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Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

MODERN STYLE

The first decades of the 20th century were a period of artistic upheaval, with modern art movements including Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dadaism questioning centuries of traditional views of what art should be. Using abstraction, experimental forms and interdisciplinary techniques, painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and performance artists all pushed the boundaries of creative expression.

Major exhibitions, like the 1913 Armory Show in New York City — also known as the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” in which works like the radically angular Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp caused a sensation — challenged the perspective of viewers and critics and heralded the arrival of modern art in the United States. But the movement’s revolutionary spirit took shape in the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution, which ushered in new technology and cultural conditions across the world, transformed art from something mostly commissioned by the wealthy or the church to work that responded to personal experiences. The Impressionist style emerged in 1860s France with artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas quickly painting works that captured moments of light and urban life. Around the same time in England, the Pre-Raphaelites, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, borrowed from late medieval and early Renaissance art to imbue their art with symbolism and modern ideas of beauty.

Emerging from this disruption of the artistic status quo, modern art went further in rejecting conventions and embracing innovation. The bold legacy of leading modern artists Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and many others continues to inform visual culture today.

Find a collection of modern paintings, sculptures, prints and other fine art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Modern
The Terrace
Located in London, GB
'The Terrace', watercolour on art paper, by Maurice Savin (circa 1950s). An inviting scene from the South of France depicts a quiet sun terrace on a balmy day with azure skies. The v...
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1950s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

"Dahlias" Chiura Obata, Japanese American, Red and Blue Delicate Floral Work
Located in New York, NY
Chiura Obata Dahlias, 1940 Signed, dated and stamped lower right Watercolor on paper 15 x 9 5/8 inches Born in the Okayama prefecture of Japan, Chiura Obata was adopted by his uncle, an artist. As a child he was trained in ink painting, and at 14 he was apprenticed to the painter Murata Tanryo in Tokyo. He also studied with Kogyo Terasaki and Goho Hasimoto. In 1903, Obata moved to San Francisco and began working as an illustrator for The New World and The Japanese American, two of the city's Japanese newspapers. He also did work as a commercial designer. Obata helped establish the East West Art Society in San Francisco in 1921, which sought to promote cross-cultural understanding through art. This goal was reflected in his embrace of the Nihonga style, which fused traditional Japanese sumi-e ink painting with the conventions of western naturalism. He spent much of the 1920s painting landscapes throughout California, and among his favorite subjects were mountain landscapes. In 1927, he visited Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada, creating over a hundred paintings and sketches of the high country. Obata stayed in the USA until the death of his father in 1928. Between 1928 and 1932, he worked in Tokyo as a painter and transformed his California landscape watercolors...
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1940s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Still Life
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Best known as an impassioned supporter and avid collector of modern art, Earl Horter was also an artist himself. Largely self-taught, Horter was a highly skilled draftsman and engrav...
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1930s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel

"Nasturtiums" Chiura Obata, Japanese American, Red and Blue Delicate Flowers
Located in New York, NY
Chiura Obata Nasturtiums, circa 1940 Signed and stamped lower left Watercolor on paper 15 x 9 5/8 inches Born in the Okayama prefecture of Japan, Chiura Obata was adopted by his uncle, an artist. As a child he was trained in ink painting, and at 14 he was apprenticed to the painter Murata Tanryo in Tokyo. He also studied with Kogyo Terasaki and Goho Hasimoto. In 1903, Obata moved to San Francisco and began working as an illustrator for The New World and The Japanese American, two of the city's Japanese newspapers. He also did work as a commercial designer. Obata helped establish the East West Art Society in San Francisco in 1921, which sought to promote cross-cultural understanding through art. This goal was reflected in his embrace of the Nihonga style, which fused traditional Japanese sumi-e ink painting with the conventions of western naturalism. He spent much of the 1920s painting landscapes throughout California, and among his favorite subjects were mountain landscapes. In 1927, he visited Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada, creating over a hundred paintings and sketches of the high country. Obata stayed in the USA until the death of his father in 1928. Between 1928 and 1932, he worked in Tokyo as a painter and transformed his California landscape watercolors...
Category

1940s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Sea Shells – Blue & Gold
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sea Shells – Blue & Gold, c. 1940s, watercolor on paper, signed upper left, 15 x 19 ¼ inches (image); title and artist’s name and address inscribed verso, presented in a newer glazed...
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1940s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

