New York City - Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Signed (at lower right): Bailey 1977

Watercolor on handmade Richard de Bas "fleurs" paper Agnes Murray has an extensive exhibition history and she is represented in both private and public collections. Ms. Murray is a p...

Blanche Grambs developed a career in illustration and botanical studies were widely admired. However this work looks like it was made for her own enjoym...

Watercolor on handmade Richard de Bas "fleurs" paper Agnes Murray has an extensive exhibition history and she is represented in both private and public collections. Ms. Murray is a p...

Daisy Craddock's The World in a Tomato is an abstracted red and green still life of an heirloom tomato, rendered in oil pastel. Drawn from life, Craddo...

Margot Glass' elegant, silvery graphite dandelion drawings belie the rigor of their process. Once the surface of the paper is prepared, Glass uses a stylus to carefully delineate the...

*ABOUT Stephen Basso Stephen Basso's highly original pastels and oil paintings are romantic, yet thought provoking fantasies. His whimsical works are alive with boundless imagina...

Watercolor on paper

An original charcoal on paper by Benjamin Benno, American (1901 - 1980) measuring 25 x 9.5 inches. Nicely framed to 37 x 21.5 inches. By the early 1930s he had established a reputa...

Signed (at lower right): FJK

Daisy Craddock's, Amy's Colossal, is an abstracted green and orange still life of a melon, rendered in oil pastel. Drawn from life, Craddock considers her diptychs to be literal depi...

A produce portraitist, Daisy Craddock's abstract oil pastel diptychs capture the skin and flesh of her subjects. Daisy Craddock examines her fruits and ...

Signed (at lower right): FJK

An original charcoal on paper by Benjamin Benno, American (1901 - 1980) measuring 19 x 25 inches. Nicely framed to 32 x 36 inches. By the early 1930s he had established a reputatio...

The Victorian still-life painter William Hough began his career working in Coventry and later moved to London. He exhibited flower and fruit still lifes at the Royal Academy and at t...

Signed (at lower right): FJK [partial]

Unidentified/ Unknown Artist, "Untitled: Still Life with Cauliflower, Orange and Pepper", Monogrammed Still Life Watercolor on Paper, 16 x 20, Late 20th Century Colors: Brown, Blue...

An original pastel on paper by Benjamin Benno, American (1901 - 1980) measuring 19 x 25 inches. Nicely framed to 31 x 36 inches. By the early 1930s he had established a reputation ...

Mary Reilly explores the full tonal depth of graphite in her nature drawings and landscapes. She finds all of the soft subtleties of gray as she shifts seamlessly from branch to pebb...

11"x14" pen and ink painting on paper with depicting long stemmed flowers and planks of wood with a defined wood grain. This drawing pairs elements of man...

These elegant graphite dandelion drawings belie the rigor of their process. Once the surface of the paper is prepared, Glass uses a stylus to carefully delineate the lacy quality of ...

A’Court begins each painting with a broad, color plane—red, blue, pink or yellow—which acts as a table for the artist’s still life vocabulary. This practice allows her to contain the...

David Morrison has extended his brand of hyperrealism to the artificial, capturing the intricate lithography that decorates his collection of vintage Kohler wind-up birds. His drawings are often mistaken for a photograph from afar - on approach, they dissolve into a mesmerizing display of mark-making.This new body of work plays with the boundaries between organic and manufactured: the metal imposters are resplendent as they perch, pert and expectant, on wilting greenery. Yet another layer of irony, the toy birds...

In her ballpoint pen and gouache still-life, "Tree #55," Dina Brodsky uses a sketch-like approach to capture the texture of the tree bark, and the delicacy of its branches. Brodsky c...

Image dimensions: 17 x 22 inches Framed dimensions: 27 x 32 inches The artistʼs inscription on the verso side of this work reads: What amazed me about being on Daufuskie at Miss Ru...

David Morrison has extended his brand of hyperrealism to the artificial, capturing the intricate lithography that decorates his collection of vintage Kohler wind-up birds. His drawin...

Joseph Stella was a visionary artist who painted what he saw, an idiosyncratic and individual experience of his time and place. Stella arrived in New York in 1896, part of a wave of ...

11"x14" pen and ink painting on paper with depicting a flower and vines with planks of wood with nails and a defined wood grain. This drawing pairs elemen...

David Morrison has extended his brand of hyperrealism to the artificial, capturing the intricate lithography that decorates his collection of vintage Kohler wind-up birds. His drawin...

