Paris - Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Jean MARTIN (1911-1996) Man with scarf, circa 1950 Graphite on paper Monogrammed “JM” lower right 16,5 × 14 cm A self-taught painter born in Lyon in 1911, Jean Martin developed a st...

Salvador Dali Divine Comedy : Dante and Beatrice, 1952 Original watercolor Signed in lower center Dated 1952 On vellum lined on thin board 42 x 30 cm (c. 17 x 12in) REFERENCES : Th...

Victor PROUVÉ (1858-1943) Study of a cat Charcoal on paper 15 × 14 cm frame 30 x 30 cm Provenance : artist’s family A major figure of the Nancy School, Victor Prouvé is the father o...

Paris Night 2 is a unique drawing by French contemporary artist Guillaume Chansarel. The drawing is made with ink and acrylic on kraft paper, dimensions are 28 × 36 cm (11 × 14.2 in)...

French School of the 18th Century Portrait of a gentleman Pastel on paper 25 x 18 cm Framed : 49 x 32 cm The mounting of this work is marked "Attribué à Saint Aubin", which means t...

Miguel CONDE (1939-) The fruit seller, 1998 Original ink drawing with charcoal enhancement Signed bottom left On heavy tinted vellum 79 x 60 cm (c. 32 x 26 in) Excellent condition

André-henri Dargelas (Bordeaux 1828 - Ecouen 1906) Self-portrait in profile Charcoal and stump 49 x 42 cm With frame

Siebe Johannes Ten Cate (1858-1908) A View of Toledo Signed, located and dated lower left Watercolor on paper 35.5 x 55 cm irregularly shaped in good condition, some foxings in the ...

France circa 1850 The Bohème artist in his workshop Watercolor on paper 15.5 x 21.5 cm In good condition except a small tear (visible on the photographs) on the upper right border. I...

Auguste Legras (1817-1887) Portrait of a young man in profile, signed lower right Charcoal, red and white chalks on paper 45 x 31.5 cm Framed : 52 x 39 cm This particularly evocati...

Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scevola (1871-1950) A Man writing at his desk, 18th century interior scene Pastel on paper Signed upper right 20.5 x 15.8 cm Framed under glass : 37 x 31.5 cm It is known that Guirand de Scevola was very interested in the Palace of Versailles and its Old Regime atmosphere, that he often painted it and that he participated in the Versailles Revival movement at the beginning of the century. This probably led him to paint scenes in the 18th century style, for which he was particularly well known and which are still sought after. What is striking is the modernity of the execution of our pastel, which obviously contrasts with its subject in the style of the 18th century. Guirand de Scevoal is a great colourist and he proves it here with eclat, by building up his composition with white pastel highlights, contrasting with brown and black. There is something of the northern painters in this treatment of light. All this, as always with him, is very subtle. The light radiating from the window is almost an abstract notation, but it gives meaning to this interior scene. Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola ( 1871 – 1950) was a French painter. He was student of Fernand Cormon and Pierre Dupuis...

A magnificent and sensitively treated line drawing in coloured ink, heightened with white. It depicts Argan, the hypochondriac from Molière's play of the same name. Dating from circa...

Neo classical school, France, end of the 18th Century Allegory of Time, Pen and black ink on paper, gray ink wash 30.5 x 19 cm irregularly shaped In g...

Marie LAURENCIN Lovers, 1953 Original ink and pencil drawing Signed by artist stamp On paper 24.5 x 19.5 cm (c. 9.6 x 7.6 inch) Good condition, one small tear on the right edge an...

Edouard Detaille (1848-1912) An officer of the Gendarmerie Impériale, viewed of the back bears the monogram ED but it is not visible because it is hidden by the mounting of the frame...

Paul Lecomte (1842-1920) A Flowerbed signed lower left Watercolor on paper, 15.5 x 23.5 cm Framed : 25.5 x 33 cm This is a particularly original work by Paul Lecomte. It shows his ...

