Savage was elected an associate member of The National Academy of Design in 1924 and a full member in 1926. From 1947, he held a professorship at Yale University where he taught mural painting, and some of his students went on to significant positions.
By this time the artist had painted large-scale murals at Columbia, Yale University, Buffalo N.Y., Dallas, Texas, Chicago, Indiana, along with other commissioned works. He also achieved recognition for a series of murals commissioned by the Matson Shipping Line and completed around 1940. For this commission, Savage made many exacting studies of customs and folkways of the Hawaiian natives. However, the award-winning murals were not installed as planned but were put in storage during the war years when the ships were used for troop transportation and were in danger of attack.
However the mural images were reproduced and distributed by the shipping company including nine of the mural scenes that were made into lithographed menu covers in 1948. The American Institute of Graphic Arts awarded certificates of excellence for their graphic production, and the Smithsonian Institute exhibited the works in 1949. Today Savages' Hawaiian Art production is held in high regard by collectors of Hawaiian nostalgia.
In later years the artist focused his attention on a theme that dealt with the customs and tribal traditions of the Seminole Indians of Florida. He produced many variations of this theme throughout his lifetime, and the pictures were usually modest scale easel paintings, precise and carefully delineated. Many of these pictures incorporate Surrealistic elements and show some minor stylistic influences of the painters Kay Sage...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Street Scene WPA American Scene Mid-20th Century Modern Coin Tower California SF
By Victor Michail Arnautoff
Located in New York, NY
Street Scene WPA American Scene Mid-20th Century Modern Coin Tower California SF
Victor Arnautofff (1896 – 1979)
City Street
12 x 14 inches
Oil on board, c. 1930s
Signed lower left
BIO
Born in the Ukraine of Russia, Victor Arnautoff became one of the most influential muralists in San Francisco in the 1930s and worked for the Federal Arts Project, WPA, in the expressive, social protest...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
"Unemployed" WPA American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern
By William Gropper
Located in New York, NY
"Unemployed" WPA American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern
William Gropper (1898 - 1977)
Unemployed
20 x 16 inches
Oil on canvas, 1937
Signed lower right
Provenance: Estate of the artist
Bio
Throughout his life, William Gropper used his artistic talents to protest social injustice. Born in New York City, he grew up there in poverty and left high school to work as a dishwasher and delivery boy. He eventually began a career in art and was able to study with Robert Henri and George Bellows from 1912 to 1915. He adopted their realistic painting style, and his own work expressed sympathy for common laborers and outrage at society's ills.
In 1919 Gropper established a reputation as a political cartoonist working for the New York Tribune. His blunt, forceful style attracted the attention of other publications, and he provided illustrations and cartoons for a variety of magazines, from the left-wing New Masses to mainstream Vanity Fair. Like many social realist artists of the 1930s, Gropper supported liberal political causes, depicting subjects such as the plight of migrant laborers and striking factory workers.
In his first gallery exhibition in 1936 at ACA Galleries, Gropper's work was so well received by critics, collectors, and artists that the following year he had two one-man exhibitions at ACA Galleries. In 1937, Gropper traveled west on a Guggenheim Fellowship and visited the Dust Bowl and the Hoover and Grand Coulee Dams, sketching studies for a series of paintings and a mural he painted for the Department of the Interior. That same year he had paintings purchased by both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.
Gropper exhibited at the 1939 New York World's Fair, Whitney Museum of American Art (1924-55), Art Institute of Chicago (1935-49), Carnegie International (1937-50), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1939-48), and National Academy of Design (1945-48). He was a founder of the Artists Equity Association and member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
From 1940 to 1945 William Gropper was preoccupied with anti-Nazi cartoons...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
WPA Mural Study 1940 American Scene Modern Social Realism Figurative Mid Century
By Michael Loew
Located in New York, NY
WPA Mural Study 1940 American Scene Modern Social Realism Figurative Mid Century
Michael Loew (1907-1985)
Detail for Mural (Social Security Building Washington D.C.)
