1940s Paintings

Large American abstract modernist impressionist oil painting on masonite board in the great original artist hand painted sgraffito combed decorated wood frame by Zoute ( born Leon Sa...

Boldly painted in vivid hues of red, deep pink, yellow and shades of blue, this abstract painting is attributed to Gino Severini, Italy's leading Modernist painter, who executed work...

Vintage Watercolor of Nantucket Railroad, by Doris and Richard Beer, circa 1940, a watercolor on paper view of the Nantucket narrow gauge "Dummy...

A remarkable statement of hope and resilience, this vivid and colorful depiction of a nude Adam seated amidst a profusion of flora and fauna was painted in the midst of World War II ...

A brilliant painting executed in vivid colors, this view of an African male youth holding a basket of gourds and an enormous bouquet of calla lilies, day lilies and other tropical bl...

Original 1940s White/Pink Magnolia Watercolor Painting on Paper Signed by Shirrell Graves. The painting features its original white wood frame with a white mat. Shirrell Graves (188...

Painting of a Gypsy, Bohemian woman drawing the cards. Representation of a Cartomancer and Fortune Teller. Oil on canvas. Very well represented. fine and pleasant features. Delicate work. Signed lower right by M. Callewaert circa 1940 Maurice CALLEWAERT is a Belgian artist born in Belgium in 1900 and died in France in Paris in 1986. Belgian painter from West Flanders...

Gouache on paper fashion sketch by Ginette Roger, in new custom gilt frame. France, 1940's

Mario Carreño "Serenade" Oil Painting on Canvas, Cuba 1941, Signed Offered for sale is an important oil on canvas painting by Cuban artist Mario Carreño (1913-1999) signed and date...

19th Century portrait of a woman painted in oil on canvas with the frame dated in 1940 Measurements with frame: 69 x 69 x 3 cm.

Like many of his contemporaries in the 1920s and 1930s, in both America and France, Buthaud was fascinated with figures from classic mythology. Leda and the Swan was a motif he retu...

Painted in the 1940s when Americans were traveling more widely and becoming deeply interested in "exotic" lands and cultures, this portrait of a handsome young man -- probably Mexica...

Large and arresting, this stylized depiction of the great hunter in Greek mythology, Actaeon, resting on a slab of marble with his bow and quiver of arrows, was painted by Leon Dusso...

Set of 4 -1940's Asian Hollywood Regency Period Artisan Hand Painted [on a gilt cork ground] .Flowers and Birds depicted. These are beautiful and the set is framed with gilt faux Bam...

Clearly showing the influence of modern dance, William Blake and early 19th century Classicism, Art Deco stylization and Surrealism, this remarkable, brilliantly hued painting by Mil...

5130 Antique oversized cubic city skyline framed oil painting Signed Boruszak Image size 19.5x23.5"

Impressionistic tempera painting of a still life with dog and flowers in a vintage giltwood frame by listed artist Marcel Vertes (1895-1961.)

Charming and lovely, this quiet depiction of two young lovers sitting under a tree in 1942, while World War II was being waged not far away, was painted by G. Lundgren in Sweden and is a close copy of "Amity" by Bernard Fleetwood Walker, owned by the Walker Art gallery in Liverpool, England. The original is well known and was painted in 1933. The young blond female figure is shown with a basket of apples at her side, in a pale blue dress...

Beautifully painted by Giovanni Colacicchi in rich, verdant colors, this depiction of a nude, youthful Adam figure in the midst of the Garden of Eden, accompanied by God in a hooded,...

1940's Surrealist oil painting on masonite board by Thelma Salter - deceased 1954 - North Rose, NY ( beloved wife of Leon Salter - aka Zoute ) mysterious female figures in landscape...

Fresh as a crisp fall day, this painting of a woman taking down laundry at the base of a hill dominated by her home above is a reassuring depiction of wholesome rural life in 1941, p...

