Name: "Self Portrait" Oil on Canvas by Earl Kerkam
Brand: Earl Kerkam
Rating: 5 (24 reviews)

"Self Portrait" Oil on Canvas by Earl Kerkam

View Similar Items

Preben Fjerderholt “Self-portrait in half figure”. Oil on canvas

Oil on Canvas Portrait #2 by Albert Radoczy

Vintage Oil Painting, Self Portrait by John Mackay

20th Century Oil on Canvas Self Portrait of Artist, Signed C. Hornung-Jensen

Kurt Thorsén, Sweden, Oil on Canvas, Self Portrait of the Artist, Dated 1943

Vintage Boho Oil Portrait on Canvas

American Portrait Oil on Canvas Painting

Vintage Boho Oil Portrait Painting on Canvas

Vintage Boho Original Oil Portrait on Canvas

Francois Kinson Family Portrait Oil on Canvas

French Oil on Canvas Portrait H. Descamps

About the Item

Oil on canvas board, original exhibition label from MOMA NY on the back, signed. “Kerkam was one of those extraordinary artists about whom we no longer know much and wish we knew more.” Jed Perl, New Art City: Manhattan at Mid-Century This painting was made in the late 1950s when Kerkam was at the height of his powers, working on a group of experimental self-portraits in a thickly-faceted fragmentary style. Kerkam was a romantic figure, a mentor of sorts to the younger artists of the post-war downtown scene in New York. Elaine de Kooning, in a 1951 art news article about Kerkam, called him “a character out of Damon Runyon’s Broadway sagas.” He led an ascetic’s lifestyle in a Spartan Downtown studio, sleeping on a cot and washing his clothes in a pot on the stove. It had not always been so. In the 1920s he was a successful commercial artist, making movie posters for Warner Bros. But he fled that life and moved with his wife and young son to Paris, which was still the epicenter of artistic ferment. The Abstract Expressionist Al Held described studying in Kerkam’s class in France: “Loved him absolutely incredible man. I used to follow him all-over Paris. He had made up his mind that the only way he could become a great artist was to be French, and he was going to change his citizenship. I remember following him all-over Paris trying to talk him out of it...” When Kerkam’s family became homesick and returned to the States, he remained for a while, developing his gestural figuration by looking at the Modernists, especially at Picasso’s early cubist experiments and he would return constantly to Cezanne as a kind of polestar. With the Depression, Kerkam came to New York where he seemed to be universally admired by the Abstract Expressionists at the Cedar Tavern—Pollock, Kline, and De Kooning—even though the artistic path Kerkam pursued was so divergent from their own. He was an artist’s artist, a character Melville might have invented—independent, resourceful and ultimately alone in his poetic hungers. “The work that Kerkam has left us is at once delicate and brusque, and the effect can be exceptionally moving,” writes Perl. “If de Kooning was the public poet of the city—all bare, tough, explosive movement—Kerkam reflected a quieter kind of yearning.”

Creator:
Earl Kerkam (Painter)
Dimensions:
Height: 25.5 in (64.77 cm)Width: 21.5 in (54.61 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Paint
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1950-1959
Date of Manufacture:
1958
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Dimensions listed include original frame.
Seller Location:
Wiscasset, ME
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1017611027873

More From This Seller

View All

"Rhythm of Wings" Oil on Panel by Grant Hacking

By Grant Hacking

Located in Wiscasset, ME

Oil on panel, signed lower left. New England artist Grant Hacking was born and raised in South Africa and resided there until the age of twenty-five so he still experiences great ...

