Robert Funk Fine Art

Mondrian came to New York City in the 1940s, and the city's real-world grid-like street design inspired him to create his famous Broadway Boogie-Woogie series, composed of primary co...

Campy and sexy illustration of two French chorus girls for the mid-century Avon paperback Les Girls. Story of the Folies Bergere Unsigned and unframed. George Ziel...

New York City pedestrians form a graphic pattern integrating with a colorful green construction wall and an orange day-glow concrete traffic barrier. Three orange day-glow stripes e...

New York City is renowned as a center of world-class Museums and tastemaker Art Galleries. However, some of the greatest art is street art mad...

A boldly composed Las Vegas casino sign consisting of a three-dimensional red die rests on a King of Clubs. The very graphic sign is captured in an equally bold way by street photog...

Graffiti wall in Soho district in Manhattan was photographed in 2007 that's more than a decade before the Urban Art craze had seized the attention of the art world. Art photographer...

On a busy Manhattan street, unnatural light reflects off of windshields and forms a mind-bending abstraction of colors and shapes. In the background, four male mannequins stare at th...

The history of street photography has been characterized by a loose snapshot style where the central purpose was to capture random moments as they unfold in time. Little emphasis was...

A New York City snowstorm changes the superficial look of the city and, for photographers, yields creative possibilities. Veteran Street Photographer Mitchell Funk captures a toddler...

Deck chairs randomly positioned on an Upper East Side balcony are captured by Photographer Mitchell Funk. Raking light produces abstract long shadows giving the overall arrangement of elements a casual abstract look. In the center of the composition is a yellow and green chair with colors...

Extreme late light darts down a street in Times Square. It illuminates a colorful and semi-abstract window display. A single female figure at the extreme right of the compostion sh...

Street Photographer Mitchell Funk grabs a taxi moment in front of Grand Central Station. The image communicates the spirit of wintery New York, with skies filled with falling snow. I...

Mid-century artist Lawrence Kupferman paints a madly eerie New York street scene. An exaggerated upward view of two 19th-century walk-ups is split by a forced perspective of a downwa...

