Mid-20th Century Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Artist: Claude Lagouche (French 1943-2020) Claude Lagouche was born January 2, 1943 in Naves, died January 16, 2020. He quickly gained recognition for his talent and his work, exh...

Bauhaus Iconic work by the master or Cubism and Expressionism Dalzell Hatfield Gallery, Los Angeles Bonhams, Exhibited: Moller Fine Art, "Precision ...

Frank Duffield (British, 1908-1982) signed original watercolour painting on artistic paper, unframed size: 10.5 x 15 inches condition: Fair, minor wear to the edges as is normal for ...

Original watercolor on archival paper by the California artist, Edward Darrell Crisp. Signed in pencil lower right margin. Dated in pencil lower left m...

Interior Abstract by Bernard Labbe (French mid 20th century), signed, stamped verso original gouache painting on paper overall size: 16 x 12 inches condition: very good and ready to...

Composition is an original drawing in watercolor by Vedan in the mid 20th century. Good condition Hand-signed. The artwork is depicted through soft strokes in a well-balanced comp...

Abstract modern aquatint etching in black and white, circa 1960. Signed lower right. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold border. Mat fits a standard...

Wonderful abstract expressionist drawing in shades and tones of grays and black by John Haley (American, 1905-1991), c.1956-7. Signed lower left corner. Presented in 3" mat. Condition: Very good: some edge wear consistent with age. Image size: 25"H x 19"W. A feature of the artwork of John Charles...

This is a complicated drawing, even for Morris Graves (1910-2001), known as the Mystical Painter of Nature. Graves tried to be sensitive to the slightest tremor or breeze that a sma...

A striking pop art drawing, dating from the 1960s, featuring lettering and a packet of Lucky Strike cigarettes. Pop art as art movement emerged in the 1950s and flourished in the 196...

Artist: Claude Lagouche (French 1943-2020) Claude Lagouche was born January 2, 1943 in Naves, died January 16, 2020. He quickly gained recognition for his talent and his work, exh...

Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910–2012) Initially associated with the Surrealist movement, Dorothea Tanning developed a personal visual language that blurred the boundaries between r...

Abstract Expressionist Composition by Jacques COULAIS (1955-2011) gouache painting on paper/ card unframed: 8.5 x 5.75inches condition: excellent provenance: all the paintings we hav...

Substantial and period Abstract expressionist pair of India ink drawings by San Francisco artist Louis E. Nadalini (American, 1927-1995). Signed "L. Nadalini" lower right and titled...

Roderick Fletcher Mead (American, 1900-1972) was an important painter and printmaker, best known for his surrealist landscapes and figural compositions reminiscent of Pablo Picasso a...

