Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 9

Michael Loew
Mural Study 1933 Depression Era Mid-Century WPA Modern American Scene Drawing

1933

About the Item

Mural Study 1933 Depression Era Mid-Century WPA Modern American Scene Drawing. Study to Scale Mural Sketch for “Evolution of Textile Production” East. All, Textile High School. 1933. Tempera on Board. 8 1/2″ x 13 7/8” Framed 15 1/4” x 20 5/8”. Signed lower mid section. Exhibited. Marilyn Pearl Gallery. We have available more than two dozen paintings and works on paper from the 1930s - 80s that come directly from the Loew estate. Michael Loew (1907 – 1985) was the son of a New York City baker. After high school, he was an apprentice to a stained-glass maker, and from 1926-1929, he studied at the Art Students League. In 1929, he traveled to Paris, North Africa, Germany, and Italy with a group of artists. When he returned to New York City in 1931, the Great Depression hit Loew unexpectedly, and for the next two years he paid his apartment rent with his paintings. In 1935, he found work with the WPA where he painted murals and partnered up with longtime friend Willem de Kooning in 1939 on a mural for the Hall of Pharmacy at the New York World’s Fair. Their friendship lasted for the rest of their lives. In the mid-30’s he painted in Mexico and the Yucatán documenting the construction of a U.S. Naval airbase on Tinian Island. It was from this airbase that the Enola Gay bomber jet would later take off to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After Pearl Harbor, Loew joined the Navy and served as the battalion artist for the “Seabees” in the Pacific. When he returned in 1946, his painting moved quickly toward abstraction and he studied under Hans Hoffman. The Artists Gallery in New York hosted his first one-man show in 1949, and one year later, he studied with Fernand Leger in Paris. In 1956, he began teaching in the United States. He was a member of the American Abstract Artists group. By 1985 he had been an instructor at the Portland Museum School, University of California at Berkeley, and the School of the Visual Arts, NYC. His works are in the collections of prominent institutions such as the Whitney, Guggenheim, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
More From This SellerView All
  • "Tailor" WPA American Scene Social Realism Modernism Mid Century Modern Fashion
    By Mervin Jules
    Located in New York, NY
    "Tailor" WPA American Scene Social Realism Modernism Mid Century Modern Fashion The board measures 9 1/2 x 15 1/2. Provenance: Mervin Jules Estate. Bio A painter, illustrator, pri...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Guy Pene du Bois WPA American Modernism Realism NYC Scene Oil Lawyers in Court
    By Guy Pène Du Bois
    Located in New York, NY
    Guy Pene du Bois' "Two Figures in Courtroom" is a WPA era American scene oil painting created in a realistic style. Modernism at its best The work is framed by Heydenryk. Pène du Bois descended from French immigrants who settled in Louisiana in 1738 and was raised in a Creole household. He was born in 1884 in Brooklyn, NY and first studied with William Merritt Chase at the New York School of Art and later continued his training with Robert Henri. Pène du Bois was greatly impressed with Henri's credo that "real life" was subject matter for art and throughout his life a realist philosophy informed his art as well as his parallel career, art criticism. In 1905, Pène du Bois made his first visit to Paris where he painted scenes of fashionable people in cafes rendered in the dark tonalities and impasto associated with the Ashcan School. By 1920, he had achieved his mature style, which was characterized by stylized, rounded, almost sculptural figures painted with invisible brushstrokes. The subjects of his paintings were often members of society whom he gently satirized. In 1924, Pène du Bois and his wife, Floy, left for France where they would remain until 1930. Returning to America showcases pictures the artist produced after this very productive period abroad. After five years of living in France, Pène du Bois was able to observe American life with fresh eyes. His work becomes more psychologically intense and less satirical. In Girl at Table a slender, blond is shown gazing at a small statue that she holds at arm's distance. The meaning is elusive, but a powerful sense of longing is evoked. Similarly, paintings such as Dramatic Moment and Jane are taut with unresolved dialogue. Both pictures depict mysterious interiors in which a lone woman anxiously awaits the denouement of a suspenseful scene. Other pictures, for example, Chess Tables, Washington Square and Bar, New Orleans, recall Pene du Bois's Ashcan origins in their depiction of urban entertainment. During this period, landscape becomes an important subject for Pène du Bois. Girl Sketching...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Oil, Board

  • "At the Opera" WPA Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern Theatre American Scene
    Located in New York, NY
    "At the Opera" WPA Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern Theatre American Scene John Winters (1904 - 1983) "At the Opera" 17 x 14 inches oil on canvas Signed and dated 1943 lower r...
    Category

    1940s American Modern Interior Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • NYC Subway Mid 20th Century American Modernism WPA Realism industrial Colorful
    Located in New York, NY
    NYC Subway Mid 20th Century American Modernism WPA Realism industrial Colorful "New York Subway," 36 x 48 inches. Oil on Masonite (backed with a wood frame), Signed and dated ’47 upper left. The colors of the painting are extraordinarily vibrant. The white gold frame, signed Richard Tobey...
    Category

    1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Masonite, Oil

  • Industrial Mid-20th Century WPA Modern Men Working American Scene Social Realism
    Located in New York, NY
    Industrial Mid-20th Century WPA Modern Men Working American Scene Social Realism George Pearse Ennis (American, 1884-1936) "Forging a Gun Tube #1...
    Category

    1910s American Modern Interior Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Philip Evergood American Modernism WPA Social Realism Modern Still Life Interior
    By Philip Evergood
    Located in New York, NY
    Interior with Man at Table American Modernism WPA Social Realism Modern Painting Philip Evergood (1901 - 1973) Untitled (Interior with Man at ...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Panel

You May Also Like
  • Seated Figure
    Located in Rockland, ME
    Sally Michel Biography American, 1902-2003 Sally Michel Avery was an American painter known for her lyrical depictions of everyday life. Though she used techniques and stylized form...
    Category

    1980s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • The Sculptress
    By William Robert Shulgold
    Located in West Hollywood, CA
    William Robert Shulgold (1897-1989), studied under Arthur Watson Sparks, head of Carnegie?€™s art department. He specialized in figurative genre subjects, displaying within his paintings a quality and understanding akin to 19th century impressionism...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Alice in Wonderland, 1960s Large Mural by Andrew Karoly & Louis Szanto
    Located in Beachwood, OH
    Andrew Karoly (Hungarian-American, 1893-1978)/ Louis Szántó (Hungarian-American, 1889-1965) Alice in Wonderland, 1960 Oil on canvas Signed and dated low...
    Category

    1960s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • The Fisherman, 20th century Cleveland School artist
    Located in Beachwood, OH
    William Schock (American, 1913–1976) The Fisherman, c. 1955 Oil on canvas Signed lower right 26 x 40 inches 34 x 48 inches, framed William Schock was...
    Category

    1950s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • William Fisher Classic American Illustration on Canvas
    Located in Larchmont, NY
    William Fisher (American, 1891-1985) Untitled, 20th Century Oil on canvas/illustration 23 3/4 x 29 3/4 in. Framed: 31 x 37 1/4 x 1 in. Signed lower right: William Fisher William Fis...
    Category

    20th Century American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Interior with Figures
    By Arthur Osver
    Located in Dallas, TX
    Arthur Osver studied at Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago. Osver was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1952. He taught at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, Columbia Un...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Interior Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

Recently Viewed

View All