Robert Funk Fine Art Landscape Paintings

This charming rural winter scene of ice skaters fully displays Norman Rockwell's America, but it was painted by female artist Charlotte Joan Sternberg. She combines the mid-century A...

Famed Illustrator Isadore Seltzer paints a fantasy folk guitar in a surreal setting. The viewer looks down at the guitar as it rests in bold red space where foreground and sky blend ...

Bob Peak may be the heir to Norman Rockwell in portraying the American Scene. Yet Peak's graphic representations depart from Rockwell's tight academic style. In the present work from...

Italian Illustrator Gianni Benvenuti depicts a sword battle in a post-cubist/expressionist style. Without regard for proper perspective, the picture is as representative as it is abs...

Italian Illustrator Gianni Benvenuti depicts a Pushkin's Fairy Tales Princess in a winter landscape of stylized trees with exaggerated curves and twisting branches. The princess is d...

Artist Richard Erdoes is as undervalued as he is overlooked. Rarely does an artwork come on that market that combines sharp-witted originality with mind-boggling technical proficiency. In “Mid-Century Expressway,” Erodes painstakingly draws a birds-eye view of a Norman Rockwell-like town buzzing with activity. He paints far away and close up in one image. Each block has its own charming Americana story unfolding. The closer the viewer gets to each scene, the more detail is revealed. In black and white, the artist describes not only the architecture and infrastructure but also human activity - lot's of it. Erodes’s congested town is humming. Overflowing trains, packed busses, zooming cars, stuffed trucks, frenzied pedestrians and even a marching band is depicted with great whit. But do not worry. Progress is coming and all will be well. Superimposed onto this black and white clogged urban scene is a proposed new highway. It's painted in a punchy green and creates an unexpectedly distinct design. The artwork was most likely done for Fortune Magazine or the like. Notice he Esso Gasoline signs...

A stylized horse is depicted grazing in an abstract landscape. Most likely, the location is Woodstock, New York, where the artist lived. Signed Lower Right; Framed; Note: titled and signed on verso. Ethel Magafan (August 10, 1916 – April 24, 1993) was an American painter and muralist. Magafan was born in Chicago to Greek parents who had recently immigrated to the U.S. The family soon relocated to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Magafan's artistic training occurred at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center under the tutelage of Peppino Mangravite, Boardman Robinson and Frank Mechau, who hired Magafan and her twin sister, Jenne, to assist on mural projects. In 1937, aEthel won the commission to paint a mural in the U.S. post office in Auburn, Nebraska, making her the youngest recipient of such a commission. It would be the first of seven government-sponsored commissions for the artist. Murals "Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1814" E. Magafan, 1943 Under President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, several programs were created to employ Americans during the Great Depression. The Magafan twins worked under the New Deal's Section of Painting and Sculpture, a program that hired thousands of artists to paint murals in public spaces, particularly post offices. Ethel and her twin sister, Jenne Magafan, became widely known for their murals painted during the Great Depression. Ethel received her first of seven Government commissions when she was commissioned to produce a painting for the United States post office in Auburn, Nebraska, titled Threshing.Other murals commissioned by the US Government hang in the United States Senate Chamber, the Social Security Building and the Recorder Deeds Building in Washington, D.C., and in post offices in Wynne, Arkansas, titled Cotton Pickers in 1940; in Madill, Oklahoma, titled Prairie Fire in 1941; and Englewood, Colorado, titled The Horse Corral in 1942.Her final mural, entitled Grant in the Wilderness, was installed in 1979 in the Chancellorsville Visitor Center at the Fredericksburg National Memorial Military Park in Virginia, She was a member of the National Academy of Design. Magafan died April 24, 1993, in Woodstock, New York, at the age of 76. References "Collections National Academy Museum". Retrieved 2017-03-08. "Jenne Magafan". Retrieved 2017-03-08. Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz, Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984. "Browse New Deal projects by State and City". Living New Deal. Retrieved 9 January 2015. "Ethel Magafan Passes Away". New York Times. No. Obituary. April 29, 1993. Opitz, Glenn B, Editor, Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book...

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...