'Old Reliable', Early American Modernist, Jalopy, Model T Ford Flatbed Truck
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
An American School watercolor showing an old Ford Model T flatbed truck backed up to a barn in a rural landscape. A well-composed work paint...
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1920s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Illustration Board

Cold Light, Winter Trees (Dark Charcoal Landscape Drawing of a Country Forest)
Located in Hudson, NY
Black and white landscape drawing of country forest with hints of green pastel charcoal and carbon on Arches paper 8 x 10 inches un...
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2010s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Carbon Pencil

Flower Bouquet
Located in Los Angeles, CA
(Note: This work is part of our exhibition Connected by Creativity: WPA Era Works from the Collection of Leata and Edward Beatty Rowan) Watercolor on paper, 12 x 9 ½ inches unframed sheet, 15 x 12 ½ inches framed, signed lower left About the Artist: Nan Watson...
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1930s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Flower in a Field, Modern Marker on Paper by Unknown Artist
Located in Long Island City, NY
Unknown Artist - Flower in a Field, Year: 1964, Medium: Marker on Paper, signed and dated in pencil, Image Size: 14 x 18.5 inches, Size: 16 x 20 in. (40.64 x 50.8 cm), Description: ...
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1960s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Permanent Marker

Mid 20th Century French Painting Pink Poppies and Ferns In China Vase
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
French Expressionist by Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) watercolour on artist paper, unframed painting : 16.75 x 15 inches provenance: artists estate, France condition: very good and ...
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Blanche Grambs, (Shell Fish: Lobster, Crab, and Shrimp)
Located in New York, NY
In the 1950s and 60s Grambs worked on many commissions. This ink drawing with a lobster, crab, and a shrimp, was probably for a cookbook; the sheet is cut in a free-form, modernist...
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

'Still Life with Orchids and Persimmon', California School of Fine Arts
By Kevin Elston
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right, 'Kevin Elston' (American, 20th century) and painted circa 1985. A substantial watercolor still-life of orchids and a persimmon, arranged with other objects relat...
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1980s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Laid Paper

Cactus Flower
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Silverpoint and crayon on paper 4 11/16 x 3 inches 11.9 x 7.6 cm Framed dimensions 8 1/8 x 9 7/8 inches Provenance The artist; By bequest to his nephew, Sergio Stella, 1946; By desc...
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20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon

Composition - Drawing by Henry Wormser - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is a drawing realized by Henry Wormser in the Mid-20th Century. Watercolor. Good conditions with slight foxing. The artwork is realized through deft expressive strokes.
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1950s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Two Pears, Modern Color Pencil on Paper by Robert Kulicke
Located in Long Island City, NY
Robert Kulicke, American (1924 - 2007) - Two Pears, Year: 1976, Medium: Color Pencil on Paper, signed and dated in pencil, Image Size: 4.5 x 5.5 inches, Size: 4 x 7 in. (10.16 x ...
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1970s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Color Pencil

George Drittler, (Still Life)
Located in New York, NY
British-born, New Jersey-based, George Drittler was primarily know for landscapes. In this still life that expansive approach serves him well. Richly drawn, with pottery, books and a...
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Ca. 1945 Cubist Graphite on Paper Still Life Drawing by Artist Stanley Bielecky
By Stanley Bielecky
Located in Chicago, IL
A ca. 1945, Cubist black & white graphite drawing of fruit by artist Illinois and Michigan artist Stanley Bielecky. Image size: 4" x 5". Archivally matted to: 13 1/4" x 16". Stanley Bielecky was an Indiana artist who painted the American scene, from the factories and workers around East Chicago to the bucolic settings of Mackinac Island...
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1940s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite, Paper

Still Life - Drawing by Sante Monachesi - 1939
Located in Roma, IT
Still Life is a modern artwork realized by Sante Monachesi in 1939. Charcoal drawing on paper. Hand signed and dated on the lower margin. Includes frame.
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal

Blanche Grambs, (Study for a Souffle)
Located in New York, NY
In the 1950s and 60s Grambs worked on many commissions. The symmetrical nature of the drawing suggests it was for a book or magazine project with facing pages -- possibly a cookboo...
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