24 x 24 inches ...
Category
1940s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Tailor" WPA American Scene Social Realism Modernism Mid Century Modern Fashion
By Mervin Jules
Located in New York, NY
"Tailor" WPA American Scene Social Realism Modernism Mid Century Modern Fashion
Mervin Jules (1912 – 1994)
"The Tailor"
9 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches
Oil on masonite, c. 1930s
Signed lower ...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
Cadets Football New Yorker Mag Cover Proposal American Scene Modern Illustration
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
Cadets Football New Yorker Mag Cover Proposal American Scene Modern Illustration
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 – 1994)
Cadets Football Game
New Yorker cover proposal, c. 1939
14 1/4 X 1...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
Original Painting. New Yorker Mag Cover Proposal WPA Mid Century American Scene
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
Original Painting. New Yorker Mag Cover Proposal WPA Mid Century American Scene
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 – 1994)
Perplexed Gentleman
New Yorker cover proposal, c. 1939
13 1/4 X 8 ...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
House Beautiful Cover Proposal. American Scene Social Realism Industrial WPA
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
House Beautiful Cover Proposal. American Scene Social Realism Industrial WPA
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 – 1994)
Mixing Mortar
12 1/2 X 14 3/4 inche...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
Original Painting. Colliers Magazine Cover Published 1933 Wedding Illustration
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
Original Painting. Colliers Magazine Cover Published 1933 Wedding Illustration
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 - 1994)
The Wedding
Colliers published, June 17, 1933
17 1/4 X 11 1/2 inches (sight)
Framed 23 1/4 X 17 1/2 inches
Gouache on board
Signed lower right
BIOGRAPHY:
Antonio Petruccelli (1907-1994) began his career as a textile designer. He became a freelance illustrator in 1932 after winning several House Beautiful cover illustration contests.
In addition to 24 Fortune magazine covers, four New Yorker covers, several for House Beautiful, Collier’s, and other magazines he did numerous illustrations for Life magazine from the 1930s – 60s.
‘Tony was Mr. Versatility for Fortune. He could do anything, from charts and diagrams to maps, illustrations, covers, and caricatures,’ said Francis Brennan, the former art director for Fortune.
Over the course of his career, Antonio won several important design awards, designing a U.S. Postage Stamp Commemorating the Steel Industry and designing the Bicentennial Medal...
Category
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
Original Painting New Yorker Cover Proposal American Scene Modern Santa's Feet
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
Original Painting New Yorker Cover Proposal American Scene Modern Santa's Feet
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 - 1994)
Santas Feet At Midnight
New Yorker c...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
Original Painting Steel Workers Fabric Design Industrial Deco American Modernism
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
Original Painting Steel Workers Fabric Design Industrial Deco American Modernism
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 - 1994)
Steel Workers
Textile design
19 1/4 X ...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
Original Painting. New Yorker Cover Proposal Baseball c. 1939 Modern Cubist Deco
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
Original Painting. New Yorker Cover Proposal Baseball c. 1939 Modern Cubist Deco
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 - 1994)
Play Ball
New Yorker cover proposal, c. 1939
12 x 8 inches (sight)
Framed 18 1/2 X 14 3/4 inches
Gouache on board
Estate sticker verso
BIOGRAPHY:
Antonio Petruccelli (1907-1994) began his career as a textile designer. He became a freelance illustrator in 1932 after winning several House Beautiful cover illustration contests.
In addition to 24 Fortune magazine covers, four New Yorker covers, several for House Beautiful, Collier’s, and other magazines he did numerous illustrations for Life magazine from the 1930s – 60s.
‘Tony was Mr. Versatility for Fortune. He could do anything, from charts and diagrams to maps, illustrations, covers, and caricatures,’ said Francis Brennan, the former art director for Fortune.
