Continental US - Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Signed lower left

"Tobacco Road" Mid 20th Century Realism 1940 Drawing from the Novel WPA Literary 19 1/4 x 11 1/2 (sight), Signed David Fredenthal lower right. Framed by ...

Untitled, c. 20th Century Pastel on paper Sight: 21 1/2 x 31 in. Framed: 24 1/4 x 34 1/2 x 1 1/4 in. Signed lower left

Paper measures 21 X 33 inches Born and raised in Mississippi, Alex O'Neal graduated from Rhode Island School of Design and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the Eighties, his formal education overlapped regular visits with Mississippi self-taught artists, including Mary T. Smith, Luster Willis, and Son Ford Thomas. He later immersed himself in art brut collections and European art brut in Switzerland, Germany, and France. His work is also inspired by African-American self-taught outsider art. O'Neal's drawings and paintings have been shown at The Drawing Center, New York; BRIC, Brooklyn; P.S.122, New York; Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY; Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta; Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS; Centre d’Art des Pénitents Noirs, Aubagne, France; Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans; Chicago Cultural Center; Ecomuseu, Valls d'Aneu, Spain; Amory Arts Center, West Palm Beach; Huntsville Museum of Art, AL; Rockefeller Art Center, SUNY Fredonia; ART LA; Field Projects, New York; LOG at Lump Gallery, Raleigh, NC; and Linda Warren Projects, Chicago. His work is in volumes 16, 38, and 104 of New American Paintings. His paintings and drawings idiosyncratically depict circumstances that associate Americans, i.e. dysfunction, nature worship, cults, homegrown terrorism, Hollywood, reverence for Native America. There is formal influence from stylization found in Romanesque fresco, early American portrait painting...

Unknown Artist, Japan, c. 1980-2000 Yamato Takeru Watercolor on Sumi paper c,. 1980-2000 Unsigned as is usual A traditional Kite design from Tsugaru Province Condition: Excellent Ver...

Luis Miguel Valdes (Cuba, 1949) 'Collage II', 1992 collage, ink on paper 11.9 x 13.8 in. (30 x 35 cm.) ID: 1D199202 Hand-signed by author ____________________________________________...

Art Sz: 15 1/2"H x 18 3/4"W Frame Sz: 21 1/2"H x 24 3/4"W Charming (framed) watercolour by Alfred Birdsey (1912-1996) signed (LR) depicting a quaint Bermuda harbour scene Alfred B...

Meticulously rendered surreal image of a seemingly disoriented shirtless and shoeless man standing in the middle of a busy highway and gazing outward. The image is characterized by fine lines with some cross-hatching over a wash mono-chromatic background. Published: The Stories of John Cheever...

Seen here is a charcoal drawing of a large Lady with cats. The unique work of Stephen Basso is wildly imaginative. While he is also a brilliant colorist, the monochromatic charcoal...

This pastel portrait captures the side profile of a young African American man dressed in a black hoodie. The artist skillfully employs the pastel medium to bring out the rich textur...

Estate stamp, verso, for Victor Di Gesu (American, 1914-1988) and painted circa 1955. An elegant figural interior showing a young woman seated on a bed beside a table bearing a vase...

Wheeler Williams (American, 1897-1972) Untitled Study, 1931 Pencil on paper 8 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. Each signed: Wheeler Williams, 1931 A native of Chicago, Wheeler Williams is known for his allegorical, narrative work including "Tablets to Pioneers" on the Michigan Avenue bridge in Chicago, and "Settlers of the Seaboard" in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. He graduated with honors...

Italian painter Silvia Pavarini is known for her distinctly feminine artworks that resonate with the quiet whispers of nature. Each piece she creates embodies an ongoing dialogue wit...

Wheeler Williams (American, 1897-1972) Untitled (Study of Three Graces), 1947 Pencil on paper 9 1/4 x 12 1/4 in. Signed lower right: Wheeler Williams, 1947 A native of Chicago, Wheeler Williams is known for his allegorical, narrative work including "Tablets to Pioneers" on the Michigan Avenue bridge in Chicago, and "Settlers of the Seaboard" in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. He graduated with honors from Yale University in 1919 and earned a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard in 1922. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago with sculptor Albin Polasek...

Cocteau Aqua Atla, #2235 by Natasha Zupan Photo Collage Image size: 43 in. H x 34 in. W Frame size: 51.5 in H x 40.5 in W x 2 in D White wood frame Signed lower right on recto by th...