'Pastis and Peaches on a Lace Tablecloth', Prismatic Modernist Still Life
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right 'R. Moscardo' for Ramon Moscardo Fernandez (Spanish, born 1953) and painted circa 1980. A substantial and scintillating, watercolor and gouache still-life comprising a bottle of Anis (Pastis), peaches in a cut glass bowl and a vase of flowers refracting rays of prismatic light across the surface of a lace tablecloth...
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1980s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Fruit Basket - Original Pencil by Serge Fontinsky - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Fruit basket is an original sketch pencil drawing realized by Serge Fontinsky (1887-1971) in the half of the 20th Century. Good conditions, minor cosmetic wear. Hand-signed on the...
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Israeli Yosl Bergner Modernist OIl Painting Kitchen Bottles Coffee, Vase
Located in Surfside, FL
Yosl Bergner Abstract Composition, Kitchen Utensils. Oil painting of kitchen implements. Hand signed in English bottom right Titled and signed ve...
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor

Bouquet of Roses - Original ink drawing, Signed
Located in Paris, IDF
Jean DUFY (1888-1964) Bouquet of Roses Original ink and lavish drawing Signed with the artist stamp On paper 29 x 36 cm (c. 12 x 14 in) Very good condition, paper lightly yellowed
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink

Blanche Grambs, (Lazy Susan)
Located in New York, NY
In the 1950s and 60s Grambs worked on many commissions. This was probably for a cookbook. The dimensions are for the drawing. The sheet is somewhat larger, 7 x 6 1/2 inches.
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

A Stunning ca. 1950s Cubist Watercolor of Irises by Rita Duis (Astley-Bell)
Located in Chicago, IL
A stunning Cubist watercolor on paper of purple irises by Chicago and New York artist Rita Duis (Astley-Bell). Archivally matted to30" x 24". Artist Rita Duis (Astley-Bell) led an ...
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1950s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Paper

Pear Still Life, Modern Gouache Painting on paper by Robert Kulicke
Located in Long Island City, NY
Robert Kulicke, American (1924 - 2007) - Pear Still Life, Medium: Gouache on paper, monogramed on top in pencil, Image Size: 8 x 6.5 inches, Size: 8.5 x 7 in. (21.59 x 17.78 cm)
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache

Flowers - Drawing - 1950s
Located in Roma, IT
Flowers is an artwork realized by an unknown in the early mid-20th Century. Ink, pastel and watercolor on cardboard. 11 x 10 cm ; 30 x 29 cm. Good condition!
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1960s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Ink

One Red One (Abstract Still Life Drawing of Black & Red Flowers in a Vase)
Located in Hudson, NY
Figurative, still life chalk drawing of flowers in a vase against collaged vintage book pages 'One Red One' by Louise Laplante in 2024 pastel on collaged vintage book pages 27.5 x 29...
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2010s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Chalk

Automotive design for Alexis Kellner AG Berlin
Located in London, GB
Half-Limousine coachwork design for an Austro-Daimler. Gouache and watercolour heightened with gum-arabic on very dark green card, annotated in pale ink with body type below, numbere...
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1930s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Handmade Paper

Still Life - Original Pastel on Paper by Herta Hausmann - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Still Life is an original pastel drawing on ivory-colored paper realized by Herta Haussmann (1892-1972). Not signed. The state of preservation is very good. Stamp of the artist's ...
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

Three Fruit, Modern Watercolor on Paper by John Urbain
Located in Long Island City, NY
John Urbain, Belgian/American (1920 - 2009) - Three Fruit, Medium: Watercolor on Paper, signed in pencil, Size: 11.25 x 17.5 in. (28.58 x 44.45 cm)
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20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Israeli Yosl Bergner Modernist Watercolor Painting Drawing Pots, Pans
Located in Surfside, FL
Abstract Composition, Kitchen Utensils. Ink and watercolor of kitchen implements. Hand signed in Hebrew upper left. Dimensions: (Frame) H 25" x 18" (Sight) H 18.5" x W 11.75" Bergn...
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Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor

A ca. 1938 Graphite on Paper Study of Classical Drapery by Modernist Jan Matulka
Located in Chicago, IL
A ca. 1938 graphite on paper, study of a classical drapery by notable Modernist artist Jan Matulka. The image is drawn on the back of a typewritten, folded sheet of stationery, from...
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1930s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Graphite

