New York City - Drawings

Crayon drawing of a 1920s German theatrical scene by Bauhaus Artist, Hans Kessler. Hans Kessler was a student at the Bauhaus Dessau and studied under B...

An original Jansen pencil drawing depicting an architectural detail "Rosace de Plafond" page 137. Stamped: Jansen, 9 Rue Royale Paris 8e.

Niobe Greek mythology theme signed, 1938 framed (1 chip off on frame finish).

Bruno Pasquiier Desvignes (1930- ) In Cyclo Melodia, 1992. Ink on paper original Surreal style drawing in vintage cream and gold bead frame. France, 1992. Dimensions: 18" W x 14.25...

Numbered and titled drawing of female nudes, signed by artist Jonas Gerard. Number 81 of 290. This features five female forms in various positions, with perfect shading and detail. P...

Large mono-print by Harry Bertoia, initialed and numbered 1857 on rice paper set mounted in oiled walnut frame. From the Bertoia Family collection. A beautiful rendering of his sculp...

Contemporary New York artist Patrick Carrara's Garden of Silence Drawings was created in 2009. G.O.S. (2009-2010) was the first series using a mechanical pencil with a hard 5H graphi...

A pastel and watercolor portrait of the poet Marc Chesneau (1899-1980), drawn by Gaetano de Gennaro (1890-1959). Drawn on paper, signed and dated with the message "to the poet of Rev...

Burton Stanley Hasen (New York City, 1921 - 2007) abstract expressionist mixed media (watercolor and ink) on paper. A New York native, Hasen relocated to Paris to study art at the Ac...

An original Maison Jansen pencil drawing depicting an architectural detail "Rosace de Plafond Louis XIV" page 133 Stamped: Jansen, 39 Rue Royale Paris 8e

Eugene Berman (1899–1972) An untitled stage design, ink and wash on paper. French, circa 1950. Signed lower right: EB.

A compelling 19th century graphite sketch depicting a man standing with his hands tucked into his back pockets, facing the viewer. The artist captures a relaxed yet confident stance ...

An original Maison Jansen pencil drawing depicting an architectural detail "Rosace de Plafond Louis XIV" page 136 Stamped: Jansen, 9 Rue Royale Paris 8e.

During her first years in New York Blaine's work, which had previously been tightly realist, turned abstract, inspired by Mondrian, Leger and Jean Helion. At one time she was the you...

Framed Gio Ponti drawing Accompanied by Gio Ponti Archive certificate attached to verso.

An original Maison Jansen pencil drawing on velum, depicting an architectural detail "Rosace de Plafond" page 135 Stamped: Jansen, 9 Rue Royale Paris 8e

One of a series of drawings Bernard Boutet de Monvel made circa 1922 while participating in the Croisière Citroën, an expedition comprising scientists and artists who traversed the S...

One of a series of drawings Bernard Boutet de Monvel made circa 1922 while participating in the Croisière Citroën, an expedition comprising scientists and artists who traversed the S...

An original Maison Jansen pencil drawing depicting an architectural detail "Petit Panneau Empire" page 72 Stamped: Jansen, 9 Rue Royale Paris 8e

Jules Pascin (Bulgarian/French, 1885-1930), "La Loge" [The Theater Box], Etching in Colors, 1925, signed in pencil lower right, Wolseley Fine Arts Gallery label to verso, giltwood fr...