Medium: Mixed Media on Paperboard Signature: Unsigned This piece was an advertisement for Lowney's Crest Chocolates. Edward Nudelman, Jessie Willcox Smith expert and biographer describes Merry Christmas: Two Children Before the Fireplace, “A wonderful mixed media painting by Jessie Willcox Smith, published as an advertisement for Lowney's Crest Chocolates, reminiscent of her paintings for Twas the Night...

George Grosz (German, 1893-1959), "In der Loge" [In the Lodge], Pen and Ink on Paper, circa 1913, signed in pencil "Grosz" and titled lower lower left, Achim Moeller, Ltd. label to v...

Pair of Italian Neoclassical allegorical engravings. Pair of Italian neoclassical allegorical engravings after Raphael from "The Hours of the Night" in antique Italian mahogany frame...

A Fabulous Mid-Century Female Nude Studio Figure Study By Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Depicting a Seated Nude, the drawing is ink and watercolor on paper an...

Art: 30-1/8 x 22-3/8 inches Lithograph, from Portfolio Signed and numbered ‘80’, from the edition of 100” Famed worldwide for giving graphic definition to the postwar age, Saul Ste...

The Paths series was born out of a trip I took one summer to LA. The trip itself was more of an escape from my life in New York. At the time I was at a crossroads. Having just gone t...

Eva Tanguqy-A Strange Request, New York Evening World newspaper and Puck magazine interior (two works), 1910s India ink and blue pencil on heavyweight paper 16-1/2 x 10-1/2 inches (4...

NYC Cityscape American Scene Social Realism Mid-Century Max Arthur Cohn (1903-1998) New York City Skyline 14 x 21 1/2 inches Watercolor on paper, c. 1...

Pastel or Tempera on paper. Judaica Shtetl scene of village. Anatoli Lwowitch Kaplan was a Russian painter, sculptor and printmaker, whose works often reflect his Jewish origins. h...

SHOULD I STAY IN or GO OUT? is an original oil pastel drawing on brown paper grocery bag by the self taught African American artist Reginald K. Gee, born April 28, 1964, in Milwaukee...

The Paths series was born out of a trip I took one summer to LA. The trip itself was more of an escape from my life in New York. At the time I was at a crossroads. Having just gone t...

In this drawing, Milwaukee-based artist Joan Dvorsky presents a drawing after a sketch by Edgar Degas. Degas' original drawing was a study for an 1863 painting entitled 'Les malheurs...

Painted by Victor Di Gesu (American, 1914-1988) circa 1955 and accompanied by certificate of authenticity. Winner of the Prix Othon Friesz, Victor di Gesu first attended the Los An...

Artist: James Amos Porter, American (1905 - 1970) Title: Haiti Beach Year: circa 1965 Medium: Watercolor, signed l.r. Size: 15 in. x 12 in. (38.1 cm x 30.48 cm) Frame Size: 22 x 18 i...

This large scale charcoal on paper is from the artist's series "These fragile truths". This body of work explores the limitations and aesthetics of human memory through portraiture...

An exquisite depiction of a ballet dancer in motion, rendered exquisitely in pastel by Russian/American artist Valery Kosorukov. The artist has manage...

Likely a dress design for Henri Bendel or B. Altman, Untitled Fashion Design from 1919 is an iconic early Erté design. Erté's stylized Villa Excelsior name stamp and the 'Composition...

The Paths series was born out of a trip I took one summer to LA. The trip itself was more of an escape from my life in New York. At the time I was at a crossroads. Having just gone t...

Ultra vibrant orange version of the Stik Holding Hands print. Issued folded in the Hackney Today newspaper as a special thank you to the residents of Hackney. The color in each paper...

Signed lower right, 'Ament' for Janet Ament De La Roche (American, 1916-2000) and titled, 'Helene'; additionally bearing artist's estate stamp verso. Winner of the Prix Othon Friesz...

Original Painting Cathedral Interior New Yorker Cover Proposal 1939 Jesus Church Antonio Petruccelli (1907 – 1994) Cathedral New Yorker cover proposa...

An original watercolor painting by Westley "Wes" Olmsted. This work is currently featured in the exhibition Man of Extremes at Benjaman Gallery in Buffalo, NY. Westley G. Olmsted (1934-2011) was a painter and sculptor. He was born in Buffalo, New York, and was a distant relative Frederick Law Olmsted...