Still Life, Flower Vase, Drawing, Ink on paper by Modern Indian Artist"In Stock"
Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
Badri Narayan - Still Life - 5 x 5 inches ( unframed size) Ink on paper Inclusive of shipment in ready to hang form. Style : The artist’s paintings are narrative, and titles like ‘Q...
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Early 2000s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

1930s Surrealist Still Life with Hammer, Palette and Chopper by Jan Matulka
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1930s graphite on pencil drawing of Surrealist still life of an egg beater by notable artist Jan Matulka. Artwork size: 8 1/2". x 11". Matted size: 14...
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1930s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Graphite

1930s Surrealist Still Life with Profile and Hanger by Artist Jan Matulka
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1930 graphite on pencil drawing of Surrealist still life of an egg beater by notable artist Jan Matulka. Image size: 8 1/2" x 11". Archivally matted to...
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1930s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Graphite

Original 70's Hand Painted Textile Design Gouache Navy Blue Color on White Paper
Located in ALCOY/ALCOI, ES
Compass Rose and Flower design. Sealed on the back with the design studio name and number 397 We offer a small number of these original illustration designs by this design studio ba...
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1970s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Autumn II. 2016. acrylic on canvas, 40x50 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Ingrida Irbe's Autumn series capture the beauty of the season in an abstract way, focusing on the expressive dance of colors Ingrida Irbe (1969) Born ...
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2010s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Flowers - Drawing by Albert Fernand-Renault - 1950s
Located in Roma, IT
Flowers is a drawing realized by Albert Fernand-Renault in the early 20th Century. Pencil on paper. Stamped signed. Good Conditions with diffused foxing. The artwork is realized ...
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1950s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

"Trillium" original watercolor painting by Sylvia Spicuzza
Located in Milwaukee, WI
In this small painting, Sylvia Spicuzza presents the viewer with a simple trillium flower, the white petals framed by blue-green leaves. 10 x 7.25 inches, artwork 19.75 x 17.25 inch...
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1950s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Over the Top
Located in Westport, CT
Nancy Lasar’s work is described as “drawing with light”, “condensed energy and flow”, “calm and crazy”, and “organized chaos”. The lines in Lasar’s works that are electrifying. They ...
Category

2010s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Mixed Media, Rag Paper, Graphite

Synchromist Tree, Pastel
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Provenance The artist; Collection of Henry Dubin, Philadelphia until 2018 Exhibitions Avery Galleries, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Living Color Modern Life: Hugh Henry Breckenridge and Arthur B. Carles, October 5-November 2, 2018. The Philadelphia modernist Arthur B. Carles was a brilliant colorist and an extraordinarily innovative painter. Though Carles trained initially at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, soaking up the more conservative teaching of William Merritt Chase and Thomas Anshutz, he was deeply influenced by the avant-garde art scene in Paris during his first trip there in 1905. In 1907, Carles won the prestigious Cresson Traveling Scholarship, which enabled him to return to Paris for several more years. This experience had a profound impact on Carles as an artist; he was extremely affected by modern French painting, especially the work of Cezanne and Matisse, and by the time Carles returned home to Philadelphia in 1912, he was a confirmed modernist. This small landscape sketch was probably painted early during Carles's career, and yet, it already reveals his strong interest in abstraction. Indeed, Landscape Abstraction demonstrates both his daring exploration of lyrical color harmonies as well as his interest in two-dimensional surface design. Painted loosely in the spontaneous medium of watercolor, Carles used thin washes and delicate pools of paint to suggest the foreground area and surrounding trees. His color palette is rich and expressive, ranging from pale greens and blues to deep red, yellow, and even purple. In addition to his remarkable career as an artist, Carles was also an incredibly gifted teacher. He taught at PAFA from 1917 to 1925 and had a very deep impact on a number of his students such as Morris Blackburn, Quita Brodhead, and Jane Piper...
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20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

Zig Zag Zoom
Located in Westport, CT
Nancy Lasar’s work is described as “drawing with light”, “condensed energy and flow”, “calm and crazy”, and “organized chaos”. The lines in Lasar’s works that are electrifying. They ...
Category

2010s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Mixed Media, Rag Paper, Graphite

