Early 20th Century Folk Art

Black Forest style carved wall bracket shelf This is a delightful item, the bracket has a carved stag’s head decorated with leaves and trees fro...

An impressive antique shell or cordite carrier featuring a royal crest, later used as a stick stand. Originally for ceremonial use in a royal artillery, this early 20th century piec...

Walking stick with candle holder system, with black bovine horn tip. The cane is made of light colored Malacca (Rattan) wood. The handle is made of gilded brass, hexagonal in section...

Native American Pueblo Indian drum. Natural toned top and bottom. Sides yellow, red, blue and white, arranged in a pleasing geometric pattern. Tops...

Arapaho beaded men’s moccasins of brain tanned deer skin with parfleche soles. Trunk piece, unused condition. Great display piece. Period: First quarte...

Antique Restaurant Menu Chalk Board, circa 1920's. Charming hand-painted frame surrounds a lined chalk board. Reminiscent of French Bistro signs.

Early 20th century male baule figure, ivory coast, Africa A stylistically pleasing sculpture of a spiritual spouse (blolo bian) from the Baule culture....

We are delighted to offer for sale this very nice suite of antique military officer Royal Horse Artillery (1 Cannon - 1873-1901) 18mm ball button with Queen Victoria's Crown brass Mi...

Carved from a substantial piece of teak, this masterpiece is nearly 3 and a half feet tall. It features an elderly, bearded man carrying a bowl of food, possibly noodles, with two ma...

Basket making is an ancient and humble craft, but in the hands of a skilled weaver a simple willow basket can become a truly beautiful work of art. This bent handle basket was made i...

Early antique federal eagles [pair] beautiful glaze. ca 1900, came from an antique collectors personal collection, you can see a repair on one of the eag...