This work was intentionally torn and mended along the curve through the center of the work. It predates the artist's full immersion, years later into torn and re-pasted collages, us...

An original mixed media drawing by American artist A.J. Fries.

Artist : Raphael Soyer Title : Woman Year: 1979 Drawing in Pencil Signed in pencil Drawing Size 11½" x 16 Inches Matted Size : inches 16" x 20" inches Born in 1899, Raphael So...

These collages were created first in the presence of a live model, working quickly, in charcoal and pastel, and again, later, alone in the studio, furiously tearing and pasting image...

Italian School, 16th Century Provenance: Private Collection, New York This intriguing drawing is a study by an anonymous 16th-century Italian artist after a vignette in Michelangelo’s fresco of The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel. The altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was already richly decorated when Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint his Last Judgment...

Leon Dolice New York Harbor Nocturne Signed lower right Pastel on paper 12 x 19 inches The romantic backdrop of Vienna at the turn of the century had a life-long influence upon the...

Inscribed: front, brown ink, bottom left, F. Imperiali pinx…; bottom right, R. Rol..(?). Back, brown ink, top left, Roma, Gune(?) 1742 / F. Impeririali ping…;[illegible] R. deline..(...

Angelic boy with a devil figure. Gary Hansmann (1947-2008) was active/lived in California. He is known for abstract, Surrealism figure painting. Gary William Hansmann was born Dec. 4, 1940, in San Diego to Ethel May Williams and Lester Hughes Hansmann. He grew up in Encinitas and served in the Army in the early 1960s. Gary Hansmann, San Diego artist, teacher and gallery owner, was known for his Surrealist drawings and graphics. He spent time working in Paris and exhibiting his art throughout Europe, but San Diego was home until he moved to Washington state. His life partner was fellow artist, Jill Hosmer. Mr. Hansmann, a respected printmaker and prolific artist, created thousands of drawings, prints and paintings as well as hundreds of poems. His interest in bullfighting led to a book of poetry and illustrations on the subject, “La Corrida, The Run”, a collection of poetry & artwork written as he was preparing for his first bullfight. Prologue written by famous Mexican Matador Antonio Lomelin. The book is written in English and translated into Spanish on opposing pages and was published in 1983. Mr. Hansmann taught intaglio and monotype at the Academy of Fine Arts in San Diego from 1977 to 1980 and at the San Diego Museum of Art in 1980. He also gave lectures and demonstrations throughout the art community, including at the San Diego Art Guild in Del Mar and Artist Equity in San Diego. Although he attended Palomar College in San Marcos and studied lithography at the San Diego Academy of Fine Arts, Mr. Hansmann was mostly self-taught and self-educated. Mr. Hansmann had shows in several art-world capitals, including Paris; Lisbon, Portugal; Cologne, Germany; Brussels, Belgium; and New York. he had one-person exhibits at the Loft Gallery in Clarkston, the Lewis-Clark State College Center of Arts & History, the Carnegie Art Center in Walla Walla and the Valley Art Center in Clarkston. During his long, distinguished career as an artist he had numerous one-person exhibits all over the world and the United States. His group shows are too numerous to mention, but his one-person exhibits were in Koln, Germany; Bruxelles, Belgium; Paris, France; Viana do Castelo, Portugal; Lisbon, Portugal; Tecate, Mexico; and British Columbia, Canada; and many states at home. Palomar College, San Marcos, Calif. San Diego Academy of Fine Arts Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, N.Y. University of Southern California, Idyllwild (ISOMATA) University of San Diego San Diego Museum of Art James Copley Library, La Jolla, Calif. Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice, Italy Centre de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal Museo Taurino de la Communidad de Madrid, Madrid, Spain Atelier Lacouriere et Frelaut, Paris, France Gordon Gilkey Collection Portland Art Museum, Portland, Or. Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay...

"Let's Make an Opera" Original Drawing NYT Published, Norman Del Mar Conducts Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) "Let's Make An Opera" Ink on board 13 1/2 x 18 1/2, sight Framed: 22 1/2 x 27...

HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR (1859 -1927) "JEUNE FEMME ASSISE" (Young Woman Seated) Original Drawing in sanguine, white and black chalks, c. 1910 Signed in pencil by artist, lower right Full M...

