Thomas French Fine Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Femme assise nue avec un bras levé au-dessus de sa tête Seated female nude with an arm raised over her head Ink and watercolor on paper, n.d. Signed in pencil lower right (see photo)...

Untitled (Young woman seen from the back) Sanguine crayon, charcola and watercolor on paper, c. 1910 Signed with the estate stamp, Lugt 5169 lower left corner Provenance: Estate of ...

Wire Haired Girl and Cat Pen and ink with watercolor, c. 1930 Signed with the Estate stamp "B" Provenance: Estate of the Artist By descent to his son Edward ...

Untitled Abstraction Graphite on paper, c. 1945 Signed on image left of center Condition: Excellent Sheet/Image size: 9 7/8 x 14 1/8 inches Provenance: Estate of the Artist ...

Peter Rabbit happened to be looking out of the dear Old Briar-patch as the young Fox ran past. Ink on paper, 1955 Signed "H. Cady," and dated 11-15 lower left (see photo) Annotated w...

Untitled (Study for The Aerialists) Graphite on paper, 1932 Signed lower right in pencil: "John Steuart Curry" Dated: 1932 in pencil Exhibited: Schroeder Romero & Shredder, NYC (la...

Untitled (Surrealist rendering of Pyramids at Giza with alligator) watecolor and gouache on paper, 1960 Unsigned Beni Kosh estate stamp No. 717 verso, unsigned. (see photo) Co...

Preliminary drawing for a sculpture Black crayon on paper, 1959 Signed and dated middle right (see photo) A rare 1950's AbEx drawing. Provenance: Estate of the artist Michael and Ala...

Getting Ready for the Revolution - Learning How to Ride in the Subway Litho crayons on illustrator’s board, c. 1932 Signed: Adolf Dehn (VED) lower right corner (signed by Virginia De...

Iris Watercolor on paper, c. 1920 Unsigned Provenance: Estate of the Artist Condition: Excellent, slight surface dirt Image/Sheet size: 15 x 10 1/4 inches Allen was trained in Boston...

Bull Ring Brass - Mexico City Watercolor, pen and ink on paper, 1955 Signed in ink, dated and titled in pencil (see photos) Condition: 1'' repaired tear left edge, along with other ...

Preliminary Study for a Sculpture Project Graphite, charcoal and wash on tracing paper, c. 1930-1940 Signed upper left and lower left (see both photos) Created while the artist was l...

Tea at the Ritz, New York Colored chalk, 1912 Signed with the estate stamp verso. (see photo) Authenticated by the artist's daughter, Mme Paulette Johnston. Image size: 10 5/8 x 10 1...

Nude Matchstick and ink drawing heightened with conte crayon c. 1925 Signed with the Estate Stamp "B" Provenance: Joseph A. Erdelac (1914 -2005), Cleveland Acqu...

Untitled Watercolor on paper, c. 1971 Unsigned From the collection of Ileana Sonnabend (1914-2007) Laddie John Dill, a Los Angeles artist, had his first solo exhibition in New York C...

Reclining Female Nude Charcoal and colored chalks with white highlights on tan laid paper, c. 1948 Signed and monogrammed by the artist lower right (see photo) A masterpiece dr...

Untitled molded mud-dried paper with collage elements, 1996 Signed and dated lower edge (see photo) Annotated and titled verso Sheet size: 24 x 7 inches Provenance: Ralph Drake, fir...

Untitled (Inspired by a Chinese scroll painting) Collage with ink on 6 paper elements Unsigned Provenance: Estate of the Artist Condition: Excellent Image size: 4 x 12 inches Support...

Untitled (Circles) Graphite on wove paper, 2007 Unsigned Provenance: Estate of the Artist Condition: Excellent Sheet/Image size: 16 15/16 x 14 inches Peter Marks (1935 -2010) Pete...

Dharma Prayer Book Manuscript Folio Ink and gouache on handmade paper, 1875-1925) Miniature depicting Tibetan deity Script is Tibetan. Miniature Size: 2 3/8 x 1 ½ inches Part of a se...

Dharma Prayer Book Manuscript Folio Ink and gouache on handmade paper, 1875-1925) Miniature depicting Tibetan deity Script is Tibetan. Miniature Size: 2 3/8 x 1 ½ inches Part of a se...

Dharma Prayer Book Manuscript Folio Ink and gouache on handmade paper, 1875-1925) Miniature depicting Tibetan deity Script is Tibetan. Miniature Size: 2 3/8 x 1 ½ inches Part of a se...

