Vito Tomasello

Violinist (Portrait of Young Man with Violin)

1950

Outstanding male portrait by 20th-century American artist, Vito Tomasello. Portrait of a young man, c.1950. Pencil on paper, sheet measures 14 x 17 inches. Excellent condition. S...

Beautiful ca. 1970's portrait by American artist, Vito Tomasello. Oil on masonite panel measures 8 x 11 inches. Signed and dated lower right. A lifetime NYC resident, Tomasello i...

Many of you clicking on this are probably doing so because you know of Ellsworth Woodward, who with his brother William Woodward around the turn of the 20th century sparked an arts renaissance in the South, the arts and culture in general having been mostly moribund since the dispiriting defeat experienced in the Civil War. I won't bog you down with lots of detail here since all you have to do is Google his name to bring up a wealth of information about him. He is most famous for his leadership of the arts program at Newcomb College in New Orleans, and its famous Newcomb Pottery...

Finely detailed late 19th century chromo-lithograph portrait of a violinist street musician by John George Brown (British, 1831-1913). Many of Brown’s paintings were reproduced in lithography (Chromo-lithograpy), as is the case with the one offered here. Presented in a rustic antique Oak wood frame with giltwood fillet. Image, 15.63"H x 10.63"W. John George Brown was a British citizen and an American painter born in Durham, England. His parents apprenticed him to the career of glass worker at the age of fourteen, in an attempt to dissuade him from pursuing painting. He studied nights at the School of Design in Newcastle-on-Tyne while working as a glass cutter there between 1849 and 1852, and evenings at the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh while working at the Holyrood Glass Works between 1852 ad 1853. After moving to New York City in 1853, he studied with Thomas Seir Cummings at the National Academy of Design where he was elected a National Academician in 1861. Brown was the Academy’s vice-president from 1899 to 1904. Around 1855, he worked for the owner of the Brooklyn Glass Company, and later he married the daughter of his employer. His father-in-law encouraged his artistic abilities, supporting him financially, letting Brown pursue painting full-time. In 1866, he became one of the charter members of the Water-Color Society, of which he was president from 1887 to 1904. Brown became famous for his depictions of street urchins found of the streets of New York (bootblacks, street musicians, posy sellers, newsboys, etc.). Brown’s art is best characterized as British genre painting...