What makes this work important? It's not that it's a commissioned artwork for a men's 60s pulp adventure magazine depicting the instant a soldier is shot. The big point of the painting is how brilliantly the formal elements are thought out, designed, and executed. John McDermott tells a story using a complex figural composition in an unexpected wide-angle vision. The work is as abstract as it is representation. His use of light is significant because it creates a high-contrast two-color style that bears the mark of its creator. This is a work done by a master artist/illustrator without peers compared to artists living today. If the contemporary art world gave awards for draftsmanship, painting technique, and graphic design .... John McDermott would win the highest accolades. Initialed lower left - unframed John McDermott (August 30, 1919 – April 20, 1977), also known under the pen names J.M. Ryan and Mariner, was an American illustrator and author noted for action and adventure illustrations.[1] McDermott worked as an in-between and effects animator for Walt Disney Studios and as a US Marine combat artist,before establishing himself as a cover illustrator for 1950s paperbacks and pulp magazines such as Argosy, American Weekly, and Outdoor Life. Under his J.M. Ryan pen name, he wrote the novels The Rat Factory (1971), a derogatory satire of Walt Disney and the Disney studio; Brooks Wilson Ltd (1967), on which the 1970 film Loving was based; and Mother's Day (1969) about Ma Barker. Under his own name, he novelized director-writer Bo Widerberg's screenplay for the 1971 film Joe Hill, which would be his final published book. Early life John Richard McDermott was born 30 August 1919 in Pueblo, Colorado, the younger of two sons of Henry McDermott, an oil broker. McDermott was a young child when his father committed suicide.[4] The family eventually moved to Los Angeles where McDermott's mother, Hazel, worked in a beauty parlor. He graduated from Hollywood High School in 1936. Although he had had no formal art education, he took a job as an artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Career Disney At Disney, McDermott worked as an in-betweener and effects animator on Brave Little Tailor, Pinocchio, The Reluctant Dragon and Fantasia. His experiences while working at Disney, particularly during the time of the 1941 Disney animators' strike, would later become the basis for his 1969 satirical novel The Rat Factory. McDermott left Disney to fight with US forces during World War II. US Marines McDermott World War II sketch titled "Buddy is Wounded" On September 29, 1942, McDermott enlisted with the US Marine Corps. He served as a "pistol and palette" combat artist assigned to the map-making section. As a sergeant with the III Amphibious Corps, McDermott was involved in battles in the South Pacific theater of war, documenting the Guam, Okinawa and the Guadalcanal Campaigns. McDermott considered his wartime years to be his art education. "In the Marines, as a combat artist, I traveled with the troops and for three years got all the drawing opportunity anyone could want. My work changed enormously during this time and I’m sure it was due to constant drawing, every single day, from life, just putting down what I saw around me. In a few instances it was a dangerous kind of scholarship." According to the Marine Corps history journal Fortitudine, McDermott was so prolific that his contemporary style pen-and-ink sketches became easily recognizable to both Marines, from published work in Leatherneck Magazine, and civilians, from glossy copies supplied by the Marine Corps to the nation's press.His wartime art appears in World War II history books and is displayed at the Pentagon and the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Illustration Following the end of World War II, McDermott moved from California to New York City to work as a freelance illustrator. McDermott made his reputation drawing modern action, war and adventure scenes. His work adorned the covers and inside story pages of popular pulp magazines of the 1950s such as Argosy, Adventure, Blue Book, Outdoor Life and American Weekly. McDermott's illustrations appeared on numerous covers of 1950s paperback novels published by Dell, Fawcett Gold Medal, Bantam Mystery and others. His action graphics were geared toward thriller and detective genres, such as Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm books Murderers' Row and The Betrayers. He also created covers for science fiction comic titles such as Voyage to the Deep[citation needed] and horror-themed paperbacks such as the classic 1955 science fiction novel The Body Snatchers...

A bustling street scene of everyday life in front of the famed Marché in Cap-Haïtien is rendered in Sénèque This is a relatively early work by Obin's signature brightly colored and flat naive style. Signed lower right. Provenance: Galerie Issa - Port-Au-Prince, Haiti - Owned by Issa El Saieh of later named El Saieh Gallery Sénèque Obin...

Commercial illustration depicting happy California framers for California Prunes. The work is rendered in a charming and highly stylized manner. Unfr...

Looking Into a Neighborhood , Dear Paul This is an intriguingly charming work by an overlooked and brilliant mid-century female artist - illustrator, and educator. Lorraine Fox. ...

