Continental US - Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Untitled Pastel on paper, 1922 Signed with the artist's initials in pencil Provenance: Estate of the artist Francis M. Nauman (label) Private collection, NY A very early abstract/cubist work by Kelly. Created while the artist was studying with Arthur Carles in Philadelphia. Leon Kelly (October 21, 1901 – June 28, 1982) was an American artist born in Philadelphia, PA. He is most well known for his contributions to American Surrealism, but his work also encompassed styles such as Cubism, Social Realism, and Abstraction. Reclusive by nature, a character trait that became more exaggerated in the 1940s and later, Kelly's work reflects his determination not to be limited by the trends of his time. His large output of paintings is complemented by a prolific number of drawings that span his career of 50 years. Some of the collections where his work is represented are: The Metropolitan Museum in New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Boston Public Library. Biography Kelly was born in 1901 at home at 1533 Newkirk Street, Philadelphia, PA. He was the only child of Elizabeth (née Stevenson) and Pantaleon L. Kelly. The family resided in Philadelphia where Pantaleon and two of his cousins owned Kelly Brothers, a successful tailoring business. The prosperity of the firm enabled his father to purchase a 144-acre farm in Bucks County PA in 1902, which he named "Rural Retreat" It was here that Pantaleon took Leon to spend every weekend away from the pressures of business and from the disappointments in his failing marriage. Idyllic and peaceful memories of the farm stayed with Leon and embued his work with a love of nature that emerged later in the Lunar Series, in Return and Departure, and in the insect imagery of his Surrealist work. "If anything," he once said,"I am a Pantheist and see a spirit in everything, the grass, the rocks, everything." At thirteen, Leon left school and began private painting lessons with Albert Jean Adolphe, a teacher at the School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts) in Philadelphia. He learned technique by copying the works of the old masters and visiting the Philadelphia Zoo, where he would draw animals. Drawings done in 1916 and 1917 of elephants, snakes and antelope, as well as copies of old master paintings by Holbein and Michelangelo, heralded an impressive emerging talent. In 1917, he studied sculpture with Alexander Portnoff but his studies came to an abrupt halt with the start of World War I. Being too young to enlist, he joined the Quartermaster Corp at the Army Depot in Philadelphia, where he served for more than a year loading ships with supplies and, along with other artists, working on drawings for camouflage. By 1920, the family's fortunes drastically changed. His father's business had failed due to the introduction of ready made clothing and his marriage, unhappy from the beginning, dissolved. Broken by circumstance Pantaleon left Philadelphia to begin a wandering existence looking for work leaving Leon to support his mother and grandmother. He found a job in 1920 at the Freihofer Baking Company where he worked nights for the next four years. Under these circumstances Leon continued to develop his skills in drawing and painting and learned of the revolutionary developments in art that were taking place in Paris. During the day he was granted permission to study anatomy at the Philadelphia School of Osteopathy where he dissected a cadaver and perfected his knowledge of the human figure. He also met and studied etching with Earl Horter, a well known illustrator, who had amassed a significant collection of modern art which included work by Brancusi, Matisse, and Cubist works by Picasso and Braque. Among the artists around Horter was Arthur Carles, a charismatic and controversial painter who taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Leon enrolled in the Academy in 1922, becoming what Carles described as, "his best student". In the next three years Leon work ranged from academic studies of plaster casts, to pointillism, to landscapes of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, as well as a series of pastels showing influences from Matisse to Picasso. Clearly influenced by Earl Horter's collection and Arthur Carles he mastered analytical cubism in works such as The Three Pears, 1923 and 1925 experimented with Purism in Moon Behind the Italian House. In 1925 Kelly was awarded a Cresson Scholarship and on June 14 he left for Europe. Paris The first trip to Europe lasted for approximately three and a half months and introduced Kelly to a culture and place where he felt he belonged. Though he returned to the Academy in the Fall, he left for Europe again a few months later to begin a four-year stay in Paris. He moved into an apartment at 19 rue Daguerre in Paris and began an existence intellectually rich but in creature comforts, very poor. "I kept a cinderblock over the drain in the kitchen sink to keep the rats out of the apartment" he once explained. He frequented the cafes making acquaintances with Henry Miller, James Joyce and the critic Félix Fénéon as well as others. His days were split between copying old master paintings in the Louvre and pursuing modernist ideas that were swirling through the work of all the artists around him. The Lake, 1926 and Interior of the Studio, 1927, now in the Newark Museum. Patrons during this time were the police official Leon Zamaran, a collector of Courbets, Lautrecs and others, who began collecting Kelly's work. Another was Alfred Barnes of the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia. In 1929 Kelly married a young French woman, Henriette D'Erfurth. She appears frequently in paintings and drawings done between 1928 and the early 1930s. Philadelphia The stock market crash of 1929 made it impossible to continue living in Paris and Kelly and Henriette returned to Philadelphia in 1930. He rented a studio on Thompson Street and began working and participating in shows in the city's galleries. Work from 1930 to 1940 showed continuing influences and experimentation with the themes and techniques acquired in Paris as well as a brief foray into Social Realism. The Little Gallery of Contemporary Art purchased the Absinthe Drinker...

