Pennsylvania - Wall Decorations

Vladimir Clavijo Telepnev is known for his captivating photography, and having a signed original piece enhances its significance. Inscribed Владимир Клавихо-Телепнев translates to Vl...

This extraordinary set of 61 prints on 34 separate sheets of rag paper by Maurice L'Hoir were made in connection with the 1945 publication of Lysistrata, the Classic Greek poem that offers a licentious take on the war between the sexes. Each of the prints is a woodcut that was inked by hand in a brilliant palette of deep red, mossy green, deep black and warm fleshy tones by the artist Each of these images were created for the book, only 33 copies of which were made. However, this set is independent of the book and therefore each print is unbound and easy to frame. The Greek poem famously describes the determination of Greek women to refuse all sex with men until they agreed to stop fighting. L'Hoir was famed for his book illustrations during the Art Deco period; he also designed a poster for Moulin Rouge in the 1920s. (The Lysistrata book is also available, separate from this set of prints.).

Striking and rare, this glinting charger featuring a penguin standing atop an Art Deco ledge is composed of a silvery aluminum finished in a subtly iridescent glaze. This piece, alon...

A wonderful example of Art Deco painting by William Hentschel, this piece also reflects the influence of Surrealism in the stylized arch that seems to be made of fabric, and the plat...

This painting of a Black male nude, executed in rich, brilliant shades of burnt sienna, reddish brown, blue and green, was painted by a Brown County, I...

Dominated by an elegant female nude embracing a Greek lyre, this spectacular framed Art Deco glazed panel shows the period's fascination with Classical imagery interpreted in a modern way. Awash in tones of rose and blue highlighted in a metallic gold glaze, both the nude's hair and robes are depicted as flowing waves of dreamy color. The Greek artist...

Perhaps set on or inspired by the gorgeous, sun-bleached island of Delos in Greece, this 1954 painting by Joseph Hanson -- the British-American figural painter -- depicts a kneeling ...

This exceptional painting by Charles Euphraise Kuwasseg is a true masterpiece. The artist's use of oil on canvas creates a unique texture and depth that enhances the beauty of the pi...

A classic example of WPA-period mural painting, this study was painted by Ralf Henricksen in the 1930s, probably for the U.S. Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, north of Chicago....

One of Germany's great inter-war Expressionists, strongly influenced by Cubism, Josef Eberz painted a number of brilliantly-hued, high-energy paintings as well as a series of prints ...

Peripatetic and brilliant, Hari Kidd, the painter who created this brilliant still life was associated with Philadelphia, Detroit, Key West and Tucson, but h...

This aluminum sign was acquired from the Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, New York. The large rectangle shaped sign is dark green with white lettering displaying "Belmont Park". The...

Beautifully realized, this depiction of a male nude leaning against a rock formation shows the stylization characteristic of the Modern or Art Deco movement of the 1920s, as well as indications of fractured surfaces and tilted planes associated with Cubism. The artist was known for his Surrealist works in the late 19th century, and was associated with the mystical, religiously-saturated Salons de Rose...

"#9 Chinese Acrobats" - confetti of colors - Acrylic, oil, metal leaf and paint on canvas, signed lower right back and dated '89 - Framed dimensions: 31 in x 25 in.

Large and extremely rare, this substantial Art Deco bowl depicts the young Hercules performing one of his twelve labors: capturing the Hind of Ceryneia and bringing it alive to Eurys...

Daniel Belliard Enamel on Copper Small Framed Painting Yellow Countryside. Item features enamel on copper painting, wooden frame, artist signatu...

A cross between Grant Wood and Paul Cadmus, this remarkable American regional scene painting depicts a young man in a white t-shirt walking a group of cows down a country lane with p...

One of a series of Art Deco paintings made by Eugene Savage in the 1930s to visualize and dramatize great works of Classical music, this painting celebrates "Afternoon of a Faun" by Claude Debussy, which later inspired the great ballet by Serge Diaghilev for the Ballet Russes. Savage, who became celebrated for his ambitious allegorical murals across America, packs the panting with a vividly-hued landscape populated by a series of mythological figures, including a drunken faun...

