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Period: 1940s
Austrian Socialism Realism Graphic Penting
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Socialist realism painting buy R. Kovach .
Graphic painting and walnut original frame .Panting shipping continental USA in home delivery $285 2-4 weeks .
if shipping UPS 5-10 days s...
Category
Austrian Bauhaus Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Wood
Painting from the 1940s, Red, Blue and Yellow Color, New Frame, Mid-Century Art
Located in New York, NY
Decorative painting from the 1940s. Red, blue and yellow. Children playing on a bicycle.
Framed in a beautiful gold frame with a linen liner.
Category
American Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
"Calla Lily and Purple Hills", Social Realist Painting of Oklahoma Landscape
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A striking and richly-hued example of American Scene painting, this depiction of a yellow calla lily framed by undulating hills in tones of purple and red was painted by Richard Taflinger. The artist's celebration of his native Oklahoma landscape...
Category
American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
$4,400 Sale Price
20% Off
"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
"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
1940s Expressionist French Oil Painting in a Biedermeier Walnut Frame
Located in Berlin, DE
Step into the rustic charm of a bygone era with this captivating 1940s Expressionist French oil painting. Skillfully depicting a vibrant farmer's market scene, the canvas comes alive...
Category
French Expressionist Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Walnut
"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
Kurt Thorsén, Sweden, Oil on Canvas, Self Portrait of the Artist, Dated 1943
Located in København, Copenhagen
Kurt Thorsén, Sweden. Oil on canvas. Self-portrait of the artist. Dated 1943.
The canvas measures: 93 x 52 cm.
The frame measures: 6 cm.
In excellent condition.
Signed and dated.
Category
Swedish Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas
Mid-Century Robert Broner Oil Painting with with 3 Figures
By Robert Broner
Located in New York, NY
1948 3 figure oil painting by the artist Robert Broner (1922-2010). Broner has pieces in the collections of the MOMA, Guggenheim, Metropolitian Musuem of...
Category
American Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Wood
Mid-century Hawaiian Two Lilies Oil Painting on Paper signed E. Wolf, Framed
Located in Van Nuys, CA
This Post-War Hawaiian oil painting on paper, titled "Two Lilies," is a beautiful piece signed by the artist E. Wolf. The artwork captures the vib...
Category
American Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Wood, Paper
$288 Sale Price
44% Off
Painted Backdrop with Ballet Theme for Residential Theatre
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Charming and beautifully painted, this painted backdrop for theatre, perhaps for a residential space or a small professional theatre, depicts several ...
Category
American Vintage 1940s Paintings
Rollin Crampton Early Abstract Expressionist Oil on Board
By Rollin Crampton 1
Located in Sharon, CT
An early "over-all painting". Oil and graphite on 'beaver board'. This painting is illustrated in "The Art of the Artist" Arthur Zaidenberg, Crown Publishers NY 1951. Signed on back....
Category
American Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
"Legacy, " Original Painting by Ivan Bartlett, Mid-Century Fabric Designer
Located in Philadelphia, PA
In his early years, artist Ivan Bartlett was known for his WPA mural painting, such as for the Ada County courthouse in Boise, Idaho, but in the 1940s and 1950s he became famous for ...
Category
American Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Gouache
"Justice Triumphant", Mural Study for Queens, Ny Courthouse, circa 1941-1942
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A striking example of WPA mural art, this study for one of the murals proposed for the new Queens Supreme Courthouse -- a 1930s Works Progress Administration project in Queens, New York -- was painted by Eugene Savage. Like many paintings from the period, the study is teeming with allegory and symbolism, surmounted at the top by the figure of Justice with a long sword, spurning businesspeople at her feet who offer gifts and favors. Savage is best known for a spectacular set of murals illustrating the history and lore of Hawaii commissioned by Matson Shipping Line for the S.S. Lurline, executed in the 1940s but not installed until the 1950s. The artist also painted other series of murals and paintings, include an enormous mural...
Category
American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
$6,000 Sale Price
20% Off
Edvin Ollers, Oil on Panel, “Garden Motif" , Signed and Dated 1943
Located in Matosinhos, 13
Edvin Ollers – Oil on Panel, “Garden Motif,” Signed and Dated 1943
A beautiful and atmospheric oil on panel painting by renowned Swedish artist and designer Edvin Ollers (1888–1959)...
Category
Swedish Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas
Restored Post-War Hawaiian Bird and Botanical Airbrush Painting, Framed
Located in Van Nuys, CA
Billy Seay Airbrushed Parrot Lovers artwork (original airbrushed over a print) for the Turner Company, circa 1948, in the original white painted frame. This a great example of the post-WWII Hawaiian and tropical art/decorating boom. Great for vintage Art Deco dwellings and rattan-inspired rooms. The print is new old stock and has never been displayed until now.