Charmion von Wiegand Pillar of Zen #124, 1959 Gouache on paper painting Hand signed, titled and dated on the front Unique Provenance: Andre Zarre Gallery, with label verso (Estate of renowned gallerist Andre Zarre, ne Andre Sowulewski) Measurements: Framed 26.5 inches vertical by 25.5 horizontal by 2 inches Artwork: 21 inches vertical by 22 inches horizontal Mid century modern, geometric, spiritual abstraction, mystical The Estate of the celebrated artist Charmion Von Wiegand has been represented exclusively by Michael Rosenfeld Gallery since 1998. From March 3 to August 13, 2023, Charmion Von Wiegand was the subject of an acclaimed retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Basel, and she has received major attention in the price, including a June, 2023 ArtNews feature entitled, "Who Was Charmion von Wiegand and Why Is She Important?". Her work was also featured in a solo presentation by Rosenfeld Gallery at the New York Art Show held at the Park Avenue Armory, which also received critical acclaim. Artists Biography - courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery: Known for her vibrant, geometric paintings that originate a deeply personal language of spiritual enlightenment expressed through a constructivist mode of abstraction, Charmion von Wiegand (1896–1983) was born in Chicago but spent much of her childhood traveling. The daughter of a journalist for Hearst, von Wiegand eventually settled in New York in 1915 to attend Barnard College and Columbia University, where she took classes at the School of Journalism while nurturing a growing interest in art history. In 1925, von Wiegand realized that she wanted to be an artist and set up a studio in Greenwich Village, teaching herself how to paint while pursuing a career as a journalist. In 1929, she secured a position in Moscow as a foreign correspondent for Hearst, the only woman at the desk at the time. In 1932, von Wiegand returned to New York and married Russian émigré Joseph Freeman, who co-founded and edited the leftist journal New Masses. Von Wiegand began writing art criticism for New Masses as well as for other publications, including New Theatre, ARTnews, and Arts Magazine. When the Abstract American Artists (AAA) held their inaugural exhibition, von Wiegand reviewed it. An early champion of abstract art, von Wiegand became close friends with AAA founder Carl Holty. In 1941, Holty introduced von Wiegand to Piet Mondrian, who would have a profound impact on her art. Fascinated by Mondrian’s artistic philosophy, von Wiegand played a key role in the introduction of his work to American audiences, translating many of the Dutch artist’s writings into English and assisting in the composition of his influential article “Toward the True Vision of Reality” (1941). Through her friendship with Mondrian, von Wiegand re-kindled her interest in Theosophy (a religion established in the late 19th century that combines aspects of Hinduism, Buddhism, occultism, and esotericism) and embarked on an extended study of neoplasticism. In her artwork, she incorporated Mondrian’s iconic grid but rejected the constraints of pure neoplasticism and embraced a wide range of influences including surrealism and German expressionism. In 1942, von Wiegand became a member of the AAA, exhibiting regularly with the group and eventually serving as its president from 1951 to 1953. In the late 1940s, sculptor and fellow AAA member Ibram Lassaw gave her a translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life, which inspired von Wiegand to immerse herself in a study of Buddhist art. She began incorporating Buddhist motifs such as stupas and mandalas into her paintings, and her spiritual practice steadily intensified throughout the 1950s. In 1953, her husband gifted her a copy of the Taoist I Ching Book of Changes, a guide for divining meaning from randomly derived numbers arranged in a hexagram—a form the artist readily incorporated into her painting. Von Wiegand’s study of Theosophy also intensified over these years, bolstered by her increased access to the religion’s primary sources composed by the religion’s founders and their successors at the New York Theosophical Society’s library. Von Wiegand’s search for the sacred and transcendent ultimately led her to Tibetan Buddhism and, in 1967, von Wiegand met Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, a Gelugpa monk who had recently arrived in New York, who would mentor her spiritual study in the tradition of Mahayana Buddhism until her death. Her travels in the 1960s and 1970s took her to Tibet and India, where she had an audience with the Dalai Lama, who was living in exile in Dharamsala. Many works from these decades incorporate symbols and schematics drawn from Theosophical prismatic color charts, Chinese astrology and tantric yoga. In 1978, she was the subject of a PBS documentary titled The Circle of Charmion von Wiegand, which was scored by Philip Glass. In 1980, von Wiegand was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1982, the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach (FL) organized her first retrospective exhibition. She died the following year in New York, bequeathing her estate to Khyongla Rato and the Tibet Center of New York. In 1998, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery became the sole representative of her estate and has presented her work in four solo and multiple