Garden Flowers
Located in New York, NY
Charles Demuth was one of the most complex, talented, and deeply sensitive artists of the American modern period. Whether he was painting floral still lifes, industrial landscapes, or Turkish bathhouses, art was, for Demuth, fraught with personal meaning. A fixture of the vanguard art scene in New York, Demuth navigated the currents of Modernism, producing some of the most exquisite watercolors and original oil paintings in twentieth-century American art. Demuth was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the only child of a well-to-do family. He had an awkward and introverted childhood shaped by a childhood illness, Perthes, a disease of the hip that not only left him permanently lame, but, as part of the “cure,” bedridden for two years in the care of his mother. This long period of incapacitation had a deep impact on Demuth, who came to see himself as an invalid, an outsider who was different from everyone else. It was perhaps during this period of indoor confinement that his keen interest in art developed. Several relatives on his father’s side had been amateur artists, and, following his convalescence, his mother encouraged his artistic pursuits by sending him to a local painter for instruction. The majority of his early pictures are of flowers, a subject for which Demuth maintained a lifelong passion. Following high school, Demuth enrolled at the Drexel Institute of Art in Philadelphia, a school renowned for its commercial arts program. He advanced through the program rapidly, and, in 1905, at the encouragement of his instructors, he began taking courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The two leading teachers then at the Academy were William Merritt Chase and Thomas Anshutz. Anshutz, himself a former student of Thomas Eakins, was well liked by his students, and is best known as the teacher of Robert Henri, John Sloan, and several of the other artists of the Ashcan School. Demuth, too, adopted a similar idiom, working in a controlled, realistic manner while at the Academy, where he remained until 1910. In 1907, Demuth made his first trip to Europe, staying in Paris. He spent time on the periphery of the art scene composed of the numerous American artists there, including John Marin and Edward Steichen. He returned to Philadelphia five months later, and immediately resumed courses at the Academy. Despite his introduction to advanced modern styles in Europe, Demuth’s work of this period retains the academic style he practiced before the trip. It wasn’t until he had summered at New Hope, Pennsylvania, in 1908 and 1911, that his style began to evolve. New Hope was a prominent American Impressionist art colony whose members were largely affiliated with the Pennsylvania Academy. Demuth dropped the conservative tone of his style and adopted a freer and more colorful palette. Although he remained based in Philadelphia, Demuth frequently went to New York during this period. Many of the same American artists of the Parisian art scene Demuth had encountered on his earlier European trip now formed the nucleus of New York’s avant-garde, which centered around Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 gallery. It wasn’t long before Demuth began to apply modernist-inspired strategies to his work. He was particularly influenced by the watercolor work of John Marin, also a former student of Anshutz, whose bold use of color in the medium Demuth freely adapted into looser washes of color. In 1912, Demuth again left for Paris, this time studying in the Académie Moderne, Académie Colorossi, and Académie Julian. In Paris Demuth met the American modernist Marsden Hartley. Hartley, a principal figure in the expatriate art circle, acted as a mentor to Demuth, and introduced him to the wide array of modern styles currently practiced in Europe. Hartley also introduced Demuth to many of the members of the Parisian avant-garde, including Gertrude Stein. Demuth was an aspiring writer, and he spent many hours in conversation with Stein. He wrote extensively during this period, and published two works shortly after his return to America. He also developed an interest in illustrating scenes from literary texts. From 1914 to 1919, Demuth produced a series of watercolors of scenes from books such as Emile Zola’s Nana and Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. Upon his return to America, Demuth settled in New York. In 1914, Demuth had his first one-man show at Charles Daniel’s gallery, which promoted emerging modern American artists, including Man Ray, Rockwell Kent, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Stuart Davis, and Max Weber. Demuth drew closer to the artistic vanguard in New York, becoming friends with many in the Stieglitz and Daniel circles, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Marcel Duchamp, Carl Van Vechten, and Edward Fiske. New York’s cosmopolitan atmosphere and active nightlife appealed greatly to Demuth. In a sketchy style well suited to watercolor, he painted many vaudeville and circus themes, as well as nightclub, café, and bathhouse scenes. Often with Duchamp, Demuth took part in an urban subculture replete with nightclubs, bars, drugs, and sexual permissiveness, which, for a homosexual artist like himself, allowed room for previously unattainable personal expression. Demuth’s pictures of sailors, bathhouses, and circus performers embody a sensual and sexual undercurrent, expressing the artist’s sense of comfort and belonging in the bohemian subculture of New York. Simultaneously, Demuth deepened his interest in floral pictures, painting these almost exclusively in watercolor. His style evolved from the broad color washes of his earlier pictures to more spare, flattened, and sinuous compositions, inspired by the drawings of Aubrey Beardsley and other artists of the Aesthetic Movement. Demuth’s flower watercolors are moody and atmospheric, sensuous and elegant, introspective and yet full of expressive power. Moreover they are beautiful, and are unequivocally among the finest still lifes in American art. Despite numerous subsequent artistic undertakings that led him in a variety of directions, Demuth never stopped painting flower pictures, ultimately adding fruits and other still-life objects to his repertoire. In 1916, Demuth began to develop a style later known as Precisionism, a form of landscape painting infused with Cubism, in which space is divided into precisely drawn geometric regions of color. Demuth first began to paint the landscape in an appropriated Cubist mode while on a trip with Hartley to Bermuda. In these early landscapes, in which the curvilinear forms of trees intersect the geometrically articulated architectural forms, Demuth explored ideas that shaped the future development of modernism in America. The full realization of Demuth’s explorations came after his return to America in 1917, when he turned his attention to industrial subjects. These works derive from a “machine aesthetic,” espoused by New York artists such as Francis Picabia, Joseph Stella, Albert Gleizes, and Duchamp, by which artists viewed machines as embodying mystical, almost religious significance as symbols of the modern world. Rather than painting the skyscrapers and bridges of New York as did most of his like-minded contemporaries, Demuth returned to his home town of Lancaster, where he painted factories and warehouses in a Precisionist idiom. The titles for these pictures are often contain literary references, which serve as clues for the viewer to aid in the decoding of the artist’s meaning. In 1923, Demuth planned a series of abstract “poster portraits” of his friends and contemporaries in the New York art and literary scene. In these “portraits,” Demuth combined text and symbolic elements to evoke the essential nature of his sitters’ distinguishing characteristics. In this fashion, he painted portraits of such artists as Georgia O’Keeffe, John Marin, and Arthur Dove. His most famous poster portrait, I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold...
Category