If you are interested in African American Art and in Women in the Arts, I will certainly not need to introduce Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1988). Often associated with the Harlem Renaissance, her work can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Muscarelle Museum of Art, and The Phillips Collection. I am proud to present an original watercolour painting by the artist which dates from the late 1940s or early 1950s. Jones was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a father who became the first African-American to earn a law degree from Suffolk Law School. Jones's parents encouraged her to draw and paint using watercolors during her childhood. She held her first solo exhibition at the age of seventeen in Martha's Vineyard. He career began in the 1930s and she continued to produce art work until her death in 1998 at the age of 92. Her style shifted and evolved multiple times in response to influences in her life, especially her extensive travels. She felt that her greatest contribution to the art world was "proof of the talent of black artists". Her work echoes her pride in her African roots and American ancestry. In 1937, Jones received a fellowship to study in Paris at the Académie Julian, bringing her to France for the first time. The French were appreciative of her paintings and talent and Loïs Mailou Jones was thrilled at the country’s racial tolerance, so different from her reality in the United States. She summered in France annually from 1945 to 1953, sharing studio with her lifelong friend Celine Marie Tabary in Cabris, France. It was during one of these sojourns that the lovely work presented here was created. Our painting depicts the village of Tourettes sur Loup, just north of Nice, in the Provence Cote d'Azur region, about 14 miles from Cabris. Please note its similarities with her painting "Arreau, Hautes-Pyrénées" in the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her portrayal of the picturesque village nestled in a valley evokes landscape paintings by Paul Cézanne, a stylistic influence she acknowledged. Over the course of the following 10 years, Jones exhibited at the Phillips Collection, Seattle Art Museum, National Academy of Design, the Barnett-Aden Gallery, Pennsylvania's Lincoln University, Howard University, galleries in New York, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In 1952, the book Loïs Mailou Jones: Peintures 1937–1951 was published, reproducing more than one hundred of her art pieces completed in France.At the Barnett-Aden Gallery, Jones exhibited with a group of prominent black artists, such as Jacob Lawrence and Alma Thomas. These artists and others were known as the "Little Paris...

French school 18th Century, A mytholological scene with a couple, Pen and brown ink, brown ink wash on paper 11.5 x 11.5 cm, diameter of the main scene : 10,5 cm in a modern frame under glass : 33.5 x 33.5 cm This drawing by a particularly talented 18th-century artist - as yet unidentified - is notable for its mastery of pen and wash...

Gouache on a watercolor paper Eter Merkviladze is a Georgian female artist born in 1999 who lives and works in Tbilisi, Georgia. She was graduated from Robert Schuman European Schoo...

Octave Denis Victor Guillonnet (1872 - 1967) A naked young woman seated Charcoal and red chalk on thin paper transfered on cardboard 49 x 39 cm Framed : 55.5 x 45.5 cm Octave Denis...

Henri-Louis Dupray (1841-1909) Studies of military horsemen, two signed drawings Pencil on paper The first one figuring a partial study of two horsemen : 10.8 x 16.5 cm, bears a mo...

French School circa 1900 Studies of characters, four drawings in a same frame Pencil on paper Sizes of the drawings (from left to right and from top to bottom) A couple at a table ...

Lucienne Épron grew up in the Charente Maritime in France, and was awakened to art under the influence of her tutors Felix Lionnet and Victor Richard, painters from Nantes. She follo...

Early 19th Century, Portrait of a young man wearing glasses, gouache on paper 13 x 10.5 cm oval view In a vintage frame : 41.5 x 39 cm, accidents and lacks in the gilding but but...

Pierre COMBET-DESCOMBES (1885-1966) Female Nude from behind, 1928 Charcoal on paper Signed with the stamp lower right Dated "26 sept 28" and annotated lower left Size of the work : 4...

Louis Charles Auguste Couder (1789-1873) Portrait of a young man signed on the right border Pastel on paper 28.5 x 21 cm In good condition In a modern frame : 48 x 40.5 cm Augu...