Standing Female Nude Colored chalks on tan Strathmore paper, c. 1975 Signed in chalk upper right (see photo) Condition: Excellent Housed in an 8 play acid free rag matting S...

Seated Female Nude (Devora) Watercolor on paper, c. 1970 Signed in pencil lower right (see photo) A folio from the artist's sketchbook. Done while the artist was in Florida. Conditio...

Two Women and a Child on the Beach at Provincetown Unsigned. Watercolor on paper, c. 1934 A beautiful Provincetown beach scene, included in the catalogue raisonne. Please see Babcoc...

Head of a Deco Woman (recto) Standing Male Model (verso) Graphite on paper, 1925 Signed with the artist's initials "PW" and dated 1925 Created while the artist was studying at the ...

Dutch prayer book or Book of Hours with devotio moderna sensibilities Red, blue and black ink on vellum, c. 1450-1475 Unsigned as is usual Written in Old/Middle Dutch Contents is ex...

Folio from a Book of Hours, c.1475 Delft (Holland) red, blue and black Ink on vellum, c. 1475 Unsigned as is usual Most probably created at the Church of St. Agnes, by the women of t...

Signed with the estate stamp initials lower right, Lugt 388a (see photo) Provenance: Richard Norton Gallery, Chicago (label verso) Fairweather-Hardin Gallery, Chicago (label verso) ...

Untitled Abstrraction Gouache, watercolor and pigments on paper, c. 1960 Signed lower right in pencil (see photo) Image: 17 x 22 inches Sheet: 25 1/4 x 29 3/4 inches Frame: 25 1/4 x ...

