Painted Wall Decorations

African Ethiopian painting imported to Italy by a diplomat during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, in the late 1930s. This tribal folk art painting depicts a battle scene and the canvas is mounted on a parallelogram-shaped frame. It is a large battle painting...

Framed oil on canvas abstract painting, unsigned. Purchased from an estate in San Francisco / Bay Area. This is a very good quality painting (not a weekend type painter). Califor...

Discover the elegance of this mid-century French needlepoint tapestry featuring an alteration from the exquisite design of the renowned medieval museum tapestry, "Les Vendanges" (gra...

An important, large and extremely rare original Hagenauer drawing of a head sculpture by Franz Hagenauer, from ca. 1930, No. 3080, from the workshop - Karl Hagenauer, Vienna - , samp...

The "Antique Paintings, Landscape Paintings" category featured here includes a refined antique oil painting on canvas, created in France in the early 20th century. This old painting...

We offer an exquisite Aboriginal artwork created by Tjunkiya Napaltjarri (1927-2009) in 2002, sourced from the Papunya Tula Art Center. Her work can be found in the collections of th...

Classical standing nude by American artist Jane White. Painted in the 1950s and once owned by the Estate of Eva Gabor. There is no provenance.

This untitiled oil painting is thought to have been painted either before of after WWII, is an excellent example the painter's work at this time. Courtney Charles Allen (1896 - 1969) was born in Norfolk, Virginia, was a WWII Veteran in France and was active/lived in New York, and Massachusetts. Courtney Allen...

Pair of Art Nouveau wooden hand-painted floral shelves, Germany, 1910. A beautiful pair of antique Art Nouveau period wooden shelves/consoles with hand-painted floral decors. These ...

17th Century Flemish Old Master Painting Circle of Frans Francken Rare 17th century Flemish School painting, circle of Frans Francken the Younger (1581-1642). This Cabinet picture, ...

Yamil O. Cardenas multi-color abstract painting in acrylic on canvas. Original, signed by the artist at the front right corner. Yamil O. Cardenas was born in Cuba in 1972 and now liv...

Abstract ink drawing on paper by French artist Jacques Germain (1915–2001), a significant figure of the postwar École de Paris and a contributor to the movement of Lyrical Abstractio...

Beautifully executed original oil on canvas by California artist Edward Holslag. Painted in 1915 with rich warm tones depicting a countryside landscape ...

Unique Baroque wall shelve from Portugal, adorned with beautiful gilt and faux marble, Having arrived in Portugal later than it did in the rest of Europe, baroque art was to take on ...

A pair of antique red painted terracotta neoclassical plaques by Danish 19th century artist, Peter Ipsen (stamped). Both plaques are of a similar scale and theme, depicting differen...

Set of Four 19th Century Russian Devotional Icons Hand Painted on Wooden Panels with luminous gold grounds, rich sacred color, and a deeply moving spiritual presence. Coming from a ...

A Wonderful 19th Century Painting Oil On Canvas Unsigned In The Manner Of Vittorio Matteo Corcos, Purchase From A Gallery And Believed To Be Authentic. Actual Painting Dimensions Ar...

Dramatically illustrating the legend that says that St. Martin of Tours used his sword to divide his cloak and share it with a naked beggar, this large and striking Art Deco painting depicts St. Martin riding a pale gray horse, with the beggar standing beside him, in the midst of a dark forest with starlit sky overhead. The two figures are accompanied by a running hound, and overhead a pair of geese...

Exceptional antique (late 19th to early 20th century) paintings on canvas laid on wooden panels after the door panels by Pierre Rousseau installed in 1786 in Marie Antoinette's boudo...

This antique oil on canvas painting by Théodore Levigne (1848–1912) captures a tranquil riverside scene at sunrise, as a herder leads cattle and sheep along a winding path beneath go...

Vintage polychrome hand painted and handcrafted ceramic wall decorative plate with polychrome Ottoman floral design. This is an intricately, hand painted Moorish plate that was made in Turkey. Turkey is famous for its kiln products, such as tiles and pottery, which are glazed and multicolored. It has a beautifully hand painted geometrical Moorish design in burgundy, yellow, turquoise, light and dark blue. An Islamic ceramic...

19th century painting of a young boy sitting beside his goat and cart. Goat carts were very popular with children throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The wicker goat carts we...

Signed by Artist Mid-Century Modern abstract painting in oil on canvas in hues of earth tone colors. The fine Art is dated 1976 and made in t...