Category

2010s American Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Rhythm of Wings" Oil on Panel by Grant Hacking

$1,800 Sale Price

37% Off

"Portrait of a Woman, Seated" by Joseph Solman

By Joseph Solman

Located in Wiscasset, ME

Oil on canvas, signed with initials center left. Measures 32" x 23.5" including the frame. Provenance: ACA Galleries, NYC Bradbury Art and Antiques, Wiscasset, Maine Brought to Am...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Portrait of a Woman, Seated" by Joseph Solman

$9,800

"Portrait of Catulle-Mendes" by Leonetto Capiello

Located in Wiscasset, ME

Charcoal and pastel on paper measuring 24.5" x 17.25" including frame. Signed lower right and with the stamp of the Leonetto Capiello, Paris workshop at the bottom left. Catulle-Me...

Category

Antique Early 1900s French Art Nouveau Paintings

Materials

Paper

"Portrait of Catulle-Mendes" by Leonetto Capiello

$4,900

"Portrait of a British Officer" by Thomas Beach

By Thomas Beach

Located in Wiscasset, ME

A very fine portrait of a British military officer signed and dated Thomas Beach 1774 in the lower left. This oil on canvas is presented in a period gilt frame and is ready to hang....

Category

Antique 1770s English American Colonial Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Portrait of a British Officer" by Thomas Beach

$9,700

"A Quiet Evening" oil painting by Jose Royo

Located in Wiscasset, ME

Oil on canvas, signed and dated in the lower right corner. Presented in a carved frame measuring 38.5" x 33.75" overall. The work features a woman reading by lamp light in a very t...

Category

Vintage 1980s Spanish Belle Époque Paintings

Materials

Paint

"A Quiet Evening" oil painting by Jose Royo

$9,800

Portrait of a Distinguished Gentleman

Located in Wiscasset, ME

Very well executed oil on canvas featuring a distinguished gentleman presented in a gilt frame measuring 18" x 15.5". The painting was done by a talented hand and dates to the 19th...

Category

Antique 19th Century European Victorian Paintings

Materials

Paint

Portrait of a Distinguished Gentleman

$1,280

Late 20th Century Modern Paintings

Materials

Canvas

Preben Fjerderholt “Self-portrait in half figure”. Oil on canvas

$3,098

Oil on Canvas Portrait #2 by Albert Radoczy

By Albert Radoczy

Located in Pasadena, CA

Another whimsical portrait of Radoczy's wife, her favorite subject. Albert Radoczy was a master at exploring the female form. Throughout his care...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Paint

Oil on Canvas Portrait #2 by Albert Radoczy

$1,750 Sale Price

20% Off

Vintage Oil Painting, Self Portrait by John Mackay

Located in London, GB

A beautifully executed self portrait in oil on canvass, by the well known British artist John Mackay. This was made in the mid 1990’s, we obtained it directly from the artists est...

Category

Late 20th Century British Mid-Century Modern Paintings

Materials

Paint

Vintage Oil Painting, Self Portrait by John Mackay

$822

20th Century Oil on Canvas Self Portrait of Artist, Signed C. Hornung-Jensen

By Carl Hornung-Jensen

Located in Round Top, TX

Original oil on canvas self-portrait of the artist at his easel. Signed C. Hornung-Jensen. Condition: Crackles and superficial scratches. Upper part with slightly wavy canvas. A pre...

Category

Early 20th Century Danish Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Paint

20th Century Oil on Canvas Self Portrait of Artist, Signed C. Hornung-Jensen

$1,600

Kurt Thorsén, Sweden, Oil on Canvas, Self Portrait of the Artist, Dated 1943

Located in Copenhagen, DK

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

Vintage 1940s Swedish Modern Paintings

Materials

Canvas

Kurt Thorsén, Sweden, Oil on Canvas, Self Portrait of the Artist, Dated 1943

$960 Sale Price

20% Off

Vintage Boho Oil Portrait on Canvas

Located in west palm beach, FL

This Vintage Boho Oil Portrait on Canvas showcases the side profile of a man adorned in a plaid shirt and a unique feathered hat. Set against a serene blue background, the minimalist...

Category

Late 20th Century American Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Paint

Vintage Boho Oil Portrait on Canvas

$1,850