Skip to main content

Chicago - Art

to
32
919
897
536
463
1,695
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
55
79
885
3,492
29
12
53
216
100
86
57
25
20
24
8
2,835
538
382
92
72
52
33
25
20
11
10
9
2
2,517
1,502
253
2,194
1,180
902
598
597
510
506
387
364
283
269
246
225
222
209
181
180
160
159
136
1,658
1,650
1,255
900
724
967
253
189
143
127
1,616
1,119
231,540
156,899
Item Ships From: Chicago
A 1940s Painting of a Seated Female Nude in Summer Landscape, Ox-Bow School
A 1940s Painting of a Seated Female Nude in Summer Landscape, Ox-Bow School

A 1940s Painting of a Seated Female Nude in Summer Landscape, Ox-Bow School

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A beautiful 1940s painting of a seated female nude in a summer landscape by renowned Chicago artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Painted at the Oxbow School in Saugatuck, Michig...

Category

1940s American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

A Fabulous 1950s Mid-Century Modern Standing Female Nude Figure Study
A Fabulous 1950s Mid-Century Modern Standing Female Nude Figure Study

A Fabulous 1950s Mid-Century Modern Standing Female Nude Figure Study

By Harold Haydon

Located in Chicago, IL

A Fabulous 1950s Mid-Century Modern Standing Female Nude Figure Study by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Artwork Size: 18 x 12, unframed, mounted / floated t...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Paper, Ink

"Eb & Flo, " Mixed Media Collage
"Eb & Flo, " Mixed Media Collage

"Eb & Flo, " Mixed Media Collage

By Michael Thompson

Located in Chicago, IL

Based in Chicago, IL, contemporary artist Michael Thompson creates unique kites, collages and mixed media works assembled from material fragments of past and present collected in his...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Chicago - Art

Materials

Fabric, Silk, Wood

A 1940s, Modern Abstract Surrealist Drawing by Hananiah Harari, "Sky Traffic"
A 1940s, Modern Abstract Surrealist Drawing by Hananiah Harari, "Sky Traffic"

A 1940s, Modern Abstract Surrealist Drawing by Hananiah Harari, "Sky Traffic"

By Hananiah Harari

Located in Chicago, IL

A Striking, 1940s Modern Surrealist Abstract Drawing, "Sky Traffic", by Notable New York Avant Garde Artist, Hannah Harari (Am. 1912-2000). Graphite on paper, dating from 1947. A...

Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Chicago - Art

Materials

Paper, Graphite

An Intimate, 1940s Modern Portrait Drawing of a Young Woman by Harold Haydon
An Intimate, 1940s Modern Portrait Drawing of a Young Woman by Harold Haydon

An Intimate, 1940s Modern Portrait Drawing of a Young Woman by Harold Haydon

By Harold Haydon

Located in Chicago, IL

An Intimate, 1940s Modern Portrait Drawing of a Young Woman by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). A finely drawn, introspective portrait in pastel and charcoal o...

Category

1940s American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Pastel

1920s Gelatin Silver Print by Tina Modotti of a Mural Fresco by Diego Rivera
1920s Gelatin Silver Print by Tina Modotti of a Mural Fresco by Diego Rivera

1920s Gelatin Silver Print by Tina Modotti of a Mural Fresco by Diego Rivera

By Tina Modotti

Located in Chicago, IL

An original 1920s silver gelatin print by famed photographer Tina Modotti, showing a mural fresco by Diego Rivera in the Agricultural School-Chapingo, Mexico. Photo is stamped “Photographs-Tina Modotti Mexico, D.F.” on reverse. Photograph size: 6 7/8 x 9 5/8 inches. Archivally matted to 16 x 20 inches. Tina Modotti was born in Udine, Italy in 1896 and by the age of 14 she was supporting her entire family by working in a local silk factory. Modotti’s father emigrated to San Francisco, sending for his family in 1913. Modotti was hired in the sewing room at the I. Magnin department store, but her great beauty attracted the attention of her superiors who then employed her to model the store’s fashions. In 1915, Modotti attended San Francisco’s Pan-Pacific Exposition, where she got her first look at Modern art and photography. She also met her first husband at the Exposition, painter and poet Roubaix de l’Abrie Richey. At this time Modotti began acting in local Italian theatre and was discovered by a talent scout for the new silent film industry in Hollywood. She arrived in Los Angeles in 1918 and was cast in “The Tiger’s Coat” and “I Can Explain”. Through her Hollywood connections, Modotti met the married photographer Edward Weston, with whom she began an affair. Modotti was a favorite subject of Weston’s photographs, but moreover he taught her the art of photography. She actually ran Weston’s studio in exchange for photography lessons. Due to the on-going affair between Modotti and Weston, Modotti’s husband moved to Mexico where he died of smallpox. This tragedy and the death of her father made Modotti dissatisfied with Hollywood. Modotti and Weston arrived in Mexico in 1923 at a time when the country was in the midst of a social, political and cultural revolution. She photographed the Mexican...