Still life painting (Violin, Flowers), Oil on canvas, by Agnes Weinrich, Signed and dated "22", Unframed: 20" x 16", Framed 27.5 x 23". Agnes Weinrich (1873-1946) was an early female, American modernist artist at a time when there was little interest in Modern Art in the USA and when few women were artists. She was a ground breaker in modern art. The painting shown is an important example of her mature phase of her work. A biography from Wiki-pedia follows: Agnes Weinrich (1873–1946) was one of the first American artists to make works of art that were modernist, abstract, and influenced by the Cubist style. She was also an energetic and effective proponent of modernist art in America, joining with like-minded others to promote experimentation as an alternative to the generally conservative art of their time. Early years[edit] Agnes Weinrich was born in 1873 on a prosperous farm in south east Iowa. Both her father and mother were German immigrants and German was the language spoken at home. Following her mother's death in 1879 she was raised by her father, Christian Weinrich. In 1894, at the age of 59, he retired from farming and moved his household, including his three youngest children—Christian Jr. (24), Agnes (21), and Lena (17), to nearby Burlington, Iowa, where Agnes attended the Burlington Collegiate Institute from which she graduated in 1897.[1][2][3] Christian took Agnes and Lena with him on a trip to Germany in 1899 to reestablish links with their German relatives. When he returned home later that year, he left the two women in Berlin with some of these relatives, and when, soon after his return, he died, they inherited sufficient wealth to live independently for the rest of their lives. Either before or during their trip to Germany Lena had decided to become a musician and while in Berlin studied piano at the Stern Conservatory. On her part, Agnes had determined to be an artist and began studies toward that end at the same time.[1][4] In 1904 the two returned from Berlin and settled for two years in Springfield, Illinois, where Lena taught piano in public schools and Agnes painted in a rented studio. At this time Lena changed her name to Helen. In 1905 they moved to Chicago where Agnes studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago under John Vanderpoel, Nellie Walker, and others.[1] In 1909 Agnes and Helen returned to Berlin and traveled from there to Munich, where Agnes studied briefly under Julius Exter, and on to Rome, Florence, and Venice before returning to Chicago.[5] They traveled to Europe for the third, and last, time in 1913, spending a year in Paris. There, they made friends with American artists and musicians who had gathered there around the local art scene. Throughout this period, the work Agnes produced was skillful but unoriginal—drawings, etching, and paintings in the dominant academic and impressionist styles.[1] On her return from Europe in 1914, she continued to study art, during the warm months of the year in Provincetown, Massachusetts,[1] where she was a member of the Provincetown Printers art colony in Massachusetts,[6] and during the colder ones in New York City. In Provincetown she attended classes at Charles Hawthorne's Cape Cod School of Art and in New York, the Art Students League.[1] Drawing of an old woman by Agnes Weinrich, graphite on paper, 11.5 x 7.5 inches. Hawthorne and other artists established the Provincetown Art Association in 1914 and held the first of many juried exhibitions the following year. Weinrich contributed nine pictures to this show, all of them representational and somewhat conservative in style.[1] A pencil sketch made about 1915 shows a figure, probably one of the Portuguese women of Provincetown. Weinrich was a metculous draftsperson and this drawing is typical of the work she did in the academic style between 1914 and 1920. She also produced works more akin to the Impressionist favored by Hawthorne and many of his students. When in 1917 Weinrich showed paintings in a New York women's club, the MacDowell Club, the art critic for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle said they showed a "strong note of impressionism."[7] Broken Fence by Agnes Weinrich, a white-line woodblock made on or before 1917; at left: the woodblock itself; at right: a print pulled from the woodblook. In 1916 Weinrich joined a group of printmakers which had begun using the white-line technique pioneered by Provincetown artist B.J.O. Nordfelt. She and the others in the group, including Blanche Lazzell, Ethel Mars and Edna Boies Hopkins, worked together, exchanging ideas and solving problems.[1][8] A year later Weinrich showed one of her first white-line prints at an exhibition held by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.[9] Broken Fence, in its two states—the print and the woodblock from which she made it—show Weinrich to be moving away from realistic presentation, towards a style, which, while neither abstract, nor Cubist, brings the viewer's attention to the flat surface plane of the work with its juxtaposed shapes and blocks of contrasting colors. Cows Grazing in the Dunes near Provincetown by Agnes Weinrich, white-line woodcut, 10 x 10 1/2 inches When in 1920 the informal white-line printmakers' group organized its own exhibition, Weinrich showed a dozen works, including one called Cows Grazing in the Dunes near Provincetown. This print shows greater tendency to abstraction than eitherBroken Fence or the prints made by other Provincetown artists of the time. The cows and dunes are recognizable but not presented realistically. The white lines serve to emphasize the blocks of muted colors which are the print's main pictorial elements. Weinrich uses the texture of the wood surface to call attention to the two-dimensional plane—the paper on which she made the print—in contrast with the implicit depth of foreground and background of cows, dunes, and sky. While the work is not Cubist, it has a proto-Cubist feel in a way that is similar to some of the more abstract paintings of Paul Cézanne.[10] By 1919 or 1920, while still spending winters in Manhattan and summers on Cape Cod, the sisters came to consider Provincetown their formal place of residence.[1][11][12][13] By that time they had also met the painter, Karl Knaths. Like themselves a Midwesterner of German origin who had grown up in a household where German was spoken, he settled in Provincetown in 1919. Agnes and Knaths shared artistic leanings and mutually influenced each other's increasing use of abstraction in their work.[1][14] The sisters and Knaths became close companions. In 1922 Knaths married Helen and moved into the house which the sisters had rented. He was then 31, Helen 46, and Agnes 49 years old. When, two years later, the three decided to become year-round residents of Provincetown, Agnes and Helen used a part of their inheritance to buy land and materials for constructing a house and outbuildings for the three of them to share. Knaths himself acquired disused structures nearby as sources of lumber and, having once been employed as a set building for a theater company, he was able to build their new home.