Home / Couple / Pair / Domestic / Still Life A’Court begins each painting with a broad, color plane—red, blue, pink or yellow—which acts as a table for the artist’s still life vocab...

A’Court begins each painting with a broad, color plane—red, blue, pink or yellow—which acts as a table for the artist’s still life vocabulary. This practice allows her to contain the...

"Red Tulips" is a litho-crayon, color pencil and graphite drawing by artist Emilio Sanchez. It is drawn to the paper edge and unsigned. "Emilio Sanchez Foun...

watercolor on paper, 39"x40" (artwork size) 43" x 43.75"x2" framed size This beautifully painted watercolor depicts a Canada goose standing atop a modernist chair with the natural c...

David Morrison has extended his brand of hyperrealism to the artificial, capturing the intricate lithography that decorates his collection of vintage Kohler wind-up birds. His drawin...

Mary Reilly explores the full tonal depth of graphite in her nature drawings and landscapes. She finds all of the soft subtleties of gray as she shifts seamlessly from branch to pebb...

Joseph Stella was a visionary artist who painted what he saw, an idiosyncratic and individual experience of his time and place. Stella arrived in New York in 1896, part of a wave of Italian immigrants from poverty-stricken Southern Italy. But Stella was not a child of poverty. His father was a notary and respected citizen in Muro Locano, a small town in the southern Appenines. The five Stella brothers were all properly educated in Naples. Stella’s older brother, Antonio, was the first of the family to come to America. Antonio Stella trained as a physician in Italy, and was a successful and respected doctor in the Italian community centered in Greenwich Village. He sponsored and supported his younger brother, Joseph, first sending him to medical school in New York, then to study pharmacology, and then sustaining him through the early days of his artistic career. Antonio Stella specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis and was active in social reform circles. His connections were instrumental in Joseph Stella’s early commissions for illustrations in reform journals. Joseph Stella, from the beginning, was an outsider. He was of the Italian-American community, but did not share its overwhelming poverty and general lack of education. He went back to Italy on several occasions, but was no longer an Italian. His art incorporated many influences. At various times his work echoed the concerns and techniques of the so-called Ashcan School, of New York Dada, of Futurism and, of Cubism, among others. These are all legitimate influences, but Stella never totally committed himself to any group. He was a convivial, but ultimately solitary figure, with a lifelong mistrust of any authority external to his own personal mandate. He was in Europe during the time that Alfred Stieglitz established his 291 Gallery. When Stella returned he joined the international coterie of artists who gathered at the West Side apartment of the art patron Conrad Arensberg. It was here that Stella became close friends with Marcel Duchamp. Stella was nineteen when he arrived in America and studied in the early years of the century at the Art Students League, and with William Merritt Chase, under whose tutelage he received rigorous training as a draftsman. His love of line, and his mastery of its techniques, is apparent early in his career in the illustrations he made for various social reform journals. Stella, whose later work as a colorist is breathtakingly lush, never felt obliged to choose between line and color. He drew throughout his career, and unlike other modernists, whose work evolved inexorably to more and more abstract form, Stella freely reverted to earlier realist modes of representation whenever it suited him. This was because, in fact, his “realist” work was not “true to nature,” but true to Stella’s own unique interpretation. Stella began to draw flowers, vegetables, butterflies, and birds in 1919, after he had finished the Brooklyn Bridge series of paintings, which are probably his best-known works. These drawings of flora and fauna were initially coincidental with his fantastical, nostalgic and spiritual vision of his native Italy which he called Tree of My Life (Mr. and Mrs. Barney A. Ebsworth Foundation and Windsor, Inc., St. Louis, illus. in Barbara Haskell, Joseph Stella, exh. cat. [New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994], p. 111 no. 133). Two Wood Ducks...

Love / Pink / Bouquet / Flowers / Couple / Pair / Family Angela A'Court says her soft pastel paintings are "about color, form and texture, play, interaction, and balance." Informed ...

Artist David Morrison creates hyperrealistic, yet abstracted, finely detailed pencil drawings of found natural objects, both by observing the object itself under magnification, and a...