A great looking hand carved original wooden Folk Art Wild Boar head wall decoration. A great piece for a suitable ambiance in a trophy room or the office of a Hunter or Woodsman. Mor...

Discover a reproduction of the exquisite "Noble Amazone" French medieval museum tapestry, a true masterpiece of design. This captivating artwork showcases a noble lady elegantly seat...

Two absolutely fantastic, vintage paintings from Indonesia in a traditional Balinese style. One of the paintings is signed by the artist, W. Suaridi in the lower left (see photo). Bo...

The painting depicts the Greenland ice sheet with several icebergs. One of Eva's last big project was to paint motifs from the arctic. This painting is from her estate and there...

Oil on canvas impressionist style landscape painting by German artist Paul Ernst Wilke b.1891 - d.1971. 1913-14 studied at the art school in Bielefeld, 1914-15 in Dusseldorf. 1915-1...

This elegant pair of Japanese botanical woodblock prints celebrates the refined simplicity of traditional Japanese floral illustration. Each print depicts a single flowering plant ac...

Beautiful tile mural with the "Lemon Tree" motif finely painted. Quantity: 48 tiles Tile mural size: 35.4"W X 47.2"H (90cm X 120cm) Tile size: 5.9"W X 5.9"H (15cm X 15cm) Origin...

Beautiful tile mural with the "FLOWERS AND LEMONS" motif finely painted. Tile mural size: 29.5"H X 41.3"W (75cm X 105cm) Tile size: 5.9"H X 5.9"W (15cm X 15cm) Origin: Portugal P...

19th century English silhouette with gold gilding details in original antique frame.

Sunburst wall sculpture with a hammered brass center and two layers of painted rods creating a sunburst effect. The artist hand signed the sculpture on the verso.

Ada Pratella (1901-1929) Houses at Capri, oil on canvas in gold frame, signed lower left. Italy, circa 1920 Dimensions: 17" W x 14.5" H x 1.88" D; sight 12.5" W x 10.25"H.

French 1970’s constructivist style oil on canvas painting with stylised bird. Framed and underglaze.

Peruvian Cuzco School Oil on Canvas of the Archangel Michael defeating Satan 18th Century. Later Frame. Wear commensurate with age. The Cuzco or Cusco school was a Roman Catho...

"The Chaperone" by Kevin Paulsen. Large format "fragment" painting created with pigment and plaster on polystyrene, mounted in shadow box frame.

A beautiful stained glass panel with a lovely floral decoration. This stained glass window was handmade in an unknown studio in Belgium. Heavy tones of gray and lead are combined wit...

Discover the elegance of this mid-century French screen-printed by hand tapestry featuring the exquisite design of a medieval museum tapestry titled « Suzanne and the old men » The ...

let the sunshine in ! artwork by belgian artist Denis de Gloire ... color your life, color your world ! I can offer professional packing for this work.

More information coming soon… A massive toile peinte, measuring over seven feet tall and about eight feet wide. Dating to the 1700s, the French painting depicts a stag hunt in the ...

A finely executed 19th-century Italian painting depicting the Madonna and Child, created after a celebrated composition by Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483–1520), one of the greatest ...

Hand-Painted Oil on Wood Religious Painting, Spain, S. XVIII Unknown painter Unframed, Unsigned Religious painting depicting a Saint dressed with a red tunic with a dark landscape ba...

A simple still life composition of an orange and yellow floral arrangement next to a pair of oranges against a light blue background. There is an overall feeling of calmness to the ...

Original antique oil on canvas painting titled “Percy Bysshe Shelley on the shore of Spezzia”. Presumed to be inspired by “Distress at sea” painting from 1843 by Henry Thomson...

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...

Artisan reverse hand painted glass mirror of flowering magnolia trees and bluebird, signed, dated 1989 with an outer frame in brass. The motif has exquisite details. The mirror is be...

"Amontonamiento 06" by Alejo Palacios (Argentina, 1989) is a striking contemporary artwork created in 2022 using acrylic on handmade paper. This original piece showcases Palacios' un...

Naturalistic Oil Painting of 'Young German Shepherd made by Danish Artist Oluf August Hermansen Hermansen in 1888. * Oil painting on wood plate depicting a Young German Shepherd. Bl...

A decorative set of four vintage Italian wall coat hooks, circa 1960s–1970s, executed in bright red lacquered metal with gold-toned decorative accents. The set consists of three sho...