Most likely for a Magazine like Redbook, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal or Woman's day Lorraine Fox is Hall of Fame member of the Society of Illustrators She...

Rarely do you come across a work of art that is vastly different than just about anything you see. This work is undeniably brilliant and a sheer pleasure to behold. Alexander Leydenfrost...

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...

The Mid-Century mindset As expected, 65 years ago.. people looked at art/painting a little differently. Back then, many artists were concerned with depicting simple and beautiful t...

Surrealist ad where a gloved human hand rises in pictorial height to the size of a chemical plant. Tension is created as Drafsman's Pencil is about to t...

Alice and Martin Provensen were an American couple who illustrated more than 40 children's books together. In 1984, the won the Caldecott for The Glorious Flight, the story of aviator Louis Blériot...

A milk truck is seen caressed in the golden light of early morning as a woman bends down to feed her cat. The artist depicts a precious moment as an older woman reaching down to pick...

Mid-century New York City is represented as a moment in time. The artist populates his scene with isolated figures that are more shapes of people as opposed to specific individuals....

Narrative artist Robert Riggs captures a highly-charged scene of an Indian firewalking ceremony. Firewalking is part of a religious ritual and is associated with the mystical powers...

The artist tells a whole action-packed story in one picture. A handsome young soldier shoots his pistol at a passing bomb-dropping airplane. The close call splashes water on him and his two sexy girl...

Bob Peak may be America's greatest post-war illustrator. In this earlier work from 1965, the artist paints a street scene of workers in the style of Les Nabis...

This highly innovated Bob Peak Race Track painting is a perfect synthesis of art and commerce. Designed with a radical composition where two-thirds of the picture plane is an alm...

The Board measures 13.5 x 12.5 Ernest Hamlin Baker is one of America's greatest artist that no one has ever heard of. Take a look at his full body of work. If you haven't noticed, Er...

Ernest Fiene depicts Fifth Avenue looking down from 57th Street with an unobstructed view of the Empire State Building. The absence of newer glass and steel architecture gives the painting the charm of old New York. The artist captures a dark, moody blue sky as light bounces back from the clouds. This contrasts with the somewhat haunting yellow glow given to pedestrians and street traffic. The people have somewhat of a zombie quality akin to George Tooker. Best viewed with a top and direct gallery light...

The beloved couple Alice and Martin Provensen were an American couple who illustrated more than 40 children's books. Martin Provensen creat...

Moody blue night with rain and wind rendered in a post-impressionist style somewhat like that of Albert Marquet

The sacrificial ceremony, Freemans The Collection of Philip Desind Signed Three times Riggs l.r. A powerful account of moments a tribe member is cut open and the heart is handed over to a young brave, There is a reason why there are few contemporary painters who can paint a portrait this good. It's hard to do. It's easy to throw some paint or spray a mess of graffiti on canvas. That's easy. To execute a portrait with a great depth of anatomy and structure takes years of academic training. In Riggs's time there were teachers who knew how to pass on this knowledge. He studied at the Art Students League and the Académie Julian . Today, they are very few and far between. - Robert Riggs was a Gay Artist...

A vibrant example of the artist's precisionist style where a tight semi-abstract geometric composition is inspired by architecture and is reduced to simplified geometric shapes with...

"Civil Rights." Evergood's early commentary on racial issues in the 1950s depicts four black men gagged, roped and hanging from a tree. In the background, imprisoned blacks look on through a barbed-wire fence. Whites watch in horror but do nothing to help. Meanwhile, a two-legged and three-headed serpent who symbolizes evil - wraps himself around the tree that physically and symbolically separates the races. This is an important work in the history of American art. It may be one of the very earliest examples of a major American painter doing a major work that challenges racial segregation and injustice at a time when no one else would. The title of the work is inspired by a Historic Supreme Court decision on racial segregation. The Little Rock...

At a time when Abstract Expressionism was raging, realist painterJohn Atherton nods his head to the movement with a semi-abstract work. Meticulously rendered and carefully thought o...

This classic Post cover combines the vastness of the American West landscape with the intimacy of iconic Americana: two kids swimming in a rura...

A desolate, surreal landscape with a haunting and mysterious outdoor still life featuring Ram's head emerging from the daisies and underbrush. Classical statues sit on the horizon l...