This meticulously planned, designed, and executed work depicts an ultra-wide angle view of a rock quarry/mine. The viewer looks down at close-up-stylized rock formations and then out at a horizon line with rust-colored mine trestles. Atherton hints at perspective with a broken white line that is wider in the foreground and tapers to a hairline as it recedes to the background. The work was done in 1951 at the height of America's most important art movement: Abstract Expressionism. John Atherton absorbs its influences but retains elements of representation. Atherton was an in-demand commercial artist who worked for most blue-chip clients. It is possible that this was an editorial assignment for Fortune Magazine. At the same time, Atherton was also a fine artist and the work could be an expression of pure creative pursuits. The work looks better in person and one can look at it for hours and not get bored. Look carefully and you may discover a deeper meaning in this painting of precisely arranged rocks. Signed lower right. Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, sold to benefit the acquisitions program ____________________ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Carlton Atherton (January 7, 1900 - September 16, 1952) was an American painter and magazine illustrator, writer and designer. His works form part of numerous collections, including the Museum of Modern Art,[1] Whitney Museum of American Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.[2][3][4] Early Years He was the son of James Chester Atherton (1868-1928) and Carrie B. Martin (1871-1909). He was born in Brainerd, Minnesota.[5] His father was Canadian born. His parents relocated from Minnesota to Washington State, with his maternal grandparents whilst he was still an infant. He attended high school in Spokane, Washington. Career During his early years he never displayed an aptitude for art; rather, his first love being nature and the activities he relished there, mainly fishing and hunting. He enlisted in 1917, serving briefly in the U.S. Navy for a year during World War I. At the end of the war, determined to get an education he worked various part-time jobs, as a sign painter and playing a banjo in a dance band to pay his enrolment fee at the College of the Pacific and The California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). Once there, he also worked in the surrounding studios developing his oil painting techniques. A first prize award of $500 at the annual exhibition of the Bohemian Club in 1929, financed his one way trip to New York City, which helped to launch his career as an artist.[6] Atherton had aspired to be a fine artist, however his first paid jobs were for commercial art firms designing advertisements for corporations such as General Motors, Shell Oil, Container Corporation of America, and Dole. However, by 1936, encouraged primarily by friends, such as Alexander Brook, an acclaimed New York realist painter, he returned to the fine arts. Atherton continued to accept numerous commissions for magazine illustrations; such as Fortune magazine, and over the years he would paint more than forty covers for The Saturday Evening Post starting with his December 1942 design, “Patient Dog.” This picture is reminiscent of his friend Norman Rockwell ‘Americana style’ and captures a poignant moment of nostalgia, where a loyal dog looks toward a wall of hunting equipment and a framed picture of his owner in military uniform. Selected One person Exhibitions Atherton accomplished his first one-man show in Manhattan in 1936. His Painting, “The Black Horse” won the $3000 fourth prize from among a pool of 14,000 entries. This painting forms part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection in New York.[7] Atherton achieved recognition in New York City and elsewhere during the 1930s. Having exhibited at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York,[8] his paintings began to be collected by museums; including the Museum of Modern Art[9] and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His reputation increased with his art deco stone lithograph poster for the 1939 New York World's Fair. In 1941, his design won first place in the Museum of Modern Arts “National Defense Poster Competition”. Selected Public Collections Fleming Museum of Art, Burlington, Vermont Albright-Knox Art Gallery,[10] Buffalo, NY Art Institute of Chicago,[11] Chicago Wadsworth Atheneum,[12] Hartford, CT Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Museum of Modern Art,[13] New York Whitney Museum of American Art,[14] New York Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,[15] Philadelphia De Young Museum,[16] San Francisco Smithsonian American Art Museum,[17] Washington DC Butler Institute of American Art[18] Youngstown, OH The Famous Artists School Founded in 1948 in Westport, Connecticut, U.S.A. The idea was conceived by members of the New York Society of Illustrators (SOI), but due to the Society's legal status, could not be operated by it. SOI member Albert Dorne led the initiative to set up a separate entity, and recruited the support of Norman Rockwell, who was also an SOI member. For the founding faculty, Dorne recruited Atherton, as well as accomplished artists such as Austin Briggs, Stevan Dohanos, Robert Fawcett, Peter Helck, Fred Ludekens, Al Parker, Norman Rockwell, Ben Stahl, Harold von Schmidt and Jon Whitcomb.[19] He collaborated with Jon Whitcomb with the book “How I Make a Picture: Lesson 1-9, Parts 1”.[20][21] Society of Illustrators Atherton as an active member from his arrival in New York. The society have owned many of his works. Ex-collection includes: Rocking Horse (ca. 1949) [22] Atherton, as his peers had many of his works framed by Henry Heydenryk Jr.[23] Personal On November 2, 1926, he married Polly “Maxine” Breese (1903-1997).[24][25] They had one daughter, Mary Atherton, born in 1932. Atherton's often chose industrial landscapes, however found himself spending considerable time in Westport, Connecticut, with an active artistic community, and it became home for him, and his family. He then moved to Arlington, Vermont.[26] Norman Rockwell enlisted Atherton in what was to be the only collaborative painting in his career.[27] He was part of a group of artists including a Norman Rockwell, Mead Schaeffer and George Hughes who established residences in Arlington.[28] Atherton and Mead Schaeffer were avid fly fishermen and they carefully chose the location for the group,[29] conveniently located near the legendary Battenkill River. In his free time, Atherton continued to enjoy fly-fishing.[30] He brought his artistic talent into the field of fishing,[31] when he wrote and illustrated the fishing classic, “The Fly and The Fish”.[32] He died in New Brunswick, Canada in 1952,[33] at the age of 52 in a drowning accident while fly-fishing.[34] Legacy The Western Connecticut State University holds an extensive archive on this artist.[35] His wife, Maxine also published a memoir “The Fly Fisher and the River” [36] She married Watson Wyckoff in 1960. Ancestry He is a direct descendant of James Atherton,[37][38] one of the First Settlers of New England; who arrived in Dorchester, Massachusetts in the 1630s. His direct ancestor, Benjamin Atherton was from Colonial Massachusetts...

Golden rays transform power lines into luminous lines of light that stretch across the Aspen landscape. A solitary biker punctuates the scene. Over his 55-year photography career, M...

In the 1970s, senior citizens were fixtures on New York City park benches. In this image, golden light conveys the expressive nature of a disparate relationship between an old man an...

Rendered with an alla prima paint application and quick gestural brushstrokes, "Tender Family Portrait - Mother and Child" reflects Margery Ryerson's deep knowledge of academic training. Reyerson studied with Robert Henri at The Art Students League. This painting is aesthetically pleasing and communicates a sense of maternal tenderness from a female artist. Margery Ryerson did a book on her former teacher. Henri's philosophical and practical musings were collected by former pupil Margery Ryerson and published as The Art Spirit (1923), a book that remained in print for several decades. Signed. Lower Left Margery Austen Ryerson (September 15, 1886 - 1989) was an American artist, painter, etcher, lithographer and watercolorist.Her work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Biography Ryerson earned her Bachelor's of Fine Arts in English from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, after attending private schools in Morristown. She went on to study under Charles Hawthorne at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and with Robert Henri at the Art Students League in New York. During the years 1920 through 1940 Ryerson taught in New York settlement houses. There she got the privilege to paint and draw the children in their care. The subjects of these paintings were often the children of the underclass and immigrants. Her artistic technique and subjects gained universal recognition and appealed to many people. Miss Ryerson is most known for her portraits...