A very interesting and unusual Lancaster Bridge Original Oil Painting by artist J. Earle Pfoutz. The painting is produced on artist board and comes complete with what appears to be an original artist decorated/painted frame. The painting is signed on the front by the artist. Overall frame Size approximately 42″ wide x 2″ deep x 30″ high J. Earle Pfoutz had a long and distinguished career as a self trained artist. More can be learned about him from reading this article produced by Gary Hawbaker at askART Earle Pfoutz Born: 1891 – Lancaster, Pennsylvania Died: 1957 Known for: Landscape, figure, still life painting An image of J Earle Pfoutz Biography from the Archives of askART J. Earle Pfoutz (John Earle Pfoutz) – (Oct 23, 1891-Nov 9, 1957) “A seventh generation descendant of a Swiss family which arrived in America early in the 17th Century, J. Earle Pfoutz was born in Lancaster, PA, son of John Bachman and Susan Allison Pfoutz. He painted houses for a living and pictures for a life. A self-taught artist, described as a primitive, he was distinctive for his vivid imagination and bold color application. He painted hundreds of Lancaster County scenes. Pfoutz traveled through the hills near his home and along the Susquehanna River in search of scenes. He began painting with a brush when he was fourteen, but added a palette knife after suffering an eye injury. He completed eighth grade in the Lancaster Public Schools and there his formal education ended. However, the Department of Public Instruction of the State of Pennsylvania thought so highly of his work as an artist that officials certified him as an art instructor and he taught for a year in the York (PA) public schools. He also was an art instructor under the program for disabled veterans, sponsored by the Veterans Administration, when he gave private instruction to veterans in their homes. In 1947, J. Earle Pfoutz finally earned national recognition as an artist. His painting, Opalescent October, was chosen by the Museum of Art of Dayton Ohio, to travel all over the country for a year with its Group Exhibition. Described as a “very colorful, calm scene, iridescent in color, sweeping in design,” the painting started on its journey around the country early in 1948. In an interview with the Sunday News (Lancaster, PA – Nov 2, 1947), Pfoutz stated that he didn’t know whether he was a “primitive” or an “impressionist.” No master taught him, no school channeled his style. “Sometimes I didn’t eat, but I always managed to paint,” he recalled. Many of his hundreds of canvases -most of them not sold, but given away to friends – found their way to other parts of the country. “I never remember the day when I did not love color,” Pfoutz said. “I was about 12 years old when I saw my first palette – a string of different colored paint paddles that graced the stores of that day. As a boy I had two great desires. One was to be able to eat all the strawberry jam I could, and the other to possess a string of those beautiful paint paddles. Well, I’ve got my fill of jelly, but I’ve never yet got my fill of beautiful colors.” In 1950, Pfoutz’s one man show of paintings made front page headlines in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal: “Most of the twenty oil paintings on exhibition are landscapes, although there are several interesting figure studies. Colors again, as in all Pfoutziana are rich and full-bodied, but for the most part not as startlingly as in some of the earlier work. Most of the paintings were done during the past year, and also reveal the painter’s characteristic heavy impasto technique, in which the rich swirls of paint carry their own message. Among the figures, The Banjo Picker, and The Magician, are the most provocative. Both are character studies; the first being of a tramp musician whose drab clothing is set-off by a luminous aqua blue background. Modern in feeling and treatment is The Magician, a clown-faced wizard whose spinning ball in the air suggests the fourth dimension – space. The use of the primary colors in this picture serves to emphasize the theme effectively. A large colorful landscape, Opalescent October, depicting rolling hills against a late afternoon sky is new to Lancastrians, as it has just returned from Dayton, Ohio, where it hung in the Dayton Art Institute. Another landscape with soft dreamy colors is Fantasie D’Autumne, and one of the loveliest pictures in the show. Pennsylvania Dutch Country is another with eye appeal, and was one of the works which was hung in the Old Customs House in Philadelphia during Pennsylvania Week, and before that in a collection of Pfoutz work in the same place. In deep contrast to the sunny skies and brilliant foliage of many of the pictures, is the somewhat morbid Worry, in which the center of interest is a tremendous rat. This, the painter explains, was symbolic of 1948 in China, which was ‘The Year of The Rat’ in the Chinese calendar. Background material for the picture was