While charcoal is naturally a loose drawing medium, David Becker uses it with precision. With a rich range of value and strong darks, Becker captures the fine details with exacting clarity. In his drawing "Pritzlaff - 1903", the subject, a male with a glazed look, is wielding an ax and pointing a finger at the viewer. This drawing is framed in a simple black frame. The artist has signed with his initials and year on the front and signed his full name on the back of the piece. David Becker Pritzlaff - 1903 vine charcoal on paper 32h x 24w in 81.28h x 60.96w cm DB0027 David Becker Exhibitions 2017 Figure8, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Coming Attractions, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Cicago, IL 2012 Eye Teeth Group Show, Paint Creek Center for the Arts, Rochester, MI 2011 Art Chicago 2011, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 2010 Art Chicago 2010, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 2009 David Becker Retrospective, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 2009, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL The 184th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, NYC Selections, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2008 Art Chicago 2008, Represented by Ann Nathan Gallery, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 2007 Unruly Muse, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL SOFA NY (Sculptural Objects Functional Art), Ann Nathan Gallery, 7th Regiment Armory, NY, NY Art Chicago, Merchandise Mart, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2006 Palm Beach³, Ann Nathan Gallery, Palm Beach, FL 2005 SOFA NY (Sculptural Objects Functional Art), Ann Nathan Gallery, 7th Regiment Armory, NY, NY Art Chicago in the Park, Butler Field, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Palm Beach³, Ann Nathan Gallery, Palm Beach, FL 2004 Contemporary Prints: National Academy Museum Collection, National Academy of Design, NYC Art Chicago 2004, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Fantastic & Visionary Art, touring exhibit: Orange, Manning, Riddoch, & Ballart Gallery, Australia Return of the Men, Peltz Gallery, Milwaukee, WI 2003 Art Chicago 2003, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Fantastic & Visionary Art, touring exhibit: Orange Regional Gallery, New South Wales, Australia National Academy of Design 178th Annual Exhibition, NY, NY 2002 Art Chicago 2002, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Art of the 20th Century, Ann Nathan Gallery, Park Ave. Armory, NY, NY Outsider Art Fair, The Puck Building @ Houston & Lafayette Sts., NYC Self and Other Portraits, Wisconsin Artists, Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI Return of the Men, Peltz Gallery, Milwaukee, WI 2001  Beyond the 50's, May 4 - July 1, Exhibit A, A Gallery of Art & Design, Birmingham, Michigan Outsider Art Fair, January 26-28, The Puck Building @ Houston & Lafayette Sts., NYC "FANTASTIC ART", April/May, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange NSW, Australia. David Becker: Etchings and Engravings, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, solo exhibition of prints, February. 2000  Four person exhibition, Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia, Oct. 31 - Nov. 27, 2000. 1999 National Academy 174th Annual Exhibition, NY University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty, Elvehjem Museum of Art, Madison, WI Treasures Revealed: 19th and 20th Century American Works on Paper, National Academy, NY 1995 Bharat Bhavan International Biennial of Prints, Bhopal, India Contemporary Prints, Selections from John Szoke Gallery, NYC, Drew University, Madison, NJ Collection Update, 1994, National Academy of Design Museum, NY 1994 David Becker and Robert Sholties, Peconic Gallery, Suffolk Community College, Riverhead, NY In Black and White: Works by Four Printmakers, Atrium Gallery, University of Connecticut, Storrs Aesthetics of Athletics: Sports, Games, and Exercise, Charles A. Wustum Musem, Racine, WI GMI IX Award Winners, Art Center Gallery, Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg 1993 Take Home a Nude benefit auction, NY Academy of Art Graduate School Of Figurative Art, NY 1993 American Prints: Last Half 20th Century, Jane Haslem Gallery, Washingtion, DC Outstanding American Prints, Anderson