Elegant mid century landscape by Sidney Williams (American, 20th century). Signed "Sidney Williams" and dated '62 in the bottom left corner. Image size, 16"H x 23"L. A Carmel area wa...

Medium: Oil stick, wax pencil, graphite, archival pigment print on 100% Hahnemuhle cotton-rag paper. PLEASE NOTE ACTUAL Paper Size: 24” h x 42” w Image Size: 20” x 37” includes a 2”...

Erté (Romain de Tirtoff) 1892-1990 Russian-French Arthémis Signed “Erté” (lower right) Inscribed No. 4.8 (en verso) Gouache on paper This original gouache from the creative mind ...

This very unusual and introspective watercolor is a contemplative piece that invites viewers to ponder the nature of memories and how they come back into our brains. The artist creat...

Portrait of a Woman in a White Dress - Pastel on Paper Delicate drawing of a woman in a white dress by Palo Alto artist Marilyn Thompson (American, 1927-2015). Acquired with a colle...

This is a Gyotaku method painting of a fish on a textured mulberry paper background. This fish impression using minimal color is akin to a fossil. The fish is then hand painted in ...

Bold mid century modern abstracted pastel on paper still life of several terra cotta jugs and vessels distilled down to their most basic shapes and ar...

Finely detailed figurative illustration of a young woman leaning against a fence. The woman is wearing a plaid dress and bonnet with a black ribbon. Some of the landscape has been il...

Drypoint etching rawing of a coastal scene with figures drawing a net or boat form the sea by Sir Francis (Frank) Job Short (British, 1857 - 1945) Sir Frank Short, Royal Academy*, was a printmaker and teacher of printmaking. He revived the practices of mezzotint* and aquatint* engraving, and also wrote about printmaking to educate a wider public. Signed "Frank Short" lower right with monogram in the print "S within a shield" Titled lower left "Rough Weather at Blatchington" Lower left "Trial Proof" Image, 8.5"H x 10.88"W Mat, 16"H x 20"W x 0.13 Professionally cleaned and ph nuetral washed by our paper conservator. (new images posting) Francis Job Short was born on 19 June 1857 in Britain, at Stourbridge, Worcestershire. He was educated to be a civil engineer. He was engaged on various works in the Midlands until 1881, when he came to London as assistant to Mr Baldwin Latham in connection with the Parliamentary Inquiry into the pollution of the river Thames. In 1883 he was elected an associate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Having worked at the Stourbridge School of Art in his early years he joined the South Kensington School of Art*, in 1883. He also worked at the life class under Professor Fred...

Watercolor portrait of a young Mexican girl by Joseph Yeager (American, 20th Century). Signed "Joe Yeager" in the lower right corner. This piece is on hea...

Interesting and well-drawn French late 19th-century landscape sketch in pen and ink . Emile Cagniart was born in Paris where he would remain for his sixty years. Like many young asp...