[15] Weinrich was somewhat in advance of Knaths in adopting a modernist style. She had seen avant-garde art while in Paris and met American artists who had begun to appreciate it. On her return to the United States she continued to discuss new theories and techniques with artists in New York and Provincetown, some of whom she had met in Paris. This loosely-knit group influenced one another as their individual styles evolved. In addition to Blance Lazzell, already mentioned, the group included Maude Squires, William Zorach, Oliver Chaffee, and Ambrose Webster. Some of them, including Lazzell and Flora Schofield had studied with influential modernists in Paris and most had read and discussed the influential Cubist and Futurist writings of Albert Gleizes and Gino Severini.[16][17] Mature style[edit] Woman with Flowers by Agnes Weinrich, circa 1920, oil on canvas, 34 x 30 1/4 inches, exhibited at the Provincetown Art Association exhibition of 1920, made available courtesy of the Association. Two of Weinrich's paintings, both produced about 1920, mark the emergence of her mature style. The first, Woman With Flowers, is similar to one by the French artist, Jean Metzinger called Le goûter (Tea Time) (1911).[18] Red Houses by Agnes Weinrich, circa 1921, oil on canvas on board, 24.25 x 25.5 inches; exhibited "Red Houses" at Fifth Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists. Like much of Metzinger's work, Le goûter was discussed in books and journals of the time—including one called Cubism co-authored by Metzinger himself.[19] Because the group with which Weinrich associated read about and discussed avant-garde art in general and Cubism in particular, it is reasonably likely that Weinrich was familiar with Metzinger's work before she began her own. The second painting, Red Houses, bears general similarity to landscapes by Cézanne and Braque. Both paintings are Cubist in style. However, with them Weinrich did not announce an abrupt conversion to Cubism, but rather marked a turning toward greater experimentation. In her later work she would not adopt a single style or stylistic tendency, but would produce both representative pictures and ones that were entirely abstract, always showing a strong sense of the two-dimensional plane of the picture's surface. After she made these two paintings neither her subject matter nor the media she used would dramatically change. She continued to employ subjects available to her in her Provincetown studio and the surrounding area to produce still lifes, village and pastoral scenes, portraits, and abstractions in oil on canvas and board; watercolor, pastel, crayon and graphite on paper; and woodblock prints.[20] Possessing an outgoing and engaging personality and an active, vigorous approach to life, Weinrich promoted her own work while also helping Karl Knaths to develop relationships with potential patrons, gallery owners, and people responsible for organizing exhibitions. With him, she put herself in the forefront of an informal movement toward experimentation in American art. Since, because of her independent means, she was not constrained to make her living by selling art, she was free to use exhibitions and her many contacts with artists and collectors to advance appreciation and understanding of works which did not conform to the still-conservative norm of the 1920s and 1930s.[1][21][22] Early in the 1920s, critics began to take notice of her work, recognizing her departure from the realism then prevailing in galleries and exhibitions. Paintings that she showed in 1922 drew the somewhat dry characterization of "individualistic.",[23] and in 1923 her work drew praise from a critic as "abstract, but at the same time not without emotion."[24] In 1925 Weinrich became a founding member of the New York Society of Women Artists. Other Provincetown members included Blanche Lazzell, Ellen Ravenscroft, Lucy L'Engle, and Marguerite Zorach. The membership was limited to 30 painters and sculptors all of whom could participate in the group's exhibitions, each getting the same space.[23][25][26] The group provided a platform for their members to distinguish themselves from the genteel and traditionalist art that women artists were at that time expected to show[27] and, by the account of a few critics, it appears their exhibitions achieved this goal.[1][28][29][30] In 1926 Weinrich joined with Knaths and other local artists in a rebellion against the "traditional" group that had dominated the Provincetown Art Association. For the next decade, 1927 through 1937, the association would mount two separate annual exhibitions, the one conservative in orientation and the other experimental, or, as it was said, radical.[31][32] Both Weinrich and Knaths participated on the jury that selected works for the first modernist exhibition.[11] Still Life by Agnes Weinrich, circa 1926, oil on canvas, 17 x 22 inches. Permission to use granted by Christine M. McCarthy, Executive Director, Provincetown Art Association and Museum. The painting was the gift of Warren Cresswell. Weinrich's painting, Still Life, made about 1926, may have been shown in the 1927 show. Representative of some aspects of her mature style, it is modernist but does not show Cubist influence. The objects pictured are entirely recognizable, but treated abstractly. Although fore- and background are distinguishable, the objects, as colored forms, make an interesting and visually satisfying surface design. In 1930 Weinrich put together a group show for modernists at the GRD Gallery in New York. The occasion was the first time a group of Provincetown artists exhibited together in New York. For it she selected works by Knaths, Charles Demuth, Oliver Chaffee, Margarite and William Zorach, Jack Tworkov, Janice Biala, Niles Spencer, E. Ambrose Webster, and others.[1][23] Later years[edit] Weinrich turned 60 on July 16, 1933. Although she had led a full and productive life devoted to development of her own art and to the advancement of modernism in art, she did not cease to work toward both objectives. She continued to work in oil on canvas and board, pastel and crayon on paper, and woodblock printing. Her output continued to vary in subject matter and treatment. For example, Still Life with Leaves, circa 1930 (oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches) contains panels of contrasting colors with outlining similar to Knaths's style. Movement in C Minor, circa 1932 (oil on board, 9 x 12 inches) is entirely abstract. It too relates to Knaths's work, both in treatment (again, outlined panels of contrasting colors) and in its apparent relationship to music, something in which Knaths was also interested. Fish Shacks...