Vintage Post Modern Abstract Wall Art Painting Profesionally Framed and Signed by the Artist. Circa 1980s Signed Lefermet. Features an abstract dimanic image in vibrant on a solid b...

Original vintage Danish still life oil on canvas painting of lush red flowers in a vase placed on a delicate white table cloth. The background is muted and creates a contrast to the ...

Large 19th C painted broken overdoor oak pediment. 1890

Fabulous large painting, wall mural of the Chain Bridge in Budapest Hungary. 10 feet x 4 feet with all the trimmings that surrounds the Danube River. Bridge was mostly destroyed by f...

Bring rustic charm to your interior with this intimate and richly textured barnyard scene painted by Edmond van Coppenolle. Executed circa 1880, likely during the artist’s time in Fr...

A handsome and sophisticated mixed media on canvas by American artist John Rigsby. Found in a original state of preservation. His works are few and far between. The following biography was submitted by John David Rigsby, Jr., son of the artist. The author is Lisa Rigsby Peterson, daughter of the artist, and owner of the copyright of the biography. John David Rigsby was born on October 10, 1934, the seventh child of an Alabama Depression-era sharecropper's son. He and his family moved frequently, from one one-room structure to another, often with no running water, no plumbing, no heat but the stove. His father was killed in a car accident when Rigsby was just 9 years old. Life for the remaining eight family members proved tumultuous and difficult -- food wasn't plentiful, nor money. The family moved from place to place, following work -- Rigsby attended 30 different schools before graduating from high school. Despite living in poverty, Rigsby demonstrated academic and artistic aptitude at a young age. Two oil paintings on covers ripped off of old books that he painted when he was eight years old show the promise of an imaginative and gifted eye. Rigsby was drafted by the U.S. Army in 1953. As he later wrote, "When basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, was over, I was told to go out and find a job. Jasper Johns was painting visual aids for the 28th Regimental Headquarters. He suggested the Band Training Unit." Rigsby played the clarinet in that unit, and after 2 years of service, he enrolled at the University of Alabama on the G.I. Bill to study art. After just two years, he left school and followed his mentor (and one of the greatest and longest-lasting influences on his art), Japanese artist and U of A art instructor Tatsu Heima, to New York City. Heima introduced him to Isamu Noguchi and suggested that Rigsby work as Noguchi's assistant. Instead, Rigsby chose a job as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, since "the notion of seeing all of that art appealed more to me than the boring task of studio assistant." The opportunity was a rich one for Rigsby. He had a chance to study the masters, and cited Rembrandt with his simplicity and elegance as another of the most important influences on his work. In the years between 1957 and 1963, when Rigsby eventually earned his BFA in sculpture, the artist traveled back and forth between New York and Tuscaloosa, alternating study with forays into the fertile New York art scene. Rigsby exhibited some of his early sculpture work in 1958 at a small New York gallery, which was also exhibiting the work of Willem and Elaine de Kooning and Theodore Stamos. Shortly thereafter, searching for an educational venue closer to New York City, Rigsby visited New Haven, Connecticut, and spent an afternoon speaking with Josef Albers at Yale. Albers agreed to accept Rigsby into the Yale program on the condition that he take freshman drawing all over again. A brilliant opportunity, but, in Rigsby's words, "When it was time to register, I was hitchhiking back to Alabama, looking for food and shelter." Rigsby had his first one-man show at the University of Alabama in 1959. A visiting critic from New York, J.F. Goosen, reviewed the show and wrote "here is a talent which produces art because that is the thing for a gifted person to do. In his effortless ease of conception and execution, he has already achieved a goal that eludes many artists for a lifetime." Finally, in 1963, Rigsby received his degree in sculpture, dissolved a short-lived marriage, visited his family, packed up his car and headed permanently for New York. That year, his work was included in a group show at the Delgado Museum in New Orleans - which led to a one-man exhibit at the Delgado in 1964. During 1964, Rigsby took drawing classes at Columbia University, and worked at the General Post Office at night. He met his future wife, Linda Palmieri, and married. In 1965, his daughter Lisa was born, followed in 1966 by the birth of his son, John David Jr. In 1966, Rigsby had a successful one-man show at the Pietrantonio Gallery in New York. Shortly thereafter, he and the family moved to Tunis, Tunisia at the suggestion of a colleague, who urged him to "come paint by the light of Klee." Rigsby worked for the United States Information Agency as a teacher, and he spent the next year and a half painting over ninety paintings inspired by the smells, light, and Phoenician and Roman art surrounding him. He also executed a number of character and