Category

1920s Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin, Paper

Zia Rising - Geometric Steel Sculpture, Welded Steel, Hand Painted Acrylic
Zia Rising - Geometric Steel Sculpture, Welded Steel, Hand Painted Acrylic

Zia Rising - Geometric Steel Sculpture, Welded Steel, Hand Painted Acrylic

By Chris Hill

Located in Chicago, IL

This dynamic table sized sculpture is created from sheets of steel welded together in an abstract geometric pattern. While the work adheres to a rigid, rational geometry, this sculptures suggest lyrical movement, apparent weightlessness and improvisation as the title suggests. Chris Hill Zia Rising welded steel, acrylic paint 14.50h x 13w x 5d in 36.83h x 33.02w x 12.70d cm CHI022 Chris Hill is a Santa Fe based sculptor. Chris was born in Port Arthur, Texas but grew up in small town North Mississippi. He began welding at age 18 at the Tennessee Valley Authority...

Category

2010s Abstract Chicago - Art

Materials

Steel

Seashells On Bertoia Chair, Rich Green Backdrop, Oil on Panel, Framed
Seashells On Bertoia Chair, Rich Green Backdrop, Oil on Panel, Framed

Seashells On Bertoia Chair, Rich Green Backdrop, Oil on Panel, Framed

By Helen Oh

Located in Chicago, IL

In this contemplative still life, Helen Oh transforms an ordinary interior moment into a study of quiet tension and sculptural form. A pale conch shell rests heavily on a vivid red c...

Category

2010s Realist Chicago - Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

A Vintage 1950s Pastel and Charcoal Drawing of a Hockey Game by Francis Chapin
A Vintage 1950s Pastel and Charcoal Drawing of a Hockey Game by Francis Chapin

A Vintage 1950s Pastel and Charcoal Drawing of a Hockey Game by Francis Chapin

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

Perfect for your hockey enthusiast! A colorful, dynamic 1950s pastel on paper drawing of a hockey game by famed Chicago Modern artist, Francis Chapin. Image size: 9 x 12 inches. Matted size: 14 x 18. Estate stamped on reverse. Provenance: Estate of the artist. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of the city’s most popular and celebrated painters in his day. Born at the dawn of the 20th Century in Bristolville, Ohio, Chapin graduated from Washington and Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922. He would set down deep roots at the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibiting there over 31 times between 1926 and 1951. In 1927 Chapin won the prestigious Bryan Lathrop Fellowship from the Art Institute – a prize that funded the artist’s yearlong study trip to Europe. Upon his return to the United States, Chapin decided to remain in Chicago, noting the freedom Chicago artists have in developing independently of the pressure to conform to pre-existing molds (as was experienced by artists in New York, for example). Chapin became a popular instructor at the Art Institute, teaching there from 1929 to 1947 and at the Art Institute’s summer art school in Saugatuck, Michigan (now called Oxbow) between 1934 – 1938 (he was the director of the school from 1941-1945). Chapin’s contemporaries among Chicago’s artists included such luminaries as Ivan Le Lorraine Albright...

Category

1950s American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Pastel

A Striking 1940s Cubist Still Life Drawing by Modern Artist Stanley Bielecky
A Striking 1940s Cubist Still Life Drawing by Modern Artist Stanley Bielecky

A Striking 1940s Cubist Still Life Drawing by Modern Artist Stanley Bielecky

By Stanley Bielecky

Located in Chicago, IL

A striking 1940s Modern cubist still life drawing by Notable Chicago and Michigan artist Stanley Bielecky. Image size: 4 x 5 inches. Archivally matted to 13 1/4 x 16 inches. Estate stamped and numbered 58, lower left. Stanley Bielecky was an Indiana artist who painted the American Scene, from the industrial factories and workers around East Chicago to the pastoral settings of Mackinac Island...