Antique and exceptional laddle / spoon of the Murik Lakes or Schouten Island , Mouth Of The Lower Sepik / Ramu Papua New Guinea A lovely patina and traces of use. Length: 73 cm Very ...

Classic antique Maine Eider Drake Decoy, circa 1920s, with head tucked back in contented posture. Decoy is in well worn original paint with touch-ups to the black areas. The neck has obvious very old crack but is strong and stable. The great painted surface is dry and weathered. Looks and is a true down east "Old Salt...

West Anatolia is one of the largest weaving regions in Turkey. Since the 15th century, Turkish rugs have always been on top of the list for having fine Oriental rugs. Oushak rugs su...

ABOUT An original monumental Belgian flag. CREATOR Unknown. DATE OF MANUFACTURE c.1940-1950. MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES Wool, Metal. CONDI...

A monumental, rare and important Oceanic Papuan Asmat People tribal carved war shield from the first half of the 20th century, collected from the coast of the headhunting tribe in Papua New Guinea, a Provincial Indonesian island in the mid 20th century. Among the Asmat, war shields are the most powerful symbolic element of a warrior's equipment, and have many layers of meaning. Traditionally, they were functional items used to protect warriors in battle by deflecting an enemy's spears and arrows. The carved and painted images on the surface of the shields were also intended to frighten the enemy and symbolize the power of the ancestors. Ancestral imagery appears on multiple forms of Asmat art...

We are delighted to offer for sale this lovely pair of Antique Chinese Ancestral Portraits on the original paper with lovely glazed...

Vintage American hand hooked rug was handcrafted in the early 1900s in the New England Area of the United States. It has a floral pattern with flowers in brilliant vintage colors including ivory, green, blue, and red. The Antique Hooked Rugs are a combination of Folk Art Creativity and Simplicity. When it comes to true simplicity and artistic creativity Antique Hooked Rugs have some of the best representations. The tradition of Hooked Rug started in New England. “Hooking” is the term used to describe the technique of hand crafting these rugs started as a hobby for the farmers in the long and dark cold winter nights of North East States in the US in the early 1800s. Hooked rugs were made as functional pieces for the home either as a table decoration or a wall art. Antique Hooked Rugs are a combination of Folk Art Creativity and Simplicity. When it comes to true simplicity and artistic creativity Antique Hooked Rugs have some of the best representations. Dimensions: 3’ x 4’ 9” Date of Manufacture: Early 1900s Place of Origin: America Material: Rag wool and cotton pile on a burlap foundation Condition: Wear consistent with age and use American Hooked Rugs, Vintage Hooked Rugs, Early American Hooked Rugs, American Rag Rugs, Antique Rug, Antique Rugs, Antique Carpets, Vintage Carpets, Handwoven Rugs, Vintage Artisan Rugs, Antique Handmade Rugs, Sustainability, Vintage Distressed Rugs, Allover Design Rug, Mid Century Modern Rugs, Vintage Rag Rugs, Vintage Wool Rag Rugs...