Bill Seay (1922-2012) started his working life as Billy Seay, a child actor, in the late silents and early talkies (“Kid Millions” with Eddie Cantor, “Topaze” with John Barrymore, and “The Unknown” with Lon Chaney and the young Joan Crawford, are the most noted of these films), then followed in his father’s footsteps as an artist, joining the designer Sacha Brastoff in his studio from 1952 to 1959, remaining a life-long friend and co...
Category
American Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paper
$687 Sale Price
44% Off
French 1940s Gouache on Paper
Located in Los Angeles, CA
French 1940s gouache on paper. Custom framed with sandblasted oak frame with acid free paper and UV glass.
Category
French Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paper
Pfoutz Original Farm Scene Oil Painting
Located in Annville, PA
A very interesting and unusual Pfoutz Original Farm Scene Oil Painting by artist J. Earle Pfoutz. The painting is produced on artist and comes complete with what appears to be an original artist decorated/painted frame. The Pfoutz Original Farm Scene Oil Painting is signed on the front by the artist and appears to be dated 1948 on the rear. Known for his unusual subjects Pfoutz outdid himself with this effort, capturing the essence of a Lancaster County farm but with the startling twist of portraying a large turkey vulture in the foreground. Definitely unique.
Overall frame Size approximately 33″ wide x 3″ deep x 26″ 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...
Category
American Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
Imported Art Deco Quilted Pheasants on Canvas in Walnut Frame
Located in Vancouver, British Columbia
Unique and large frame hand quilted pheasants that stand out in vivid hues. Imported artwork and sold by the heritage Woodwards Store in Canada. Excellent for use in study or bedroom...
Category
English Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas
$3,160 Sale Price
20% Off
1940s Landscape Painting
Located in New York, NY
Created in the 1940s, this painting has an air of nostalgia and foreboding. It depicts a house set against the backdrop of not-so-distant skyscrapers. The city fades into gray in con...
Category
Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Wood, Paint
$1,895
1940s WPA School Winter Scene Oil Painting by A. Stuz
Located in Miami, FL
1940s WPA School Winter Scene Oil Painting by A. Stuz
Offered for sale is a large 1940s WPA school oil painting on canvas of a playful wi...
Category
Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Linen, Wood, Paint
Midcentury Water Color from Axl Leskoschek, Original Frame, 1946, Austria
Located in Vienna, Austria
Axl Leskoschek, an Austrian artist was born on September 3rd 1889 in Graz, Austria. He died on February 12, 1976 in Vienna, Austria.
He began his studies with Law but in 1917 he had...
Category
Austrian Aesthetic Movement Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
$1,323 Sale Price
20% Off
Colette Gueden Signed Watercolor Painting, circa 1948-1949
Located in Encino, CA
Colette Gueden (1905-2000).
"Leaves and fruits."
Extremely rare signed watercolor on paper. Collette Gueden was a very famous and popular French artist and designer in the 1950s....
Category
French Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
Fredlin Tor Otto Sweden Oil Painting Animals Frog and Bird Forest Pond
Located in Munich, DE
A frog is sitting on a stone by a pond and is being observed by a small brownish black bird sitting on a tree stump looking down on the frog across the water.
According to Vollmer's dictionary of visual artists Tor Otto Fredlin...
Category
Swedish Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Wood, Oak
Black, Green, Red and Blue Hand-Painted Weather Chart from Belgium circa 1940's
Located in Houston, TX
Wonderful graphic roll up chart on wooden dowel rods. Hand-painted on black canvas with original hand-written weather log for the month of February in chalk. Gridded areas designated...
Category
Belgian Industrial Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Wood, Canvas
1940s Pastel Painting On Paper Of Asian Woman Signed Dorothy Dwin
Located in Tarrytown, NY
1940s Pastel Painting On Paper Of Asian Woman Signed Dorothy Dwin
Illustration
Wood Frame and glass
Colors: pink, blue, white
Category
Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paper
1940s Watercolor Painting On Paper Of Asian Woman Wearing Hat - Dorothy Dwin
Located in Tarrytown, NY
1940s Watercolor Painting On Paper Of Asian Woman Wearing Hat
Wearing a Nón Lá (traditional Vietnamese hat)
Signed Dorothy Dwin
Illustration
Category
Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paper
"Preparing the Meal" by Sam Uhrdin
Located in Wiscasset, ME
This oil on canvas is signed and date in the upper left and measures 38" x 45.25" including the frame.
Sam Uhrdin (Swedish School, 1886-1964).
