Mid-20th Century Paintings

Bold, high-energy and striking, this Art Deco mural depicts a battle in 19th century America, with an Indian chief on horseback in full battl...

19th century Spanish oil on wood painting in bullfighter style. Dimensions with frame: 30.5 x 25 x 2cm.

Vintage wall decoration made in the 60s This is a vintage painting drawn with Jan and I can't read the rest very well. It is made on li...

Mid Century Framed Oil On Board, Still Life English School, Signed Cyril Knight 1960 In good condition commensurate with age. Remains vibrant in colour. Showing minor expected sign...

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...

Lennart Lilja Oil on canvas Dimensions 74/64 Framed work Lennart Lilja (1924-2008). He was a Swedish artist. Student of Isaac Gründewald and Otte Sköld. In the 1950s he wrote plays ...

Mid Century signed Abstract Still Life titled "Spring Flowers" by Richard C. West Signed and dated 1965. Nice impasto style technique. Tones of Olive green, yellow, gray and light bl...

A fabulous modern abstract by wonderfully talented Arnold Weber (1931-2010). Tremendous mood, energy and range of color. This Killer piece succinctly captures the feeling of the mid-...

A surrealist scene by listed French artist Jean Pierre Clement depicting the moments before the crucifixion of a holy figure, possibly Jesus Christ...

Watercolor and ink depicting a colorful floral bouquet in a vase on a striped table top surface. The flowers probably on a veranda or terrace overlook the blue tonal waters of the ba...

Oil on panel, signed with initials and dated 55' lower right. Additional identifying label on reverse. Nikolai Timkov is one of the best known Russian impressionists in the world. H...

Torsten Hult, a listed Swedish artist. Oil on board. Painting in abstract style. Titled "Höstlöv" (Autumn Leaves). Approximately from the 1960s. Signed Hult. In excellent condition. ...

Dimitri Romanovski was an early modernist and this early oil on canvas rendering of a botanical specimen single blooming white tea rose is characteristic of his botanical paintings. ...

This oil on canvas is a marvellous portrait of a working man with cane and hat, looking down with a contemplative look, perhaps exhausted from a long days work. The broad yet delica...

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

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...

French Art Deco mixed-media painting on panel by Vanvinckenray (School: Beaux-Arts of Brussels). Provenance: Daughter of the artist.

This is a traditional subject for the well known transgender French artist Michel Marie Poulain. She was influenced by many important modern artis...

Still life of flowers. Oil on canvas. GARCÍA-OCHOA IBÁÑEZ, Luis (San Sebastián, 1920-Madrid, 2019). 1949. Signed and dated towards the lower left corner. Label on the back. Still life that shows a round table covered...

Colorful and impressionist depiction of a woman with hat and scarf. A friend of the artist in Paris. Unframed.

Pulp Fiction Art "Before the Races" by Victor Olson. A beautiful Grace Kelly like female holds a parasol in her hand waiting for the horse races to begin. Elegant sophisticated impas...

Ronald Searle painting for 'Modern Types' book cover Medium: Watercolor and Ink Size Without Frame: 13" high x 10" wide With Frame: 28" high x 21" wide Ronald Se...

1756 Large oil painting of an American farmer with his dog and two horses Framed and signed

Painted in vivid, glowing colors by Robin Artine Smith, this depiction of a 1940-era blonde in a tangerine-hued swimsuit striding into the surf is a...

Watercolor & ink on paper depicting a landscape with bright yellow and orange sunflowers in the foreground, a large structure over-looking the blue waters and rolling hills off in th...

Emile Jean Patoux (1893-1985), listed Belgian artist. Watercolor and gouache on paper. Floral motif. Mid-20th century. The paper measures: 65 x 61 cm. The frame measures: 4.5 cm....

Hardy Strid, 1950s Color lithography Number 58/84 This work is signed by the artist and has an individual number Sheet dimensions 70/50 Unframed work Hard...