Arts Center, Kenosha,WI National Academy of Design 168th Annual Exhibition, NY David Becker: Etchings, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA Portraits, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA 1992 The Print Fair, 7th Regiment Armory, NY 1991 166th Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, NY Alma College Collection, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan Modes of Expression, Potsdam College, SUNY, Potsdam, NY 1990 With Nothing On, Prints and Drawings of the Nude, New Orleans Museum of Art, LA Prints by Printmakers, Staller Art Center, SUNY-Stonybrook, NY Publications/Reviews 2007 November 60 Years of North American Prints: 1947-2007, Boston U. Art Gallery, Boston, MA 2003 July 11 Isthmus, Madison, “Welcome to My Nightmare,” by Robert Cozzolino. 2001 March 14 The Wall Street Journal, "Time Off: A Week of Diversions." Review of Progressive Printmakers (LVM) exhibition. 2001 February Isthmus, Madison, "America's Printland," by Jennifer Smith. 2001 February Capital Times, "The Crowned Prints," by Kevin Lynch. 1999 July Progressive Printmakers: Wisconsin Artists & the Print Renaissance. 1995 – 1999 Who’s Who in America. 1993 Summer The Journal of the Print World, review. March 14 The New York Times, review. March 12 The Daily Oklahoman, review. 1990 Dec. 13 The Capital Times, review. April 28 The Washingtion Post, review. March 25 The New York Times, review. Summer The Journal of the Print World, review. Selected Collections - additional collections available on requestArkansas Arts Center Foundation, Little Rock, AR Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Brooklyn Museum, NYC Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI Elvehjem Museum of Art, U of Wisconson-Madison Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI Library of Congress, Washington, DC Metropolitan Museum, Miami, FL Museo de Arte Moderno, Cali, Columbia National Academy, NY, NY National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC New York Public Library, NY Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, MA United States Information Agency, Prague, Czech. Alberta College of Art, Alberta, Canada Albion College, Albion, MI Alma College, Alma, MI Art Center, South Bend, IN AT&T Corporate HQ, Plainfield, NJ Boston Printmakers, Boston, MA Bradley University, Peoria, IL Columbia Green Community College, Hudson, NY Columbus State University, Columbus, GA Davidson College, Davidson, NC Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA Georgia State University – Atlanta Hope College, Holland, MI Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, NJ Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS Madison Art Center, Madison, WI Marui Imai Inc., Sapporo, Japan Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI Minot Art Association, Minot, ND North Carolina Print/Drawing Society, Charlotte, NC North Texas State University – Denton Ohio University – Athens Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK Oklahoma State University, OK Quad Graphics, Milwaukee, WI Silvermine Guild of Arts, New Canaan, CT Springfield College, Springfield, MA St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY State University of New York – Fredonia State University of New York – Potsdam Trenton State College, Trenton, NJ University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ University of Colorado-Boulder University of Dallas, TX University of Louisville, Louisville, KN University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada University of North Dakota – Grand Forks University of South Dakota – Vermillion University of Tennesse – Knoxville West Chester State College, West Chester, PA Western Kentucky University – Bowling Green Private Collections Carla Leighton, New York, NY Marc Hauser, Chicago, IL Michael John Hofer, Chicago, IL Drs. Mark & Helene Connolly, River Forest, IL Jamie Kalikow, New York, NY Dianne & Jim Blanco, Chicago, IL Denise Roberge, Palm Desert, CA Tish & Philip Messinger, Creskill, NJ Brian Wesphal & Michael McVicker, Chicago, IL Ralph Privoznik, Lafayette, IN Candice Groot, Evanston, IL Shomaker/Ruud Collection, Chicago, IL Braden Berkey and Robert Bartlett, Chicago, IL Bill and Karyn Silverstein, Highland Park, IL Steve Weitz, Lovettsville, VA Mary Allice Wimmer, Madison, WI Ann & Robert Avery...