Titled Cool Canopy - Buffalo artist James Koenig paintings reflected many phases of American painting styles including scenes from the WPA period, abstr...

Vintage portrait of a young boy wearing a striped red shirt with blue argyle sweater. Oil on canvas painting by artist Robert Rukavina (1914-1977), who lived in the United States and...

Very Nice, Old, Painting of Industrial Landscape Scene signed Duff, 1942 couple small repairs as seen on canvas back small "puncture" along the left side of the painting small "crea...

Important painting by Leonard Maurer (1912-1976), titled "Bridge #2", 1949. A great example of American 1940's modernism with clear influences of Jackso...

Titled 'Tangent' - Buffalo artist James Koenig paintings reflected many phases of American painting Styles including scenes from The WPA period, abstrac...

A wonderful painting by the noted New York artist, cartoonist and illustrator Stephen Ronay. It is signed lower right and dated 47. It is titled on the back “Psychopathic Ballet.” It...

Here is a stunning painting by Bay Area California modernist painter Richard Bowman (1918-2001). This work is from his highly-desired 1940's Rock and Su...

striking oil painting from the 40s of a forest scene in strong impasto strokes and bold colour tones. Simply framed of the period by well known Swedish artist Gunnar John, who studi...

A wonderful evocative painting of workers by the noted New York Artist Niberg Abbey (1920-1990). Likely painted in the 1940’s. The painting is in its original frame which the artist ...

Reminiscent of the work of Jared French in its material (tempera), its color palette and its approach to the male figure, this lovely depiction of two dancing angels, one in the fore...

An oil on board painting by Australian painter W. Hayward Veal (1913-1968), entitled Nocturne No. 4, depicting a night scene of a park and tree in the foreground with a man walking, ...

Exquisitely accomplished, this lovely male nude by Paul Goadby Stone is the earliest piece we have ever offered by the artist. Although it has the a...

Montague Dawson: ‘Six Metre Class boat by the Lymington Spit’, a watercolour showing a white hulled Six Metre yacht sailing away from a racing buoy, running downwind with reduced goo...

Oil painting by well listed artist Ernst Rasmussen(1912-1964) The painting is painted on canvas and dated "46". Store formerly known as ARTFUL DODGE...

Antique framed oil painting on canvas by Walthere Jamar (1866-1950) is a panoramic landscape that captures the glory of nature in all her splendor! Jamar has used varying brush techn...

Falcucci Robert (1900-1989). A large oil on board depicting a nude bathing female figure, circa 1940s, signed lower left Falcucci.

Large and dynamic, this 1947-vintage painting depicts a shirtless man handling a high-spirited Percheron horse that won a blue ribbon at the Indiana st...

Helga Kai-Larsen, Swedish artist. Oil on canvas. Still life with bowl and fruits. Modernist style. Signed and dated 1949. In excellent condition. Dimensions: W 39.5 cm x H 31.5 cm. O...

Clearly influenced by Raoul Dufy, Marie Laurencin and Hollywood set designs, this striking depiction of two nude female figures around a table with a bowl of fruit was painted in 194...

Striking in conception and execution, this half-portrait of a handsome, blue-eyed young man -- his back to a mirror and his arm folded over a chair -- was painted by Marion Huse, who...

"Ce qu'évoquent les Livres" Allegory of the Literature Oil on canvas Signed on the lower part beside parchment 111 x 133 x 2 cm Framed 125 x 146 x 7 cm Provenance: Collection Georges AUBRY, brother of the artist Bibliography: Illustrated in catalogue «Regards de peintre» , Suzanne AUBRY-CASANOVA, 1997, p.104 After trying years of forced confinement due to the war, he composed this allegorical fresco on the theme of Literature, Science and Arts was painted by Émile Aubry for his younger brother Georges Aubry, who had intended it for his library. This work, composed on the theme of the book it symbolizes, in its diversity by allegorical characters, he cannot help ordering the painting around Art, which he places at the top of the scale of human...