furnished to Pfoutz by author Pearl Buck. Other pictures include Autumn Prelude, Miners Village, painted at Cornwall, PA; Humid Day, Saint Peters Kierch, at Middletown, PA; Lady Pfoutz, inspired by the painter’s wife; Sun Flowers, Sentimental Journey, Gyne, Luzon Woman, Old Bridge, The Cow Path. Lemures, based on Roman mythology, and Ethiopian, painted from an ebony wood carving from Kenya Province, S. Africa.” In 1953, Pfoutz was installed as President of the Lancaster County Art Association. A. Z. Kruse, New York City artist, writer and member of the faculty of the Brooklyn College and the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, Manhattan, was the guest speaker. In January of 1953, thirty-five Pfoutz oils were exhibited at the Old Custom House in Philadelphia, PA under the sponsorship of the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation. Several Lancaster County landscapes and covered bridges were included as well as Katy, a Pennsylvania Dutch scene. Symbolic paintings included End of the Second Day, the artist’s visualization of the second coming of Christ, and Twilight, typifying the grief of mothers of all lands for sons lost in battle. In June of 1953, a Pfoutz oil made history in Lancaster. From the Lancaster New Era: “For the first in local art history, a painting has been withdrawn from an exhibition because of objections from viewers and hostesses serving at the show. The painting, Jeune Fille, a standing nude done by Pfoutz, was one of the paintings in the annual spring exhibition of the Art Association and had become the center of the controversy. Pfoutz said he took the painting down… ‘graciously but reluctantly.’ ‘From an artistic standpoint, there is nothing offensive about the painting,’ Pfoutz said. ‘This community just wants its nudes with clothes on.’ “It is most brilliant in color, and because it is so brilliant I thought it would make a nice lively spot for the show. This is the first time I’ve had to take a picture off the walls. I substituted a seascape for it.’ Pfoutz said he felt the painting brought a lot of viewers to the show because it was so controversial. It had never been exhibited before. ‘If this had been shown in a metropolitan city,’ he commented, ‘people wouldn’t have given it a second glance. But the viewpoint here is more conservative, even though I don’t think moderns would have minded.’ He said he felt the painting was neither ‘objectionable nor pornographic,’ but had complied with the wishes of fellow members of the Art Association who telephoned him to relay the protests they had received. The art controversy was the first to arise here publicly since the showing of Amish Grandmother, an oil by William Gropper which was part of the Gimbel Pennsylvania exhibit at the Griest Building several years ago. — Numerous viewers of Amish Grandmother, [a painting showing an Amish woman holding a white goose], expressed themselves quite vocally, calling it an affront to the Plain Folk. But it stayed on exhibit throughout the length of the Gimbel show. Pfoutz expressed no rancor, implying that if Gropper could take it so could he.” After his death, there were several shows of Pfoutz’ work organized by his son J. Earle, Jr. J. Earle, Jr. also saw to it that President Eisenhower would receive an oil called The Cow’s Path. The president first saw the painting in 1950 when, as president of Columbia University, he visited Lancaster to address a student assembly at Franklin and Marshall College. After his address was over, the then Gen. Eisenhower stopped at the Fackenthal Library on the campus to view an exhibition of Pfoutz’s paintings. The Cow’s Path intrigued him. For some time, as his aides fumed to get him back on his time schedule, Eisenhower and Pfoutz talked, as artist to artist. Prior to his death, Pfoutz requested that The Cow’s Path be given to the President if he wanted it. The painting was presented to Ike at the White House in November of 1959. Mrs. Eisenhower owned a Pfoutz painting titled, In the Manor. Though house painting was his livelihood, he worked for Millersville State Teachers College (now a university) for a time during World War II, and called himself “the Chimney Sweep of MSTC.” During that period he knocked out a dizzying canvas in the surrealist style (he thought it was terrible) and got into the campus newspaper when one of the students spotted it. Earle Pfoutz was not the humble, downtrodden artist, not the Douanier Rousseau type at all. As he developed his skill and style through the years, he also fashioned a resilient confidence in himself as an artist. Whether he was building his own home (he built two) or painting one for somebody else, he never lost faith in his ultimate recognition—though he was never sure he would live to see it. Whether he was working as a rigger for a hoisting company, in the Stehli Silk Mill of Lancaster, carving Cloister-style chairs, decorating old chests, cementing bricks from the old Safe...