Italian illustrator Gianni Benvenuti depicts a dramatic scene from the epic Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. With unrivaled skill, Benvenuti captures a peak moment of drama when...

Street Photography meets Fashion Photography in this boldly graphic image of a stylish woman with an umbrella crossing the street. The composition is minimal as its color scheme is b...

The quintessential symbol of San Francisco is small in the picture frame but still is the central focus of the composition. Mitchell Funk's photograph of a Cable Car is as unexpecte...

Heavy snow blankets Bethesda Fountain and simplifies the landscape so that only a few sick-figure people dot the blue on the blue-white ground. The one figure with a red coat acts ...

A New York City snowstorm allows Street Photographer Mitchell Funk to transform facades of Upper Eastside walkups into a stunning impressionist cityscape. Monochromatic grays are pun...

Salvatore Grippi was my art professor at Ithaca college from 1970- 1971 Who was doing paintings like this in 1950? Jackson Pollack, Willem De Kooning and Salvatore Grippi, and a few...

In an unexpected bronze light, Mitchell Funk captures a classic view of San Francisco with a portrait of a famed cable car. The reflection of light in the car's left window gives the...

Street Photographer Mitchell Funk nabs the frenetic energy of Times Square, where the streets are as over-stuffed as the billboards. They are one and the same and powered by an ele...

Abstract City - Ephemeral Golden Building New York Architecture Can a street photograph be a grab shot and precisely designed at the same time? Mitchell Funk says yes. He brings fine...

A chic, high-fashion model clad in high heels and a chic hat holds a refreshing drink as she sits on a pedestal. She is depicted in silhouette as a burst of zoomed fireworks explode...

In a 1971 interview with Ebony Magazine, Alvin Hollinsworth commented on his African Jesus Christ painting, "I have always felt that Christ was a Blac...

Rays of golden light burn through New York's streets and illuminate a man dressed in a vivid African-themed shirt with matching shorts. He dominates the composition that emphasizes ...

It's 1971, and most photographers were shooting in black and white. Fine Art Photography was not yet in the mainstream vocabulary of museums — almost no art galleries considered or ...

Assisted by the right angle and right light, Street Photographer Mitchell Funk designs an image of Times Square Billboards that is as abstract as it is representational. Two huskies ...

A 19th-century red fire call box is smothered in street advertisements and graffiti. It dominates the left half of the composition. Behind i, a street-l...

A contrast of two art styles describes this street photograph. A school bus-covered chaotic brush-stroked graffiti is juxtaposed with a symmetrical, color field-like umbrella compose...

Light jumps out. Players jump up. Light bounces off a window. Basketball bounces off a backboard. The interplay of extreme light and shadow makes "Street Basketball with Angelic Light " a unique and pioneering photograph. Taking in 1974, it was a rejection of contemporary color photography at the time, which was not concerned with light. This image by Funk is a glorification of light. As light strikes form, it becomes stylized and almost abstract, creating a new relationship between subject and style. An indication of the date this was taken is revealed by the old fashion TV antennas...

To a color photographer, color is a creative resource unto itself. In a blandscape of dull grays and browns, the hyper-bright yellow wall with prim...

For 53 years, Mithcell Funk has been photographing the art deco beauty of the Chrysler Building. In this work, Funk frames the iconic spire between two other rectilinear shapes. On t...

Pink Flamingos are social animals. They gather in large groups and chat it up. Their gregarious natures is a benefit for photographers. Individually the bird is a living sculpture. A...

A solitary hooded figure crosses a desolate Manhattan street as light snow and rain come down. For 54 years, Mitchell Funk has been chronicling the effects of light on form; here, h...

Street Photography: Literally. A downward view of a wet monochromatic Manhattan street references color-field painting. Flat geometric sections of color are accented by an alternati...

Good wholesome mid-century Americana is on full display in the joyous illustration that depicts a red horsedrawn sled of merrymaking folks being rreated at an inn. Signed lower left ...

A Jet Ski - Wave Runner race is documented from an elevated position to be as abstract as it is representational. Diagonal white trails of waves extend behind each colorful Jet Ski l...

One of the defining characteristics of Mitchell Funk's work is how he shoots with light. In "Foggy San Francisco Skyline with Ship," Funk takes light into a new realm and in doing so...

Street Photography: Literally. At a time when most color photographers were just pointing cameras and snapping images mostly during boring mid-day light, Mitchell Funk was innovatin...