A brilliant and lively depiction of a crowded cafe scene in 1945, this painting by Adalie Margules Brent depicts a slice of Black America at the end of World War II, probably in New Orleans, complete with a waiter, fashionably dressed men and women and wafts of cigarette smoke...

Titled ‘Net Work’ buffalo artist James Koenig paintings reflected many phases of American painting styles including scenes from the WPA period, abstract...

This fresh and vibrant portrait of a young woman with glowing blond hair and a blue 1940s frock is one of the finest World War II vintage portraits we have ever offered. Her complex...

Original 1940s Pink Flamingo Watercolor Painting on Paper Signed by Shirrell Graves. The painting features its original white wood frame with a Mirrored border, this is the frame Gra...

A very interesting and unusual Lancaster Covered Bridge Original Oil Painting by artist J. Earle Pfoutz. The painting is produced on artist board and comes complete with what appears to be an original artist decorated/painted frame. The painting is signed on the front by the artist and is dated 1936 on the rear. Overall frame Size approximately 28″ wide x 2″ deep x 22″ high J. Earle Pfoutz had a long and distinguished career as a self trained artist. More can be learned about him from reading this article produced by Gary Hawbaker at askART Earle Pfoutz Born: 1891 – Lancaster, Pennsylvania Died: 1957 Known for: Landscape, figure, still life painting An image of J Earle Pfoutz Biography from the Archives of askART J. Earle Pfoutz (John Earle Pfoutz) – (Oct 23, 1891-Nov 9, 1957) “A seventh generation descendant of a Swiss family which arrived in America early in the 17th Century, J. Earle Pfoutz was born in Lancaster, PA, son of John Bachman and Susan Allison Pfoutz. He painted houses for a living and pictures for a life. A self-taught artist, described as a primitive, he was distinctive for his vivid imagination and bold color application. He painted hundreds of Lancaster County scenes. Pfoutz traveled through the hills near his home and along the Susquehanna River in search of scenes. He began painting with a brush when he was fourteen, but added a palette knife after suffering an eye injury. He completed eighth grade in the Lancaster Public Schools and there his formal education ended. However, the Department of Public Instruction of the State of Pennsylvania thought so highly of his work as an artist that officials certified him as an art instructor and he taught for a year in the York (PA) public schools. He also was an art instructor under the program for disabled veterans, sponsored by the Veterans Administration, when he gave private instruction to veterans in their homes. In 1947, J. Earle Pfoutz finally earned national recognition as an artist. His painting, Opalescent October, was chosen by the Museum of Art of Dayton Ohio, to travel all over the country for a year with its Group Exhibition. Described as a “very colorful, calm scene, iridescent in color, sweeping in design,” the painting started on its journey around the country early in 1948. In an interview with the Sunday News (Lancaster, PA – Nov 2, 1947), Pfoutz stated that he didn’t know whether he was a “primitive” or an “impressionist.” No master taught him, no school channeled his style. “Sometimes I didn’t eat, but I always managed to paint,” he recalled. Many of his hundreds of canvases -most of them not sold, but given away to friends – found their way to other parts of the country. “I never remember the day when I did not love color,” Pfoutz said. “I was about 12 years old when I saw my first palette – a string of different colored paint paddles that graced the stores of that day. As a boy I had two great desires. One was to be able to eat all the strawberry jam I could, and the other to possess a string of those beautiful paint paddles. Well, I’ve got my fill of jelly, but I’ve never yet got my fill of beautiful colors.” In 1950, Pfoutz’s one man show of paintings made front page headlines in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal: “Most of the twenty oil paintings on exhibition are landscapes, although there are several interesting figure studies. Colors again, as in all Pfoutziana are rich and full-bodied, but for the most part not as startlingly as in some of the earlier work. Most of the paintings were done during the past year, and also reveal the painter’s characteristic heavy impasto technique, in which the rich swirls of paint carry their own message. Among the figures, The Banjo Picker, and The Magician, are the most provocative. Both are character studies; the first being of a tramp musician whose drab clothing is set-off by a luminous aqua blue background. Modern in feeling and treatment is The Magician, a clown-faced wizard whose spinning ball in the air suggests the fourth dimension – space. The use of the primary colors in this picture serves to emphasize the theme effectively. A large colorful landscape, Opalescent October, depicting rolling hills against a late afternoon sky is new to Lancastrians, as it has just returned from Dayton, Ohio, where it hung in the Dayton Art Institute. Another landscape with soft dreamy colors is Fantasie D’Autumne, and one of the loveliest pictures in the show. Pennsylvania Dutch Country is another with eye appeal, and was one of the works which was hung in the Old Customs House in