group exhibitions. Recent notable exhibitions that have included her work are The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, 2009) and Constructive Spirit: Abstract Art in South and North America (Newark Museum, NJ, 2010). In March 2023, the Kunstmuseum Basel (Switzerland) opened the first comprehensive museum retrospective of von Wiegand’s work in Europe. Von Wiegand’s work is represented in numerous museum collections including the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy (Andover, MA); Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY); Arithmeum, University of Bonn (Germany); Birmingham Museum of Art (Alabama); Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin; Brooklyn Museum (NY); Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh, PA); The Cleveland Museum of Art (OH); Indianapolis Museum of Art (IN); Fondazione Marguerite Arp (Locarno, Switzerland); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Massachusetts); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY); The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY); Newark Museum of Art (New Jersey); Seattle Art Museum (WA); Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC); Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN); Weatherspoon Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College (Clinton, NY); Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY); and Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, CT). More about gallerist Andre Zarre A tribute in the New Criterion: Dispatch August 11, 2020 Andre Zarre, 1942–2020 by Dana Gordon On the late New York gallery pioneer. Art should never be aggressively explained; art should be felt. —Andre Zarre, 1977 Often, in the starlit New York cultural mecca, a longtime important figure fades away through the penumbra and dies without notice. Such was the fate of Andre Zarre, the contemporary art dealer, who passed away a few weeks ago. Andy, as he wanted friends to call him, opened his eponymous gallery in 1974 just off Madison Avenue on Sixty-ninth Street. He soon moved it to the omphalos of the art world in that era, 41 East Fifty-seventh Street, the Fuller Building. Over the years he moved to SoHo and then to Chelsea, as fashion and real estate prices pushed the art souk hither and thither. To understand his importance, all you need do is take a look at a list of artists who had solo shows at the Andre Zarre Gallery. This includes such names, from an early generation, as Sonia Delaunay, Nassos Daphnis, Sari Dienes, and Perle Fine. Among a subsequent generation are Pat Lipsky, Jay Milder, Thornton Willis, and Kes Zapkus.1 And this list does not include the many knowns and unknowns who were in his lively group shows. Zarre had a real “eye” and was a champion of abstract art from the moment he founded his gallery—even among the gathering storms of conceptual and political art, which he eschewed. He showed a good deal of figurative art as well. His galleries were always spacious and unpretentious, oriented simply to show the art. In the words of Dee Shapiro, who showed with the Zarre gallery many times, “He had a photographic memory and knew a lot about art and was always interested in the artist’s life.” Reliable biographical information on Zarre is scarce, but he said of his background that he was born in Poland in 1942 and that his parents were a diplomat and a socialite. He left home for the United States at the age of fifteen. During his decades as an art dealer in New York, Zarre did not appear to accumulate wealth, though he acquired a collection and lived on Park Avenue. “He was not personally aggressive in that way. People had to come to him,” Dee Shapiro said. He was honest in his financial dealings with artists, which not all art dealers are. For a long time while running the gallery he had a second job as a supervisor in an airline office and he kept little to no additional staff in the gallery. He supported a brother who remained in Poland. Among artists, Zarre was known to be quite ornery. After my show at his gallery in 1997, I refused to enter it for seventeen years. Then I ran into him in Chelsea and he offered me another show, an opportunity I gladly accepted, but he remained just as disagreeable. He showed the work of many women, probably more than any other gallery, save those devoted to showing only women. Collectors, curators, and writers found him mostly friendly. As Peter Reginato put it, Zarre was a “strange guy but I liked him. I think he was a dealer who was more interested in the art than in making money, but somehow he lasted forty-plus years.” Zarre is not known to have kept extensive or extant records of his gallery’s long history, though these may emerge in time. Scouring the Internet, one may compile a partial list of more than eighty artists who had solo shows at the Andre Zarre Gallery:Nancy Azara, Ellen Banks, Mary Barnes, Tony Bechara, Juan Bernal, Stephanie Bernheim, Randy Bloom, Elena Borstein, Michael Boyd, Fritz Bultman, Ed Buonagurio, Yoan Capote, Sonia Delaunay, Nassos Daphnis, Cathy Diamond, Sari Dienes, Joseph Dolinsky, Beata Drozd, Ronnie Elliot, William Fares, Perle Fine, Lynne Frehm, Ben Georgia, Mikel Glass, Dana Gordon, Juanita Guccione, Fred Gutzeit, Don Hazlitt, Amy Hill, Clinton Hill, Monroe Hodder, Budd Hopkins, Arlan Huang, Richard Hunt, Rhia Hurt, Buffie Johnson, Alexander Kaletski, Robert Kaupelis...

