USA - Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Medium: Pencil, Charcoal and Orange Wash on Paper Signature: Signed "O'Neill" Upper Left Sight Size 24.00" x 19.50", Framed 35.00" x 29.00" Illustration for the poem "Baby's First Christmas" by Margaret G. Hayes, published in Harper's Bazar, December 1910. ​​​​​​​The artwork is also reproduced within Walt Reed's The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000 (Society of Illustrators, 2001) on page 154. Exhibited: Brandywine River...

A 1950s pastel drawing of a young boy by artist Francis Chapin. Provenance: Estate of the artist. Image size: 16" x 15". Artwork is not matt...

Raymond Debieve (1931-2011) Born in northern France as a twin to brother Michel Debieve (who also become an accomplished artist later in life), Raymond painted his entire life. His ...

This architectural wall-hanging artwork titled "In Isolation Series I" is an original artwork by Seth Clark made of collage, charcoal, pastel, graphite, and acrylic on wood. This pie...

This radiant purple pink poster was designed by Jim Dine for a production of Gilbert and Sullivan at New York City Center in 1968. The stripe down...

A lovely, early drawing of the Roman god Mercury. Pen and brown ink on cream laid paper, with a partial crown and shield watermark, 7 1/4 x 4 7/8 inches (184x 123 mm) (matrix). In go...

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Eileen Lake Crayon on paper, early1930's Initialed in pencil lower right (see photo) Titled and annotated verso "Eileen Lake, early 1930s girlfriend" Note: Eileen Hall Lake was an American poet and Adolf Dehn's girlfriend in the early 1930s. Provenance: Estate of the artist By descent Adolf Dehn, American Watercolorist and Printmaker, 1895-1968 Adolf Dehn was an artist who achieved extraordinary artistic heights, but in a very particular artistic sphere—not so much in oil painting as in watercolor and lithography. Long recognized as a master by serious print collectors, he is gradually gaining recognition as a notable and influential figure in the overall history of American art. In the 19th century, with the invention of the rotary press, which made possible enormous print runs, and the development of the popular, mass-market magazines, newspaper and magazine illustration developed into an artistic realm of its own, often surprisingly divorced from the world of museums and art exhibitions, and today remains surprisingly overlooked by most art historians. Dehn in many regards was an outgrowth of this world, although in an unusual way, since as a young man he produced most of his illustrative work not for popular magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post, but rather for radical journals, such as The Masses or The Liberator, or artistic “little magazines” such as The Dial. This background established the foundation of his outlook, and led later to his unique and distinctive contribution to American graphic art. If there’s a distinctive quality to his work, it was his skill in introducing unusual tonal and textural effects into his work, particularly in printmaking but also in watercolor. Jackson Pollock seems to have been one of many notable artists who were influenced by his techniques. Early Years, 1895-1922 For an artist largely remembered for scenes of Vienna and Paris, Adolf Dehn’s background was a surprising one. Born in Waterville, Minnesota, on November 22, 1895, Dehn was the descendent of farmers who had emigrated from Germany and homesteaded in the region, initially in a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor. Adolf’s father, Arthur Clark Dehn, was a hunter and trapper who took pride that he had no boss but himself, and who had little use for art. Indeed, during Adolf’s boyhood the walls of his bedroom and the space under his bed were filled with the pelts of mink, muskrats and skunks that his father had killed, skinned and stretched on drying boards. It was Adolf’s mother, Emilie Haas Dehn, a faithful member of the German Lutheran Evangelical Church, who encouraged his interest in art, which became apparent early in childhood. Both parents were ardent socialists, and supporters of Eugene Debs. In many ways Dehn’s later artistic achievement was clearly a reaction against the grinding rural poverty of his childhood. After graduating from high school in 1914 at the age of 19—an age not unusual in farming communities at the time, where school attendance was often irregular—Dehn attended the Minneapolis School of Art from 1914 to 1917, whose character followed strongly reflected that of its director, Munich-trained Robert Kohler, an artistic conservative but a social radical. There Dehn joined a group of students who went on to nationally significant careers, including Wanda Gag (later author of best-selling children’s books); John Flanagan (a sculptor notable for his use of direct carving) Harry Gottlieb (a notable social realist and member of the Woodstock Art Colony), Elizabeth Olds (a printmaker and administrator for the WPA), Arnold Blanch (landscape, still-life and figure painter, and member of the Woodstock group), Lucille Lunquist, later Lucille Blanch (also a gifted painter and founder of the Woodstock art colony), and Johan Egilrud (who stayed in Minneapolis and became a journalist and poet). Adolf became particularly close to Wanda Gag (1893-1946), with whom he established an intense but platonic relationship. Two years older than he, Gag was the daughter of a Bohemian artist and decorator, Anton Gag, who had died in 1908. After her husband died, Wanda’s mother, Lizzi Gag, became a helpless invalid, so Wanda was entrusted with the task of raising and financially supporting her six younger siblings. This endowed her with toughness and an independent streak, but nonetheless, when she met Dehn, Wanda was Victorian and conventional in her artistic taste and social values. Dehn was more socially radical, and introduced her to radical ideas about politics and free love, as well as to socialist publications such as The Masses and The Appeal to Reason. Never very interested in oil painting, in Minneapolis Dehn focused on caricature and illustration--often of a humorous or politically radical character. In 1917 both Dehn and Wanda won scholarships to attend the Art Students League, and consequently, in the fall of that year both moved to New York. Dehn’s art education, however, ended in the summer of 1918, shortly after the United States entered World War I, when he was drafted to serve in the U. S. Army. Unwilling to fight, he applied for status as a conscientious objector, but was first imprisoned, then segregated in semi-imprisonment with other Pacifists, until the war ended. The abuse he suffered at this time may well explain his later withdrawal from taking political stands or making art of an overtly political nature. After his release from the army, Dehn returned to New York where he fell under the spell of the radical cartoonist Boardman Robinson and produced his first lithographs. He also finally consummated his sexual relationship with Wanda Gag. The Years in Europe: 1922-1929 In September of 1921, however, he abruptly departed for Europe, arriving in Paris and then moving on to Vienna. There in the winter of 1922 he fell in love with a Russian dancer, Mura Zipperovitch, ending his seven-year relationship with Wanda Gag. He and Mura were married in 1926. It was also in Vienna that he produced his first notable artistic work. Influenced by European artists such as Jules Pascin and Georg Grosz, Dehn began producing drawings of people in cafes, streets, and parks, which while mostly executed in his studio, were based on spontaneous life studies and have an expressive, sometimes almost childishly wandering quality of line. The mixture of sophistication and naiveté in these drawings was new to American audiences, as was the raciness of their subject matter, which often featured pleasure-seekers, prostitutes or scenes of sexual dalliance, presented with a strong element of caricature. Some of these drawings contain an element of social criticism, reminiscent of that found in the work of George Grosz, although Dehn’s work tended to focus on humorous commentary rather than savagely attacking his subjects or making a partisan political statement. Many Americans, including some who had originally been supporters of Dehn such as Boardman Robinson, were shocked by these European drawings, although George Grocz (who became a friend of the artist in this period) admired them, and recognized that Dehn could also bring a new vision to America subject matter. As he told Dehn: “You will do things in America which haven’t been done, which need to be done, which only you can do—as far at least as I know America.” A key factor in Dehn’s artistic evolution at this time was his association with Scofield Thayer...