Charles Demuth was one of the most complex, talented, and deeply sensitive artists of the American modern period. Whether he was painting floral still lifes, industrial landscapes, or Turkish bathhouses, art was, for Demuth, fraught with personal meaning. A fixture of the vanguard art scene in New York, Demuth navigated the currents of Modernism, producing some of the most exquisite watercolors and original oil paintings in twentieth-century American art. Demuth was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the only child of a well-to-do family. He had an awkward and introverted childhood shaped by a childhood illness, Perthes, a disease of the hip that not only left him permanently lame, but, as part of the “cure,” bedridden for two years in the care of his mother. This long period of incapacitation had a deep impact on Demuth, who came to see himself as an invalid, an outsider who was different from everyone else. It was perhaps during this period of indoor confinement that his keen interest in art developed. Several relatives on his father’s side had been amateur artists, and, following his convalescence, his mother encouraged his artistic pursuits by sending him to a local painter for instruction. The majority of his early pictures are of flowers, a subject for which Demuth maintained a lifelong passion. Following high school, Demuth enrolled at the Drexel Institute of Art in Philadelphia, a school renowned for its commercial arts program. He advanced through the program rapidly, and, in 1905, at the encouragement of his instructors, he began taking courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The two leading teachers then at the Academy were William Merritt Chase and Thomas Anshutz. Anshutz, himself a former student of Thomas Eakins, was well liked by his students, and is best known as the teacher of Robert Henri, John Sloan, and several of the other artists of the Ashcan School. Demuth, too, adopted a similar idiom, working in a controlled, realistic manner while at the Academy, where he remained until 1910. In 1907, Demuth made his first trip to Europe, staying in Paris. He spent time on the periphery of the art scene composed of the numerous American artists there, including John Marin and Edward Steichen. He returned to Philadelphia five months later, and immediately resumed courses at the Academy. Despite his introduction to advanced modern styles in Europe, Demuth’s work of this period retains the academic style he practiced before the trip. It wasn’t until he had summered at New Hope, Pennsylvania, in 1908 and 1911, that his style began to evolve. New Hope was a prominent American Impressionist art colony whose members were largely affiliated with the Pennsylvania Academy. Demuth dropped the conservative tone of his style and adopted a freer and more colorful palette. Although he remained based in Philadelphia, Demuth frequently went to New York during this period. Many of the same American artists of the Parisian art scene Demuth had encountered on his earlier European trip now formed the nucleus of New York’s avant-garde, which centered around Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 gallery. It wasn’t long before Demuth began to apply modernist-inspired strategies to his work. He was particularly influenced by the watercolor work of John Marin, also a former student of Anshutz, whose bold use of color in the medium Demuth freely adapted into looser washes of color. In 1912, Demuth again left for Paris, this time studying in the Académie Moderne, Académie Colorossi, and Académie Julian. In Paris Demuth met the American modernist Marsden Hartley. Hartley, a principal figure in the expatriate art circle, acted as a mentor to Demuth, and introduced him to the wide array of modern styles currently practiced in Europe. Hartley also introduced Demuth to many of the members of the Parisian avant-garde, including Gertrude Stein. Demuth was an aspiring writer, and he spent many hours in conversation with Stein. He wrote extensively during this period, and published two works shortly after his return to America. He also developed an interest in illustrating scenes from literary texts. From 1914 to 1919, Demuth produced a series of watercolors of scenes from books such as Emile Zola’s Nana and Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. Upon his return to America, Demuth settled in New York. In 1914, Demuth had his first one-man show at Charles Daniel’s gallery, which promoted emerging modern American artists, including Man Ray, Rockwell Kent, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Stuart Davis, and Max Weber. Demuth drew closer to the artistic vanguard in New York, becoming friends with many in the Stieglitz and Daniel circles, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Marcel Duchamp, Carl Van Vechten, and Edward Fiske. New York’s cosmopolitan atmosphere and active nightlife appealed greatly to Demuth. In a sketchy style well suited to watercolor, he painted many vaudeville and circus themes, as well as nightclub, café, and bathhouse scenes. Often with Duchamp, Demuth took part in an urban subculture replete with nightclubs, bars, drugs, and sexual permissiveness, which, for a homosexual artist like himself, allowed room for previously unattainable personal expression. Demuth’s pictures of sailors, bathhouses, and circus performers embody a sensual and sexual undercurrent, expressing the artist’s sense of comfort and belonging in the bohemian subculture of New York. Simultaneously, Demuth deepened his interest in floral pictures, painting these almost exclusively in watercolor. His style evolved from the broad color washes of his earlier pictures to more spare, flattened, and sinuous compositions, inspired by the drawings of Aubrey Beardsley and other artists of the Aesthetic Movement. Demuth’s flower watercolors are moody and atmospheric, sensuous and elegant, introspective and yet full of expressive power. Moreover they are beautiful, and are unequivocally among the finest still lifes in American art. Despite numerous subsequent artistic undertakings that led him in a variety of directions, Demuth never stopped painting flower pictures, ultimately adding fruits and other still-life objects to his repertoire. In 1916, Demuth began to develop a style later known as Precisionism, a form of landscape painting infused with Cubism, in which space is divided into precisely drawn geometric regions of color. Demuth first began to paint the landscape in an appropriated Cubist mode while on a trip with Hartley to Bermuda. In these early landscapes, in which the curvilinear forms of trees intersect the geometrically articulated architectural forms, Demuth explored ideas that shaped the future development of modernism in America. The full realization of Demuth’s explorations came after his return to America in 1917, when he turned his attention to industrial subjects. These works derive from a “machine aesthetic,” espoused by New York artists such as Francis Picabia, Joseph Stella, Albert Gleizes, and Duchamp, by which artists viewed machines as embodying mystical, almost religious significance as symbols of the modern world. Rather than painting the skyscrapers and bridges of New York as did most of his like-minded contemporaries, Demuth returned to his home town of Lancaster, where he painted factories and warehouses in a Precisionist idiom. The titles for these pictures are often contain literary references, which serve as clues for the viewer to aid in the decoding of the artist’s meaning. In 1923, Demuth planned a series of abstract “poster portraits” of his friends and contemporaries in the New York art and literary scene. In these “portraits,” Demuth combined text and symbolic elements to evoke the essential nature of his sitters’ distinguishing characteristics. In this fashion, he painted portraits of such artists as Georgia O’Keeffe, John Marin, and Arthur Dove. His most famous poster portrait, I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold...