Belgian artist Miette Braive(1916-2000), was classically trained in Belgium, before moving to Paris to pursue her art career as first a student and then a contemporary of the famed F...

Abstract Expressionist Composition by Jacques COULAIS (1955-2011) gouache painting on paper/ card unframed: 12.75 x 10 inches condition: excellent provenance: all the paintings we ha...

Artist: Claude Lagouche (French 1943-2020) Claude Lagouche was born January 2, 1943 in Naves, died January 16, 2020. He quickly gained recognition for his talent and his work, exh...

Signed lower right, 'T.G.M. Guise' for Thomas Gladstone Middleton Guise (Scottish, 1916-1984) and dated 1966. Thomas Guise studied art at Edinburgh College of Art under Thomson Adam...

Nude Study By Mark Tobey 1961 Signed Ink on paper 76 x 51 cm

Work on paper This captivating work reveals an interior scene rich in detail and texture. At the heart of the composition, a figure draped in flowing fabrics stands by a blazing fire...

Outstanding pencil on paper Abstract drawing. Marcel Dumont was a Liège artist who painted in oils and gouache, also produced collages and was an illustrator and engraver, doing so in a number of different styles. Early on in his career, he tended to produce paintings displaying a poetic realism but this changed over time until, in 1957, he was employing geometric abstraction and later still, the influence of pop art could be discerned. His geometric style has strong linear structure which occasionally veers to expressionism and the effect of this is an interesting sense of detachment that the viewer of the work can feel and one engages with the subject on a different level than one would normally expect. A critic wrote of him," Sometimes expressionist, sometimes linear, the abstraction forms itself willingly, in Marcel Dumont's world, to leave the rectangular structure to connect to carefully prepared tones. He retains also, in his abundant output, a few poetic pop-art collages together with a number of drawings and engravings illustrating Stefan Zweig...

Frank Duffield (British, 1908-1982) original watercolour painting on board, unframed size: 13.5 x 16.25 inches condition: overall very good, minor wear to the edges as is normal for...

Louis Wolchonok, 'Rockport Harbor', gouache, c. 1950. Signed in ink, lower right. A fine, modernist work, with fresh colors, on cream wove drawing pape...

Nudo , 1964 Etching on handmade paper limited edition of 102 copies , Signed in pencil by artist and numbered 33/102 paper size: 63 x 45 cm framed size: 78,5 x 60,5 cm A copy of the...

Pointillist Abstract Design by Louis Bellon (French 1908-1998) initialled lower right gouache painting on paper, unframed measurements: 8.75 x 6 inches (overall the sheet measures 11...

Signed lower right, 'Beth Ames Swartz' (American, born 1936) and dated 1966. Primarily working in the idioms of abstraction and semi-abstraction, Beth Ames Swarts's paintings and m...

Outstanding pencil on paper Abstract drawing. Marcel Dumont was a Liège artist who painted in oils and gouache, also produced collages and was an illustrator and engraver, doing so in a number of different styles. Early on in his career, he tended to produce paintings displaying a poetic realism but this changed over time until, in 1957, he was employing geometric abstraction and later still, the influence of pop art could be discerned. His geometric style has strong linear structure which occasionally veers to expressionism and the effect of this is an interesting sense of detachment that the viewer of the work can feel and one engages with the subject on a different level than one would normally expect. A critic wrote of him," Sometimes expressionist, sometimes linear, the abstraction forms itself willingly, in Marcel Dumont's world, to leave the rectangular structure to connect to carefully prepared tones. He retains also, in his abundant output, a few poetic pop-art collages together with a number of drawings and engravings illustrating Stefan Zweig...