An American painter, born in Newport, RI, Edith Bozyan was awarded a scholarship to the Art Association in 1917, continued her life as a teacher and antiques dealer. This is an abstr...

"Fleurs" by Charles Levier Original oil on canvas painting displayed in a polished aluminum frame. Signed in lower right and on reverse

Watercolor and ink depicting a winter street scene with colorful figures walking both on the sidewalk and in the street along-side the canal. The canal is lined by barren trees that ...

Expressive oil painting on wood panel French by La Martiniere in 1952. The painting depicts fisherman and three small fishing boats laying on the shore. It is painted in large brush strokes full of texture to express the moment. The frame is original. The painting without frame...

Drenched with sun and full of optimism, this depiction of a shirtless farm worker, with scythe in hand, is a high-spirited paean to the American laborer, at a time when the Works Progress Administration and other institutions were commissioning murals that celebrated industry, agriculture and commerce. Here, the worker is lean and strong, and his face shows signs of sunburn from his hours in the open. The painter was Allyn Cox, son of the famous muralist Kenyon Cox...

Attributed to Flora Crockett (American, 1892-1979), Untitled Abstraction. Flora Crockett is a newly discovered American abstractionist whose career spanned the middle decades of th...

Watercolor depicting a hazy coastal scene with grey vessels to the left and a white structure to the far right. Set against a cloudy grey sky. Presented in...

A framed watercolor and gouache on paper depicting sliced watermelon on a color block background, signed Tamayo and dated 1945 as shown. The work was in keeping with the style of Rufino Tamayo and it retains a paper label from Salon de la Plastica Mexicana, listing the detail info. SPM was formed in 1949 to promote contemporary Mexican artists...

We are so proud to offer this original work of art by legendary Palm Springs artist O. E. L. Graves. We discovered his work when we first purchased a second home here in 1997. His work was very difficult to come across, but stories about Mr. Graves were legendary, and the first art we saw of his were his extraordinary and very collectible cover art for vintage mid century Palm Springs villager magazines which we found at some thrift stores! We have since collected 8 original paintings. This is the Rolls-Royce of the collection. His artwork is now collected by a new generation of the Palm Springs younger rich and famous entertainment industry that have brought new life to the town with Coachella Music Festival and the endearing architecture Palm Springs is famous for! We purchased an amazing coffee table book by French photographer Robert Doisneau called “Palm Springs 1960” Mr Graves himself and his artwork is featured in wonderful 1960s vintage photographs. This spurred on more collectors looking for his paintings. This large painting was definitely owned by a Palm Springs/Beverly Hills client. His work was even sought out by Rockefeller that wanted to buy a painting of Mr. Graves that he refused to sell! The paintings were very expensive. Just the original painting’s framing alone shows how chic and special it was. The subject is a bird in its cage with a clock in the corner, In shades of silver, green, black and gold. There is a name on the painting, along side Mr. Graves signature we believe to be the title of the painting, “Orsi” It is such an extraordinary painting! Please check out the pictures to see the amazing color and details of this work. O. E. L. Graves (1897 - 1971) Graves was an American artist and painter/sculptor based in Palm Springs, California during Hollywood's golden years. His client list included many of the rich and famous of his era, from movie stars (Clark Gable, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Janet Gaynor) to business magnates (Raymond Loewys, George R. Hearst Sr.) to shady criminal kingpins. His own personal life was just as full of high intrigue and secrecy as the famous clients he cultivated. As a result, his need to maintain a relatively low profile in his private life has relegated him to near obscurity in death as an artist. Graves experimented constantly with new media and techniques for expressing his art. His works include delicate watercolors, fine detailed portraits, impressionistic oils, sculptures in metal, and some techniques of his own invention. Graves claims to have invented "sculpted oil painting", where multiple layers of thick oil paint are placed on masonite and then cut away to create the image. His sculpted oil paintings were displayed in some of the trendiest galleries and art museums, including the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, which purchased some of his sculpted paintings after they had been shown there. Winthrop Rockefeller...