Eileen Lake Crayon on paper, early1930's Initialed in pencil lower right (see photo) Titled and annotated verso "Eileen Lake, early 1930s girlfriend" Note: Eileen Hall Lake was an American poet and Adolf Dehn's girlfriend in the early 1930s. Provenance: Estate of the artist By descent Adolf Dehn, American Watercolorist and Printmaker, 1895-1968 Adolf Dehn was an artist who achieved extraordinary artistic heights, but in a very particular artistic sphere—not so much in oil painting as in watercolor and lithography. Long recognized as a master by serious print collectors, he is gradually gaining recognition as a notable and influential figure in the overall history of American art. In the 19th century, with the invention of the rotary press, which made possible enormous print runs, and the development of the popular, mass-market magazines, newspaper and magazine illustration developed into an artistic realm of its own, often surprisingly divorced from the world of museums and art exhibitions, and today remains surprisingly overlooked by most art historians. Dehn in many regards was an outgrowth of this world, although in an unusual way, since as a young man he produced most of his illustrative work not for popular magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post, but rather for radical journals, such as The Masses or The Liberator, or artistic “little magazines” such as The Dial. This background established the foundation of his outlook, and led later to his unique and distinctive contribution to American graphic art. If there’s a distinctive quality to his work, it was his skill in introducing unusual tonal and textural effects into his work, particularly in printmaking but also in watercolor. Jackson Pollock seems to have been one of many notable artists who were influenced by his techniques. Early Years, 1895-1922 For an artist largely remembered for scenes of Vienna and Paris, Adolf Dehn’s background was a surprising one. Born in Waterville, Minnesota, on November 22, 1895, Dehn was the descendent of farmers who had emigrated from Germany and homesteaded in the region, initially in a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor. Adolf’s father, Arthur Clark Dehn, was a hunter and trapper who took pride that he had no boss but himself, and who had little use for art. Indeed, during Adolf’s boyhood the walls of his bedroom and the space under his bed were filled with the pelts of mink, muskrats and skunks that his father had killed, skinned and stretched on drying boards. It was Adolf’s mother, Emilie Haas Dehn, a faithful member of the German Lutheran Evangelical Church, who encouraged his interest in art, which became apparent early in childhood. Both parents were ardent socialists, and supporters of Eugene Debs. In many ways Dehn’s later artistic achievement was clearly a reaction against the grinding rural poverty of his childhood. After graduating from high school in 1914 at the age of 19—an age not unusual in farming communities at the time, where school attendance was often irregular—Dehn attended the Minneapolis School of Art from 1914 to 1917, whose character followed strongly reflected that of its director, Munich-trained Robert Kohler, an artistic conservative but a social radical. There Dehn joined a group of students who went on to nationally significant careers, including Wanda Gag (later author of best-selling children’s books); John Flanagan (a sculptor notable for his use of direct carving) Harry Gottlieb (a notable social realist and member of the Woodstock Art Colony), Elizabeth Olds (a printmaker and administrator for the WPA), Arnold Blanch (landscape, still-life and figure painter, and member of the Woodstock group), Lucille Lunquist, later Lucille Blanch (also a gifted painter and founder of the Woodstock art colony), and Johan Egilrud (who stayed in Minneapolis and became a journalist and poet). Adolf became particularly close to Wanda Gag (1893-1946), with whom he established an intense but platonic relationship. Two years older than he, Gag was the daughter of a Bohemian artist and decorator, Anton Gag, who had died in 1908. After her husband died, Wanda’s mother, Lizzi Gag, became a helpless invalid, so Wanda was entrusted with the task of raising and financially supporting her six younger siblings. This endowed her with toughness and an independent streak, but nonetheless, when she met Dehn, Wanda was Victorian and conventional in her artistic taste and social values. Dehn was more socially radical, and introduced her to radical ideas about politics and free love, as well as to socialist publications such as The Masses and The Appeal to Reason. Never very interested in oil painting, in Minneapolis Dehn focused on caricature and illustration--often of a humorous or politically radical character. In 1917 both Dehn and Wanda won scholarships to attend the Art Students League, and consequently, in the fall of that year both moved to New York. Dehn’s art education, however, ended in the summer of 1918, shortly after the United States entered World War I, when he was drafted to serve in the U. S. Army. Unwilling to fight, he applied for status as a conscientious objector, but was first imprisoned, then segregated in semi-imprisonment with other Pacifists, until the war ended. The abuse he suffered at this time may well explain his later withdrawal from taking political stands or making art of an overtly political nature. After his release from the army, Dehn returned to New York where he fell under the spell of the radical cartoonist Boardman Robinson and produced his first lithographs. He also finally consummated his sexual relationship with Wanda Gag. The Years in Europe: 1922-1929 In September of 1921, however, he abruptly departed for Europe, arriving in Paris and then moving on to Vienna. There in the winter of 1922 he fell in love with a Russian dancer, Mura Zipperovitch, ending his seven-year relationship with Wanda Gag. He and Mura were married in 1926. It was also in Vienna that he produced his first notable artistic work. Influenced by European artists such as Jules Pascin and Georg Grosz, Dehn began producing drawings of people in cafes, streets, and parks, which while mostly executed in his studio, were based on spontaneous life studies and have an expressive, sometimes almost childishly wandering quality of line. The mixture of sophistication and naiveté in these drawings was new to American audiences, as was the raciness of their subject matter, which often featured pleasure-seekers, prostitutes or scenes of sexual dalliance, presented with a strong element of caricature. Some of these drawings contain an element of social criticism, reminiscent of that found in the work of George Grosz, although Dehn’s work tended to focus on humorous commentary rather than savagely attacking his subjects or making a partisan political statement. Many Americans, including some who had originally been supporters of Dehn such as Boardman Robinson, were shocked by these European drawings, although George Grocz (who became a friend of the artist in this period) admired them, and recognized that Dehn could also bring a new vision to America subject matter. As he told Dehn: “You will do things in America which haven’t been done, which need to be done, which only you can do—as far at least as I know America.” A key factor in Dehn’s artistic evolution at this time was his association with Scofield Thayer...

Recling Female Nude Charcoal on tan paper Signed: Poterlet bottom center (see photo) Provenance: Alfred Barrion, Lugt 76 lower right recto (see photo) Eric G. Carlson, 1985 Very good...

Read the Signs, No. 13 Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2013 Signed lower right corner (see photo) Series: Read the Signs (22 watercolors) Exhibited: William Busta Gallery, Read the Signs, ...

Stolen Moments (4) Ink on Yupo paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) Condition: Excellent Image size: 14 x 11 inches Darius Steward is establishing hi...

O Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials (see photo) Note: The Series MORE? is centered around the artist’s family. There are two images of the artist’s s...

Study for “The Breaker of Chains” Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) For the Midtown (Cleveland) Mural, located on 28th and Euc...

Stolen Moments, Attitude Shift #1 (Emily and Sippy Cup Smiling) Watercolor on Twinrocker Multi Purpose paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right Signed with the ar...

aka Beni Kosh Untitled (Abstraction) Watercolor on paper, 1970's Unsigned Ben Kosh Estate Stamp verso, No. 754 Condition: Very good Sheet size: 10 5/8 x 14 9/16 inches Provenance: Es...

Surrealist landscape with skull and red daisy Watercolor on paper, 1960-1970 Unsigned Stamped with the artist's estate stamp verso (see photo) Provenance: Estate of the artist Refere...