Felician Myrbach (1853-1940) Poèmes magyars, Magyar poems bears the monogram "M" on the lower left, titled in the upper right Ink on paper 29,8 x 19,8 cm in good condition, the sheet is slightly yellowed In a modern frame : 33 x 23 cm This is an illustration project by Felician Myrbach for François Coppée's work, "Poèmes magyars". He leaves the space to be occupied by the text blank on the sheet and arranges his composition accordingly. It is interesting to see the artist imagine his drawing with this constraint. Felician Myrbach (also Felicien de Myrbach, Felician von Myrbach, from 1919 Freiherr von Rheinfeld) was born on 9 February 1853 in Zalishchyky, he died 14 January 1940 in Klagenfurt He was an Austrian painter, graphic designer and illustrator. He was a founding member of the Vienna Secession and the director of the Applied Arts School in Vienna (now the University of Applied Arts Vienna), and was instrumental in the creation of the Wiener Werkstätte. Myrbach's father was Franz Myrbach (1818–1882), the Administrator of Bukovina in 1865–70. His older brother Franz Xaver (1850–1919) was an economist and professor at the University of Innsbruck. He attended the Theresian Military Academy in 1868–71, graduating as a Leutnant, then at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna under August Eisenmenger. In 1875, he joined the 19th Feldjäger Battalion, and in 1877 became an Oberleutnant in the Military Geographic Institute, then, after campaigning in Bosnia in 1878, he taught drawing at the Infantry Cadet School in Vienna. He continued his artistic studies under C R Huber. In 1881, he went on military leave and moved to Paris, retiring totally from the military in 1884 as a Hauptmann, 2nd Class. He stayed in Paris until 1897, working as an illustrator, including illustrating the works of Alphonse Daudet, Victor Hugo and Jules Verne. Myrbach was a founding member of the Vienna Secession in 1897. In the same year, he became the a professor of the Applied Arts School at the Museum of Art and Industry; Arthur von Scala, another reformer Modernist, was made head of the Museum. In 1889, Myrbach became the director of the school. He brought an enthusiastic Modernist attitude and encouraged an integration between art, design and production. He added Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann to the staff, amongst other Secession artists. This would lead to the foundation of the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903. Myrbach leant more towards an aesthetic approach than von Scala, but both worked together to bring about their combined vision of successful, popular Austrian applied art. Myrbach was a voice for reform towards Modernist ideals in the School, which was started 1899 with the support of Alfred Roller, and completed by 1901.The reform of the school has been described as his "lasting merit". Ludwig Hevesi called Myrbach "probably the best [illustrator] in Vienna", partially for his work (with Moser) in the Secession magazine Ver Sacrum. Myrbach visited America on a state-funded study trip in 1904, part of which was to represent the Applied Arts School at the 1904 World...

Edouard Detaille (1848-1912) A carnival scene 21 x 16.5 cm Watercolor and brown ink on paper Signed lower right Period frame : 35 x 30 cm (lacks in...

Edouard Detaille (1848-1912) A Carnival character and a Zouave 19.5 x 12.5 cm Pen and ink on paper Signed lower left with the initials (faded) In a modern framing : 35 x 28 cm T...

Michel BRON (1938-2010) said VALENTIN Valie, dream tent, 1966 Black stone and white gouache, black ink on cardboard Signed lower left Poem entitled “Valie!” written in pen on verso, ...

GIOVANNI FRANCESCO BARBIERI, known as GUERCINO (1591-1666) Leaning Nude Man (recto); Kneeling Man, Hands Tied Behind His Back (verso) Black chalk heightened with white on light blu...

Jean-Victor ADAM known as Victor ADAM Paris, 1801 – Viroflay, 1866 Watercolor on paper 14 x 18.5 cm (30.5 x 34.5 cm with frame) Signed lower left “V. Adam” Framed Very beautiful wat...

Félix Ziem (1821-1911) Studies of landscapes and seascapes graphite on paper, 14 x 22 cm Stamp of the Ziem Estate bottom left Framed : 25 x 33 cm A rare exemple of mutiple studies ...

A stunning ensemble of fiour original mid century illustrations for Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" . Whilst sharing the modernist, stylis...

Siebe Johannes ten Cate (1858-1908) A Dune Landscape Signed lower right Pastel on paper 25.5 x 39.5 cm in good condition, very fresh, traces of pinholes in the upper corners barely...

Francois Grenier de Saint Martin (1793-1867) A Young Lady on the beach, 1829, signed and dated on the lower left watercolor on paper 17 x 19.5 cm F...

German School 19th Century, Portrait of a boy, pencil on paper 25.7 x 16 cm (view) Framed : 41.8 x 31.5 cm The style and execution are v...