An aerial view looking down on a Manhattan tennis court is photographed so that it is representational and abstract at the same time. The interplay of large areas of color, pattern...

Street Photography: Literally. From an elevated vantage point, Street Photographer Mitchell Funk shoots down on a busy midtown Manhattan street and composes the image so that it's as...

A golden Empire State Building sits comfortably inside the center arch of the Manhattan bridge as if that space was designed for it. Precise composition combined with magical late...

A fantasy scene with Elves and a beautiful girl lost in thought at the base of a tree. Elizabeth Mary Watt, G.S.W.A. In 1919, she was elected as ...

In this interior illustration for "When the Heart Beats Young" by J.W. Riley, pioneering female illustrator Ethel Franklin Betts creates an intimate statement of mother and child in an embrace. The composition is abstract with patterns that suggest the influence of Asian art—initialed lower right. Work is framed under glass - Oil on board Ethel Franklin Betts Bains (September 6, 1877 – October 9, 1959) was an American illustrator primarily of children's books during the golden age of American illustration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Betts first gained work illustrating magazines, including St. Nicholas Magazine, McClure's, and Collier's. Beginning in 1904, she was commissioned to illustrate several books, including James Whitcomb Riley's The Raggedy Man, While the Heart Beats Young, and Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess...

Perpendicular lines of white and yellow, rectangles of yellow, and white bands of equal proportion define this overhead Manhattan intersection. As an afterthought, it's a nod to Mo...

Eugene Camille Fitsch Am./Fr., 1892-1972 - Signed lower right. Framed dimensions 20 3/4" x 34 7/8" framed Provenance: Studio of the Artist to Private Collection Boston, Massachuse...

Manhattan Nocturne by Mitchell Funk. The colors are the music of the night. The image is a stunning example of the artist’s blending of the abstract and representational. Signed, ...

A pile of empty and discarded colorful paint cans inadvertently becomes an artful abstract still life in itself. Documented through the keen lens of st...

Mitchell Funk is a Street Photographer who shoots gritty themes that come out beautifully. In "Manhattan Window Reflections," a typically drab street scene is transformed into a vivi...

Museum in a car - The artsiest of art museums is artfully depicted in street photographer Mitchell Funk's imaginative photograph. A passing red car with similar curvilinear forms has the museum's facade reflected in its roof window...

Since 1969 Mitchell Funk has been photographing the Chrysler Building in dramatic and novel ways. This recent image incorporates the Chrysler Building's pointy neighbor, the supertall skyscraper One Vanderbilt. Its modern spire harmonizes with the 1930 soaring Art Deco icon. Notice how Funk incorporates accents of yellow that offsets the twilight blue. The entire image is accented by a cozy moon that consummates the composition. Signed and dated on the lower right, numbered on verso, 3/15 other size available, unframed, Printed Printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art paper. Mitchell Funk is a pioneer of " Color Photography" In 1970 he participated in one the first " Color Photography" show...

A large charcoal-on-paper rendering by arguably one of America's most influential artists. It comes from the pioneering Allan Stone Galleries, who ...

When it comes to abstract painting, the creation date is important. At the height of Abstraction Expressionism, overlooked Academic Artist John Atherton created a wonderfully complex painting that embodies many of the characteristics of what was going on in Mid-Century American Art. The work is simultaneously abstract as it is representational. Like a Bento Box, it's divided into sections by dividers. On close inspection, each section stands on it's own as a beautiful mini-painting yet coalesces as part of the whole. From a distance, it is eye-pleasing, but as the view gets closer and closer, new structures and details gloriously reveal themselves. This is an important painting and not unlike the work of Joaquín Torres-García. It was done in the last year of the artist's life. Signed lower right. Canvas is relined. Framed size: 30 x 41.25. The work is best viewed with top gallery lights to bring out color. Color will look different under different lighting conditions. Atherton exhibited at the famous Julien Levy Gallery in New York and his fine art is mainly associated with Magic Realism. He participated in the seminal 1943 Museum of Modern Art exhibition, American Realists and Magic Realists. The Museum of Modern Art has 4 Atherton paintings in its collection. As an Illustrator, Atherton did covers for the Saturday Evening Post, Fortune and Holiday Magazine...

Golden Light defines two dogs as they have a head-to-head in a Manhattan park. Color Photographer Mitchell Funk captures the scene with a spontaneity and freshness from a rooftop van...

Pioneering Color Photographer Mitchell Funk carefully crafts a composition where the graceful Art Deco shapes of the Chrysler Building spire play off t...

Graffiti-clad New York City Street scene with wall shot by veteran street photographer Mitchell Funk in his trademark colorful style. In Funk's oeuvre co...