Aka Beni Kosh Still Life with Flowers Colored pencil on paper Unsigned Signed with the estate stamp on reverse (see photo) Estate No. 716 Condition: Soft fold through image, wri...

Joe "I try to get something accomplished everyday. I ask the Good Lord for Patience and Stregnth" Verso: "I was in for a technical violation. I spent 65 days, but I thank the Lor...

Couple Embracing Sumi ink drawing, c. 1928 Signed lower right: Shinsui (early variant signature) Most probably an illustration for one of the four volum...

Staten Island Watercolor on paper, c. 1928 Signed with the Estate stamp lower left Sheet size: 19 1/8 x 23 7/8 inches Titled on verso Part of small series of watercolors done of the ...

Trees Over the Vineyard Watercolor on heavy paper, c. 1930 Signed with the estate stamp verso (see photo) Sheet size: 16 1/2 x 19 1/8 inches Condition: Excellent Illustrated: Marbell...

Untitled (Standing Female Nude) Graphite on paper, c. 1930 Signed bottom right: Lorski (see photo) Sheet size: 9 5/16 x 5 13/16 inches From a sketchbook created while the artist was working in Paris Condition: Good Thin spots verso from previous mounting Soft vertical fold running across image Barely visible on recto Provenance: Estate of the Artist Dawson's Auctioneers and Appraisers, 2001 Amity Art Foundation Boris Lovet-Lorski Lithuanian/Russian/American 1894-1973 Sculptor, painter, and printmaker, Boris Lovet-Lorski was born in Lithuania in 1894. His mother died when he was age three. His father was affluent and owned real estate. Boris grew up in a privileged environment. He studied architecture and then fine arts at the Imperial Academy of Art in Petrograd, Russia (now Saint Petersburg). Following the revolution in 1917 and its aftermath, Boris immigrated to Boston to live with his brother. In the 1920’s, his stylized, Art Deco inspired sculptures, lithographs, and paintings proved to be popular among the American elite. He exhibited frequently, holding his first solo exhibition in Boston, 1920. In the following years, Boris exhibited in New York at Marie Sterner Gallery, Jacques Seligmann Galleries and Wildenstein and Company. He lived in Paris from 1926 to 1932 where he befriended Joseph Hecht, and was exposed to the works of Pablo Picasso, Ossip Zadkine, Contantin Brancusi and Aristide Maillol. In 1932 he returned to America where he became a citizen later in the decade. Lovet-Lorski exhibited in the United States, South America, Europe and Asia. He was a member of the Society of Independent Artists (New York), the National Academy of Design (New York), and the Lotos Club (New York), as well as several Parisian salons. His work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums including the Musée Luxembourg, Bibliotèque Nationale, and the Petit Palais in France, the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (A more extensive list of his works in museums follows) He is considered one of the most successful and recognized sculptors of his generation. His creative influence can be seen in many of his contemporary artists. He died in Los Angeles in 1973. Regarding his iconic Art Deco sculptures of Cretan Dancers: “The stylizing of the Cretan allegories, used in figures of animals such as horses and bulls, symbolizes the ancient power of the South. These figures reveal a spiritual sensuality as he strives to attain a symbol of the earth and universe endowed with musical values. If man is the center of his idea of life and nature, it is because of the laws that govern the movement of stars and history. The link binding his figures together has, in a sense, a Pythagorean harmony.” Salvatore Quasimodo, Milan, 1967, quoted from Bush, Boris Lover-Lorski: The Language of Time, page 12. Lovet-Lorski created sculptures of the following major figures I.J. Paderewski, Prime Minister of Poland Arturo Toscanini, Italian Conductor Lilian Gish, Actress President Franklin D. Roosevelt Mrs. M. C. Niarchos, wife of Stavros Niarchos President Abraham Lincoln James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, First Secretary of Defense Pope Pius XII Dr. Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist President Dwight D. Eisenhower Albert Schweitzer, theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician General Charles De Gaulle, President of the Fourth and Fifth Republic, France John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State, 1953-1959 President John F. Kennedy Works by Lover Lorski are in the following public collections: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo Art Institute of Chicago Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris Brandeis University, Waltham, MA British Museum, London Boston University Brooklyn Museum California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Sam Francisco...

Standing Male Nude Graphite on wove paper, c. 1890's Unsigned Sheet size: 9 5/16 x 6 inches Provenance: Rookwood Pottery Factory Collection, Cincinnati Ira Spanierman, New York (labe...