Over the course of his career, Antonio won several important design awards, designing a U.S. Postage Stamp Commemorating the Steel Industry and designing the Bicentennial Medal...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
Original Painting. Vanity Fair Illustration Proposal. Art Deco Modern 1930s
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
Original Painting. Vanity Fair Illustration Proposal. Art Deco Modern 1930s
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 - 1994)
Vanity Fair
Illustration proposal, c 1930’s
18 X 13 3/4 inches (sight)
...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
Fireman Textile Fabric Design 1920s American Scene Modern Working Men Art Deco
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
Fireman Textile Fabric Design 1920s American Scene Modern Working Men Art Deco
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 - 1994)
Firemen
Textile design, c. 1929
19 1/4 ...
Category
1920s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
Bricklayers House Beautiful Cover Proposal American Scene Modern 1930s Workers
By Antonio Petruccelli
Located in New York, NY
Bricklayers House Beautiful Cover Proposal American Scene Modern WPA 1930s Industrial Workers
Antonio Petruccelli (1907 - 1994)
Brick Layers
House Beautiful cover proposal, c. 1939
...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Board
Bathers 1940s Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism WPA Modern Ashcan
Located in New York, NY
Bathers 1940s Mid 20th Century American Scene Social Realism WPA Modern Ashcan
Marion Gilmore (1909-1984)
Bathers
15 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches
oil on canvas boar...
Category
1940s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
Industrial Mid-20th Century WPA Modern Men Working American Scene Social Realism
Located in New York, NY
Industrial Mid-20th Century WPA Modern Men Working American Scene Social Realism
George Pearse Ennis (American, 1884-1936)
"Forging a Gun Tube #1...
Category
1910s American Modern Interior Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Guy Pene du Bois WPA American Modernism Realism NYC Scene Oil Lawyers in Court
By Guy Pène Du Bois
Located in New York, NY
Guy Pene du Bois' "Two Figures in Courtroom" is a WPA era American scene oil painting created in a realistic style. Modernism at its best The work is framed by Heydenryk.
Pène du Bois descended from French immigrants who settled in Louisiana in 1738 and was raised in a Creole household. He was born in 1884 in Brooklyn, NY and first studied with William Merritt Chase at the New York School of Art and later continued his training with Robert Henri. Pène du Bois was greatly impressed with Henri's credo that "real life" was subject matter for art and throughout his life a realist philosophy informed his art as well as his parallel career, art criticism. In 1905, Pène du Bois made his first visit to Paris where he painted scenes of fashionable people in cafes rendered in the dark tonalities and impasto associated with the Ashcan School. By 1920, he had achieved his mature style, which was characterized by stylized, rounded, almost sculptural figures painted with invisible brushstrokes. The subjects of his paintings were often members of society whom he gently satirized.
In 1924, Pène du Bois and his wife, Floy, left for France where they would remain until 1930. Returning to America showcases pictures the artist produced after this very productive period abroad. After five years of living in France, Pène du Bois was able to observe American life with fresh eyes. His work becomes more psychologically intense and less satirical. In Girl at Table a slender, blond is shown gazing at a small statue that she holds at arm's distance. The meaning is elusive, but a powerful sense of longing is evoked. Similarly, paintings such as Dramatic Moment and Jane are taut with unresolved dialogue. Both pictures depict mysterious interiors in which a lone woman anxiously awaits the denouement of a suspenseful scene. Other pictures, for example, Chess Tables, Washington Square and Bar, New Orleans, recall Pene du Bois's Ashcan origins in their depiction of urban entertainment.
During this period, landscape becomes an important subject for Pène du Bois. Girl Sketching...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Paper, Oil, Board
Trucks in the City African American Self-Taught Florida Outsider Folk Art Urban
By Purvis Young
Located in New York, NY
Trucks in the City by African American, Folk, Self-Taught, Florida, Outsider Art Purvis Young Urban
Young was an American artist from Miami....
