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1940s Paintings

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Style: Art Deco
Period: 1940s
"Running Bunny Rabbit, " Charming Book Illustration from the 1930s-1940s
By Gustaf Tenggren
Located in Philadelphia, PA
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.
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Adam in Eden, " Monumental Depiction of Paradise in Wartime
By Wilfred Peter Glud
Located in Philadelphia, PA
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 ...
Category

Danish Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Redhead, " Striking 1940s Portrait of Young Man by John Menihan
By John C. Menihan
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This portrait of a young man with vivid red hair, blue eyes and a ruddy complexion was painted by John C. Menihan, one of the most renowned portraitists and watercolorists of his day...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

"Dance Around Crystal Mountain, " Remarkable Art Deco Painting with Nudes, 1945
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Perhaps the most remarkable of all the crystal paintings made by Milton Bond in the 1940s, this depiction of beautiful nude figures, male and female, forming a symmetrical circle aro...
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American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Reaching for the Stars, " Rare, Stunning Male Nude by Alexander Cañedo
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Author of "How Cañedo Draws the Figure" and one of the acknowledged masters of the nude in the Art Deco and Mid-Century periods, Alexander Cañedo pain...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

"Walking the Cows" Important Social Realist Painting by Sternberg, 1944
By Charlotte Joan Sternberg
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A cross between Grant Wood and Paul Cadmus, this remarkable American regional scene painting depicts a young man in a white t-shirt walking a group of cows down a country lane with p...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Utopian Motif, " Lovely Art Deco Painting with Frieze of Agrarian Labors, 1946
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Lovely and ethereal, reminiscent of the pale, ideal compositions of Puvis de Chavannes in France and America, this utopian vista depicts a series of figures gathering fruit and grain, all in formal classical poses like an ancient, early Renaissance painting...
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American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

"New Mexico Scene, " Large and Rare Landscape with Adobe Church
Located in Philadelphia, PA
In 1943, when the Second World War still raged a continent away, Eleanor Reed painted this beautiful and haunting view of the New Mexico landscape, featuring a rosy-toned adobe churc...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Music, " High Accomplished Painting with Multiple Nudes by Conner, 1946
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This detailed and highly-finished study by John Ramsey Conner for an allegorical painting depicts a relaxed grouping of nude figures executed in pale tones of ivory, mossy green and ...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Rearing Horses, " High Style Pair of Art Deco, Mixed-Media Pieces by Von Liski
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This extraordinary pair of Art Deco pieces, each depicting a pair of horses, one with its head up and one down, was executed in ink, colored pencil and gouache by Robert Reinhardt Von Liski, a Prussian-American artist. Von Liski worked in Chicago as a commercial artist in advertising agencies and elsewhere, and did work for RCA Victor and Arrow Shirts...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Gouache

"Snowy Egrets and Cypress, " Large Art Deco Painting by Harcombe
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Brilliantly capturing the exotic and beautiful landscape of the cypress swamps of South Florida, this painting of a pair of snowy egrets is a superb example of Art Deco scene painting. The turquoise hue of the water and the cerulean of the sky contrast with the smooth limbs of the cypress tree and the white and purple-greys of the birds. This painting was made by Renee Harcombe...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Canvas

"Negro Night Club, " 1945 Painting Depicting African American Social Life
By Adalie Margules Brent
Located in Philadelphia, PA
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 ...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

Fontanarosa French Art Deco Oil Painting of a Couple in a Boat
Located in New York, NY
French Art Deco oil on canvas painting of a couple in a boat by Lucien Joseph Fontanarosa, (Paris 1912-1989) . The canvas is laid down on a thin plywood pan...
Category

French Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Canvas

"Tropical Fish, " Brilliant Art Deco Undersea Painting, Hawaii, 1942
Located in Philadelphia, PA
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...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

"Hawaiiana, " Extraordinary Art Deco Cubist Surreal Painting after Pearl Harbor
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Saturated with the brilliant hues of earth and sea, and filled with symbols and signs of Hawaii's spectacular landscape and rich history -- including an angry Hawaiian king with his traditional feathered headdress or "mahiole" -- this watercolor was painted in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

"Kublai Khan, " Large Art Deco Painting Masterpiece with Male Nudes, 1943
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Inspired by "Kublai Khan," the famed Romantic poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and one of a series painted by Milton Bond dating from the 1940s and 1950s, this depiction of a nude youth...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

"Actaeon, " Large Art Deco-Mid Century Painting by Hollywood Figure
Located in Philadelphia, PA
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...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

S. W. Brooks, Pastel Portrait, Miami Beach, 1947
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
S. W. Brooks, pastel portrait on cardboard, Miami Beach, 1947 Dimension: 68 x 82 cm Without frame: 44 x 60 cm.
Category

