Visions West Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Lionel S. Reiss (1894 - 1988) Lobstermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts, circa 1943 Watercolor on paper Sight 17 1/2 x 23 inches Signed lower left Provenance: Private Collection, Las Vegas, Nevada In describing his own style, Lionel Reiss wrote, “By nature, inclination, and training, I have long since recognized the fact that...I belong to the category of those who can only gladly affirm the reality of the world I live in.” Reiss’s subject matter was wide-ranging, including gritty New York scenes, landscapes of bucolic Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and seascapes around Gloucester, Massachusetts. However, it was as a painter of Jewish life—both in Israel and in Europe before World War II—that Reiss excelled. I.B. Singer, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, noted that Reiss was “essentially an artist of the nineteenth century, and because of this he had the power and the courage to tell visually the story of a people.” Although Reiss was born in Jaroslaw, Poland, his family immigrated to the United States in 1898 when he was four years old. Reiss's family settled on New York City’s Lower East Side and he lived in the city for most of his life. Reiss attended the Art Students League and then worked as a commercial artist for newspapers and publishers. As art director for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he supposedly created the studio’s famous lion logo. After World War I, Reiss became fascinated with Jewish life in the ‘Old World.’ In 1921 he left his advertising work and spent the next ten years traveling in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Like noted Jewish photographers Alter Kacyzne and Roman Vishniac, Reiss depicted Jewish life in Poland prior to World War II. He later wrote, “My trip encompassed three main objectives: to make ethnic studies of Jewish types wherever I traveled; to paint and draw Jewish life, as I saw it and felt it, in all aspects; and to round out my work in Israel.” In Europe, Reiss recorded quotidian scenes in a variety of media and different settings such as Paris, Amsterdam, the Venice ghetto, the Jewish cemetery in Prague, and an array of shops, synagogues, streets, and marketplaces in the Jewish quarters of Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lublin, Vilna, Ternopil, and Kovno. He paid great attention to details of dress, hair, and facial features, and his work became noted for its descriptive quality. A selection of Reiss’s portraits appeared in 1938 in his book My Models Were Jews. In this book, published on the eve of the Holocaust, Reiss argued that there was “no such thing as a ‘Jewish race’.” Instead, he claimed that the Jewish people were a cultural group with a great deal of diversity within and between Jewish communities around the world. Franz Boas...

Boulevard. 1961, paper, watercolor, 37x52 cm Laimdonis Grasmanis (1916-1970) 1933 – 1937 – Art school of Applied art in Liepaja 1937 – 1942 – Art Academy of Latvia Artist took pa...

Detailed European Landscape in Watercolor and Gouache on Paper This finely detailed watercolor painting captures a serene countryside setting with an old stone church, a rustic hous...

Drawings of skulls are often called vanitas, which often contain collections of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures; it exhorts the viewer to consider mortality and to repent. This still life vanitas drawing is matted with a heavy white mat and framed in a bronze toned wooden frame measuring 15.75 x 16.25 inches. John Hrehov Skull and Ornament colored pencil on paper 7h x 8w in 17.78h x 20.32w cm JHR006 John Hrehov Education 1985 MFA-Painting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1981 BFA-Painting, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH. Solo Exhibitions 2017 John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Tom Thomas...

The artist is a master at storytelling. He sets the stage for the viewer to bring the events to a particular scene. Here, the artist presents us with a curious scene. The Holidays are over and the thought of getting rid of the tree is always a chore. Hrehov has chosen to show how to quickly eliminate the tree (and everything around it!). His sense of humor comes out in this small, highly detailed drawing that is matted and framed measuring 14.5 x 16 inches. John Hrehov Holiday End colored pencil on paper 6.50h x 8w in 16.51h x 20.32w cm JHR005 John Hrehov Education 1985 MFA-Painting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1981 BFA-Painting, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH. Solo Exhibitions 2017 John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Tom Thomas Gallery, Indiana University East, Richmond, IN. 2012 Shades from White to Black, New Drawings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 2011 John Hrehov: Charcoal. Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. 2009 John Hrehov: A Survey 1999-2009 Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. Paintings and Drawings. Seerveld Gallery, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL. 2004 John Hrehov: Drawings and Paintings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 2002 Paintings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 2001 Charcoal. Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Wood Street Gallery, Chicago, IL. 2000 The Picture Proper. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. Fearful Symmetry. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN. Allegories in Contemporary Life. Yvonne Rapp Gallery, Louisville, KY. 1999 Paintings and Working Drawings. Adams Hall Gallery, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. 1998 John Hrehov. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. John Hrehov: Paintings and Drawings. Wood Street Gallery, Chicago, IL. 1997 Object Lesson, Paintings, and Drawings by John Hrehov. Yvonne Rapp Gallery, Louisville, KY. 1995 John Hrehov. Trinity Art Gallery, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL. 1993 John Hrehov: Selected Works 1980-1992 Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. Group Exhibitions 2019 2019 Alumni Exhibition. Reinberger Gallery at The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH. Out Of The Closet. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 1026 West Berry Street: The Fort Wayne Art School. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN. 2018 Artlink Regional Exhibition. Artlink Contemporary Art Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN. 2017 Sola Grace-Faith-Scripture: An Exhibition of Sacred Visual Art. Good Shepherd Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN. Norman Bradley...

Emperor Jahangir and Empress Nur Jahan exchanging lotus blossoms; a symbol of beauty, purity, honesty, rebirth, self-regeneration, and enlightenment....

An illuminated page from a book likely in reference to palace life during Emperor Jahangir's reign over the Mughal Empire. Circa 1690. Gouache and ink with gold heightening on light...

Forest is an original drawing in mixed media on paper realized by Simon Goldberg (1913-1985). Hand-signed on the lower left. The state of preservation is very good. Sheet dimension...

Work : Original Drawing, Handmade Artwork, Unique Work. The work has been treated with UV-resistant varnish and it is not framed. Medium : Watercolour, Soft Pastel and Oil based col...

A charming and stylized depiction of a day at the Central Park Zoo. with World War Two uniformed visitors front and center. Sea lions put on a show in front o...

Ink and gouache with gold heightening on fibrous, brown laid paper with a Jaipur Court Fee tax stamp in purple ink, 13 3/8 x 8 3/4 inches (340 x 222 mm). Toning, handling creases and...

Outsider Folk Art American Mid-Century Naive WW2 Self Taught WPA Depression Era "Victory for Now" Ralph Fasanella (1914-_1997) "Victory and After,” gouache on paper. Signed, titled...