Snow White pen and ink with watercolor, 1999 Signed with the artist's initials and dated along the bottom edge (see photo) Sheet size: 6 x 6 inches Peregrine Honig (born 1976 in San Francisco, CA) is an American artist whose work is concerned with the relationship between pop culture, sexual vulnerability, social anxieties, the ethics of luxury and trends in consumerism. Honig appeared on season one of Bravo’s artist reality television show, Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, which aired from June 9–August 11, 2010, finishing in second place. Career Born in San Francisco and raised in The Castro and in Project Artaud, Honig moved to Kansas City, Missouri, at 17 to attend the Kansas City Art Institute. At age 22, Honig was the youngest living artist to have work acquired by the Whitney Museum of Art’s permanent collection. Honig’s work is included in private and public collections, including: The Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Art Gallery, The Fogg Art Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum...

Untitled (Joe Louis knocking out Max Schmeling in 1938 rematch) Pen and ink with wash on heavy wove sketchbook paper, 1938 Signed lower right: Fletcher Martin Directly related to Martin's famous painting of 1942 entitled "Lullaby", which was also used in the lithograph of the same name. (see photo) The drawing depicts the third and final knockdown of Max Schmeling in their rematch of 1938. Condition: Mat staining at the edges of the sketchbook page edges Toning to verso from previous framing. Does not affect framed presentation "It was here that Louis first used sport to bridge America's cavernous racial divide. With Hitler on the march in Europe and using Schmeling's victory over Louis as proof of “Aryan supremacy,” anti-Nazi sentiment ran high in the States. Louis had long grown accustomed to the pressures of representing his race but here the burdens were broader and deeper. Now he was shouldering the hopes of an entire nation. A few weeks before the match Louis visited the White House and U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose tenure lasted even longer than Louis' would, told him, “Joe, we need muscles like yours to beat Germany.” Those muscles certainly beat Schmeling on fight night...

Studies for a historic scene painting Graphite on paper, c. 1860's Sheet size: 12 3/8 x 19 inches Unsigned Provenance: J S Maas & Co., London (see label) Denys ...

Transcendental Image (Sun God) Encaustic on paper, 1944 Signed and dated lower right: Bisttram 44 Sheet size: 11 1/8 x 8 1/2 inches Condition: Excellent Provenance: Warren Shaull "Em...

Head of a Deco Woman (recto) Standing Male Model (verso) Graphite on paper, 1925 Signed with the artist's initials "PW" and dated 1925 Created while the artist was studying at the ...

Surrealist landscape with doorway, animal and figures Watercolor on heavy paper, n.d. Unsigned Stamped with the artist's estate stamp (see photo) Provenance: Estate of the artist R...

Portrait of Dr. Auguste Soins Black chalk on paper, c. 1883 Signed with the artist’s estate stamp, Lugt 1305a lower right (see photo) Note: This possibly is the preliminary drawing f...

Study for “Republic Standing” Graphite on calque tracking paper, c. 1848 Signed lower right corner: Vigneron Provenance: Shepherd Gallery, New York ...

Preliminary drawing for the sculpture Diadem Black Crayon on paper, 1957 Signed and dated lower left The preliminary drawing for the 1957 sculpture of the same name in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art...

Bull engaging the muleta (Bull Fight) Signed with the Estate stamp lower left (See photo) Provenance: Estate of the Artist Marbella Gallery Inc., NYC Refer...

Woman Pulling on a Slip Conte on paper, c. 1910 Signed lower right: "E. Shinn" (see photo of legs, signature on right) Provenance: Estate of the Artist (see label) Graham Gallery, N...

Nude Female Torso Charcoal on paper, c. 1920 Stamped and initialed in pencil "Asa Cheffetz/A.D.C" Estate signature by wife, A.D.C. Exhibited: Museum of F...

Three Nudes in a Garden Graphite, c. 1928-1933 Initialed in pencil lower left (see photo) Illustrated: Elliott & Wooden, Aaron Bohrod: Figure Sketches, Fige 9, page 32 (see photo) A...

Readings from the "Communion of Saints": folio from an Italian Missal Pigment on vellum Mid 17th century Provenance: Otto F. Ege (1888-1951) Phillip Duechnes Bookseller, New York, c. 1948 References And Exhibitions: Otto F. Ege Box Folio 27 Ege describes these folios as: Epistolary (Epistolarium), Italy, Middle 15th century Latin Text: Rotunda or Round Gothic Script, square rhetorical neumes Sister folio are in the following rare book libraries: Case Western Reserve University Cincinnati Public Library Cleveland Institute of Art Cleveland Public Library Denison University Kent State University Kenyon College...