Pretty octagonal painting, oil on hardboard representing a dove on a branch. Very romantic and delicate. Octagonal frame in gilded wood. Hook on the...

Eric Julius (1920-1995), a listed Swedish artist. Oil on board. Modernist landscape. Dated 1969. The board measures: 26.5 x 17 cm. The frame measures: 2.5 cm. In excellent conditi...

ANTONIO FRANCIONE (1907 -1987 - Italy) - 'Pompeii' - Fine quality frieze style painting - watercolor and gouache over graphite on paper - extraordinary quality and composition - sign...

A fantastic original oil on canvas by Naohiko Inukai. This is number forty in a series of colored scapes he created in the mid 1960's and is in excellent condition. This work is signed and dated on the reverse It's color changes subtly with the lighting, when properly lit it casts a beautiful warm orange tone throughout the room. Born in 1937 in Kurashiki-city Okayama,Japan. He came to the US around 1960 and returned to Japan around 1982 were he still resides. Education:Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture New York...

Oil on canvas depicting a bouquet in a white vase on a blue covered table near the open window. The open window revealing bright light and a scrolled railing. Presented in a gilt car...

Oil on canvas depicting a sun-drenched red-roofed hill top church structure with a road in the foreground. The road flanked by stones and rocks, wheat sheaves and gold grasses. Prese...

Keep a view of Paris in your home with this oil on canvas painting by French painter, Lucien Delarue (circa 1970). Set inside a carved gilt frame, this detailed, architectural painti...

Original Watercolor Ski Poster "Pontresina" by Herbert Leupin (Swiss: 1916 - 1999), a watercolor and gouache painting original for one of Leupin's celeb...

[Authentic Artwork] ◆ Tadashi Mamiya ◆ Waterfall ◆ Japanese Painting ◆ Saitama Prefecture ◆ Hand-Painted ◆ Silk ◆ Hanging Scroll Discover the serene beauty of Tadashi Mamiya's "Wate...

Painting ‘Untitled (Århus I)’ by Ole Schwalbe, Denmark, 1963. Oil on canvas. Signed.

Although she is famous for her genre scenes such as "Bleeker Street Fire Hydrant" and "New Year's Eve in Greenwich Village," Kyra Markham began her career...

A fantastic vintage MCM original oil portrait on canvas. A beautiful composition of a handsome man. Signed by the artist. Acquired from a Palm Beach estate.

After an intense day of casting and welding mid-century artist Harry Bertoia (American, born Italian. 1915-1978) would unwind by creating one-of-a-kind prints, laying rice paper on a...

Watercolor and ink depicting two women to the right with soulful expressions and shaded blue poignant eyes. Other figures in the background beneath a striped canopy. Signed lower lef...

Charming pair of oil paintings on canvas of a boy and a girl, one with a doll and one with watermelon. Executed in a naive style once seen hard to forget. Signed Manuel Velazquez and...

One of the most important embellishments to the White House during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration was the gift of an important grand piano by the Steinway company, embellished with painted scenes by Dunbar Beck. Beck is best known for his WPA work...

Watercolor and ink depicting two figures flanking moored sailboats on the sandy beach, one sailboat anchored near the shore, pastel town structures with red tiled roofs bask in the s...

Nice vintage amateur painting, portrait of a Congolese woman, probably acrylic on canvas, signed T. Kamurna at the bottom right, marked on the back and...

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...

Knud Holar (b. 1934), Sweden. Oil on canvas. Abstract composition. 1960s. The canvas measures: 54.5 x 29.5 cm. The frame measures: 1.5 cm. In excellent c...

Original MCM Pen and ink architectural study for a Palm Springs Residence (unbuilt). Framed and signed; J.H.Hahn, Reminiscent of the famed Dinah Shore hous...

Exceptional surreal original oil painting signed by Mario Grimaldi, framed in a gold metal. Subject is a woman on a horse with gradient from white to red.