Beautifully and sensitively painted, this WPA-period portrait of a young man in an unusual setting -- perhaps a boiler room or plumbing closet -- was executed by Dorothy Van Loan...

One of the strongest Mid-Century portraits we have seen, this depiction of a young man in a vivid, emerald-green sweater was painted by Paul Zimmerman, an important artist who grew u...

Brilliantly painted in rich jewel tones -- emerald, sapphire and canary -- this high style Art Deco-cum-Fauvist painting depicts a female bather, swathed in a large towel, in conversation with a muscled male rower, high above the beach below. Sunbathers under their umbrellas can be seen in the distance, and above the couple is a vivid sky with bolts of blue and coral above hills of green, yellow and pink. The artist, Marius Woulfart...

Suffused with the soft, rich colors that Jacques Azéma was known for, this view of a Moroccan landscape ("Les Champs" in French) includes a seated male y...

A very interesting and unusual Cornwall Iron Banks Original Oil Painting by artist J. Earle Pfoutz. The painting is produced on canvas and comes complete with what appears to be an original artist decorated/painted frame with later touch ups. The Cornwall Iron Banks Original Oil Painting is signed on the front by the artist and appears to be dated 1948 on the rear. Known for his unusual subjects Pfoutz outdid himself with this effort, capturing the workings of one of the largest iron ore mines in the eastern United States, located in Cornwall PA. This mine and others in the area that came before it, played a crucial role in the development of the United States of America from the Revolutionary War, through the industrial revolution up until the 1970’s when the mine was flooded during Hurricane Agnes and closed operations. Overall frame Size approximately 26″ wide x 2″ deep x 30″ high J. Earle Pfoutz had a long and distinguished career as a self trained artist. More can be learned about him from reading this article produced by Gary Hawbaker at askART Earle Pfoutz Born: 1891 – Lancaster, Pennsylvania Died: 1957 Known for: Landscape, figure, still life painting An image of J Earle Pfoutz Biography from the Archives of askART J. Earle Pfoutz (John Earle Pfoutz) – (Oct 23, 1891-Nov 9, 1957) “A seventh generation descendant of a Swiss family which arrived in America early in the 17th Century, J. Earle Pfoutz was born in Lancaster, PA, son of John Bachman and Susan Allison Pfoutz. He painted houses for a living and pictures for a life. A self-taught artist, described as a primitive, he was distinctive for his vivid imagination and bold color application. He painted hundreds of Lancaster County scenes. Pfoutz traveled through the hills near his home and along the Susquehanna River in search of scenes. He began painting with a brush when he was fourteen, but added a palette knife after suffering an eye injury. He completed eighth grade in the Lancaster Public Schools and there his formal education ended. However, the Department of Public Instruction of the State of Pennsylvania thought so highly of his work as an artist that officials certified him as an art instructor and he taught for a year in the York (PA) public schools. He also was an art instructor under the program for disabled veterans, sponsored by the Veterans Administration, when he gave private instruction to veterans in their homes. In 1947, J. Earle Pfoutz finally earned national recognition as an artist. His painting, Opalescent October, was chosen by the Museum of Art of Dayton Ohio, to travel all over the country for a year with its Group Exhibition. Described as a “very colorful, calm scene, iridescent in color, sweeping in design,” the painting started on its journey around the country early in 1948. In an interview with the Sunday News (Lancaster, PA – Nov 2, 1947), Pfoutz stated that he didn’t know whether he was a “primitive” or an “impressionist.” No master taught him, no school channeled his style. “Sometimes I didn’t eat, but I always managed to paint,” he recalled. Many of his hundreds of canvases -most of them not sold, but given away to friends – found their way to other parts of the country. “I never remember the day when I did not love color,” Pfoutz said. “I was about 12 years old when I saw my first palette – a string of different colored paint paddles that graced the stores of that day. As a boy I had two great desires. One was to be able to eat all the strawberry jam I could, and the other to possess a string of those beautiful paint paddles. Well, I’ve got my fill of jelly, but I’ve never yet got my fill of beautiful colors.” In 1950, Pfoutz’s one man show of paintings made front page headlines in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal: “Most of the twenty oil paintings on exhibition are landscapes, although there are several interesting figure studies. Colors again, as in all Pfoutziana are rich and full-bodied, but for the most part not as startlingly as in some of the earlier work. Most of the paintings were done during the past year, and also reveal the painter’s characteristic heavy impasto technique, in which the rich swirls of paint carry their own message. Among the figures, The Banjo Picker, and The Magician, are the most provocative. Both are character studies; the first being of a tramp musician whose drab clothing is set-off by a luminous aqua blue background. Modern in feeling and treatment is The Magician, a clown-faced wizard whose spinning ball in the air suggests the fourth dimension – space. The use of the primary colors in this picture serves to emphasize the theme effectively. A large colorful landscape, Opalescent October, depicting rolling hills against a late afternoon sky is new to Lancastrians, as it has just returned from Dayton, Ohio, where it hung in the Dayton Art Institute. Another landscape with soft dreamy colors is Fantasie D’Autumne, and one of the loveliest pictures in the show. Pennsylvania Dutch Country is another with eye appeal, and was one of the works which was hung in the Old Customs House in Philadelphia during Pennsylvania Week, and before that in a collection of Pfoutz work in the same place. In deep contrast to the sunny skies and brilliant foliage of many of the pictures, is the somewhat morbid Worry, in which the center of interest is a tremendous rat. This, the painter explains, was symbolic of 1948 in China, which was ‘The Year of The Rat’ in the Chinese calendar. Background material for the picture was furnished to Pfoutz by author Pearl Buck. Other pictures include Autumn Prelude, Miners Village, painted at Cornwall, PA; Humid Day, Saint Peters Kierch, at Middletown, PA; Lady Pfoutz, inspired by the painter’s wife; Sun Flowers, Sentimental Journey, Gyne, Luzon Woman, Old Bridge, The Cow Path. Lemures, based on Roman mythology, and Ethiopian, painted from an ebony wood carving...