Artist: Claude Lagouche (French 1943-2020) Claude Lagouche was born January 2, 1943 in Naves, died January 16, 2020. He quickly gained recognition for his talent and his work, exh...

Michael Knigin Abstract 3 Blue and Purple 1967 Ink brush and watercolor on paper 8.25"x11" unframed $675 Signed and dated in ink lower right Came from artist's estate *Custom framing...

Lyman Kipp Original Mid Century Modern Painting on paper, 1969 Acrylic on paper painting Hand signed and dated by the artist on the front F...

Signed lower right, 'A. Cunningham' for Alfred A Cunningham (American, 20th century) and painted circa 1965. Alfred Cunningham was active in Northern California from the 1950's thro...

An early abstract expressionist work on paper by American artist Felix Ruvolo. Mystery revolves around the very beginnings of Felix Ruvolo’s life.  Any biographical information to be found only lists a birth year for Felix, but no day or month.  We know he was born in New York City in 1912, and was raised by his grandparents in Sicily until the age of 12.  Why he was sent back to Italy remains a mystery as well. What we do know is that young Felix showed so much promise as an artist that the family hired a professional artist to work with Felix while he was being raised in Sicily.   In 1924, at the age of 12, Ruvolo was sent back to the United States to rejoin his parents, who were settling in Chicago. In Chicago, Ruvolo continued his private art lessons, and later enrolled in the Chicago Art Institute.   By the 1930s, the young prodigy was exhibiting his work regularly in Chicago, and was invited to participate in an American Federation of Arts traveling exhibition. This exposure brought more attention to Ruvolo’s work and he was soon invited to exhibit at major American venues, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Carnegie Institute, and the Walker Art Center.  In 1945, Ruvolo took a position teaching at the Chicago Art Institute where he had studied just a few years prior.   With extensive exhibitions in the United States, international attention arose and Ruvolo was invited to show at the Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil, and at the Galerie Creuse in Paris, France.    By this time, Felix’s works were being reproduced in national magazines and in anthologies published by the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and Albright Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum, in the American Encyclopedia, the Dictionaire de la Peinture Abstraite, and Il Giornale D'Italia, and museums and private individuals around the world were acquiring works by Ruvolo for their collections. By 1950 Ruvolo was invited, by a unanimous vote of the staff, to join the faculty of the art department at University of California, Berkeley, which was a hotbed of modern art at the time. Ruvolo accepted the position at UC Berkeley and settled in Berkeley, CA where his home became a gathering place for many artists and intellectuals.   In 1951, Ruvolo’s work was included in the ground-breaking exhibition ‘Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America’ held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Ruvolo was so highly regarded and respected by his peers around the country.  George McNeil, who had been the director of the Pratt Institute in New York, is known to have said that he accepted an invitation to come to UC Berkeley because Felix was there.  Ruvolo was deeply engrained in the art scene in the San Francisco Bay Area during it’s mercurial rise to a cultural mecca, and was an influence on many young artist in the area including Mark di Suvero, William Brown, Mary Snowden...

We are proud to present the following suite of just discovered, mixed media paintings, c.1957, by American artist Robert McIntosh(1916-2010) Robert McIntosh was extremely prolific...

Color crayons and ink on white wove paper. Initialed and dated "VI . 24 . 43" in ink, lower right recto, and annotated and dated in ink, verso. This work is registered in the record...

Signed upper left, 'Gilberg' for Robert George Gilberg (American, 1911-1970) and painted circa 1948. A substantial, mid-century watercolor abstract comprising interrelated geometric...

This abstraction composition, a mixed media piece, has collage, watercolor, and pencil. It is signed in pencil both with a signature and a cypher.

Abstract Composition is a Charcoal Drawing realized by Reynold Arnould (Le Havre 1919 - Parigi 1980). Good condition on a yellowed paper, included a white cardboard passpartout (3...