A genuine ax from the Songye tribe DR Congo, copper around wooden handle and with a heavy copper blade. The axes with a copper blade are much more rare then those from iron Hammered ...

Lady's arm bag with chain and sharp corner zip in golden brass. The hinge features a cloisonneé enamel decoration with stylized green and white flowers on a black background, adorned...

A carved wood Iagalagana figure by the Mumuye Peoples of Nigeria. These figures served as guardians and were often made to ensure the personal protection of their individual owners a...

This large early Ashanti stool consists of an attractive support featuring a double-sided bird motif. The surface of the stool exhibits a rich, dark patina. Extensive use over the ...

This mask from Java depicts a mythical creature which would have been used in ‘Wayang Topeng’ dance performances. It features handles which are used to open and close the creatures m...

African currency bracelet made of bronze, with a rich patina.

Wonderful original pencil drawing depicting a vintage motor car racing scene from the 1930's. The drawing is by - "K. B. White" - a British illustrator and motoring artist who was working in the 1930's. The drawing perfectly capture the glamorous spirit of vintage motoring - the noise, the crowds, the dust flying through the air - goggles, scarves - the drama of the occasion! Completely original and unique and perfect for any sporting interior themed room - or a great gift for a man cave or 'boys room'.

Two folk art bottlecap baskets.  H 15-3/4" D 8-3/4" H 14-1/2" W 12-3/4" D 9".

Antique Maywood Packaging Sicilian Olives Large 22" Packaging Drum Advertising. Large packaging drum with original print, "Maywood Sicilian Style Olives, Maywood Packaging Co. Cornin...

This Striped Old Kilim is a traditional handwoven piece from Western Turkey. It measures approximately 98cm x 245cm and is made from 100% high-quality wool. Design & Features This k...

Three Hand-Painted Panels of Chinese Warriors. The paintings feature Chinese warriors in full costume of the era in vivid colors of red, green, yellow, and orange on a beige backgro...

Shaman body bags from the early 20th century were sacred and significant artifacts used in certain cultural practices and rituals among various indigenous communities and shamans in ...

With its many blades and dramatic form, this impressive throwing knife would have been a status symbol and a form of currency among the Ngombe peoples o...

Walking stick: L-shaped silver handle, depicting a boar's head with Baltic amber acorns and embossed and carved leaves. Cabochon garnet stone eyes. Ebony wood shaft. Metal ferrule. S...

The Wind is an original marble sculpture made by Anonymous artist and realized in the 1920s. A beautiful white marble sculpture representing a female portrait as the personificati...

Aurelio Arteta Errasti (2 December 1879, Bilbao - 10 November 1940, Mexico City) was a Basque painter who worked in several styles; including Symbolism, Cubism and Social Realism. ...

A charming collection of six, hand painted Horse stable name plaques. Each plaque is pine, with an ebonised painted ground and gilt lettering. Age related knocks and abrasions comm...

King Edward VII coronation, June 1902 framed scarf / flag. This scarf is an original antique piece of British history and patriotic memorabilia. ...

This bright orange mask depicts a mythical being inspired by Javanese folklore. It was used in masked performances known as ‘wayang topeng’. The mask’s age is present in the fading o...

Carved model of a Marlin. Dimensions: Height 20 inches Width 56 inches Depth 5.5 inches.

This baby sling or carrier from the equatorial forest region of north-eastern DRC has an amazing contemporary appearance. The carrier is made from multiple strands of twisted and kn...

This is an original painted blue hanging cupboard.

Royal House Antiques Royal House Antiques is delighted to offer for sale this very nice circa 1920 Art Deco casino chip / poker set in the original wood case with Bakelite handle A...