Category

1940s American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Graphite, Paper

A Fabulous 1950s Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Seated Woman, "Southern Belle"
A Fabulous 1950s Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Seated Woman, "Southern Belle"

A Fabulous 1950s Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Seated Woman, "Southern Belle"

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A Fabulous 1950s Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Seated Woman, "Southern Belle" by Noted Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A colorful Southern painting depicting a ...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Oil, Masonite

Wild Flowers In My Hair by Cristina Mittermeier
Wild Flowers In My Hair by Cristina Mittermeier

Wild Flowers In My Hair by Cristina Mittermeier

By Cristina Mittermeier

Located in Chicago, IL

"Wild Flowers in My Hair" Suri People of the Omo Valley, Ethiopia, 2023 30 x 20 in / Edition of 6 - $32,500 Also available: 48 x 32 in / Edition of 6 - $28,500 60 x 40 in / Editio...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Chicago - Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

A Distinctive, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Cubist Portrait Study of Two Young Men
A Distinctive, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Cubist Portrait Study of Two Young Men

A Distinctive, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Cubist Portrait Study of Two Young Men

By Harold Haydon

Located in Chicago, IL

A Distinctive, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Cubist Portrait Study of Two Young Men by Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). A visually striking charcoal male portrait stu...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

A Cheerful 1950s Mid-Century Modern, Portrait of a Young Woman Seated at a Table
A Cheerful 1950s Mid-Century Modern, Portrait of a Young Woman Seated at a Table

A Cheerful 1950s Mid-Century Modern, Portrait of a Young Woman Seated at a Table

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A cheerful1950s Mid-Century Modern portrait of a young woman seated at a table by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Great color palette and expressive, contempla...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Delightful 1940s Modern Painting of Two Women in a Summer Vermont Landscape
A Delightful 1940s Modern Painting of Two Women in a Summer Vermont Landscape

A Delightful 1940s Modern Painting of Two Women in a Summer Vermont Landscape

By Harold Haydon

Located in Chicago, IL

A delightful & colorful 1940s American Modern painting of two women resting in a summer Vermont landscape by notable Chicago artist, Harold Haydon. Painted near the artist's longtim...

Category

1940s American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

A Colorful, Expressionist 1950s Mid-Century Modern Still Life Painting
A Colorful, Expressionist 1950s Mid-Century Modern Still Life Painting

A Colorful, Expressionist 1950s Mid-Century Modern Still Life Painting

By Harold Haydon

Located in Chicago, IL

A Vibrant, Expressionist 1950s Mid-Century Modern Still Life Painting by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Depicting a bright and vivid studio still life scene ...

Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Chicago - Art

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Le Figuier d'Antibes
Le Figuier d'Antibes

Le Figuier d'Antibes

By Paul Guiramand

Located in Chicago, IL

This lithograph comes from an edition of 120 and it is signed and numbered. Guiramand’s works all have one element in common: the artist’s extraordinary sensitivity and ability to a...

Category

1970s Contemporary Chicago - Art

Materials

Lithograph

A Stylish, Colorful, Mid-Century Modern 1950s Abstract Geometric Textile Design
A Stylish, Colorful, Mid-Century Modern 1950s Abstract Geometric Textile Design

A Stylish, Colorful, Mid-Century Modern 1950s Abstract Geometric Textile Design

By Andre Delfau

Located in Chicago, IL

A stylish, colorful 1950s Mid-century Modern abstract geometric textile design (depicting a polychrome Wedge Star pattern in orange, blue, red and yellow tones) by famed French costu...

Category

1950s American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Ink, Gouache, Graphite, Paper

The Space Between - Large Chiaroscuro Oil Painting, Face Emerging from Darkness
The Space Between - Large Chiaroscuro Oil Painting, Face Emerging from Darkness

The Space Between - Large Chiaroscuro Oil Painting, Face Emerging from Darkness

Located in Chicago, IL

The Space Between This work foregrounds negative space as an emotional register. The figure’s isolation is intensified by the surrounding darkness, which functions as both void and refuge. Hall’s mastery of chiaroscuro is evident in the way light traces bone and muscle while leaving the face partially obscured, denying easy access to the subject’s inner life. Nathan Brad Hall...