"Sensory Experience", pencil and ultramarine tempera on paper, inspired by Matisse. Part of Nude in Interior series. Large drawing. Shipped rolled in a tube, from Florida, US. See 1stDibs free shipping offer FREESHIP Artist Statement "I started by painting interiors, being interested in space and perspective through my studies. These scenes evolved, when I added the human figure. I focused more on the human figure and its relation to the background. The human figure is more present than ever in my paintings now. As a woman artist I’ve been preoccupied with the female form and its imagery. One of my goals was to capture the solitary moments and the nude’s relation to the surrounding space. My interest turned from depicting the space to rendering the atmosphere and the scene as a whole, the feeling a woman adds to the environment: warmth, desire, joy, a feeling of power and control, or the opposite – sadness, despair. Here is a collection of figurative paintings, exploring the nudes in interior spaces, seeing the nudes from my perspective, as a woman artist, considering the physical and spiritual realities of a woman’s body, in a new level of intimacy. My paintings are the opposite of objectifying a woman’s or a man’s anatomy. Painted works, featuring female nudes and a also men nudes...

Stamped, verso, with certification of authenticity for Janet Ament De La Roche (American, 1916-2000) and painted circa 1965. Winner of the Prix Othon Friesz, Janet Ament studied at the Chouinard Art Institute, the Los Angeles Art Center, and at the Otis Art Institute. After World War II, she traveled abroad and continued her studies first with André L’Hote at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière (Paris) and, subsequently, at the Accademia di Belle Arte (Rome) and the Academie des Belles Artes de San Jorge (Barcelona). Ament exhibited internationally with success, including at The Salon d'Automne (1954), The Salon Des Artes Decoratifs (1955), the Museum of Modern Art, Paris (1955), the Gallier Charpentier (1955), the San Francisco Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A long-time member of the Carmel Art Association, she is listed in all relevant art reference works. Reference: Art & Artists: Carmel – Monterey...

Salvador Dalí Mandolin, ca. 1930 Graphite on paper 6 × 8 in l 15.2 × 20.3 cm Frame included - 11 x 13 in l 28 x 33 cm The authenticity of this artwork has been confirmed by Mr. Desc...

This drawing is part of our exhibition Charles Goeller: A Wistful Loneliness. Crayon on paper, 11 ½ x 9 inches (image), 14 x 11 inches (sheet), Signed...

Stone and Press Gallery is excited to offer several works in celebration of the LGBTQ community. This is a drawing from the artist's sketchbooks. This pencil drawing shows a nude male in repose, The drawing is dated November 30 '36 (1936). Clearly the works are authentic and this sketch is signed "Jackson Lee Nesbitt...

"Siesta", 100x70cm / 39x27.5in Nude in Interior, pencil and ultramarine tempera on paper, inspired by Matisse. Large drawing. Shipped rolled in a tube, from Florida, US. Check 1st Dibs offer FREESHIP coupon for items over $500. "Siesta" is a serene and visually arresting addition to the "Nude in Interior" series. It conveys a quiet intimacy and relaxation, perfectly encapsulated in its title. The reclining female figure, with legs elegantly extended upward, creates a sense of balance between stillness and subtle energy. The interplay of ultramarine tempera and the warm-toned paper once again demonstrates the artist’s ability to use limited color palettes to great emotional and visual effect. The ochre-like background provides a sunlit, tranquil atmosphere that pairs beautifully with the cool, calm energy of the ultramarine tempera. The artist’s choice of medium emphasizes contrast while imbuing the piece with a harmonious duality—warmth in the environment and coolness in the figure. The fluidity of the brushstrokes aligns with the theme of relaxation, while the vertical drips lend a dreamlike quality, as if the figure is melting into her surroundings. The looser strokes in the background contrast with the more defined lines of the figure, highlighting her as the focal point. The unconventional reclining pose, with legs extended upward, adds visual interest and a sense of lightheartedness to the piece. It suggests a playful yet completely relaxed moment, as though the figure is unwinding and stretching in the midst of a private, comfortable setting. The verticality of the legs and the drips juxtaposes with the horizontal lines in the background, creating a sense of structure and stability. This geometric balance anchors the composition and enhances the overall sense of calm. The artist has included abstract horizontal strokes in the background, reminiscent of blinds or a window. These subtle details suggest an interior space filled with sunlight and add depth without detracting from the figure’s prominence. The title, "Siesta," reinforces the narrative of rest and tranquility. The figure’s pose is unapologetically casual and unguarded, evoking the vulnerability and freedom found in moments of private repose. While other works in the series explore themes of introspection, passion, or desire, this piece focuses purely on physical and emotional relaxation. It offers a more subdued, meditative perspective, providing variety to the series while maintaining its stylistic coherence. The reclining nude is a recurring motif in art history, seen in works by Titian, Ingres, and Modigliani. However, this piece’s contemporary execution—fluid, minimalist, and abstracted—ties it more closely to modernist traditions, particularly the gestural energy of Egon Schiele or Matisse’s reclining nudes. The artist’s decision to leave much of the environment abstract enhances the piece’s timeless quality. The figure feels anchored in both a specific space (suggested by the window-like strokes) and an almost dreamlike, universal realm. "Siesta" is a masterful exploration of rest and serenity, demonstrating the artist’s ability to convey mood through form, color, and composition. The elegant simplicity of the figure, combined with the abstracted interior elements, invites the viewer to share in this peaceful moment. Its balance of gestural abstraction and classical themes makes it both timeless and distinctly modern. This piece is a beautiful representation of intimacy, calm, and the universal human experience of seeking rest. Artist Statement "I started by painting interiors, being interested in space and perspective through my studies. These scenes evolved, when I added the human figure. I focused more on the human figure and its relation to the background. The human figure is more present than ever in my paintings now. As a woman artist I’ve been preoccupied with the female form and its imagery. One of my goals was to capture the solitary moments and the nude’s relation to the surrounding space. My interest turned from depicting the space to rendering the atmosphere and the scene as a whole, the feeling a woman adds to the environment: warmth, desire, joy, a feeling of power and control, or the opposite – sadness, despair. Here is a collection of figurative paintings, exploring the nudes in interior spaces, seeing the nudes from my perspective, as a woman artist, considering the physical and spiritual realities of a woman’s body, in a new level of intimacy. My paintings are the opposite of objectifying a woman’s or a man’s anatomy. Painted works, featuring female nudes and a also men nudes...

Reynolds Beal painted this watercolor entitled “CROSS ROADS, KINGSTON.” in the spring of 1922. The paper size is 4 7/8 x 7 1/8" (12.4 x 18 cm). It is signed in pencil lower right a...

A charming and colorful vintage coastal figurative landscape watercolor by Bay Area artist Sewall Smith (American, 1904-1988), c.1960s-1970s. This coastal scene depicts a plein air art class on the beach, with a group of figures busy working at their easels. Signed "Sewall Smith" lower right. Displayed in a new mat and vintage wood frame. Image size: 10.5"H x 13.25"W Edmund Sewall Smith, known as Sewall Smith or E. Sewall Smith, was a Berkeley, California based architect and artist known for watercolor paintings with nautical themes. A well known architect, Smith moved from Niagara Falls, New York to California in 1944. He flourished as an artist in the Bay Area in the 1970’s, exhibiting extensively in the East Bay throughout this time. Exhibitions included venues such as UC Berkeley, El Cerrito...

Male nude ink drawing, study for the Amphibian Man painting. 70x50cm / 27.5x19.5in Shipped rolled in a tube directly from the artist. Part of my previous Nude Men series.

Bernardo Navarro Tomas (Cuba, 1977) 'New York City #10', 2017 mixed media on japanese paper 12.3 x 17 in. (31 x 43 cm.) ID: NAA-310 Hand-signed by author

Movies, TV and magazines are constant source of inspiration. Fame, as fleckring and shallow it can be sometimes, is very intriguing to him. The worlds of fashion, society and pop cu...

An early 1940s fashion study featuring women's hats in pink tobes. Provenance: Cornelia Steckl-Jurin, Founder of the Fashion Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago...

Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) The Entertainment, c. 1955 Watercolor on paper Signed lower right 20 x 30 inches Exhibited: 1955 May Show, Cleveland Museum of Art "The first district schools were log houses...

This artwork "Jewish Family" 1968 is an acrylic and ink on wove paper by noted Lithuanian artist Boris Deutsch, 1892-1978. It is hand signed and dated at the lower left corner by the...

Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Renaissance Male and Female Nude Study Year: circa 1963 Medium: Original drawing on vélin Strathmore paper Size: 23 x 18 inches Condition: Good ...

Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Renaissance Hand Figure Study Year: circa 1963 Medium: Original drawing on vélin Strathmore paper Size: 18 x 23 inches Condition: Good Provenanc...

This drawing is part of our exhibition Charles Goeller: A Wistful Loneliness. Crayon on paper, 11 5/8 x 9 inches (image), 14 x 11 inches (sheet), Signed lower right, Matted, but no...

Medium: Charcoal, Pastel, and Watercolor on Board Signature: Signed Lower Right Sight Size 16.00;" Framed 28.00" x 25.00"

Movies, TV and magazines are constant source of inspiration. Fame, as fleckring and shallow it can be sometimes, is very intriguing to him. The worlds of fashion, society and pop cu...

Untitled (Young woman seen from the back) Sanguine crayon, charcola and watercolor on paper, c. 1910 Signed with the estate stamp, Lugt 5169 lower left corner Provenance: Estate of ...

Clyde Steadman's "Untitled 2" is an original, handmade watercolor painting that depicts a cowboy riding a horse in a rodeo.

Vibrant large-scale pastel landscape of colorful reflections rippling on a calm lake with three small ducks and a boat by an unknown artist (American, 20th Century). Signed with the ...

Part of my "Nude in Interior" series. Sepia Ink, Pencil and Graphite on Paper. Original sepia ink drawing on watercolor paper. Size is 48x33cm /19x13in. Size in mat and framed 70x5...

Diego Rivera 1886-1957 Mexican Vendedora (Vendor) Signed and dated (lower right) Watercolor on rice paper Diego Rivera stands among the most important artists of the 20th century...

Paraguayan Ink Drawings from the Chaco #15 Paper Indigenous Jorge Calrema Motifs of shamanic significance are very present in the drawings of Jorge Calrema : the jabiru ( pôtsej ), ...

Untitled (Letitia, pregnant with Rising Sun) Graphite on paper, 2005 Signed: "Sedrick Huckaby III" lower right (see photo) In April 2008, Huckaby was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship ...

An old master drawing that can live in a very contemporary environment! Remarkable use of line and expression - should be enjoyed in an important spot - can grace a kitchen or livin...

Clyde Steadman's "Untitled 3" is an original, handmade watercolor painting that depicts bison in a golden prairie.

Interesting and well-drawn French late 19th-century landscape sketch in pen and ink . Emile Cagniart was born in Paris where he would remain for his sixty years. Like many young asp...

Alex (Cuban, b.1949). Indigenous Mexican Women, 1982. Pastel and charcoal on wove paper, sheet measures 23 x 33 inches; 31.5 x 41 inches framed. Excellent condition with no damage or...

Artist: TARKAY, ITZCHAK Title: "SUNNY DAY" Size: 15 X 22 INCHES Medium: WATERCOLOR ON FRANCH ARCHES PAPER Edition: ORIGINAL Description: Hand signed by the artist The artwork is in e...

Blanche Grambs, whose career started with the WPA, was an extremely skilled draftsperson. Her birds are masterful. Although we use the word 'pencil' fo...

19th Century Silhouette Portrait of Elegant Man Stamped Barret 148 Holborn London 6.75"H x 5.5"W x 1"D

This is an original India ink, graphite, chalk, and pen on paper drawing by Hunter Stabler measuring 14.25”h x 20.25”w framed. The piece ships in the pictured frame. Hunter Stable...

Two Lovers - 1957 Original Watercolor on Paper Original 1957 watercolor depicting two nude figures, a man and a woman, laying together by Louis Nadalini (American, 1927-1995). The m...

"Whew!" is an original oil pastel drawing on a grocery bag by Reginald K. Gee. The artist signed the piece in the lower left. It depicts a man on a motorcycle doing a wheelie on a be...

Four Poses - Original Figurative Nude Study Sketch on Paper Clean and confident sketch of a female nude model by an unknown San Francisco Bay Area artist (20th Century). A nude woma...

Robert Morris Investigations (with Guggenheim Museum Labels), 1990 Graphite drawing on Mylar. Framed with the original Guggenheim Museum label (lent by Sonnabend), & Castelli Gallery...

Pity, June 4th by Celso Castro From the Duchándome Series Watercolor, ink, and pastel archival paper. Image size: 19.5 in. H x 13.75 in. W 2018 ____________ Undefined by medium, Celso Castro’s works each carry the presence of the artist’s hand through the transparency of their process. Castro’s oeuvre is strongly divided between his photomontage assemblies and watercolor paintings: the prior is marked by the labor-intensive deconstruction of portrait photographs and the latter, by the seemingly frenzied recreation of a past encounter rendered in the drips and scribbles of paint and ink. Both discriminating in what they reveal of the subject, his photomontage and watercolor portraits exude raw sexuality through the combination of Castro’s mark-making and gaze. Celso Castro’s work is a bare-bulb erotic photo...

Bettina Mauel expresses dynamism and sensuality in her paintings: “I paint what I experience,” she articulates. “This includes landscapes, flowers, and people in motion, capturing th...

On heavy Arches deckle edged paper. This combines text or poetry in calligraphy on the side. Gary Hansmann (1947-2008) was active/lived in California. He is known for abstract, Surr...

Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Renaissance Hand Study Year: circa 1963 Medium: Original drawing on vélin paper Size: 23 x 18 inches Condition: Good...

Grisha Bruskin Study 8, 1990 Ink and Gouache on paper Hand signed and inscribed by the artist on the front Original vintage frame with Marlborough Gallery label included This work is...

Original Magazine Illustration for a magazine like Harper's, Vanity Fair, Life, Look, and Judge Shinn was an American realist painter and member of the Ashcan School. He also exhibited with the short-lived group known as "The Eight," Work is framed in an attractive gilt frame Morris Weiss collection...

Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Renaissance Male Hand Figure Study Year: circa 1964 Medium: Charcoal on vélin paper Size: 18 x 23 inches Condition: Good Provenance: Estate of I...

John Teyral (American, 1912-1999) Marrakech, 1937 Watercolor on paper Signed, dated and titled upper right 12 x 14 inches 19 x 21.5 inches, framed John Teyral was one of Cleveland'...

from the Padoli Monotypes III

Artist: Mkrtich Sarkisyan (Mcho) Work: Original Drawing, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Ink on Paper Year: 2023 Style: Abstract Figurative Subject: Concert, Size: 12" x 9...

A colorful painting by Russian artist, Anatole Krasnyansky. His Contemporary style uses elements from Constructivism as well as Cubism wi...

Artist: Mkrtich Sarkisyan (Mcho) Work: Original Drawing, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Ink on Paper Year: 2023 Style: Abstract Figurative Subject: Fashion Size: 11" x 14...