White Bunny Drawing by Oleg Cassini for Playboy October 1979, Signed. Illustration of a woman wearing a white body suit, choker, and hat. Signed by Oleg Cassini. Notice the body suit is in the shape of the head of a bunny with clever use of the 'whiskers'. Approximate Measurements: Length: 11" Width: 14" Property from the Collection of Steven Rosengard, Chicago, Illinois This original drawing was commissioned by Playboy and included in the October 1979 issue of Playboy Magazine (pages 225-227) in a feature that included works from designers such as Bill Blass, Oleg Cassini, Edith Head, Fernando Sanchez, and Monika Tilley, among others, who create their versions of the Playboy bunny costume. Candace Collins can be seen modeling some of the designs in the feature. Oleg Cassini is an icon of twentieth-century fashion. Though born to Russian aristocracy and raised in Italy, he built a fashion empire that was unmistakably American. Cassini is perhaps best known for the hundreds of designs he created for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (see images 4-8), but his achievements as a collector, connoisseur, and quintessential twentieth-century man go far beyond Camelot. In 1913, Oleg Cassini was born in Paris to the Russian diplomat Count Alexander Loiewski and Countess Marguerite Cassini, a Russian aristocrat of Italian ancestry who also had an interesting link to America. The daughter of Count Arthur Cassini, Russian Ambassador to the United States during the McKinley and Roosevelt administrations, Marguerite dazzled turn-of-the-century Washington as her father’s official hostess and left her mark on the capital city. Stationed in Denmark when the Russian Revolution toppled the czar, Ambassador Cassini and family were exiled to Switzerland before settling in Florence, Italy, where young Oleg was raised. A true Renaissance man, he spoke Russian, French, and Danish before adding Italian and English; he studied medieval and modern European military history and costume and learned to draw; he learned horseback riding, fencing, and the art of chivalry; and, most importantly, he came to understand the struggles of the Russian titled class and other European aristocrats in the wake of the Russian Revolution and World War I. Countess Cassini started a successful fashion business in Florence, and soon the talented young Oleg was sent to Paris to sketch the latest collections for recreation in Italy. In Rome in his early 20s, Cassini created fashions for high society women and designed for a few films, which planted the seed for his move to Hollywood. The drive to reinvent himself brought Cassini to America in the 1930s; in his autobiography he describes arriving nearly penniless in mid-Depression New York City where his title as an exiled Russian Count meant even less than in war-devastated Europe. Down and out, Cassini struggled for employment, having sketching skills but no knowledge of the wholesale trade required for survival in Manhattan’s Seventh Avenue fashion district. However, he excelled at making connections, and Cassini slowly entered New York society. He was soon joined by younger brother Igor (who had studied in America and travelled with the young Emilio Pucci) and his parents, the once-dazzling Countess and his father, the displaced diplomat still loyal to Russia. The family settled in Washington, D.C., and Igor worked his way up the Hearst newspaper chain to become the famous society columnist Cholly Knickerbocker. In New York, Oleg Cassini married the troubled socialite Merry Fahrney (who would go on to marry eight times), but the marriage ended in scandal for Oleg, and he decided to follow his original intention and head for Hollywood. Despite initial difficulties, Cassini gained access to Hollywood’s elite (partially through his skills on the tennis court), and was soon hired as a designer at Paramount Pictures alongside the redoubtable Edith Head. In her 1941 film debut I Wanted Wings, Veronica Lake wore a memorable Cassini design. That same year, Cassini met and married the newest young Hollywood star on the scene, the beautiful 20th Century Fox–talent Gene Tierney. With the outbreak of World War II, Cassini enlisted in the Coast Guard but was transferred to the U.S. Army Cavalry which allowed officers of foreign birth. He attended basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, and the horsemanship he learned as a boy served him greatly. He attended Officer Candidate School and reached the rank of First Lieutenant (he also became an American citizen at this time, losing his title of Count). Cassini spent several years posted at Fort Riley, where Tierney joined him before he landed a convenient military post in Hollywood. As Tierney’s career thrived (she played the title role in Otto Preminger’s Laura in 1944), she was able to assert her influence over 20th Century Fox’s head Daryl Zanuck, who hired Cassini as designer for Tierney on her 1946 film The Razor’s Edge, which proved to be a brilliant showcase for his talents. The pair separated the same year and, again seeking reinvention, Cassini re-established himself in New York City as a fashion designer. By 1950, the Oleg Cassini label was born. Combining his knowledge of Old World and modern Europe, Hollywood, the tennis courts of Palm Beach and Newport, and of course, New York City, Oleg Cassini invented a new brand of fashion that was distinctly American and of its moment. For his first collection, Cassini took to the stage, narrating the looks and imbuing the scene with his personality, unusual in an industry where the designers typically remained backstage and the models were called by number over a PA. The first collection was a smash — the president of Lord & Taylor devoted all of their storefront windows to his designs — and by 1955 sales had reached $5,000,000. Oleg Cassini’s career had turned a very positive corner. Cassini spent the early 1950s traversing the country, personally selling his collections to department stores in the interior, something his predecessors had never done, and moving between the Hollywood and New York scenes. Cassini’s brother Igor coined the term “the Jet Set” for this generation that constantly flew from New York to Los Angeles (then a ten-hour flight), Las Vegas, Paris, Rome, and the Riviera. In 1954, Cassini set out to woo Grace Kelly and sent her roses every day. The two were briefly engaged before her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco. In December 1960, Cassini’s career-defining opportunity came when he was chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy to design her fashions for the White House. Cassini had long known Joe Kennedy and his war-hero son John, and had first met Jacqueline Bouvier before her marriage in the early 1950s. Invited by President-Elect Kennedy to meet Jacqueline at Georgetown Hospital (she had just given birth to son John Jr.) to present to her drawings of potential dresses and First Lady looks, Cassini worked furiously to prepare a new line for the First Lady. Mrs. Kennedy had always had her clothes made by the top French couturiers of the day, but for the White House she wanted an American designer. Cassini wrote in his autobiography that he told the First Lady: “‘You have an opportunity here,’ I said, ‘for an American Versailles.’ She understood completely what I was trying to communicate; she began to talk excitedly about the need to create an entirely new atmosphere at the White House. She wanted it to become the social and intellectual capital of the nation” (Oleg Cassini, In My Own Fashion, 1987, p. 327). Mrs. Kennedy loved Cassini’s design for a gown to wear to the Inaugural Gala (she had already ordered a dress from Bergdorf’s for the Inaugural Ball), and Cassini was selected as the First Lady’s designer and was soon dubbed the “Secretary of Style.” From 1960 to 1963, Oleg Cassini would design over 300 items for Mrs. Kennedy, creating the “Jackie Look” that contributed not only to a fashion revolution but also the dawn of a new age. Cassini wrote that “Jackie played a very active role in the selection of her clothes. She loved brilliant colors — pistachio, hot pink, yellow, and white among others. Her sense of style was very precise; she would make editorial comments on the sketches I sent her. She always knew exactly what she wanted; her taste was excellent” (Oleg Cassini, In My Own Fashion, 1987, p. 334). After the Camelot years, Cassini’s business flourished and grew into a major industry; his name appeared on everything from couture to tennis-, sport-, and swimwear, car interiors, housewares, and perfume. He collected beautiful and rare artwork, arms and armor, and antique furniture, and lived the lifestyle projected by his image. From this period onward, Cassini also came to live in important homes. Of his Gothic Gramercy Park townhouse on Manhattan’s 19th Street he would write imaginatively, “I walked into the foyer and immediately fell in love. It was a place unlike any other in New York, a sixteenth-century Dutch house transported brick by brick from Europe by the Wells Fargo family in the early twentieth century. There was a vaulted, twenty-foot ceiling in the living room, leaded windows, elegantly carved wood paneling...