Louis-Alphonse DAVID (1798-1849) Le Moulin de la Butte aux Cailles, Paris, (The Mill at la Butte aux Cailles) signed lower left Pencil and white chalk on paper 22,5 x 36 cm Framed : 40,5 x 55 cm Louis-Alphonse David is known for a relatively small body of work, including portraits and large compositions. In any case, in this work he shows a remarkable mastery of drawing, with particularly suggestive and subtle plays of light and shadow. The Butte aux Cailles, now part of the 13th arrondissement of Paris, was a hill covered in meadows, vineyards and woods, built with several windmills and overlooking the river Bièvre. It was named after Pierre Caille...

Paul Emile Lecomte (1877-1950) La Grille (The Gate) Signed lower left Watercolor on paper 27 x 37 cm In quite condition: yellowed by time, some stains Framed: 43 x 53 cm Paul Emile ...

Superb original drawing in coloured conté pencils, heightened with white on oatmeal coloured vergé paper by Claudio Bravo. The work was created during the artist's Moroccan period, a...

Paul-Emile Lecomte (1877-1950) Landscape by he river Signed lower right watercolor on paper 11.5 x 13.5 cm Framed : 23 x 29 cm Paul Emile Lecomte particularly excelled in small-...

Fontainebleau #15 is an India ink and salt on paper drawing by the French contemporary artist Yann Bagot, dimensions are 70 × 100 cm (27.6 × 39.4 in). The artwork is signed, sold un...

Lubin de Beauvais (1873-1917) L'anse de Launay, a woman at the beach, 1911 signed, dated and titled "Anse de Launay, Loguivy Ploubazlanec, Bretagne,...

This stunning Baroque study depicts a regatta boat, a type of vessel developed in eighteenth-century Venice for the regattas organized by the Serenissima during visits by royalty and princes. We propose to link this drawing to the work of Alessandro Mauro, an artist who specialized in this type of composition, as illustrated by a drawing from him at the Metropolitan Museum. 1. Description of the boat The greatest decorative fantasy reigns in this preparatory study, which blends mythological and exotic elements with references to ancient Egypt. Our drawing is probably an initial thought, destined to be refined and clarified later in pen and ink (as evidenced by the ink stain in the lower right). A quadriga of seahorses guided by Neptune stands at the stern of the boat, shown well above the waterline (perhaps to outline its empty volume). One of the seahorses is ridden by a newt, while Amphitrite lies at the feet of the sea god. The center of the boat is occupied by a vast baldachin resting on four atlantes and surmounted by a figure riding an animal (a dragon?). Three figures sit beneath the canopy, one of them on a griffin-shaped seat. This allusion to Egyptian antiquity echoes the winged sun (sometimes a symbol of the god Horus, as in the temple of Edfu in Egypt) that adorns the sides of the promontory on which this baldachin rests. Another flag-bearer figure crouches at the stern of the boat on a raised seat, on the reverse of which is a crowned mermaid whose arm, extended backwards, rests on a mascaron decorated with a radiant face (Helios?) and whose torso surmounts an elephant's head. The heads of the rowers and their oars are sketched all along the boat, whose sides are embellished with elongated naiads. 2. The Venetian regatta boats An exhibition held in 2013 at the Ca' Rezzonico (the Venetian eighteenth-century museum) paid tribute to these regatta boats through studies and prints depicting them. The regattas organized by the Serenissima in honor of visiting princes and sovereigns were among the most spectacular ceremonies in Venice. Some important artists of the 18th century contributed to the creation of these extravagant boats which were given exotic names such as bissona, malgarota or peota. The specialists in this field were Andrea Urbani and the brothers Alessandro and Romualdo Mauro. They were born into a family of theater decorators in Piedmont, but little is known about their detailed biography. Alessandro was the architect of the Dresden opera house and of the St. Samuel Theater in Venice (in collaboration with his brother Romualdo), but also worked as stagehand and set designer in Vienna, Rome and Turin. A drawing produced around 1737 from the Metropolitan Museum (7th photo in the gallery) bears witness to his activity as a regatta boat designer. This drawing is a much more elaborate version than the one presented here, having been entirely reworked in brown ink. However, a figure at the bow of the boat, executed solely in black chalk, still bears witness to a technique similar to that of our drawing. It is difficult to know whether the boat depicted in our drawing was a project for an actual boat or whether it remained in the planning stage, but the front of our boat (Neptune and the quadriga of seahorses ridden by a newt) bears several similarities to that of a parade boat depicted in the print published by Michele Marieschi entitled Regatta on the Grand Canal, between the Foscari and Balbi Palaces (last photo in the gallery). This print is dated 1741, which could confirm that our work dates from around 1740. The area between Neptune and the quadriga that precedes him on this strange paddle-boat appears to be partially submerged, confirming that the waterline of our boat was probably intended to be much lower than the one shown in our drawing. The Correr Museum’s collection holds one of the most important collection of engravings and drawings devoted to these specifically Venetian Baroque productions. These boats were intended to last the duration of a festival. Today, they are only documented by preparatory drawings or prints that testify to the sumptuousness of their decoration. This taste for regatta boats lasted throughout the Venetian eighteenth century, and the conception of regatta boats also attracted great masters such as Giambattista Tiepolo, Francesco Guardi or Giambattista Piranesi...