"Floating Man," study for ceiling mural with male nude by Allyn Cox, 1920s This dramatic drawing, which demonstrates the artist's mastery of the human fi...

Making liberal use of brilliant colors, dominated by grey-blue and deep pink, this painting depicts a seated harlequin/musician figure with a faint, knowing smile, contrasting with t...

"Frutta" painting, depicting a still life of pears, walnuts, and persimmons. Surrounded by wood gesso frame. - Oil on board, signed on rear of board. - Framed dimensions: 19.5 i...

Double sided street sign made of steel in a green, black, and white color. The sign displays "Novedades Quintana Roo, 25 Av. Norte" which translates to "Quintana Roo News, 25 Av. Nor...

Painted with high good humor and a measure of slyness, this famed illustration of Jack Sprat and his cat with basket in hand, was painted in watercolor and gouache by Swedish-America...

Beautifully composed and subtly colored in hues of pale, pale blue and rusty red, this frieze-like composition features two female figures in Classical Greek robes...

Snowy Creek, creek with snow and trees - signed lower right - Unframed.

Arguably the greatest work of Georg Pauli, one of Sweden's leading Modernist painters in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, this Art Deco-Cubist work depicts the great Nike sculpture on the grounds of the home of Prince Eugens on Cape Waldemar in central Stockholm (known in Swedish as Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde). The Prince was a great collector of modern art in the early 20th century, and today his home is a museum and much-beloved landmark in Stockholm. This painting shows the sculpture in the foreground, and in the background is a jumble of houses, factory chimneys and institutional buildings, the Swedish flag...

"Kalkberg", mountain covered in snow - Oil on canvas, signed lower right - Unframed.  

Designed and executed by Ernest d'Hossche, one of Belgium's leading Art Deco artisans in the 1930s and 40s, this very rare wall plate features a nude female figure holding an upright...

At once fantastical and earthbound, this remarkable drawing depicts three seminude goddesses -- perhaps the Three Graces -- dancing to a tune provided by a nude Pan figure seated on ...

Dated 1945, just before the end of World War II, this important and powerful painting by John De Forest Stull shows an embracing mother and father stand...