Work on paper without frame

Pen and ink line abstract with pops of red by French artist Jaquel, circa 1960. Signed lower right. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold border. Mat fits...

Sonia Gechtoff Flag Icon, 1963 Pastel, graphite and collage Frame included: elegantly framed in hand made wood frame with UV plexiglass Evocative mixed media mid century modern work...

A gouache, pencil, and watercolour composition by the Macedonian artist Djordje Ilic. Signed and dated to the lower right. Well presented in a plum and gold frame. On paper.

Abstract expressionist tribal painting of a nude female done in bold, vibrant colors by artist Gustave Alhadeff in 1962 with acrylic paint. Signed in upper right corner. Artist Biography: Born in the Belgian Congo in 1940, Gustave Alhadeff won his first award at the annual art show in Elisabethville, at age 13. His formal art education began with Mr. Marcel Pire (Prix de Rome). He continued his studies at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, with Mr. Van Nesche in Cape Town, South Africa from 1956 to 1957. He was awarded a scholarship from the Art Academy to continue his studies with Mr.Creytens at the "Institute National Superieur des Beaux Arts" in Anvers, Belgium. The following year he entered the class of Mr. Leon Devos...

Signed lower right, 'Beth Ames Swartz' (American, born 1936) and dated 1966. Primarily working in the idioms of abstraction and semi-abstraction, Beth's paintings and mixed-media ...

Title: Couple by the Riverside French Modern Oil Painting by Guy Nicod Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Oil on artist paper attached to a board, unframed Size: 20 x 16.5 inches (heigh...

Abstract Expressionist Composition by Jacques COULAIS (1955-2011) gouache painting on paper/ card unframed: 12.75 x 9.75 inches condition: excellent provenance: all the paintings we ...

paesaggio di Menerbes dove Picasso le regalò una casa e lei visse per alcuni anni - L'opera è firmata e Timbrata MD - Dora MAAR (Parigi 1907 – 1997) Nata Henrietta Theodora Mark...

A captivating 1950s textile design in black and brown ochre tones with wedge star pattern by noted set and costume designer Andre Delfau. Born in Par...

Title: Abstract Geometric Composition with Circular Forms and Green Accents Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 18 x 21.25 inches (height x width)...

Title: Surreal Abstract Landscape with Golden Sun and Blue Figure French Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Signed, lower right Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 15.75 x 1...

Title: Abstract Cubist Still Life with Blue Vase and Yellow Forms French Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Signed, lower edge Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 15.75 x 19...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Jugs and Vessels French Modernist Oil Pastel Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Oil Pastel on artist paper, unframed Size: 13 x 18 inches (height x width...

Title: Still Life with Vegetables French Modernist Oil Pastel Drawing by Guy Nicod Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Oil Pastel on artist paper, unframed Size: 13.25 x 18.5 inches (height x width) Provenance: Artists estate, France Condition: good; minor handling marks consistent with age. Pigment surface remains bright and well-preserved with rich tonal layering. Description: This vibrant still life by French modernist Guy Nicod presents a lively arrangement of vegetables rendered in oil pastel. A blue ceramic pot...

Title: Portrait of a Woman French Modernist Red Chalk Drawing by Guy Nicod Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Red chalk (sanguine) on paper, unframed Size: 25.5 x 19.5 inches (height x ...

Title: Portrait of a Young Woman French Modernist Graphite Drawing by Guy Nicod Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Graphite on artist paper, unframed Size: 25.25 x 20.25 inches (height ...

Title: Geometric Abstract Study Colorful Modernist Gouache on Paper Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.25 x 15.75 inches (height x width) Prov...

Title: Still Life with Calla Lilies and Ceramic Vase French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 14.5 x 10.75 inches (height x wi...

Title: Still Life with Tulips, Lemons and Red Candle French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 14.5 x 10.75 inches (height x wi...

Title: Liberté Égalité Fraternité Symbolic Composition French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 12.75 x 9.5 inches (height x w...