Confident and masterful, this drawing of a male nude leaning back into a chair, fast asleep, with his arms thrown in every direction, was made by Allyn Cox, probably as a study for one of his murals. Cox spent 20 years painting and restoring murals at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. starting in 1952; among his accomplishments was painting the Frieze of American history and restoring the apotheosis of Washington in the Rotunda. He also designed murals for three first-floor corridors in the House wing, now called the Cox Corridors. Here he uses pencil on paper to demonstrate his mastery of the human figure. He was the son of Kenyon Cox...

Contemporary abstract painting in gouache and pencil on paper in a black rectangular frame (Untitled, 2010. Tom John) 12 more similar pieces: JOH6201-JOH6212.

Original watercolor opera costume design by Charles Betout, the principal costume designer for the Comédie-Française in Paris from 1919 til his death in 1939. Betout was renowned for...

19th Cent print of various views of an Egyptian sphinx "Theves, Karach" in an ebonized and gilt frame

Mixed Media Art on Paper

Exquisitely drawn in pencil and a feather, light ink wash, creating a pale, ghostly image that is refined and haunting, this full length male nude was accomplished by Cecil de Blaquiere Howard...

20th Century Oil Pastel on Paper Sketch by Ralph Dubin

Dated mid-20th century industrial hand drawing, highly collectible Italian modern Product Design for a lacquer red desk light project, realized without a ruler in pastels and gouache...