20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

1930s Surrealist Still Life with Alarm Clock and Mandolin by Artist Jan Matulka
Located in Chicago, IL
A ca. 1930s graphite on pencil drawing of Surrealist still life of an egg beater by notable artist artist Jan Matulka. Artwork size: 8 1/2" x 11". Archiv...
Category

1930s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Graphite

Checks and Balance
Located in Westport, CT
Nancy Lasar’s work is described as “drawing with light”, “condensed energy and flow”, “calm and crazy”, and “organized chaos”. The lines in Lasar’s works that are electrifying. They ...
Category

2010s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Mixed Media, Rag Paper, Graphite

Figures in the Countryside - Drawing by Augustus Koopman - Early 20th century
Located in Roma, IT
Figures in the Countryside is an original artwork realized by Augustus Koopman (1869-1914) during the early 20th century. Good condition apart some tear on the edge. Pencil drawing.
Category

Early 20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pencil

Cubist Still Life Gouache Painting by A Derek Ching
Located in Atlanta, GA
A. Derek Ching (American, 20th Century) created this stunning, colorful cubist still life gouache on paper painting. With lovely fall colors, this subtle still-life composition featu...
Category

Late 20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache

Small, Charming, Fauvist Painting Michel Henry French Modernist School of Paris
Located in Surfside, FL
Michel-Henry was born in Langres in 1928 and has shown strong passion for drawing since his childhood. Michel-Henry is acknowledged as an important painter in French contemporary art. From 1952 his work has periodically been singled out for France's highest prizes and awards. The French Government, the City of Paris , the Museum of Valence , Bogota and the Museum of Alencon are among the distinguished institutions who have acquired his work for their permanent collections. Born in Langres in 1928 the aspiring artist attended the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He later studied with Narbonne , Georg, Chapelain-Midy and Legueult. In 1957 he became a member of the House of Descartes in Amsterdam and the following year was named member of the Casa Velazquez in Madrid , honors which are exceptional for a young painter. He is a member of the Salon d'Automne as well as a member of its jury, he also exhibits in the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Salon Comparisons, and the Salon Terres Latines. In 1976 he shared in the honor of presenting the Salon d'Automne exhibition in Japan . Michel-Henry blends delicate tones and strong and fascinating accents into his compositions of flower still life, landscapes and marines. An avid interest in nature is the predominant quality of his luminous works. As a French artist whose works are known internationally, Michel-Henry over a period of twenty eight years has earned the status of a goodwill ambassador in a universal world of cultural exchanges. For his dedication and unselfish contributions to art and artists from all lands he was honored by his country by being awarded the prestigious - la Croix de Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur - on January 1, 1981 by the French Minister of Culture Mr. Jean Philippe Lecat. Michel Henry exhibited at prestigious galleries in Paris (Avenue Matignon) and New York (Madison Avenue) alongside such artists as Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger, Armand Guillaumin, Maurice Utrillo and Claude Venard. He is part of School of Paris artists that included Marcel Cosson, Jean Jansem, Leni-Dael, Raoul Dufy, Claude Salomon, Michel Kouliche...
Category