Frame measures 13.5 X 11.5 Paper measures 6.5 X 4 inches Hand signed lower right Watercolor painting of prophet or Rabbi, Judaica artwork Born in 1897, Ben-Zion Weinman celebrated h...

Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Renaissance Male Foot Figure Study Year: circa 1964 Medium: Original drawing on vélin paper Size: 23 x 18 inches Condition: Good Provenance: Est...

Kent Williams’ work melds the rigor of technical prowess with the iconoclast’s impulse to disrupt. Juxtaposing beautifully rendered classical forms with elements of abstraction and s...

Experience the profound beauty of "Mother and Child," a mixed media on cardboard artwork created in 1988 by the acclaimed artist Raymond Debiève. This stunning piece, crafted in a Cu...

Locating Your Epiglottis, mixed media collage, 15 x 10 inches (Framed size: 20.5 x 17 inches), $700 Trent Alvey is known as a mixed-media artist who uses painting, sculpture, light ...

Leon Dolice New York Harbor Nocturne Signed lower right Pastel on paper 12 x 19 inches The romantic backdrop of Vienna at the turn of the century had a life-long influence upon the...

Pastel on toned paper *ABOUT Stephen Basso Stephen Basso's highly original pastels and oil paintings are romantic, yet thought provoking fantasies. His whimsical works are alive ...

This depicts a wedding scene in a style of German Expressionism. hand signed and hand painted in watercolor. Ilya Shenker, Russian/American (1922 - ) As a soldier in World War II, he survived where millions perished. Upon returning to his home town of Odessa, felt abandoned and alone. He studied Art and Architecture in Odessa, but, one of a number of Russian Jewish artists allowed to emigrate, he left for America when the opportunity arose. He settled in New York City, a choice that has forever impacted his oeuvre. Many of his pictures depict New York cityscapes and lifestyle; however, they remain typically Russian. His subject matter often comes from memory and includes the life that he left behind, family, and friends. Drawing upon his Jewish heritage for inspiration, Shenker also paints historical events, such as "On the Eve of the Assault" in which he portrayed the last night before the destruction of Jerusalem. He has also illustrated a number of classics of Russian literature including Alexander Pushkin. His use of imagination also applies to the figures in his expressionist paintings—fictional characters such as the Spanish literary character Don Quixote make appearances in his work. He has also placed figures such as Rembrandt and Picasso in modern settings: in "Rembrandt Visiting our Family," Shenker sits his most favored artist at his family table, in a tribute to someone he describes as a "peoples artist." He is one in a long line of great Soviet Russian Judaica Jewish artists beginning with Yehuda Pen, who founded Russia's first art school for Jews in Vitebsk in 1897 continuing with his students, including Marc Chagall and El Lissitzky, Natan Altman, Leon Bakst and Robert Falk...

Lionel S. Reiss (1894 - 1988) Lobstermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts, circa 1943 Watercolor on paper Sight 17 1/2 x 23 inches Signed lower left Provenance: Private Collection, Las Vegas, Nevada In describing his own style, Lionel Reiss wrote, “By nature, inclination, and training, I have long since recognized the fact that...I belong to the category of those who can only gladly affirm the reality of the world I live in.” Reiss’s subject matter was wide-ranging, including gritty New York scenes, landscapes of bucolic Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and seascapes around Gloucester, Massachusetts. However, it was as a painter of Jewish life—both in Israel and in Europe before World War II—that Reiss excelled. I.B. Singer, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, noted that Reiss was “essentially an artist of the nineteenth century, and because of this he had the power and the courage to tell visually the story of a people.” Although Reiss was born in Jaroslaw, Poland, his family immigrated to the United States in 1898 when he was four years old. Reiss's family settled on New York City’s Lower East Side and he lived in the city for most of his life. Reiss attended the Art Students League and then worked as a commercial artist for newspapers and publishers. As art director for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he supposedly created the studio’s famous lion logo. After World War I, Reiss became fascinated with Jewish life in the ‘Old World.’ In 1921 he left his advertising work and spent the next ten years traveling in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Like noted Jewish photographers Alter Kacyzne and Roman Vishniac, Reiss depicted Jewish life in Poland prior to World War II. He later wrote, “My trip encompassed three main objectives: to make ethnic studies of Jewish types wherever I traveled; to paint and draw Jewish life, as I saw it and felt it, in all aspects; and to round out my work in Israel.” In Europe, Reiss recorded quotidian scenes in a variety of media and different settings such as Paris, Amsterdam, the Venice ghetto, the Jewish cemetery in Prague, and an array of shops, synagogues, streets, and marketplaces in the Jewish quarters of Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lublin, Vilna, Ternopil, and Kovno. He paid great attention to details of dress, hair, and facial features, and his work became noted for its descriptive quality. A selection of Reiss’s portraits appeared in 1938 in his book My Models Were Jews. In this book, published on the eve of the Holocaust, Reiss argued that there was “no such thing as a ‘Jewish race’.” Instead, he claimed that the Jewish people were a cultural group with a great deal of diversity within and between Jewish communities around the world. Franz Boas...

Leon Dolice New York Harbor Nocturne Signed lower right Pastel on paper 12 x 19 inches The romantic backdrop of Vienna at the turn of the century had a life-long influence upon the...