Sam Uhr...
Category
Swedish Beaux Arts Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
French 1940s Gouache on Paper
Located in Los Angeles, CA
French 1940s gouache on paper. Custom framed with sandblasted oak frame with acid free paper and UV glass.
Category
French Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paper, Gouache, Pencil
A mid century modern oil painting by Åke Tügel, signed, 1949
Located in View Park, CA
“Big Sister Dance”: an oil on masonite painting by artist Åke Tügel (1925 - 2002), signed and dated, 1949. This stunning piece showcases extraordinary texture and boasts tones of bor...
Category
Swedish Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Wood, Masonite, Paint
"Samson and Delilah" in 1940s America, Art Deco Painting
By Joseph E. Bolden
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Brilliantly transposed from Biblical times to 1940s America, this vivid scene shows Samson and Delilah in a quintessentially domestic setting, complete with pink wallpaper...
Category
American Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Paper
"Heading Home", Important WPA 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
$9,200 Sale Price
20% Off
"Stoking the Engine", Painting for Coca Cola on "Uses of Coal" for 1949 Campaign
By Lyman Anderson
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Important both historically and artistically, this painting by Lyman Anderson of a railroad engineer feeding the engine with a fresh supply of coal was commissioned by the Coca Cola ...
Category
American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
$2,320 Sale Price
20% Off
Billy Seay Airbrush Cockatoo and Hibiscus Hawaiian Art for Turner
By Bill Seay
Located in Van Nuys, CA
Billy Seay airbrushed parrot lovers (original airbrushed over a print) for the Turner Company, circa 1948, in the original white painted frame. A great exam...
Category
North American Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paper
$917 Sale Price
36% Off
French 1940's Gouache on Paper
Located in Los Angeles, CA
French 40's Gouache on paper. Custom framed with sandblasted oak frame with acid free paper and UV glass.
Category
French Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paper
Ingvar Engdahl, Swedish artist. Oil on board. Interior with two people. 1948
Located in København, Copenhagen
Ingvar Engdahl, Swedish artist.
Oil on board.
Interior with two people in modernist style.
In very good condition. Would benefit from a clean.
Signed and dated '48.
Dimensions: 67.0 ...
Category
Swedish Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Other
Paul Wightman Williams, Midcentury Abstract Mixed Media on Paper, 1944
Located in Norwalk, CT
Paul Wightman Williams, American (20th century).
This diminutive mixed-media watercolor, pastel, and ink on paper depicts a haunting abstracted face. It is float-mounted in a faux-g...
Category
American Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paper
"The Fields, " Magical View of Moroccan Landscape with Male Nude by Jacques Azéma
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Suffused with the soft, rich colors that Jacques Azéma was known for, this view of a Moroccan landscape ("Les Champs" in French) includes a seated male y...
Category
Moroccan Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
Postwar Hawaiian Airbrush Tropical Hibiscus Floral in White Wood Frame, Signed
Located in Van Nuys, CA
Postwar Hawaiian airbrush tropical hibiscus floral on paper in original period white wood frame.
Signed by artist Hammis
Measures: Art 26" x 36"
...
Category
American Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paper
$553 Sale Price
36% Off
Lancaster Bridge Original Oil Painting
Located in Annville, PA
A very interesting and unusual Lancaster 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.
Overall frame Size approximately 42″ wide x 2″ deep x 30″ 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...
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American Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
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"Family w/ Rocking Horse, " Ptg. by WPA Artist De Forest Stull
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Dated 1945, just before the end of World War II, this important and powerful painting by John De Forest Stull shows an embracing mother and father stand...
Category
American Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas
Gotsch Friedrich Karl '1900-1984' Painting, Still Life 1945
Located in Handewitt, DE
Friedrich Karl GOTSCH (1900-1984), very well-known and renowned german painter of the golden era of expressionism, impressionism and „Neue Sachlichkeit“.
Friend of many world-famous artists of the time. His extraordinary works can be found in many exhibitions and collections around the world.
-
Oil / Gouache on cardboard from 1945. New professional framed.
Monogrammed „F...
Category
German Expressionist Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
Richard Albitz (German, b. 1876 - d. 1954) "Snowy Creek" painting.
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Snowy Creek, creek with snow and trees
- signed lower right
- Unframed.
Category
Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas
Still Life Oil Paintings Set "Asparagus & eggs" and "Melon" by Alexandre Denonne
Located in AMSTERDAM, NH
Very captivating set of two early 20th C still life paintings by Alexandre 'Alex' Denonne (Belgium, 1879-1953): still life "Asparagus and eggs" and still life "Melon".
Oil on canvas...