Category

2010s Contemporary Chicago - Art

Materials

Linen, Oil

A Bold 1940s Cubist Mural Study of a Chicago City Scene by Rudolph Weisenborn
A Bold 1940s Cubist Mural Study of a Chicago City Scene by Rudolph Weisenborn

A Bold 1940s Cubist Mural Study of a Chicago City Scene by Rudolph Weisenborn

By Rudolph Weisenborn

Located in Chicago, IL

A bold 1940s graphite on paper WPA era mural study of a Chicago city scene by Rudolph Weisenborn. Artwork size: 12 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches. Archivally matted to 18 x 16 inches, Provenance: Estate of the artist. Rudolph Weisenborn was born in Strassburg, Germany in 1881, but was orphaned at the age of nine. He was taken-in by Mid-Western farmer Thomas Westaby and spent his early years in Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota. Weisenborn first attended the University of North Dakota in 1898, then the Students School of Art in Denver. Various accounts have him working out west as a gold miner and cowboy. Around 1912, he settled in Chicago and worked as a window designer for Marshall Field’s. Weisenborn is best known as the founder of the Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists. The group was founded because many artists could not get their work accepted into the mainstream Art Institute shows. Weisenborn is quoted as saying that he harbored feelings of disdain for any jury and that his own paintings were frequently rejected by conservative jurors. He was also involved and helped found other radical artist’s groups such as the Salon des Refuses, Cor Ardens and Neo-Arlimusic. In 1936, he helped found the New York-based American Abstract Artist’s Group. He created the only abstract mural for the 1933 Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago and also worked for the Federal Arts Project in the Easel Division. His WPA murals can be found in Crane Technical High School and Nettlehorst Elementary School in Chicago, IL. In 1945, Chicago businessman Herman Spertus...

Category

1940s American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Paper, Graphite

Legend (Color) by Paul Nicklen - Wildlife Photography - Elephant - Kenya

Legend (Color) by Paul Nicklen - Wildlife Photography - Elephant - Kenya

By Paul Nicklen

Located in Chicago, IL

"Legend" (Color) Kenya - 2025 Archival Pigment Print Available Sizes: Edition of 20: 24” x 36” (61 x 91.4 cm) $6,500 Edition of 15: 31” x 46.5” (78.7 x 118.1 cm) $7,500 Edition ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Chicago - Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

A Serene 1940s, Modern Western Landscape Painting with Horses by Francis Chapin
A Serene 1940s, Modern Western Landscape Painting with Horses by Francis Chapin

A Serene 1940s, Modern Western Landscape Painting with Horses by Francis Chapin

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A serene, 1940s Modern Western landscape painting with horses by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin. Accompanied with a handsome walnut brown stained wooden frame. Canvas size: 22 x 28 inches. Framed size: 25 x 31 inches. Estate stamped on reverse. Provenance: Estate of the artist. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of the city’s most popular and celebrated painters in his day. Born at the dawn of the 20th Century in Bristolville, Ohio, Chapin graduated from Washington and Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922. He would set down deep roots at the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibiting there over 31 times between 1926 and 1951. In 1927 Chapin won the prestigious Bryan Lathrop Fellowship from the Art Institute – a prize that funded the artist’s yearlong study trip to Europe. Upon his return to the United States, Chapin decided to remain in Chicago, noting the freedom Chicago artists have in developing independently of the pressure to conform to pre-existing molds (as was experienced by artists in New York, for example). Chapin became a popular instructor at the Art Institute, teaching there from 1929 to 1947 and at the Art Institute’s summer art school in Saugatuck, Michigan (now called Oxbow) between 1934 – 1938 (he was the director of the school from 1941-1945). Chapin’s contemporaries among Chicago’s artists included such luminaries as Ivan Le Lorraine Albright...

Category

1940s American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled - Highly Detailed Paper Sculpture of Angel

Untitled - Highly Detailed Paper Sculpture of Angel

By Ivan Markovic

Located in Chicago, IL

Ivan Markovic transports viewers into a world of technicolor with this collection of works inspired by Bernini's angels. Markovic's life in Rome brought him to walk across the Ponte ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Chicago - Art

Materials

Wire

"Boro, " Mixed-Media Kite
"Boro, " Mixed-Media Kite

"Boro, " Mixed-Media Kite

By Michael Thompson

Located in Chicago, IL

Chicago-based artist Michael Thompson creates unique kites crafted from split bamboo frames covered with stretched muslin and a collage of vintage Asian ephemera—including fragments of fabric, scrolls, drawings, and books collected during his travels. This kite entitled "Boro" is patterned with Japanese indigo-dyed fabric scraps, sewn together to form a patchwork of contrasting patterns and shades of blue. The kite's design recreates the traditional practice of Boro stitching...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Chicago - Art