landscape drawings, capturing the Tunisian way of life. During his time in Tunisia, Rigsby's work was shown there in two major exhibits. Upon the family's return to the U.S. in 1968, Rigsby once again exhibited at the Pietrantonio Gallery. Later that year, Rigsby enrolled in Southern Connecticut State College's Urban Studies program, earning a master's degree in 1970. During his time at SCSU, Rigsby worked as the city of Bridgeport's Curator of Exhibits, driving a mobile art gallery from schools to neighborhood fairs and housing projects. After completing his degree, Rigsby had an exhibit at the Telfair Museum in Savannah, Georgia. This exhibit caught the attention of a member of the search committee looking to hire an artist for a newly-developed program in neighboring South Carolina. In 1970, Rigsby was selected as the first Artist-in-Residence in the state of South Carolina for the National Endowment for the Arts Artists in Schools program. His work with the newly-integrated students at Beaufort (SC) High School over the term of his residency precluded substantial work on his own art. He did, however, set up a studio in downtown Beaufort, and was able to create a modest number of paintings, which were included in exhibits at the Columbia Museum in South Carolina in 1971 and Yale University in 1973. At the end of his residency in 1974, Rigsby was named the National Visual Arts Coordinator of the Artists in Schools program for the NEA, a post he held for two years. In this position, Rigsby traveled the country, reviewing grant applications, meeting with state leaders in government, education and the arts to promote program concepts and explore local opportunities. The message he repeated over and over again echoed that of one of the other major influences on Rigsby as an artist - Ruth Asawa Lanier, whose words taught him that all of the work that the artist does is the artist's work, not simply the paintings he creates. In his capacity as National Coordinator, as well as many times in the future, Rigsby stressed that artists function in the same way as any other person in society, and deserved the same respect and place for their work as did all other professions. After two years traveling the country, Rigsby was ready for a change, saying "for the first time in my adult life, there was not a body of paintings to show for the years put into my work." In 1976, a summer retreat to the mountain community of Central City, Colorado, led to a permanent relocation. Eventually settling in the small town of Evergreen, Rigsby followed his own advice about artists becoming actively involved in their communities, and he established the Evergreen Visual Arts Center. The Center provided working space for artists, classes for adults and children, and, most importantly, a place for Rigsby to create his own work. Buoyed by the opportunity to concentrate once again on his art, and inspired by his new surroundings, Rigsby entered an extremely prolific period in his career. In 1977, he organized a traveling exhibition of his paintings, which showed at the Kimball Arts Center in Utah, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Arvada Center in Colorado. 1978 brought more exhibits, notably in Aspen and Denver, as Rigsby's work continued. He took an extended trip to visit his mentor, Tatsu Heima, in Japan, where he climbed Mt. Fuji, followed by travels to Tehran, Delhi, and several European countries. He chronicled his impressions from his travels in a small collection of paintings upon his return to the U.S. - the beginning of a practice which would continue through the rest of his life. In 1979, Rigsby's marriage failed, and at the same time he lost the lease to his Evergreen studio to redevelopment plans. In response to the personal chaos around him, Rigsby began a series of what he called "hard-nosed process paintings," the watercolor paintings of dots which marked his work from this period. The paintings gained him an NEA Individual Artist grant in 1980, as well as a Yaddo fellowship in 1981. The polka dot paintings were followed by a series of cupcake-like images, again examining space and color. During the early 1980s, Rigsby lived in a suite of old dentists' offices in a rundown part of Denver, with a studio in an area that reminded him of the Bowery in New York. In 1984, Rigsby founded the Progreso Gallery in the building where he lived, using the space both to show his own work and also to mount shows of the work of many Colorado artists. The gallery also served as a focal point for Denver's local arts community, hosting weekly discussion groups and classes. In 1984, Rigsby traveled to the Baja Peninsula and then in 1985 to Yugoslavia. After each sojourn, Rigsby returned to create vibrant and explosive paintings based on his experiences, showing them at his Progreso gallery and another alternative gallery in Denver, the Edge Gallery. The economic recession of the mid-eighties hit the art market and Rigsby hard, however, and although he continued to create new works of art, major exhibitions were difficult to come by. In 1987, Rigsby decided to leave Denver and spent six months in Barcelona, Spain. It was an electrifying trip for him. Rigsby wrote of that time: "The streets alone are a visual feast, and the additions of museums from Saarinen, Picasso