A large oil on masonite painting depicting a city view painting featuring a clock tower. Unsigned. Frame: 52.5" x 40"

Clearly created by a master, this pencil drawing of a nude male figure is signed and dated 1947. The diffused lines and areas of rubbed pencil and erasure give this drawing a comple...

This academic drawing was executed by Joe Waano Gano, an important Native American artist with a prestigious career in California in the 1930s and 1940s. Born a Cherokee Indian...

Impressionist large Provincetown Massachusetts - A sunny and prideful morning walk in Provincetown. Birds soaring over the hill, with sail boats drifting in the wind below. Centering...

This elegant and lovely depiction of a shepherd with his staff, clearly influenced by classic Greek painting and pottery, was made by François-Louis Schmied, one of France's two lead...

"Sunkissed House" painting. Depicting a large sun kissed house in Mediterranean. - Oil on Canvas, signed lower left - Unframed

A year after André Margat received a gold medal for his lacquerwork at the Exposition Universelle of 1937, the artist painted this beautiful and expressiv...

Sensual and sinuous, this very rare print by an American sculptor depicts a nude female figure who is embraced by her nude male lover from below, the male serving as the trunk for th...

Stunningly executed in deep tones of cobalt blue, burnt sienna, oxblood and jet black, this depiction of a partially nude male youth standing at an open window at sunset was painted ...

Striking and handsome, this depiction of a Bedouin in his traditional robe has the color and intensity one would associate with the fierce sun and heat of North Africa. The painting ...

European commercial double-sided sign made of steel in a black and white color. The sign displays "A la Recherche Du Passe" in French, which translates to "In search of the past" in ...

A brilliant and arresting example of high-style Art Deco painting from the late 1920s, this exotic scene of a female figure -- no doubt a royal or divine personage -- riding an elephant, accompanied by a procession of retainers and servants, was painted by Cesare Bentivoglio...

God's Gift Watercolor 1915. Beautiful and Emotional Masterpiece signed by E. Lochlilar

Finely detailed in ink on paper, this drawing of a nude male figure's back side was made by John Kenneth Green, a prolific and successful English artist who is best known for his portraits. Green came from Suffolk, England, and won a scholarship to study at the Slade School of Fine Art, after which he traveled and exhibited widely, including a trip to America in the early 1930s which led to an exhibition at Feragil Galleries in New York. He had a place in a circle of gay artists, and in 1943 painted a lovely portrait of one of England's foremost gay couples -- Benjamin Britten...

"Cuxhaven" painting - oil on wood, estate stamp on back. - Boardwalk Harbor Scene with field Measure: 12"wide x 8" wide.

Beautifully sculpted, cast and finished, this pair of 1930-vintage Swedish Grace Bas relief sculptures depict nude allegorical figures, one male and one female, each finished in a wa...

This is an original 1936 painting of Berlin by Gordon Bunshaft, the influential modernist architect best known for his work with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). It is a rare and in...

Beautifully sculpted and -- appropriately -- cast by the General Bronze Corporation to honor its retiring President in 1934, this handsome Art Deco panel depicts three workers pourin...

Antique Persian Iznik Qajar Style Ceramic Pottery Oval Tile Figure in Blue Garb with Bird C3. Item features original crackle glazed finish, heavy ceramic pottery construction, very i...

Painted on silk velvet fabric in the late 1920s by Rudolf Gowenius, a Swedish painter who settled in Paris, this remarkable scene shows a circus or carnival acrobat at the center, hi...

Although Carl Hoeckner is best known for his sombre prints and paintings protesting the brutality of war, he is also known for a series of murals in public spaces across Chicago and the Midwest, so this brilliantly-hued painting may have served as a mural study. Here the artist depicts a long procession of figures in jewel-toned garments, their faces careworn and bent in prayer, facing toward a priest surrounded by a group of choir boys...

Vividly painted in tones of carmen, ivory and sapphire, and depicting a turbaned woman with fashionably short hair and bedecked with strands of diamonds, sapphires and rubies, this p...

Taking its cues from the broken planes and tilted objects of Cubist masters such as Braque and Gris, as well as the polished art of the Art Deco movement, this brilliant painting sho...

Sumputous floral still life by Pearl Van Sciver, (1896 – October 10, 1966) born in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pearl's life is reflected in her oil p...