One of a series of drawings Bernard Boutet de Monvel made circa 1922 while participating in the Croisière Citroën, an expedition comprising scientists and artists who traversed the S...

During her first years in New York Blaine's work, which had previously been tightly realist, turned abstract, inspired by Mondrian, Leger and Jean Helion. At one time she was the you...

James Joseph Kearns (b. 1924) etching, signed at dated "1957." Depicts a man with hollow eyes and a despondent expression with a hand outstretched. Similar to many of his works, ther...

Pencil Sketch of Bull of Paper

Watercolor with pencil and ink of a young woman dressed in a traditional Russian folk costume designed for the Ballets Russes. In addition to designing co...

This acrylic on paper artwork by Israeli artist Bazooka Joe is a striking piece that blends surrealism, street art aesthetics, and underground comic influences. The composition featu...

Dated mid-20th century industrial hand drawing, highly collectible Italian modern Product Design for a lacquer yellow desk light project, realized without ruler in pastels and gouach...

This lot of four pencil drawings by Charles Domsky featur the artist's abstract work with geometric figures and shapes done with colored pencils. The Philadelphia native found his ar...

Sergei Firer (Russian, b. 1954). Reflect II and III etchings. Both pencil numbered 82/90 LL, pencil titled lower center and pencil signed LR. Size: Sight: 7.5" x 9" framed: ...

Mixed Media Figure Sketch on Paper

One of a series of drawings Bernard Boutet de Monvel made circa 1922 while participating in the Croisière Citroën, an expedition comprising scientists and artists who traversed the S...

Mixed Media Sketch on Paper

A richly-hued abstract work on paper by the artist M.P. Landis. The artist's abstract paintings and works on paper are the type that take form through the artist's layering of materi...

This drawing by Earl Hubbard (1923-2003) was made in 1961. It depicts a woman in a stark, simplified form, almost a complete silhouette. The work is mixed...

Oil Pastel Figure Sketch on Paper by Edith Isaac-Rose

The title of this original illustration by the artist George Venson is "Jumping Ship: An Illustration of the Way I See Things Right Now". It is a...

Beautifully framed original artwork, Untitled, ink and gouache on paper, 7" x 10" sheet, by Martin Kline, American 1993 signed and dated on lower corner. Martin Kline’s (b. 1961) ...

Oil Pastel on Paper by Edith Isaac-Rose

Charcoal abstract of geometric forms on paper (1959 signed: MICHAEL LOEW).      Though the painter Michael Loew is today best known for his colorful and gestural Abstract Expression...

Original watercolor opera costume design by Charles Betout, the principal costume designer for the Comédie-Française in Paris from 1919 til his death in 1939. Betout was renowned for...

An energetic, richly hued abstract work on paper by the artist M.P. Landis. The artist's abstract paintings and works on paper are the type that take form through the artist's layeri...

A. Licola. Italian Dove Sketches. Charming annotated studies of Italian doves/pigeons newly framed. Italy, 20th Century. Dimensions: 13.5" W x 16.5" H x 1'D; sight:  7.5" x 10.5"

A richly-hued abstract work on paper by the artist M.P. Landis. The artist's abstract paintings and works on paper are the type that take form through the artist's layering of materi...

An energetic abstract work on paper by the artist M.P. Landis. The artist's abstract paintings and works on paper are the type that take form through the artist's layering of materia...

This acrylic on paper painting by the Israeli artist Bazooka Joe exhibits a surreal and pop-inspired aesthetic. The portrait features a stylized face painted in muted gray tones, wit...

Figure Sketch on Paper

Mixed Media on Paper by Edith Isaac-Rose

Framed drawing of a Torso by Greek born artist Alexandra Athanassiades (b. 1961). Composition: Charcoal and gouache on distressed paper. Property fro...

French (late 19th century) pencil illustrations of equestrian performers on horseback in two panels titled "Double Equestrian" in a carved giltwood frame with white canvas matting. (...

Contemporary abstract painting in gouache and pencil on paper in a black rectangular frame (TOM JOHN, 2010) (12 more similar pieces: JOH6200-JOH6212)

Oil Pastel on Paper by Edith Isaac-Rose