1960s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Gouache

British Modernist Vibrant Watercolor Painting of Flowers
Located in Surfside, FL
Sir Jacob Epstein KBE (10 November 1880 – 19 August 1959) was an American British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produced controversial works which challenged ideas on what was appropriate subject matter for public artworks. He also made paintings and drawings, and often exhibited his work. Epstein's parents were Polish Jewish refugees, living on New York's Lower East Side. He studied art in his native New York as a teenager, sketching the city, and joined the Art Students League of New York in 1900. For his livelihood, he worked in a bronze foundry by day, studying drawing and sculptural modelling at night. Epstein's first major commission was to illustrate Hutchins Hapgood's 1902 book Spirit of the Ghetto. Epstein used the money from the commission to move to Paris. Moving to Europe in 1902, he studied in Paris at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts. He settled in London in 1905 and married Margaret Dunlop in 1906. Epstein became a British subject on 4 January 1911. Many of Epstein's works were sculpted at his two cottages in Loughton, Essex, where he lived first at number 49 then 50, Baldwin's Hill (there is a blue plaque on number 50). He served briefly in the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, known as the Jewish Legion during World War I; following a breakdown, he was discharged in 1918 without having left England. In London, Epstein involved himself with a bohemian and artistic crowd. Revolting against ornate, pretty art, he made bold, often harsh and massive forms of bronze or stone. His sculpture is distinguished by its vigorous rough-hewn realism. Avant-garde in concept and style, his works often shocked his audience. This was not only a result of their (often explicit) sexual content, but also because they deliberately abandoned the conventions of classical Greek sculpture favoured by European Academic sculptors to experiment instead with the aesthetics of art traditions as diverse as those of India, West Africa, and the Pacific Islands. Between 1913 and 1915, Epstein was associated with the short-lived Vorticism movement and produced one of his best known sculptures The Rock Drill. Between the late 1930s and the mid-1950s, numerous works by Epstein were exhibited in Blackpool. Adam, Consummatum Est, Jacob and the Angel and Genesis, and other works, were initially displayed in an old drapery shop surrounded by red velvet curtains. The crowds were ushered in at the cost of a shilling by a barker on the street. After a small tour of American fun fairs, the works were returned to Blackpool and were exhibited in the anatomical curiosities section of Louis Tussaud's waxworks. Bronze portrait sculpture formed one of Epstein's staple products, and perhaps the best known. These sculptures were often executed with roughly textured surfaces, expressively manipulating small surface planes and facial details. Some fine examples are in the National Portrait Gallery. He completed a bust of Winston Churchill...
Category

1930s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Flower
Located in Dallas, TX
Robert Peterson, "Flower," pastel on paper, 19 x 26 1/4 inches paper size, 27 1/4 x 35 inches including white mat and frame. The artwork is floated in the mat and only hinged at the...
Category