All the sun and the joie de vivre of the mediterranean in one large drawing! Dated 1959, the work evokes Brigitte Bardot, the French Riviera and French New Wave Cinema. The artist is Dany Lartigue, son of photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue, Dany was brought up between Paris and Saint Tropez, which was still a fisherman’s village at the time. Although as an artist Dany worked from Montmartre studio, the Cote d’Azur of his childhood remained his spiritual home, and he returned there often. In Saint Tropez, by then fashionable, he would meet his friends Juliette Greco...

A astounding portrait of a society beauty by Adele Grasset (active ca 1830-1850). With an open face and and lightly smiling lips, she is wearing a gown typical of the romantic period. Drawn in graphite and heightened with white, the drawing is dated 1836 As often with woman artists of the 18th and 19th century, there is little biographical information available on Adèle Grasset. We do know however, that she had studied with the highly prominent artist François Gérard (1770-1837) , known also as the Baron Gérard...

French School 19th Century, Portrait of a dandy, watercolor on paper 19 x 13 cm Signed (?) with pencil lower right "L ... " illegible Framed : 29 x 23 cm

Mixed media, acrylic and ink on paper Nino Devdariani is a Georgian artist born in 1970 who lives and works in Tbilisi, Georgia. Her inspiration is the perception of positive and ne...

Paul Lecomte (1842-1920) L'étang à Mortefontaine, an autumn landscape signed lower left Watercolor on paper, 29,3 x 22.5 cm In its original vintage frame : 46 x 39,5 cm titled on t...

Fernand de Launay (1838-1904) Portrait of a child, probably the daughter of the artist Lead pencil on paper Signed and dated "4 septembre 1890" on the lower left 27 x 21 cm In quite ...

Edouard Detaille (1848-1912) Soldiers, a study Black ink on a wood panel 12.5 x 13 cm Framed : 20 x 20.5 cm On the back of the panel a label inscribed "Dessin à la plume par Detaill...

Georges CONRAD (1874-1936) Tribute to Degas Ballerina : Sitting female nude Original India ink and pencil drawing Signed with the stamp of atelier On...

Georges CONRAD (1874-1936) Study of woman in bathing suit Original India ink and color pencil drawing Signed with the stamp of atelier On paper 26.5 x 20 cm (c. 10.4 x 7.8 in) Ver...

Henri Harpignies (1819-1916) A Barrier on the hedge, study Signed lower left, annotation "branches séchées sur la barrière" (dried branches on the fence) on the upper right Charcoal...

Flemish school from the beginning of the 17th century (Circle of Martin DE VOS) Drawing Pen and wash 38 x 32 cm (58 x 52 cm with the frame) Inscription "Martin de Vos" Excellent cond...

Gustave Poetzsch (1870-1950) Carriage coming from a Small Village, c. 1900 Original charcoals and pencil drawing Signed bottom right Stamp of the Estate auction sale on the back On...

Siebe Johannes ten Cate (1858-1908) Mill and sailboat in the moonlight, Signed lower rigt Pastel on paper 40 x 31 cm Framed under glass : 52 x 44 cm This landscape shows the out...

French school circa 1880 Portrait of a boy holding a book graphite and white gouache on paper 39.5 x 32 cm oval view in good condition, slightly yellowed with age In its original ova...