Old Master, French School red chalk drawing on paper is not signed . Done in Sanguine on paper the nude appear like Hercule . The feel and look of the works while academic studies a...

Paraguayan Ink Drawings from the Chaco #15 Paper Indigenous Jorge Calrema Motifs of shamanic significance are very present in the drawings of Jorge Calrema : the jabiru ( pôtsej ), ...

Boat at the Dock, Alviso Bay Area Tonalist Landscape Watercolor by Iku Nagai Lovely Tonalist watercolor landscape of Alviso, California by Iku K. Nagai (Japanese/American, b. 1932)....

30X21.25 without the frame. Mixed Media painting and drawing on paper. Lawrence Kupferman had a long and illustrious career as an artist and educator. His work has been exhibited at ...

Artist/Designer; Manufacturer: Michael Goldberg (American, 1924-2007) Marking(s); notes: signed; 1952 Materials: color pastels on paper Dimensions (H, W, D): 23.25"h, 15.75"w; 36.25"...

Graphite on paper Dated, l.r. This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. John Button (1929-1982) was a fine draftsman and drew from life models throughout his c...

'Large Calla Lily' watercolor on paper. Gary Bukovnik, who fuses sensual vitality with fluid yet powerful colorations to create floral images of great depth, intensity, and size. In...

Jack Meier Gallery purchased and framed these drawings from the Indigenous artist Esteban Klassen in 2025. A percentage of the proceeds will be sent to Esteban Klassen's family in th...

Early original drawing by Hans Burkhardt. Hans Burkhardt 1904 - 1994 Hans Burkhardt was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1904, emigrating to New York in 1924. Upon his arrival to ...

'Spring Composition no. 2' watercolor on paper. Gary Bukovnik, who fuses sensual vitality with fluid yet powerful colorations to create floral images of great depth, intensity, and s...

Kim Frohsin, Third generation Bay Area Figurative artist began exhibiting in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1990s, and in 1993 was...

Signed lower left, 'M.E. Bailey' for Mike Bailey (American, 20th century) and painted circa 1980. A substantial, bravura study of red and pink rhododendrons contrasted against a variegated green background. This notable American watercolorist has served has President of the National Watercolor Society...

This artwork "Mermaid" c.1980 is a watercolor on heavy watercolor paper by California artist Charlotte Huntley. It is signed at the lower left corner...

Fernando Botero Original drawing of a woman, 1997 Drawing done in marker, signed and inscribed Boldly hand signed, dated and inscribed in black marker Unique This is an original, uni...

"Paddling Woman" is a minimalist watercolor that captures the essence of the human experience. Through the delicate strokes of a brush dipped in watercolor, the artist has conveyed the inner turmoil of the main subject, which may be remembering or dreaming of past or previous journeys. Her long, curly hair cascading down her shoulders symbolizes the wildness within us all. The simple black ink lines that create the birds and ships in the background add a touch of innocence and childlike wonder, evoking a sense of nostalgia for a simpler time. The signature is in the right corner, and it is dated (September 1995). It sits in a simple black wood frame. Christopher Paul Cobb is an American artist born in the 20th Century. He is the grandson of baseball great player Ty Cobb.

“Three Women” is an early work of Artist F. John Sierra whose career spans over four decades. He has produced images of the people, lifestyles and challeng...

"After years of nature-based artwork, in Spring 2020 I became an Anthomaniac. Covid was raging in NYC so I retreated with my family Northwest Connecticut. Nature, for so many of us, ...

Expressionist ink and pastel crayon drawing of flowers in vase. Framed in a vintage cobalt blue glass original frame Hand signed and dated Framed it measures 13.5 X 10.5 The actual ...

Artist Unknown "Tie and Glasses" c. 1940s Charcoal and pencil on paper 13.5"x17" site 19"x23" rustic wood frame Unsigned

Lou's Landing - Original Watercolor On Paper Original watercolor on paper by Ray Skelton (American 20th c.), depicting a boat harbor with numerous boats tied up, some sailing. Lou's...