Philadelphia during Pennsylvania Week, and before that in a collection of Pfoutz work in the same place. In deep contrast to the sunny skies and brilliant foliage of many of the pictures, is the somewhat morbid Worry, in which the center of interest is a tremendous rat. This, the painter explains, was symbolic of 1948 in China, which was ‘The Year of The Rat’ in the Chinese calendar. Background material for the picture was furnished to Pfoutz by author Pearl Buck. Other pictures include Autumn Prelude, Miners Village, painted at Cornwall, PA; Humid Day, Saint Peters Kierch, at Middletown, PA; Lady Pfoutz, inspired by the painter’s wife; Sun Flowers, Sentimental Journey, Gyne, Luzon Woman, Old Bridge, The Cow Path. Lemures, based on Roman mythology, and Ethiopian, painted from an ebony wood carving from Kenya Province, S. Africa.” In 1953, Pfoutz was installed as President of the Lancaster County Art Association. A. Z. Kruse, New York City artist, writer and member of the faculty of the Brooklyn College and the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, Manhattan, was the guest speaker. In January of 1953, thirty-five Pfoutz oils were exhibited at the Old Custom House in Philadelphia, PA under the sponsorship of the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation. Several Lancaster County landscapes and covered bridges were included as well as Katy, a Pennsylvania Dutch scene. Symbolic paintings included End of the Second Day, the artist’s visualization of the second coming of Christ, and Twilight, typifying the grief of mothers of all lands for sons lost in battle. In June of 1953, a Pfoutz oil made history in Lancaster. From the Lancaster New Era: “For the first in local art history, a painting has been withdrawn from an exhibition because of objections from viewers and hostesses serving at the show. The painting, Jeune Fille, a standing nude done by Pfoutz, was one of the paintings in the annual spring exhibition of the Art Association and had become the center of the controversy. Pfoutz said he took the painting down… ‘graciously but reluctantly.’ ‘From an artistic standpoint, there is nothing offensive about the painting,’ Pfoutz said. ‘This community just wants its nudes with clothes on.’ “It is most brilliant in color, and because it is so brilliant I thought it would make a nice lively spot for the show. This is the first time I’ve had to take a picture off the walls. I substituted a seascape for it.’ Pfoutz said he felt the painting brought a lot of viewers to the show because it was so controversial. It had never been exhibited before. ‘If this had been shown in a metropolitan city,’ he commented, ‘people wouldn’t have given it a second glance. But the viewpoint here is more conservative, even though I don’t think moderns would have minded.’ He said he felt the painting was neither ‘objectionable nor pornographic,’ but had complied with the wishes of fellow members of the Art Association who telephoned him to relay the protests they had received. The art controversy was the first to arise here publicly since the showing of Amish Grandmother, an oil by William Gropper which was part of the Gimbel Pennsylvania exhibit at the Griest Building several years ago. — Numerous viewers of Amish Grandmother, [a painting showing an Amish woman holding a white goose], expressed themselves quite vocally, calling it an affront to the Plain Folk. But it stayed on exhibit throughout the length of the Gimbel show. Pfoutz expressed no rancor, implying that if Gropper could take it so could he.” After his death, there were several shows of Pfoutz’ work organized by his son J. Earle, Jr. J. Earle, Jr. also saw to it that President Eisenhower would receive an oil called The Cow’s Path. The president first saw the painting in 1950 when, as president of Columbia University, he visited Lancaster to address a student assembly at Franklin and Marshall College. After his address was over, the then Gen. Eisenhower stopped at the Fackenthal Library on the campus to view an exhibition of Pfoutz’s paintings. The Cow’s Path intrigued him. For some time, as his aides fumed to get him back on his time schedule, Eisenhower and Pfoutz talked, as artist to artist. Prior to his death, Pfoutz requested that The Cow’s Path be given to the President if he wanted it. The painting was presented to Ike at the White House in November of 1959. Mrs. Eisenhower owned a Pfoutz painting titled, In the Manor. Though house painting was his livelihood, he worked for Millersville State Teachers College (now a university) for a time during World War II, and called himself “the Chimney Sweep of MSTC.” During that period he knocked out a dizzying canvas in the surrealist style (he thought it was terrible) and got into the campus newspaper when one of the students spotted it. Earle Pfoutz was not the humble, downtrodden artist, not the Douanier Rousseau type at all. As he developed his skill and style through the years, he also fashioned a resilient confidence in himself as an artist. Whether he was building his own home (he built two) or painting one for somebody else, he never lost faith in his ultimate recognition—though he was never sure he would live to see it. Whether he was working as a rigger for a hoisting company, in the Stehli Silk Mill of Lancaster, carving Cloister-style chairs, decorating old chests, cementing bricks from the old Safe...