Artist: Darrell Fusaro, American (1962 - ) Title: Outside with Parents from Grown Ups Year: circa 1990 Medium: Pastel on Paper, signed l.l. Size: 22 x 29.5 in. (55.88 x 74.93 cm) Fra...

Dina Brodsky uses gouache and watercolor on paper in "Brown-Hooded Parrot," to depict the multi-hued bird hanging precariously from a thin branch. The li...

Angela A'Court says her soft pastel paintings are "about color, form and texture, play, interaction, and balance." Informed by a background in fine art and textiles and 15 years of e...

Gouache and tea on masking tape Signed and dated, l.l. This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Born in New York City and educated at the Maryland Institute C...

Artist David Morrison creates hyperrealistic, finely detailed pencil drawings of found natural objects, both by observing the object itself under magnification, and also by working f...

Framed: 10.5 x 10.5 in. In her ink on paper miniature still life, Tree No. 120, July 30, 2016, Dina Brodsky replicates the texture of the tree bark in uncompromising detail. Brodsk...

In "Firewood Series No. 5," David Morrison uses colored pencils to capture the finest details of a frayed and peeling piece of birch wood. With his careful and methodical handling of...

Artist: Jose Canes (aka Dore), Spanish (1931 - ) Title: Still Life with Flowers and Bowl Medium: Acrylic and Pastel on Paper, signed 'Dore' l.r. Year: circa 1980 Size: 19.5 x 25.5 i...

"Red Peppers" is a color pencil drawing by artist Emilio Sanchez. It is drawn to the paper edge and initialed "ES" in the lower left. "Emilio Sanchez Found...

Artist David Morrison creates hyperrealistic, finely detailed pencil drawings of found natural objects, both by observing the object itself under magnification, and also by working f...

In "Firewood Series No. 2," David Morrison uses colored pencils to capture the finest details of a frayed and peeling piece of birch wood. With his careful and methodical handling of...

Artist David Morrison creates hyperrealistic, finely detailed pencil drawings of found natural objects, both by observing the object itself under magnification, and also by working f...

Artist: Richard Stenhouse, American (1944 - ) Title: Adjustable Wrench Year: circa 1970 Medium: Graphite on Paper, signed l.r. Size: 16.5 x 17 in. (...

In "Firewood Series No. 3," David Morrison uses colored pencils to capture the finest details of a frayed and peeling piece of birch wood. With his careful and methodical handling of...

Artist: Lou Fink, American (1925 - 1980) Title: Condor Year: 1976 Medium: Pencil on paper, signed and dated l.l. Size: 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 50.8 cm)

In his hyperrealist drawing, "Paper Wasp Series No. 2," David Morrison uses colored pencil to render, in overwhelming detail, an abandoned wasp nest. He crea...

Artist David Morrison creates hyperrealistic, yet abstracted, finely detailed pencil drawings of found natural objects, both by observing the object itself under magnification, and a...

Artist: Lou Fink Title: Helmet #4 Year: 1976 Medium: Pencil on paper, signed and dated l.l. Size: 20 in. x 24 in. (50.8 cm x 60.96 cm)