North American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

"Pan Playing His Pipes, " Charming Mural Sketch for Liberty Music Shop, NYC
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Full of verdant greens and suffused with a lovely quiet spirit, this depiction of Pan resting against a tree and playing his pipes was a perfect image for the famous Liberty Music Shop in New York. This sketch for a mural at the Shop was painted by Donald Forbes, who worked for the Federal Art Project in the 1930s where he would have learned from the work of other muralists supported by federal programs. Liberty Music Shop was famous for its collection of sophisticated jazz recordings from around the world; in the 1930s it created its own label, producing a series of records for Lee Wiley, Beatrice Lillie, Mabel Mercer, Ethel Merman...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

"Home Front Fox Hole, " Vivid Depiction of American Life During World War II
By Joseph E. Bolden
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Pulsating with life and color, this depiction of a crowded mom-and-pop store in wartime America, filled with a sailor in full regalia, homemakers and children, grandmothers and worki...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Pierre Lardin French Mid-Century Painted Wall Mirror
Located in New York, NY
French mid-century (1940s) oak framed horizontal wall mirror with reverse glass painted Neoclassic scenes. (attributed to Pierre Lardin).  
Category

French Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Oak, Mirror

"Architecture & Construction, " Allegorical Mural Study for Rhode Island Capitol
By Robert Charles Haun
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A superb example of allegorical mural painting, this circular study depicting a female figure in Grecian robes overlooking a child with a plumb line, surrounded by scenes of construc...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

"500 LB Lady, " Colorful and Charming WPA-Era Carnival Scene by Lincoln
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Full of energy and vivid color, this atmospheric and charming scene of a small-town carnival, complete with a barker, boys with balloons, a blue tent in the foreground and a sign announcing the "500 LB Lady," was painted by E. Wilder Lincoln in the 1930s or 40s. Painters and sculptors were fascinated with circuses and carnivals...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

"Headlock, " Art Deco Painting with Wrestling Theme by Littlefield, 1941
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Fascinated with high-energy scenes of men engaged in sporting activities, most often boxing but in this case wrestling, William Littlefield painted this pair of wrestlers in 1941, using black gouache highlighted with white on green paper. Although fairly obscure now, during his heyday Littlefield's paintings and drawings were collected by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Mrs. Paul Mellon and Victor Mature, among others, and he painted a large and important portrait of Lincoln Kirstein...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Gouache

"Two Female Nudes, " Mid-Century Masterpiece by Alexander Cañedo
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Author of "How Cañedo Draws the Figure" and one of the acknowledged masters of the nude in the Art Deco and Mid-Century periods, Alexander Cañedo painted this remarkable scene of two female...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

"African Youth with Gourds and Flowers, " English Art Deco Painting, 1946
By Stuart Maxwell Armfield
Located in Philadelphia, PA
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...
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Great Britain (UK) Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Laundry Day, " Brilliant Ptg. of Rural North Carolina Life During World War II
Located in Philadelphia, PA
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...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

"Nude in Tropical Garden, " Brilliantly-Hued Art Deco Painting by Cenci, 1949
By Gustavo Cenci
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Perfumed with the heady colors and forms of tropical flowers such poppy and hibiscus, this arresting Art Deco watercolor was painted by Gustavo Cenci, best known for his part in pain...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

"Fresh New World, " 1944 Masterpiece Depicting Early Suburban Life in America
By Allan Dudley Jones
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A true masterpiece of genre painting, with its depiction of idyllic World War II-era suburban life filled with children playing and adults attending to their homes and chores, this piece was created by Allan Jones in 1944. It is a stunningly beautiful spring day, and the view is looking through an open window with a blackbird sitting on the sill, into the backyards of a half dozen tidy brick and wood houses. The homeowners are attending to their Victory Gardens...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Tempera

"The Sculptor at Rest" Painting by Maurice Glickman
Located in Asbury Park, NJ
An oil on canvas self-portrait by Maurice Glickman– depicting the artist in a seated position, wielding his sculptor's tools. It is titled and signed ...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

"Nude and Unicorn, " Brilliant and Important Art Deco Painting by Matulka, 1944
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This brilliant example of Art Deco painting by Jan Matulka shows hints of the modern take on Cubism that the artist worked out with Stuart Davis. Matulka was born in Prague and came ...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Ink, Paper, Gouache

"Grecian Nude and Broken Column, " Art Deco/Surrealist Painting by Matulka
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This brilliant Surrealist composition, with the stylization and exaggerated plant forms of Art Deco, was painted by Jan Matulka in 1944. Both Surrealism and "Moderne" decorative arts thrived in the 1940s, and here the artist draws from both styles. Matulka was born in Prague and came to America as a young man, and trained here and in Paris, where he became exposed to Cubism. He exhibited in New York, created illustrations for New Masses which advanced the interest of American workers...
Category

American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Ink, Paper

Oil Painting on Canvas by Radi of a Navy from the 1940s
Located in Milano, MI
Painting of a marina, made in oil on canvas by Radi in the 1940s Ø cm 36 h cm 30
Category

Italian Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings

Materials

Canvas

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