Interesting and well-drawn French late 19th-century landscapes sketch, in pen and ink . Emile Cagniart was born in Paris where he would remain for his sixty years. Like many young a...

Kim Frohsin, Third generation Bay Area Figurative artist began exhibiting in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1990s, and in 1993 was included with Nathan Olivera, Manuel Neri and Stephen De...

Abstracted figurative nude painting in mainly greens with purple from Kim Frohsin's "Figures WIth Edges" series. Frohsin, third generation Bay Area Figurative artist—from the movemen...

This artwork "Untitled #3" c.1970 is a colors pastel and crayon on thick paper by American artist Jerry Opper, 1924-2014. It is hand signed in pencil at the lower right corner by the artist. The image size is 21.75 x 16.75 inches, sheet size is 24 x 19 inches. It is in excellent condition, there are pastel marks on the margin all around the artwork and also on the back, see picture #1. About the artist: Jerry Opper was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 5, 1924. He moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1933. After graduating from Hollywood High School, he worked in movie studios and attended art classes at Chouinard Art Institute. In May 1942, Opper was drafted into the army and was then able to study at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center while his outfit was stationed in Colorado. Later he was sent to Guam and was discharged in December 1945. Opper returned to Chouinard and his work in movie studios until 1947, when he moved to San Francisco. He enrolled as a full-time student at the California School of Fine Arts (now SFAI) and received his diploma in June of 1950. In 1948, Opper met his wife Gertrud Ruth Friedmann, daughter of artist Gustav Friedmann, whose works are also in the Lost Art Salon collection. It was love at first sight and a few weeks after their first encounter at the Black Cat in San Francisco's North Beach, they got married and enjoyed a passionate, life-long romance. Shortly after he finished school, Opper worked briefly as a decorator’s assistant and then started his career as a commercial artist, working for several firms such as Fibreboard, Beatrix Food and Precision. Working full-time and dedicating himself to having a rich family life occupied most of Opper's time, but he continued to be creative. He was above all a family man with the pride of having raised two exceptional daughters, Erika and Jody. Year after year, Opper would painstakingly craft their Halloween costumes...

Signed, titled, and dated, verso India ink and watercolor on paper This work is offered by ClampArt in New York City.

An outstanding painting by author and painter Ella Bruce. This watercolor is of the finest quality and shows the skill of the painter to the full. A vibrant and unique piece. The white highlights are painted in gouache or body color, which gives the piece great depth and an added level of quality. This and the others from the collection were I'm sure painted for Christmas or Holiday cards...

'Infanta Madre Tierra (Mother Earth)' features the face of a young woman with flora motif (top) and series of birds and flora motif (bottom) representing ...

Double-sided work Dated: 1951 recto; 1968 verso Signed on both sides Framed dimensions: 19 x 22 in Provenance: Robert Miller Gallery, NY New York Cheim & Read, NY New York Art Advi...

Manfred Schwartz (American, b. Poland, 1909-1970), Still Life of Seashells, Charcoal on Paper, with the artist's signature stamped lower right, unframed. 20" H x 25.75" W. Provenance...

Sutra, a Sanskrit word meaning “thread”, is a word or small group of words that summarize an entire complex web of ideas, truths, wisdoms, or teachings all woven together into a sing...

The location of this early oil pastel drawing was identified by other pieces from the same drawing book. The oil pastel was a new invention - just on the market in 1921 and it appea...

Kim Frohsin, Third generation Bay Area Figurative artist began exhibiting in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1990s, and in 1993 was...

Black felt marker on paper with six bullet holes Signed, titled, and dated, recto This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Willam Seward Burroughs (1914-1997)...

Formally, Yokoi’s work combines elements of American modern abstraction with traditional elements of Japanese figuration and poetry. Her earliest abstract works created during her ti...

Albert Marquet Boat in Tunisia, ca. 1920 Ink on paper 7 1/5 × 5 in 18.2 × 12.8 cm Hand-signed by the monogram lower right