Materials

Cotton, Muslin, Thread, Wood, Dye

Motion Capture Studio 7 - Original Oil on Linen Painting with Multiple Figures
Motion Capture Studio 7 - Original Oil on Linen Painting with Multiple Figures

Motion Capture Studio 7 - Original Oil on Linen Painting with Multiple Figures

By Andrew S. Conklin

Located in Chicago, IL

Motion Capture #9 explores the conventional representation of females in Western figurative art yet contrasting it with the contemporary imagery of that subject via computer-based im...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Chicago - Art

Materials

Linen, Oil

Fruit Trees by Gustav Klimt, Das Werk lifetime landscape collotype, 1908-1912
Fruit Trees by Gustav Klimt, Das Werk lifetime landscape collotype, 1908-1912

Fruit Trees by Gustav Klimt, Das Werk lifetime landscape collotype, 1908-1912

By Gustav Klimt

Located in Chicago, IL

Original collotype created from Gustav Klimt’s Impressionist Fruit Trees landscape, painted in 1901. Published and edited by Verlag H.O. Miethke and printed by k.k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna, in an edition of 300. Between 1908 and 1914, H.O. Miethke published Das Werk Gustav Klimts...

Category

Early 1900s Vienna Secession Chicago - Art

Materials

Paper

A Colorful, 1942 Modern Surreal Abstract by Hananiah Harari "The Baroque Portal"
A Colorful, 1942 Modern Surreal Abstract by Hananiah Harari "The Baroque Portal"

A Colorful, 1942 Modern Surreal Abstract by Hananiah Harari "The Baroque Portal"

By Hananiah Harari

Located in Chicago, IL

A Striking, Colorful 1942 Modern Surrealist Abstraction by Notable New York Avant Garde Artist, Hannah Harari (Am. 1912-2000). Titled "The Baroque Portal", the artwork is mixed medi...

Category

1940s Surrealist Chicago - Art

Materials

Paper, Gouache, Mixed Media

"Royal Blue Jacket, " Steel Sculpture
"Royal Blue Jacket, " Steel Sculpture

"Royal Blue Jacket, " Steel Sculpture

By Gordon Chandler

Located in Chicago, IL

Upon discovering a weathered steel drum that had been warped to resemble the sleeve of a garment, artist Gordon Chandler was inspired to embark on a series of kimono sculptures forme...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Steel

A 1928 Modernist Woodcut, Self-Portrait of Notable Chicago Modernist Emil Armin
A 1928 Modernist Woodcut, Self-Portrait of Notable Chicago Modernist Emil Armin

A 1928 Modernist Woodcut, Self-Portrait of Notable Chicago Modernist Emil Armin

By Emil Armin

Located in Chicago, IL

A 1928 woodcut on paper of a self-portrait of notable Chicago Modernist artist, Emil Armin. Artwork size: 10 1/2" x 8". Archivally matted to: 12 1/2" x 14 1/2. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. Edition 7/30. Emil Armin was born in Radautz, Austria in 1883. By the age of 10, Armin was orphaned and was raised by his older siblings. He supported himself by working in restaurants and drew in his spare time. In 1905, at the age of 21, Armin immigrated to Chicago. He began studying at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1907, but financial difficulties forced him to start and stop a number of times, finally graduating in 1920. He studied with George Bellows and Randall Davey. Armin was an integral part of Chicago’s 57th Street Art Colony and exhibited in both the more avant-garde Chicago No-Jury Society Shows, as well as the more formal and conventional Chicago Society of Artists Exhibitions, the Chicago Renaissance Society and Art Institute of Chicago (1922-1949) exhibitions. He taught at Hull House...