20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Two Wood Ducks on a Flowering Branch
Located in New York, NY
Joseph Stella was a visionary artist who painted what he saw, an idiosyncratic and individual experience of his time and place. Stella arrived in New York in 1896, part of a wave of Italian immigrants from poverty-stricken Southern Italy. But Stella was not a child of poverty. His father was a notary and respected citizen in Muro Locano, a small town in the southern Appenines. The five Stella brothers were all properly educated in Naples. Stella’s older brother, Antonio, was the first of the family to come to America. Antonio Stella trained as a physician in Italy, and was a successful and respected doctor in the Italian community centered in Greenwich Village. He sponsored and supported his younger brother, Joseph, first sending him to medical school in New York, then to study pharmacology, and then sustaining him through the early days of his artistic career. Antonio Stella specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis and was active in social reform circles. His connections were instrumental in Joseph Stella’s early commissions for illustrations in reform journals. Joseph Stella, from the beginning, was an outsider. He was of the Italian-American community, but did not share its overwhelming poverty and general lack of education. He went back to Italy on several occasions, but was no longer an Italian. His art incorporated many influences. At various times his work echoed the concerns and techniques of the so-called Ashcan School, of New York Dada, of Futurism and, of Cubism, among others. These are all legitimate influences, but Stella never totally committed himself to any group. He was a convivial, but ultimately solitary figure, with a lifelong mistrust of any authority external to his own personal mandate. He was in Europe during the time that Alfred Stieglitz established his 291 Gallery. When Stella returned he joined the international coterie of artists who gathered at the West Side apartment of the art patron Conrad Arensberg. It was here that Stella became close friends with Marcel Duchamp. Stella was nineteen when he arrived in America and studied in the early years of the century at the Art Students League, and with William Merritt Chase, under whose tutelage he received rigorous training as a draftsman. His love of line, and his mastery of its techniques, is apparent early in his career in the illustrations he made for various social reform journals. Stella, whose later work as a colorist is breathtakingly lush, never felt obliged to choose between line and color. He drew throughout his career, and unlike other modernists, whose work evolved inexorably to more and more abstract form, Stella freely reverted to earlier realist modes of representation whenever it suited him. This was because, in fact, his “realist” work was not “true to nature,” but true to Stella’s own unique interpretation. Stella began to draw flowers, vegetables, butterflies, and birds in 1919, after he had finished the Brooklyn Bridge series of paintings, which are probably his best-known works. These drawings of flora and fauna were initially coincidental with his fantastical, nostalgic and spiritual vision of his native Italy which he called Tree of My Life (Mr. and Mrs. Barney A. Ebsworth Foundation and Windsor, Inc., St. Louis, illus. in Barbara Haskell, Joseph Stella, exh. cat. [New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994], p. 111 no. 133). Two Wood Ducks...
Category

20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Color Pencil

Wildflowers #1
Located in Westport, CT
Nancy Lasar’s work is described as “drawing with light”, “condensed energy and flow”, “calm and crazy”, and “organized chaos”. The lines in Lasar’s works that are electrifying. They ...
Category

2010s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Mixed Media, Rag Paper, Graphite

Carrot, Modern Color Marker and Pencil Drawing by Van Amerige
Located in Long Island City, NY
Van Amerige - Carrot, Year: 1969, Medium: Color Marker and Pencil Drawing, Image Size: 13.75 x 10.75 inches, Size: 22.25 x 15 in. (56.52 x 38.1 cm)
Category

1960s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Permanent Marker, Color Pencil

Untitled, Still Life of Shell
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled, Still Life of Shell Graphite on paper, 1945-1951 Signed lower right in pencil "Bisttram" (see photo) Condition: Excellent Sheet size: 9.63 x 7 .5 inches EMIL BISTTRAM (189...
Category

1940s Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite

Modern British pastel study of hydrangeas and fruit still life by Bernard Myers
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Bernard Myers (British, 1925 – 2007) Still life with HyDrangeas and Fruit Pastel on paper Signed ‘B. Myers’ (lower right) 24 x 31.3/4 in. (61 x 80.7 cm.) (including frame) From the e...
Category

20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Modern British pastel study of flowers with oranges and pears by Bernard Myers
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Bernard Myers (British, 1925 – 2007) Study of flowers with oranges and pears pastel on paper Signed ‘B. Myers’ (lower right) 24 x 31.3/4 in. (61 x 80.7 cm.) (including frame) From th...
Category

20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Kutschen (carriages); Group of four designs for hansom cabs.
Located in Middletown, NY
Four pencil drawings, each with hand coloring in watercolor, each 6 3/4 x 10 inches (sheet) (172 x 254 mm), full margins. Each with inscriptions and notations by the artist in the up...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Handmade Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

Modern still-life drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Modern still-life drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add still-life drawings and watercolors created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Nancy Lasar, Ian Hornak, Sylvia Spicuzza, and Jan Matulka. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Paper and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Modern still-life drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 0.5 inches across are also available. Prices for still-life drawings and watercolors made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $88 and tops out at $375,000, while the average work sells for $1,450.

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