and Miro to 12th century icons produced artistic indigestion. My paintings are always about the way things look and feel. Barcelona was a time machine extending those sensory and emotional concerns back to the Middle Ages. I felt the need to reduce my work to essential elements of color, scale, drawing and format. The [resulting] color studies speak eloquently for themselves, and in doing so, redefine all of the work I've done in the past 35 years of painting." Rigsby completed over a hundred paintings while in Barcelona - color studies, street portraits of the characters he encountered on a daily basis, and a number of dark landscape paintings. He found time to run with the bulls in Pamplona, and began writing stories about his adventures that were later published. Upon his return to Denver in 1988, Rigsby continued to explore the alter egos of the color studies - he concentrated on a series of dark paintings, all prominently featuring back. He commented about these black paintings that he " decided it was time to explore the perception of the eye and physical space as defined by low -light conditions…I find these paintings elegant, joyous and light-filled, with no feeling of heaviness at all." In mid-1988, Rigsby moved permanently to Houston, Texas, where he would spend the last five years of his life. Once in Houston, Rigsby made a discovery that would serve as the inspiration and material for some of the last works of his career. In 1989, he discovered a salvage yard filled with scrap rubber, and he began working on black rubber sculptures, as well as paintings with rubber elements incorporated. He made strong connections in the Houston alternative arts scene, and became a regular contributor and art critic for a local weekly newspaper, The Public News. From 1989 through 1992, he exhibited his sculptures and paintings at Houston's Brent Gallery, Fountainhead Gallery, and Blaffer Gallery. He also produced an installation of his rubber sculptures on the roof of the Diverse Works Gallery in Houston. 1992 also marked Rigsby's return to Denver when he exhibited his sculptures at the Payton-Rule Gallery in Denver, leading to an Absolut Rigsby commission by Carillon Importers. The 1990s were a tremendous struggle for Rigsby, with financial crises compounded by physical trauma (he accidentally sawed off the top joint of the index finger of his left hand while working in his studio). Although his work was being shown, it wasn't selling, and the tremendous financial pressure he felt weighed heavily upon him. He spent an increasing proportion of his time going to flea markets and garage sales, rehabilitating and repairing the things he bought there, and then re-selling them simply to raise enough money to keep a roof over his head. He had little time to paint or sculpt, the things in life that had always, no matter what the circumstances, brought him joy. Rigsby's final works were a series of intricate paintings and drawings on used books that he purchased at the flea market. Most of these drawings, which he referred to as sculptural form drawings, were executed on page after page of science texts, music books, and a Korean bible and fill hundreds of pages. Additionally, Rigsby created an exquisite book he titled 28 de los Angeles, in which his twenty-eight simple and elegant drawings of angels resonated with the influence of Rembrandt he had so admired in his early days. In a sense, Rigsby's final works, art created on used books which were the only materials he could afford, brought his work and life full circle from his childhood days. Rigsby's life, though begun and ended in adversity, was nonetheless illuminated and enriched by the irresistible impulse he had to create art and beauty. John David Rigsby was killed in a one-car accident in Colorado in August, 1993. Biography from the Archives of askART Following is a review by Michael Paglia of the artist's July 2004 retrospective at the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art. It was submitted by John Rigsby, Jr., son of the artist. There's a magnificent retrospective at Denver's Museum of Contemporary Art devoted to the work of the late John David Rigsby, who was a major powerhouse in Colorado's art scene. "Dots, Blobs and Angels" surveys more than forty years' worth of the remarkable artist's paintings and sculptures. The year 1993 was strange, and by that I mean terrible. Many of the city's galleries closed because of bad economic times, and then the artists started dying. In a matter of a few months, Denver lost three significant artists: Rigsby, experimental photographer Wes Kennedy...

Discover the elegance of this mid-century French hand-printed tapestry featuring the exquisite design of the renowned medieval museum tapestry, "Les Vendanges" (grape harvest) from t...

Large and dramatic, this depiction of a nude male figure leaning toward the corner of the painting, with his lover faintly shown behind him, was made by Luc Lafnet, a Belgian painter...

Henri Matisse Original Pencil On Paper Study Of A Nude Pencil on paper Unsigned. Sheet: 8.85 x 13.75 Inches Framed: 25.5 x 21.75 Inches The ...

Charles d'Agar (Paris 1669-1723 London) A very important pair of oil on canvas portraits from the early 18th Century. Portrait of Cyrill Wyche, half-length, in a red coat and blue ...