This beautiful semi-abstract harbor scene of a flock of birds is rendered in Martin's signature style

Saturday Evening Post interior illustration Signed lower right

This golden age of illustration work was most likely done for an interior story illustration for the Saturday Evening Post. Joe Bowler paints it in a loose but academically correct ...

Blueprints into Reality - Full-page ad for United Engineers that ran in Fortune Magazine, March 1958, and other business magazines. As Fred Taraba stated, this image is symbolic of optimism and potential. Work includes the original issue of Fortune Magazine with the ad in which United Engineers mentions Stanley Meltzoff. "Here Stanley Meltzoff dramatizes with tools and massive concrete forms...

Understated town-scape in grays and muted blues. It's a painting that looks better as you get closer to it. Koch brings the same serene intimacy to an outdoor scene as his interiors....

Squares is a bridge between Mondrian and the Hard-edge abstraction movement. Clearly, this is a very early work because the artist has not yet found his mature style. The flat squares of uneven proportion, are in a formal but off-axis vertical /horizontal grid structure. Perhaps it's the artists take on a "drunk Mondrian" where the squares stumble to align themselves. Each square shape is different in shape and color and with visible brushstrokes and light impasto. Look carefully at the gray squares. They all have a slightly different hue. The squares are all unique individuals and not a repetition To Goodnough this was his departure from his influencer. Squares show the influence of his teachers including Hans Hofman...

Steinberg's Holiday Magazine Cover, " The North of Jersey " is similar to his famous New Yorker Cover "View of the World from 9th Avenue”. ...

"Civil Rights." Evergood's early commentary on racial issues in the 1950s depicts four black men gagged, roped and hanging from a tree. In the background, imprisoned blacks look on through a barbed-wire fence. Whites watch in horror but do nothing to help. Meanwhile, a two-legged and three-headed serpent wraps himself around the tree that physically and symbolically separates the races. This is an important work in the history of American art. It may be one of the very earliest examples of a major American painter doing a major work that challenges racial segregation and injustice at a time when no one else would. The title of the work is inspired by a Historic Supreme Court decision on racial segregation. The Little Rock...

The artist invents and then captures a moment of a peak drama with soldiers being shot and bombs exploding. It's beautifully rendered in Künstler signature style showcasing his deep ...

From the Glynn and Suzanne Crain Collection, unsigned

Saturday Evening Post sticker and editorial and production marks on verso. This is more than just a simple semi-silhouette. It's a carefully crafted and wonderfully composed image. T...

An early example of Abstract Expressionism executed in 1955 during the movement's heyday and it's period of peak inventiveness. However, this work is still rooted in representation. The dark area the runs along the base of the picture is the ground and to the left, right and center there are black structures that represent trees. The work is very tactile and is composed of globs of paint that grow out from the surface and form a thick impasto. Rich vibrant saturated blues, reds and oranges create optical drama. The work look better in person. frame: 29 x 39 1/2 inches , Provenance: Kennedy Galleries The Currier Gallery of Art...

Film noir crime drama painted in a single frame. In narrative art, telling a story in a single image is harder than doing it in episodes. "'That police officer...

Original Illustration Art for General Electric Calendar, Tags on verso Deftly rendered in a post-impressionist style . Signed lower right Simple period wood frame - work could benefit from a new frame. Terpning has done movie posters for Doctor Zhivago, Cleopatra, Gone with the Wind and Guns of Navarone...

Oil on Board painting for American Weekly Magazine November 15, 1953. The decisive moment of a Cowboy and Horse is captured. As a determined team, t...

Most likely for a magazine like Saturday Evening Post interior editorial spread. The empty space to the right was for the art director to surprint type. The empty space acts as a com...

Mid Century Americana "For a horrible instant Carter thought the jet was going to crash in the street." Saturday Evening Post Work is unframed

Surrealist Landscape the Appian Way - One of the earliest Roman Roads. Rich textual surface with impasto paint application. The artist depicts a wide angle and lower angle view and...

Eugene Berman is a keen observer of his surroundings but never translates his vision in a literal way. In "Sicilian Landscape," the artist transfor...

Before there was Photorealism, there was Austin Briggs. Done in 1951, this work has all the hallmarks of the 1970's fine art movement and more. Briggs is using photographs as a refer...