Category

1920s American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Paper, Woodcut

Mirage
Mirage

Mirage

By Joey Korom

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Mirage is a serious and contemplative painting. This work can be considered a contemplative piece, a sedate and personal work executed in the best tradition o...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Chicago - Art

Materials

Acrylic

Ca. 1578 Old Master Engraving "Siculus" After Jan vander Straet (Strandanus)
Ca. 1578 Old Master Engraving "Siculus" After Jan vander Straet (Strandanus)

Ca. 1578 Old Master Engraving "Siculus" After Jan vander Straet (Strandanus)

By Jan Van der Straet

Located in Chicago, IL

Circa. 1578, Engraving "Siculus" - from the portfolio “The Stables of Don John of Austria” (Equile Austriaci Caroli V)" After Jan van der Straet (Stradanus). An Old Master print from the series of 43 engravings depicting horses of different breeds from the stables of John of Austria (1547-1578), son of Emperor Charles V. Each print shows a horse in the foreground on a hilltop overlooking a distant landscape. Each bears it's title breed, centered upper edge, with two columns of brief explanatory Latin texts in the lower margins. Published by Philips Galle...

Category

16th Century Old Masters Chicago - Art

Materials

Engraving, Paper

Return of the Goddess - Original Painting of Surreal, Symbolic Goddess Figure
Return of the Goddess - Original Painting of Surreal, Symbolic Goddess Figure

Return of the Goddess - Original Painting of Surreal, Symbolic Goddess Figure

By Oliver Hazard Benson

Located in Chicago, IL

As is generally the case with my paintings, this work proceeded from a place of unknowing. The specificity of imagery and technique belie the non-specific character of the ideas and narratives presented. The imagery is not tied to any pre-existent source (textual or other). It is not preconceived by the artist, rather it is produced spontaneously in the process of painting. That said, it seems both easy and sensible to connect the imagery in this painting to common cultural material, especially that from very ancient sources. The central figure is very much like a totemic Neolithic goddess- the sort of which seem to be among the most ancient artistic works, examples are extant from eras stretching back tens of thousands of years. A lot has been written about figures of that kind but of course no one can reasonably claim to truly understand them. Here the great goddess appears with wings and entwined serpents. Crowned also with a glowing orb she has become an emblem of a matristic hermetica. The smaller figure may be less evidently archetypical. She is a younger goddess, a daughter like Persephone to Demeter. She lifts the breasts of her mother signifying perhaps how the presence of the child evokes the nurturing qualities of the mother or how Persephone’s seasonal ascent from the underworld awakens in her mother the impulse to again give life to the world. The cluster of gynomorphic figures contained by the crescent moon at the center of the painting refer to the balanced transformations of the lunar cycle and their mysteriously harmonic physical manifestation in the vital cycles of a woman’s body. At their axis is the cycloptical abdomen of the figure enthroned on the moon. The entire totem rises from a terrestrial gateway into an open landscape. In the background megaliths obscure the horizon. They represent a first boundary in time- the beginning of history. Below is the gateway, the opening to an inner earth...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Geometric Chicago - Art

Materials

Acrylic, Panel

Pierre Gabriel Bernhault ca. 1800 Engraving "Vue intérieure de Paris"
Pierre Gabriel Bernhault ca. 1800 Engraving "Vue intérieure de Paris"

Pierre Gabriel Bernhault ca. 1800 Engraving "Vue intérieure de Paris"

By Pierre Gabriel Berthault

Located in Chicago, IL

A circa. 1800 engraving by Pierre Gabriel Berthault, "Vue intérieure de Paris prise du milieu du Pont Royal regardant le Pont Neuf". Artwork size: 16 3/8" x 26". Archivally matted...

Category

Early 1800s French School Chicago - Art

Materials

Engraving, Paper

A Fabulous, Surrealist 1946 Mid-Century Modern Abstract Portrait of a Young Man
A Fabulous, Surrealist 1946 Mid-Century Modern Abstract Portrait of a Young Man

A Fabulous, Surrealist 1946 Mid-Century Modern Abstract Portrait of a Young Man

By Harold Haydon

Located in Chicago, IL

A Fabulous, Surrealist 1946 Mid-Century Modern Abstract Portrait of a Young Man by Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Titled "Introspective Stare", the drawing is ...

Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Chicago - Art

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

A 1950s Mid-Century Modern Pastel Monoprint "Edgartown Harbor" by Francis Chapin
A 1950s Mid-Century Modern Pastel Monoprint "Edgartown Harbor" by Francis Chapin

A 1950s Mid-Century Modern Pastel Monoprint "Edgartown Harbor" by Francis Chapin

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A dynamic, unique Mid-Century Modern monoprint of a sailing regatta in Martha's Vineyard, "Edgartown Harbor", by notable Chicago Modern artist Francis Chapin. Lithograph on paper wi...

Category

1950s American Modern Chicago - Art

Materials

Pastel, Lithograph, Paper