Category
Belgian Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas
Hans Ekegardh, Swedish Artist, Oil on Canvas, Seated Nude Model
Located in København, Copenhagen
Hans Ekegardh (b. 1881, d.1962), Swedish artist. Oil on canvas. Seated nude model, landscape in the background. 1940s.
In very good condition.
Signed.
...
Category
Swedish Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Other
1940s Signed Oil Painting of 2 Workers Sawing
Located in Tarrytown, NY
1940s oil on canvas of 2 workers sawing. Signed.
Category
Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
Sven Rybin, Swedish Artist, Oil on Board, Modernist Landscape
Located in København, Copenhagen
Sven Rybin (1914 - 2012), Swedish artist.
Oil on board.
Modernist landscape. Dated 1949.
The board measures: 37 x 28 cm.
The frame measures: 6.5 cm.
In excellent condition.
S...
Category
Swedish Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Other
Post War Hawaiian Airbrush Zebra in Original Frame w/ large Mat, Pair
Located in Van Nuys, CA
Original Post-War Hawaiian Airbrush zebra in original period white painted wood frame with large mat border, Pair.
Art: 21" X 26"
Frame: 25.25" X 28.25"
Category
American Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paper
$1,581 Sale Price / set
36% Off
1947 Crest Painting
Located in Tarrytown, NY
Painting of crest on paper dated 1947.
Category
Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
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Located in Philadelphia, PA
Striking and handsome, this depiction of a Bedouin in his traditional robe has the color and intensity one would associate with the fierce sun and heat of North Africa. The painting ...
Category
American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
"Whiskey Sours, " Cubist-Art Deco Painting with Bottle and Jigger
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Taking its cues from the broken planes and tilted objects of Cubist masters such as Braque and Gris, as well as the polished art of the Art Deco movement, this brilliant painting sho...
Category
French Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
Signed WPA Style Harborscape Oil On Canvas
By Bolus
Located in Chicago, IL
Colorful impressionistic oil on canvas painting of fishing boats in a harbor. Greens, blues and reds comprise the majority of the color pallet. Nicely framed and signed Bolus. 33" x ...
Category
American Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Wood, Canvas
Paul Meltsner, Portrait of a Youth, American Modernist Realism O/C, c. 1940
Located in New York, NY
American Art Deco
Modernist Social Realism
Paul Raphael Meltsner
Portrait of a Youth
Oil on canvas
Circa 1940
DIMENSIONS
CANVAS: 26 x 20 inches
FRAMED: 30 .5 x 24.5 inches
DETAIL...
Category
American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas
Airbrushed Daffodil Flowers with Bow Mid Century Art Signed by Terone
Located in Van Nuys, CA
Original artwork Pink Daffodil Hawaiian Flowers with a bow (original airbrushed over a print) signed by Terone. In hardwood frame with carved details. A great example of the post-WWII Hawaiian and tropical art...
Category
Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint, Paper
$156 Sale Price
44% Off
Marjorie Bishop "New York Sunset" Painting with Sand on Canvas 1940s 'Signed'
Located in New York, NY
Mixed-media painting with sand on canvas titled "New York Sunset" by Marjorie Bishop, American, 1940s (signed on front, title on sticker on back). This...
Category
American Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Wood, Paint
Franch Art Deco painting swimming pool Vue de ma table 1940
Located in Antwerp, BE
Art Deco painting swimming pool Vue de ma table.
France ca. 1940.
Acrylic paint, watercolor on board. Framed.
Monogrammed.
Category
French Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Vintage Original Signed Watercolor Painting Titled “ Hampton Court “
Located in Seattle, WA
This beautiful watercolor on paper Shows a viewpoint of buildings through an archway. Signed, dated, and titled in the lower corner. Professionally framed and matted. Vintage Conditi...
Category
Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Wood
"Lying on the Sand, " WPA-Era Atmospheric Beach Scene with Male & Female Bathers
Located in Philadelphia, PA
In an era when Reginald Marsh, Paul Cadmus and many other painters loved to capture the joy and energy of crowded beach scenes in America, John Winters created this lovely genre scene of a male bather in his one-piece swim suit reposing on the sand (probably the Lincoln Park beach in Chicago...
Category
American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
$2,360 Sale Price
20% Off
Painting "Winter landscape", Scandinavia, 1940s.
Located in Chorzów, PL
The picture is painted with oil paints on canvas.
Dimensions:
Frame: height 82 cm / width 109 cm
Image: height 71 cm / width 96 cm
Category
Scandinavian Other Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Canvas
$330 Sale Price
20% Off
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Located in Philadelphia, PA
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Category
American Art Deco Vintage 1940s Paintings
Materials
Paint
$7,840 Sale Price
20% Off
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