Absolutely winning and full of charm, this book illustration depicts a bunny rabbit running across the land, the hilly landscape rich with browns and greens, and the sky a perfect blue. Painted in gouache on illustration board, the Sphinx mark -- one of the brands of the Weber company -- is visible on the reverse. This would make a perfect addition to the walls of a children's room, or a collection of American illustration art.

This very large and energetic sketch, depicting several nude figures stepping forward through a circular opening, was painted by Raoul Pene du Bois, probably as a preparatory piece f...

VENICE oil painting, featuring the Doges Palacio, Italian School, circa 1940s in its original 1940s frame. Signed M. Coloman, 20th century.  

With a nicely carved pine frame. The canvas featuring a view of Chateau de Savinac in Bordeaux, France.

Outstanding 1940's oil on board painting in original custom shadowbox wood frame with distressed finish. The figural painting depicts an indigenous people...

Painted by Cuba's most important figural painter in the mid-20th century, this portrait by Victor Manuel depicts a young man with a bicycle cap and a white and red striped shirt, loo...

Maj Hemberg, Swedish artist. Oil on board. Abstract composition. Painted with thick brushstrokes. ”Bombning av Dresden” - ("Bombing of Dresden"). 1945-1952. Signed on the back. In ex...

Best known for his handsome, beautifully-crafted furniture designs, much in demand today, Tommi Parzinger also painted over the span of his career. His rare, early works -- such as t...

Fabulous landscape abstract by Martin Friedman. He has shown at the Whitney and other NYC Galleries. Dramatic use of deep blues indicative of the time period. Well balanced , very en...

The American public was fascinated with all things exotic in the 1930s and 1940s, including aquatic and seaside themes and Art Deco hotels and residential interiors often featured pa...

3288 Winter horse drawn carriage Oil on board Image size 19.5x 15.5"

Rare Mid-Century Modern signed 1949 cubist gouache painting of skyscrapers, rooftops and skyline of the City of New York including The Chrysler building by painter Theodore "Theo" Ha...

Original Post War Framed Paintings with red hibiscus, by Tip Freema Featuring a red floral Hibiscus against a light background in its original wood frame. Tip Freeman...