A wood club known as Wahaika intricately carved and inlayed with small round shells from New Zealand circa 1920s. The hand-hold club was traditionally used as a close-range combat we...

Mahogany Chippendale style dressing table. This wonderful dressing table stands upon cabriole legs with well carved ball and claw feet and carved shells to the knees. Circa 1900 The ...

Royal House Antiques Royal House Antiques is delighted to offer for sale this lovely Antique Chinese Ancestral Portrait on the ori...

Moroccan tribal Berber wooden sugar hammer. Handcrafted by the Berber women of Morocco, hand-carved wood with tribal design, this folk art instrument is a...

Traditional large hanging pub sign. Wethered’s winterbourne arms This is a large and heavy piece dating from the first half of the 20th Century, it is double sided though the pain...

Stylized weathervane. Weathered zinc and sheet iron. Circa 1900. L 30" H 20". Excellent original condition.

A Monumental early 20th-century European carved wooden axe trade sign, measuring an impressive 60" in length. This extraordinary piece, with its distinctively oversized design, was l...

Finely carved wooden bust of a striking tribeswoman figure carved from an exotic hardwood with a rich patina free standing. Dimensions Height 22 Inches Width 13 Inches Depth 17 Inches

Enamel sign for Colman’s Mustard, of rectangular form decorated in blue and yellow enamel. Dimensions Height 16 inches Width 62.5 inches Depth 0.5 ...

A very rare early work featuring a dark chocolate brown glaze by master Mid-Century Modern ceramist/potter Glen Lukens whose work has become quite collectible and relatively scarce and difficult to find. The work is signed and dated (1924) by Lukens on the underside (we have only seen one other piece dated this early and that piece is in the Forrest Merrill Collection). Lukens was the founder of the University of Southern California (USC) Architectural School’s Ceramics Department where he helped establish and promote clay pottery as a universally acceptable art form. The current popularity of Studio Pottery and ceramics is widely accepted to have started with Lukens who is oft credited with being one of the first artists to raise the stature of Mid-Century Modern Studio Pottery within the art world. Lukens is famed for his experiments with various glazes and glazing techniques. His influence and glazes can be clearly seen in the works of Otto and Gertrud Natzler, Beatrice Wood, James Lovera, etc. He was also known for combining bright, colorful textile glazes (using natural, organic materials and elements he found in the Mojave Desert, Palm Springs, and Death Valley to make what he referred to as "California Colors") with the rough and raw clay surfaces of his often rudimentary forms and vessels. Lukens currently has an award in his name (Glen Lukens Award) at the University of Southern California's School of fine Arts. A very rare, unique, and truly special work This piece would be a tremendous stand-out addition to any collectors of Lukens' work or Mid-Century Modern ceramics collection or eye-catching accent piece in about any setting, modern or otherwise. A must-have. Lukens work can be found in various museum collections including: Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona Huntington Library...

This is a wooden antique board from the Meiji era. It is made of Japanese cedar wood. It has a beautiful appearance due to years of use and aging. It was used as a board for kneadi...

This very well executed hand-carved smoking pipe is unsigned, but presumed to have originated from the United States and date to approximately 1920 and done in an American Craftsman style. The pipe stem is composed of vulcanite with a silver plated band. The pipe features asvery detailed and realistic carving of a Confederate soldier...

A powerful and well-rendered 1920's cast iron relief plaque featuring a Native American man in side profile, complete with original multicolor paint and vibrant feathered headdress. ...

This exquisite miniature marquetry blanket chest represents a significant example of early 20th century Pennsylvania folk art. Crafted in 1910 by Flora Boyer, the piece showcases met...

An Eastern European Kethubah Strikingly Decorated in Papercut Form, and with the Central Traditional Hebrew Text of a Most Uncommon Petite Appearance. Uni...

This early 20th century ‘Wayang topeng’ mask was used in Javanese masked dance performances. This mask features a black and green polychrome finish on its ...