Category
Late 20th Century Outsider Art Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
Till the Clouds Roll By 1945 Frank Sinatra Mid Century Modern Hollywood Film WPA
By Richard Whorf
Located in New York, NY
Till the Clouds Roll By 1945 Frank Sinatra Mid Century Modern Hollywood Film WPA
TILL THE COULDS ROLL BY (Film Set), oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches signed “Richard Whorf” lower right and signed and dated on the verso “R. Whorf/ Dec. 21, 1945. Frame by Hendenryk.
ABOUT THE PAINTING
This painting is from the collection of Barbara and Frank Sinatra, dated December 21, 1945 (just nine days after Frank Sinatra’s 30th birthday), and depicts the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Culver City backlot during the filming of Till the Clouds Roll By, the direction of the film having been taking over by Richard Whorf in December 1945. It is not presently clear if Whorf gave the Sinatras this painting as a gift, as the presence of the Dalzell Hatfield Galleries label on the verso indicates the painting may have been sourced there. Frank and Nancy Sinatra acquired a number of works from Dalzell Hatfield Galleries during the 1940’s, or perhaps they framed it for the couple.
Sinatra performed “Old Man River’ in the film. Sinatra and June Allyson are depicted in the center of the painting.
PROVENANCE From the Estate of Mrs. Nancy Sinatra; Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles.
An image of the Dalzell Hatfield label and the back of the original frame (which we replaced with a stunning Heydenrk frame) are attached.
Nancy Sinatra was Fran's first wife. Nancy Rose Barbato was 17 years old when she met Frank Sinatra, an 18-year-old singer from Hoboken, on the Jersey Shore in the summer of 1934. They married in 1939 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City where Frank gave Nancy a recording of a song dedicated to her titled "Our Love" as a wedding present. The young newlyweds lived and worked in New Jersey, where Frank worked as an unknown singing waiter and master of ceremonies at the Rustic Cabin while Nancy worked as a secretary at the American Type Founders.
His musical career took off after singing with big band leaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey...
Category
1940s American Modern Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Cars, Buildings People" Contemporary Outsider Folk Art African American Urban
By Purvis Young
Located in New York, NY
"Cars, Buildings People" Contemporary Outsider Folk Art African American Urban
The painting measures 65 x 48 inches. We love that in the middle of ...
Category
1990s Outsider Art Landscape Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
"Audience" Mid 20th Century American Figurative Theatre Performance Contemporary
By Leon Bibel
Located in New York, NY
"Audience" Mid 20th Century American Figurative Theatre Performance Contemporary
Leon Bibel (1912 - 1995) "The Audience," 52 ½ x 41 ¼ inches. Oil on canvas, c. 1963. Signed lower right. Framed.
BIO
Painter, printmaker and sculptor, Leon Bibel was born in San Francisco in 1913. He trained at the California School of Fine Arts and received a scholarship to study under the German Impressionist Maria Riedelstein. He worked in collaboration with Bernard Zackheim, a student of Diego Rivera, to create frescoes for the San Francisco Jewish Community Center and the University of California Medical School.
In 1936 Bibel moved from California to join the Federal Art Project at Harlem Art...
Category
1960s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Columbus Avenue NYC c. 1920s/30s American Scene Ashcan WPA Modern 20th Century
By Bernard Gussow
Located in New York, NY
Columbus Avenue NYC c. 1920s/30s American Scene Ashcan WPA Modern 20th Century
"Late Afternoon, Columbus Avenue, New York", impasto oil on canvas, signed lower left, signed verso (under relining, shown in photo), and titled verso on stretcher, in maple mitered cove frame, 23 1/4" x 27 1/4", SS: 19 1/4" x 23 1/4", Relined.
BIO
Russian-born Gussow trained at the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design. He also studied under Bonnat at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His first claim to fame was exhibiting two works at the Armory Show in 1913. Gussow exhibited at the Society of Independent Artists between 1917 and 1934 and at Salons of America in the 1930s.
The Whitney Museum of American Art, for example, has his Subway Stairs. The Barnes Foundation...
Category
1920s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil