Wisconsin - Art

In this image, Howard Thomas presents the viewer with a domestic interior. The image is dominated by the figure of a black woman, resting her arm on an ironing board. To the right, the tool of her task dangles a chord above a checker tiled floor. Beyond, though a window, neighboring homes fill the landscape. The careful line-work of the linocut adds a sense of expressionism to the scene, but the image nonetheless falls into the Social Realism that captivated most American artists during the Great Depression. This print was published in 1936 as part of the Wisconsin Artists' Calendar for the year 1937, which included 52 original, hand-made prints – one for each week of the year. 6 x 5 inches, image 10 x 7.13 inches, sheet 12.37 x 12.43 inches, frame Entitled "Monday in Wick Haven" lower left (covered by matting) Inscribed "Linoleum Cut" lower center (covered by matting) Artist name "Howard Thomas" lower right (covered by matting) Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting and museum glass, all housed in a silver gilded moulding. Quaker-born in Ohio, Thomas trained in the Midwest at Ohio State University and the Chicago Art Institute. He taught in the Art Department of the Milwaukee State Teachers College (now University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) where he became good friends with Carl Holty, Edward Boerner, Robert von Neumann...

Lisa Fellerson’s paintings provoke an interplay and tension between line, shape, and color. With no preconceived idea in mind, she begins by dripping, scrapping, and gouging acrylic ...

"La Plage de la Panne" is an original etching by James Ensor. The artist signed the piece in plate in the lower right and signed, titled, and dated it below t...

"Original Lithograph V" is an original color lithograph by Joan Miro, published in "Miro Lithographs III, Maeght Publisher" in 1977. It depicts Mir...

'Stabiles' is a lithograph poster after Alexander Calder and published by Galerie Maeght in 1971. Calder had produced the stones for this lithograph a year earlier in 1970 for a prin...

This Chinesco bowl was from a pre-Columbian society from around 300 BCE. It features abstract, geometric designs in red and black. The diameter is 8".

"Ellen's Diner, NYC" is an original photorealist watercolor painting by Bruce McCombs. The artist signed the piece lower right. This piece features a city diner's neon sign and clock...

'Fatima' is an original color lithograph by the renown printmaker R.C. Gorman. from Arizona, the artist's later works focus almost entirely on the female figure and take Native American and Southwestern imagery as a source of inspiration. Here, a single woman sits in a colorful yet undefined space. The form of her yellow dress as she kneels is repeated in the delicately drawn bunches gladiolus flowers...

"Untitled 1970 C.P. #235" is an original color lithograph with blended ink signed by the artist Garo Zareh Antreasian. It is editioned 10/60 in the center lower left margin with grap...

"La Naissance D'Eve" is an original color lithograph from the "Je Reve (I Dream)" portfolio by Andre Masson. The artist signed the piece lower right in pencil and wrote the edition n...

"Lithographie Originale V" is an original color lithograph by Joan Miro, published in "Miro Lithographs IV, Maeght Publisher" in 1981. It depicts Miro's signature biomorphic abstract...

"Navajo Indians At Home" is a color lithograph postcard by Joseph Roy Willis. A number of American Natives of varying ages and genders are depicted in the brightly colored clothing a...

"Spirits Honoring the Long Cypress No. 1" is an original fine-art photograph by Robert Kawika Sheer. This piece is signed in the lower right and editioned in the lower left. Edition ...

"American Bald Eagle Flying Through Silver Clouds Between Heaven and Earth" is an original mixed media piece by David Barnett, signed on the lower left center. It incorporates watercolor, ink, iridescent acrylic, rubber stamps, collage, and oil pencil. This piece depicts a surrealist landscape. A cow with an cowl perched on its back stands in the lower left corner, and tracks lead away from it across the bottom of the picture. A small turtle approaches a pond in the lower right. In the center register of the image, two leaves have been collaged into an abstractly-drawn forest. The eagle of the title is shown in several stages of its flight through the blue and yellow sky. Art size: 7 15/16" x 9 1/2" Frame size: 15 1/4" x 16 1/8" David Barnett, an artist, collector, appraiser and gallerist has been passionate about art from the early age of five. David’s career as an art dealer began at age nineteen when, as a fine arts student, he sponsored an exhibition of work by fellow student artists. In 1966, he opened his first gallery in a converted basement apartment at Wisconsin Avenue and 21st Street. David’s talents for recognizing undervalued artists and for meeting the needs of art lovers, art collectors and artists have created a vibrant, flourishing gallery and collection of over 6,000 works of art. David was born and raised in Wisconsin. He has been painting in watercolors, acrylics, oil pastels as well as fine art photography. David has more than 10 different series he has developed over the years. They include Abstract, Surrealism, Morph Dog, Up North Birch Bark, Impressions of Mexico City, Southwest, Fireworks, Famous Artist Paying Homage and Garden Panorama. Influential artists include Vermeer, Miro, Kandinsky, Chagall, Nolde and Klee. David has been featured in many magazines, newspapers and public television programs regarding his beautiful gallery, collection and knowledge and passion of fine art. David also has work in the permanent collection Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona. Exhibits “Morph Dog Series”, David Barnett Gallery, 1996 “Renewal", Art Escape Gallery, Thiensville, WI, 2003 “Recent Watercolors", David Barnett Gallery, 2003, Lora D. Art Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2004 “Group Show”, Broden Gallery Ltd., Madison, WI, May-June 2004 "Homage to Kandinsky", David Barnett Gallery, Milwaukee, WI 2014 Collections Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ Private collections throughout the United States and around the world including collections in Wisconsin, Maryland, New York, Washington D.C., Arizona, Illinois, Florida, Kentucky. International collections in Brazil, Singapore and Hong Kong. Articles Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Barnett Gives His Work an Exhibit" by James Auer, November 1996 Exclusively Yours...

'Flower' is an original fruit serpentine sculpture signed by the Zimbabwean artist Josphat Makenzi. Makenzi was trained in the contemporary Shona stone...

'Famine' is an original springstone sculpture signed by the Zimbabwean artist Rangarirai Makunde. The sculpture presents a solitary figure who stands facing directly forward. He hold...

"Confused Abstract" is an original oil pastel on grocery bag by Reginald K. Gee. The artist signed the piece on the back. It features an abstract design in yellow, pink, red, green, ...

Vibrant colors arranged in bold rectangles form a striking artwork. Measuring 92 x 92,  this piece explores the diverse sizes and shapes possible in the humble rectangle. Its captiva...

"Surrealist Texas Oil Rig" is an original, double-sided watercolor and ink piece by David Barnett, signed and dated in the lower right. It is framed with a w...

This poster, produced for an exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum, features the bold work of American architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright. Beneat...

Large round multicolored abstract painting. Rainbow of colors. Acrylic paint is done in a multidimensional way. Made by local Wisconsin artist Daniel ...

'Footballer (Soccer Player)' is an original opal serpentine sculpture signed by the Zimbabwean artist Canaan Musiyiwa Ngandu. The sculpture presents an abstract figure in Ngandu's qu...

"Dog & Horse in Landscape on Mountain Top" is an original ink drawing on handmade amate paper by Miguel Castro Leñero. The artist initialed the piece lower right. This piece features...

"Fear Not; Only Believe" is an original watercolor and gouache painting by Reginald K. Gee. The artist signed and dated the artwork lower right. It depicts two people walking through...

"Croisieres Etoile Du Sud"; is an original lithograph poster by Berny Et Peignot depicting multiple animal silhouettes in blue, tan, and black. 1934. 34.9375" x 25.9375" art 37.75" ...

"Sailboat" is a maritime watercolor on prepared board by American artist C.S. Jones, signed in the lower right. The watercolor depicts a seascape...

"Cream Soda" is an original acrylic painting on canvas board by Reginald K. Gee. The artist signed the artwork on the back. This artwork depicts an abstract...

"Chamber Music" is an original wood engraving by Robert Franz von Neumann. It features a room full of men in the thralls of creating music together. A small audience stands outside their circle. Image: 5.5" x 7" Framed: 14" x 15.56" 1888 - 1976 Born in Rostock, Mecklenburg, Germany, Robert von Neumann...

"Burnt Orange Acorn" brings a feeling of wearing a warm sweater as fall settles in. This piece stands out against Daniel Klewer's other works as he has dulled the colors. As opposed ...

"From: Ilsée, Princess of Tripoli Recto: "Eldenias" Verso: "Hilderich" is an original color lithograph by Alphonse Mucha. Exquisite double-sided color lithographs from "Ilsee, Princ...

"Nude Awakening" is an original oil painting on jute canvas by Ernesto Gutierrez. It features a nude woman sitting on a green seat. The artist signed th...

"Pour Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler Figure in Landscape" is an original lithograph by Yves Rouvre. The artist signed the piece lower right. It features an abstracted figure in fields of co...

Framed 13.25 x 14.13 in Signed to margin

"Sierra Madre" is a color woodblock signed by Carol Summers. As suggested by the title, the print teeters the line between Summers' fanciful landscapes an...

"Barbisio (Dog & Hat)" is an offset color lithograph poster by Giovanni Mingozzi, this example coming from the original printing of the poster. It features a white dog surrounded by ...

"Vendiendo Frutas," ("Selling Fruit") is an original oil painting on canvas signed by the Peruvian artist Ernesto Gutierrez. Visible is a vibrant rainbow o...

'Sapphire Sea Spruce' is an excellent example of the paintings of Daniel Klewer, coming from his series 'Linear Tactility.' The paintings in this series all share a consistent, linea...

This piece is an original linoleum block print created and printed by George Raab. The lower margin is titled and signed by the artist in graphite. The lower left has the title. The ...

Le Cirque 5-6 is American abstract artist John Baughman's 2002 mixed media artwork. It is signed and dated lower right. 16" x 36" art 25 7/8" x 45 7/8" framed Baughman is a mixed media artist who is influenced by the work of Mark Rothko and Conrad Marcarelli...

"Boldest Native" is an original color lithograph by Michael Knigin. This piece features a pile of apples with abstract textures. The artist signed the piece lower right and titled it...

"Lithographie Originale I" is an original color lithograph by Joan Miro, published in "Miro Lithographs IV, Maeght Publisher" in 1981. It depicts Miro's signature biomorphic abstract...

"Summer Whisper" is an original oil painting by Robert Richter. The artist signed the piece on the back. This painting depicts a view over a serene lake. The painting has carved part...

"Solidarity" is an original etching by surrealist artist Yves Tanguy. The artist signed the piece in pencil in the lower right and wrote the edition number, 109/150, in the lower lef...

7.25 x 12.25 inches (sheet), 5 x 11.88 inches (block) Framed 12.63 x 19.50 in Linoleum block print on laid paper Unsigned

9.75 x 12.63 inches (sheet), 9 x 11.88 inches (block) Framed 20 x 17.25 in linoleum block print on laid paper Signed and titled to lower margin

"Final Spring" is an original color lithograph by Michael Knigin. The artist signed and titled in the lower center of image. This piece is an artist's proof and features a brightly c...

This small-scale bronze of the General Napoleon by American artist Doris Jarowsky is an excellent example of the sculpture of the 1960s. The sculpture i...

"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...

Ananda Kesler's painting 'When Yin Meets Yang For the First Time' is an excellent example of her work, demonstrating her mastery of abstraction. Int he composition, gradient fields o...

The present hand-colored lithograph was produced as part of the funeral and mourning culture in the United States during the 19th century. Images like this were popular as ways of remembering loved ones, an alternative to portraiture of the deceased. This lithograph shows a man, woman and child in morning clothes next to an urn-topped stone monument. Behind are additional putto-topped headstones beneath weeping willows, with a steepled church beyond. The monument contains a space where a family could inscribe the name and death dates of a deceased loved one. In this case, it has been inscribed to a young Civil War soldier: William W. Peabody Died at Fairfax Seminary, VA December 18th, 1864 Aged 18 years The young Mr. Peabody probably died in service for the Union during the American Civil War. Farifax Seminary was a Union hospital and military headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The hospital served nearly two thousand soldiers during the war time. Five hundred were also buried on the Seminary's grounds. 13.75 x 9.5 inches, artwork 23 x 19 inches, frame Published before 1864 Inscribed bottom center "Lith. & Pub. by N. Currier. 2 Spruce St. N.Y." Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting and TruVue Conservation Clear glass, housed in a gold gilded moulding. Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

"From: Ilsee, Princess of Tripoli "Jaufre and Eymardine" is an original lithograph by Alphonse Mucha. From "Ilsee, Princesse de Tripoli," a rare illustrated book. Image: 8.12" x 6"...

"Open the Bottle (Let in the Darkness)" is an original oil painting on wood panel by Robert Richter in a gold frame and signed on the verso. It features saturated, deep colors and wh...

"From: Ilsee, Princess of Tripoli Recto: "Dream Woman" Verso: "Visions" is an original color lithograph by Alphonse Mucha. Exquisite double-sided color lithograph from "Ilsee, Princ...

The Dan people of Liberia have a history of using masks like these for rituals pertaining to various aspects of their lives. This particular mask has a commanding, yet gentle presence. The carved wooden face...

"Jokwe Maternity, Angola" is a wood sculpture from Africa created circa 1910. The figure kneels on the ground holding a baby in her arms. Her eyes are closed and she is wearing a com...

This flat shadow puppet was created by an unknown Indonesian artist. This shadow puppet, 19" high, was used in Indonesian Wayang puppet shows. Wayang (Krama Javanese: Ringgit ꦫꦶꦁꦒꦶꦠ꧀, "Shadow"), also known as Wajang, is a form of puppet theatre art found in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, wherein a dramatic story is told through shadows thrown by puppets and sometimes combined with human characters. The art form celebrates the Indonesian culture and artistic talent; its origins are traced to the spread of Hinduism in the medieval era and the arrival of leather-based puppet arts called Tholu bommalata from southern India. Wayang refers to the entire dramatic show. Sometimes the leather puppet...

"Majestic Manner" is an original color lithograph by Michael Knigin. The artist signed the piece lower right and titled it lower center. This piece features a swan in front of an abs...

"Invading Knight" is an original color lithograph by Michael Knigin. The artist signed the piece in the lower right and wrote the title/edition number 200/275, in the lower left corn...